Tree Speech

Oct 30 2024 40 ep. 32 mins 4

Tree Speech Podcast artwork

Alight Theater Guild presents Tree Speech, a blend of narrative storytelling, interviews, and wanderlust at the intersection of the personal, historical and cultural ways that trees impact our lives. Each episode seeks to find new understandings to the tangled relationships we have with the natural world in which we inhabit. We examine folklore, history, holidays, and current events while exploring trees in our conversations around race, religion, and resources with people who all share deep connections to them-from artists and writers to historians and educators, advocates to activists.

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Spooky Trees: The Haunting Continues

Oct 30 2024 29 mins

Gather round the campfire for a very special, supernatural episode. We have spooky, mysterious tree tales from around the world to get you into the halloween spirit! Listen now, if you dare! Special thanks to Cheryl Mullings, Charles Linshaw, Corey Roberts, and Emerald Forcier for joining our episode today. Learn more about Cheryl at https://cherylmullings.workbooklive.com/, Charle

Queer Trees with Author & Walking Artist Jonathon Stalls

Jun 26 2024 49 mins

This June, to celebrate Pride, we are excited to discuss the queerness of trees and nature, and how queer ecology contains the solutions to reversing climate change and living in harmony with our natural environments. We have an inspiring interview with walking artist and pedestrian dignity advocate, artist and author Jonathon Stalls, and we’ll examine the history of the first ga

RACIST TREES with filmmakers Sara Newens and Mina T. Son

Mar 24 2024 36 mins

Welcome back, Tree Speechers! We’re thrilled to begin Season 5 with a new conversation in a clearing, as we continue to find new understandings to the tangled relationships we have with the natural world in which we inhabit. We open this season interviewing filmmakers Mina T. Son and Sara Newens who made the eye-opening and thoughtful documentary, RACIST TREES. This intimate fi

REPLAY-Winter Solstice: Let the Light In

Dec 24 2023 33 mins

In honor of the recent Winter Solstice and this holiday season, we are re-releasing our episode Let the Light In. Celebrate this moment of transition with a walk in the woods as we share stories of solstice celebration’s from around the world. From old legends to new traditions, join us as we explore how, even during these darker months, we can find ways to let light into our liv

REPLAY-The Return of Spooky Trees

Oct 28 2023 27 mins

Happy Halloween! We are busy working on future episodes to be released soon, but couldn't let this magical time of year pass without a frightful celebration! As the full moon rises, we gather around the campfire for a replay of our special Spooky Trees episode! Join us for supernatural, mysterious, and unexpected tree tales from around the world to get you into the Samhain spir

REPLAY-The 9/11 Survivor Tree with Ron Vega

Sep 10 2023 38 mins

To commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11, we share this replay of our episode that featured the 9/11 Survivor Tree, a Callery Pear tree found during the excavation of Ground Zero in NYC. Our guest, Ron Vega, shares his insightful and touching story of how he championed and helped nurture the tree from a wounded, burned stump to the powerful sign of hope and survival that it repre

REPLAY- Tree of Life and Mother's Day

May 13 2023 38 mins

We at Tree Speech are incredibly grateful to Stephanie Kaza and our mothers, Miriam Robinson, Anne-Marie Roach and Jackie Vandenberg for joining us today. Dr. Stephanie Kaza is Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont and former Director of the UVM Environmental Program. She co-founded the Environmental Council at UVM and served as faculty director fo

Tu B’Shevat and Season Wrap-Up

Feb 10 2023 35 mins

In the final episode of our fourth season, producer and co-writer Jonathan Zautner interviews podcast host Dori Robinson about the Jewish “New Year of the Trees” - Tu B’Shevat. We continue to commemorate the close of the season by discussing our thoughts on the guests and topics we have covered. Did you have a favorite episode, a thought about family trees, or a suggestion ab

TREES, INC.: Transgender Resource, Education & Enrichment Services with Meghan Buell

Jan 20 2023 34 mins

In this episode, we speak with Meghan Buell, the founder of TREES, Inc., the Transgender Resource, Education, and Enrichment Services organization that she created and leads to provide transgender education to small towns and rural America. TREES, Inc. is driven by the need to stem the rash of transgender discrimination by using education to create a more inclusive environment for

Open-Air Life with Linda Åkeson McGurk

Jan 06 2023 30 mins

Happy New Year, Tree Speechers! We celebrate 2023 and our 30th episode by speaking with Swedish-American author Linda Åkeson McGurk, whose book "The Open-Air Life: Discover the Nordic Art of Friluftsliv and Embrace Nature Every Day” shows us how to embody a Frilufsliv life by getting outside and embracing the outdoors no matter the time of year or temperature. Our conversations