The Casual Geographer Ep. 25: SEATTLE

A few things about this weeks’ guest/Seattle expert, Tree, that we completely forgot to touch upon in this week’s episode.

• It’s not her real name, but it may as well be.
• She witnessed authorities remove the body of late Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley from a University District neighborhood in April of 2002. She didn’t know it was Staley’s remains until after the fact, but still…
• She lived in the building that serial killer Ted Bundy had once lived in.

Given those sordid factoids that we omitted, one may assume that this week’s episode wasn’t completely awesome. Do you know what happens when you assume, though? That’s because this week’s episode on Seattle and the Pacific Northwest was completely awesome. And given what we do learn in chatting with Tree about her native lands, those three facts imprint here even more into Seattle/Olympia/western sound lore as a permanent O.G. than we even thought possible. So, that’s why we were ecstatic to have her on board for this.

Twenty years after Seattle exploded onto the American consciousness as the city of flannel, coffee, and grunge, it is easy to forget that it had long been an all-American city of flannel, coffee, and intensely local hard rock and punk bands for years before that. In fact, many would argue that the 1990’s killed a lot of what made Seattle special. Yuppies poured in to work for Microsoft and Starbucks, driving up real estate in certain neighborhoods that had long been pockets of immigrant culture (e.g. Ballard, long known as a Scandinavian stronghold). Regardless, it remains a somewhat isolated jewel of American culture, buried up there in a pile of recycled coffee cups, next to all of those friendly people who don't really want your number. This will all make perfect sense after you have a listen. Download the episode on itunes or listen right here!




Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Alice in Chains - "Them Bones"
"The City It is a Changin'" (Bob Dylan parody) from Almost Live!
Woody Guthrie - "Pastures of Plenty"
Modest Mouse - "Bukowski"
The Postal Service - "This Place is a Prison"
Jimi Hendrix - "Castles Made of Sand"

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Presenting Episode 24: The Geography of Winter Sports!!

Happy Thanksgiving! Sorry it took us forever and a day (if "forever" was just short of a week) to get this one online, but it's a busy time for us and we imagine all of you, too. Anyway, on this episode, we deferred to our resident expert on Snowboarding, Skiing, and things that involve snow and certain human injury, Bret, for a lively chat about the encroaching late-Fall and Winter seasons, and what those of us who are planning to strap our feet into clamp-boots, attach them to planks, and accelerate down icy slopes should know and expect! 

Don't think this doesn't include you, no matter where you live. Granted, our focus from last week, Florida, isn't exactly a winter sports haven (unless the Lightning or Panthers weren't actually in a contract dispute), but even, say, our Moroccan friends have plenty of ski slopes in the Atlas Mountain range. Californians always have Lake Tahoe, Mammoth, and a handful of other places to perform those moves you practiced on 1080 Snowboarding for the N64 back in the day. The cool thing about Bret's experience is that, despite growing up in Southern California, he's been snowboarding for most of his life. Tyler grew up in New England, but prefers ice skating and hockey over anything involving slopes, mostly due to a bad injury he once sustained, and also because he's kind of a wuss.

Anyway, grab some hot cocoa, pull up a chair next to the fire, and hope you enjoy!

Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Labyrinth Ear - "Snow White"
Matt Pond PA - "Snow Day"
Frodus - "The Earth Isn't Humming"


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Presenting Episode 23: Florida!

Considering how, particularly in an election year, emotions become heated in light of this "red state/blue state" dichotomy that the media have resorted to ingraining in our collective psyche, it is no surprise that certain states catch an unfair amount of flak.

Take Florida: why do people hate it so much? Well, we don't know, but what we can do is give our 27th State a fair shake on the show. And why not? Not only is Florida the land that gave us plenty of good (Tom Petty, No Idea Records, Space Shuttles, Todd Barry, Oranges and more oranges), but the 2000 election fiasco was 12 whole years ago, and far be it from us to criticize a SOUTHERN STATE (people forget this about Florida) for being politically divided.

Hot Water Music

In fact, we could even venture to say that there are no other states (maybe even nowhere in the world) quite like Florida. You've got swamps, Gators, adorable towns, the world's most ubiquitous theme park and resort, tons of good colleges and the subsequent hipsters, some of the world's tightest sets of Jewish and Cuban populations. Also, raise your hand if YOUR state can boast the musical contributions of both Gloria Estefan and Chuck Ragan. Didn't think so.

Enjoy this episode, best taken in with a tall glass of orange juice (what you add to that OJ is up to you). If you're in the mood, subscribe to it on iTunes here!

Sunset in Mayo, FL

Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Miami Sound Machine - "Conga"
Little League (Tallahassee) - "Hope Go Round" & "Hot Knife"
Torche (Miami) - "UFO"
Rational Anthem (Sarasota) - "Blackout Magic"
Tom Petty (Gainesville) - "Deliver Me"
Merchandise (Tampa) - "I Locked the Door"
Hot Water Music (Gainesville) - "Moonpies for Misfits"
Radon (Gainesville) - "Wasting Time"


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Presenting Episode 22: St. Petersburg aka Санкт-Петербург

Felled by illness, the mighty Bret had to sit out this week's episode that just happened to be on a place that Tyler had never been to and didn't know a whole lot about. So what did we do? Lay down our sword and have them replay that episode from the time we talked about beer? NO! We forged on, inviting a friend of ours (Emily!) into the studio whose love of St. Petersburg and Mother Russia at large knows no bounds. 

What made this episode so great was that for the first time, we went LIVE to the East Coast (via phone) for an expert on our subject. Ted, an urban developer with a special eye for public transit (a great thing to have a special eye for), joins us on the phone to talk about his time and his program's (University of Maryland) work over in the original St. Pete this summer! (You can read their public final report HERE). He and Emily both really got going talking about this place...sounds like Tyler (and you, dear reader/listener) should consider spending some time there!

Een Soviet Russia, urban design work hard on you!

It's actually the world's northernmost city with a population of 1 Million-plus! Did you know that? Well, if you did, then there's still plenty for you to learn. So dust off your old Soviet knock-off pilots' hat, subscribe to our fine podcast on iTunes, and listen right here! You'll be saying "Спасибо" (Thanks) and pounding the vodka in no time!



Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Supergrass - "St. Petersburg"
Аква́риум - "Rock’n’Roll Heroes (Young Punks)" (Герои Рок-н-ролла (молодая шпана))
Пилот - "Времена Года"

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Episode 21! Presenting "The Geography of Death!"

Quick. Name a society that's more death-denying than our own here in the USofA. Probably can't, can you? How did it come to this? Well, truth be told, it doesn't matter, because we're all gonna die!! That's right. Death will become us. And there's no use in pretending like it's not something vastly important to the very art of living.

In honor of this quite universal truth (unless there really are vampires or other immortal beings walking the Earth), and with the encroaching Halloween holiday that inspires so many normally respectable young women to find the sexy/trashy angle of just about any costume, we wanted to bring it straight up on this week's episode.

Laura doesn't own this, but regularly addresses it in the style of Wayne Campbell addressing that white Strat. If you lived during the 90's, you have no excuse to not get that reference.

And who better to talk about death with than someone whose career is working with the dead? Meet our good friend Laura, a mortician who loves her line of work more than sugar-high kids love filling pillowcases with fun size bags of skittles and bottle caps every October 31st.

See, as we said, everybody dies, and when someone does pass along, it's up to our trusty morticians, coroners, funeral...people, and others in the industry to take good care of the ex-citizens, particularly since the family they left behind are grieving, the politics of burial are constantly changing, and oh yeah! Science!

Laura sits down and talks to us about the ins (embalming fluid) and outs (blood, other fluids the person carried around inside of themselves throughout their life) of caring for the dead. You'll be amazed at what you hear and (to a lesser degree, cause this is radio) see! Bucking the stereotype of morticians as "that creepy old dude at the morgue," Laura is in fact a lovely young woman, who saw fit to show up in her lovely hearse dress that we couldn't deny you all.

Fingernails coordinated, too.

Have a safe and happy Halloween, and enjoy our episode on the Geography of DEATH. OoooOOOOOoooooooooOOOOO (that's the best werewolf howl we can express using the Latin alphabet).



Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Saves the Day - "At Your Funeral"
Pixies - "Dead"
They Might Be Giants - "Exquisite Dead Guy"
eels - "P.S. You Rock My World"

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Presenting Episode 20: Human Trafficking (with My Refuge House)

One of the greatest things about Geography is that many people in this community are working day in and day out to help us understand the world better and fight many of the injustices sweltering in what seems like every corner of the globe. As Tyler mentions at the top of this episode, we here at The Casual Geographer make light of a lot of things. Some issues, however, are so ingrained and tragic, that we need to step down off our goofy soapbox and onto a more serious one. One of those issues is Human Trafficking.

Cebu City, Epicenter of Human Trafficking

Like it or not, every country in the world is affected by sexual (and other types of) slavery, including our own. Some countries, like the Philippines, are so ridden with human trafficking that people around the globe are bonding together to ease the pain a little. Enter My Refuge House and our guest for this episode, Crystal Sprague.

Crystal, a veteran of international service work in the South Pacific, was appointed Executive Director of My Refuge House last year, in large part due to our good friend and My Refuge House volunteer (Diver) Dennis, who blesses us with his presence yet again at the beginning of this episode!

We learned a lot from Crystal about the ins and outs, the unfortunate cultural imprints, and ways in which groups like My Refuge House are fighting human trafficking halfway across the globe. As we mention toward the end of the episode, keep this organization in mind as the holiday charity-giving season approaches! And listen to this episode below, Listen right here, or download that 'cast on iTunes!



Join us this Thursday for a special spooooky Halloween episode about the Geography of DEATH. (ooooOOOooooo)

Produced by Tyler S. for TDC Productions
Theme Song: "The Face of the Earth" by The Dismemberment Plan
Other Music Included:
Moscow Olympics - "What Is Left Unsaid"
The Parasites - "Refuge"
The Siamese Twins - "Don't Forgive Lightly"
Mumford & Sons - "The Cave"

And don't forget to hit up THE CASUAL GEOGRAPHER ON...
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Tomorrow: My Refuge House!

A quick note reminding you to tune in tomorrow at 1pm PT for a special episode with guest Crystal Sprague, the CEO of My Refuge House, an international organization doing amazing work to fight human trafficking!

Crystal will be hosting an informal Q&A Session at KBeach Radio at 12:30 pm PT tomorrow. Stop through and ask her some questions about her work before we hit the air. KBeach is located in the bottom floor of the student center at Cal State Long Beach.