Constant Wonder

When she was growing up, Dr. Kate Kennedy dreamed of becoming a professional cellist. After a devastating injury at music school, this dream was cut short. However, in recent years, Kennedy has reclaimed her identity as a cellist. She set out across Europe to investigate how cellists connect to their instruments. On her journey, she learned about the story of Pál Hermann—a composer and cello virtuoso who was killed in the Holocaust. After learning about his story, Kate was determined to find his long-lost cello to restore this precious instrument—the soul of Pál Hermann—to his daughter, Corrie, now in her mid-90s.

Guest: Dr. Kate Kennedy, writer, cellist and broadcaster, and author of Cello: A Journey Through Silence to Sound

Audio of Sam Lucas playing Pál Hermann's Cello Concerto at Wigmore Hall used with permission from Kate Kennedy - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3I18yVuCEY&t=2s

Audio of Kate Kennedy performing Bach's Cello Suite No. 2 in D minor used with permission from the Kaunas Ninth Fort Museum and Kate Kennedy

Audio of Deirdre Bencsik playing the "bee cello" used with permission from Professor Martin Bencsik and the Bee Cello Project

Everyday people overcome seemingly insurmountable hurdles to produce fine art. Due to decades of historical isolation, the quilters of Gee's Bend, Alabama developed a radical, abstract approach to quilting. We meet two quilters from the small town who have quilts on display in some of the finest museums in the country. We also meet a contemporary furniture maker whose work is a living history of Black craft.

Guests:

Robell Awake, chairmaker, teacher, and author of "A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects" https://www.robellawake.com

Essie Bendolph Pettway, quilter from Gee’s Bend, Alabama. Her work is in the permanent collections of the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Alabama, and the Studio Museum in Harlem, New York https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/essie-bendolph-pettway

Louisiana P. Bendolph, quilter from Gee's Bend, Alabama. Her quilts are in the permanent collections of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, Clark Atlanta University Art Museum, The High Museum of Art, The Dallas Museum of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and The Metropolitan Museum of Art https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/artist/louisiana-p-bendolph

Gee's Bend Quiltmakers: https://www.soulsgrowndeep.org/gees-bend-quiltmakers

Illustration of Harriet Powers courtesy of Johnalynn Holland, illustrator of "A Short History of Black Craft in Ten Objects" https://johnalynnholland.com/

Photo of "Conjure Memory - Things Fall Apart" courtesy of Robell Awake

Facing the loss of her Elkmont cabin in the Great Smoky Mountains—a family treasure for five generations—Lynn Faust began to pay more attention to the fireflies there, the "light show," as the family called it, where thousands of fireflies would light up in unison. When she read that synchronous fireflies did not exist in North America, she knew that scientists were wrong. The creatures were right in her own yard! Realizing just how little was known about these enchanting insects, she set out to observe them, becoming a self-taught firefly expert and unveiling the mysteries of nature's tiny lanterns.

Guest: Lynn Faust, author of "Fireflies, Glow-worms, and Lightning Bugs: Identification and Natural History of the Fireflies of the Eastern and Central United States and Canada"

Learn more about Lynn Faust's book: https://www.ugapress.org/9780820348728/fireflies-glow-worms-and-lightning-bugs/

Photo credit: SmokyMountains.com

Originally aired April 3, 2024

The Hanbury-Tenisons have turned to a rare temperate rainforest on their family farm for solace and renewal after emotional and physical trauma. Now they want to share this healing resource with others. But they also want to restore and expand the ancient forest. Healing the land and healing ourselves in this episode of Constant Wonder.

Guests:

Merlin Hanbury-Tenison, author of "Our Oaken Bones: Reviving a Family, a Farm and Britain’s Ancient Rainforests" and founder of Cabilla retreat center

Lizzie Hanbury-Tenison, founder of Cabilla retreat center

Rob Stoneman, Director of Landscape Recovery  Landscape Recovery for the British Wildlife Trusts

Read the Hanbury-Tensions' book: https://www.penguin.co.uk/books/462415/our-oaken-bones-by-hanbury-tenison-merlin/9781529144222

Learn more about the Cabilla Retreat: https://www.cabillacornwall.com/vision/

Find them online:

Merlin's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/p/DHya0T1KkP4/

Rob Stoneman's X/Twitter: https://x.com/RobStoneman

Ever since "Dracula," bats have been seen as terrifying threats that carry disease. They're actually essential to our agriculture and industry. In this episode of Constant Wonder, you'll meet an expert who can set the record straight. No wonder he's known as "The Batman of Mexico"; he's been obsessed with the flying mammals since he was young!

Guest: Rodrigo Medellin, Professor of Ecology at the National Autonomous University of Mexico

Learn more about Rodrigo Medellín's research:

Research Gate: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Rodrigo-Medellin-3

Find him online!

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/batmanmedellin/?hl=en

Originally aired July 19, 2023

Hummingbirds are often admired for their dazzling speed and iridescent beauty, but their nesting habits remain one of nature's best-kept secrets. Citizen scientist Eric Pittman takes us into this hidden world, sharing his firsthand observations of hummingbird mothers as they build intricate nests and nurture their young—right in his very own backyard. Join us as we explore the hidden wonders of nature that await when we take the time to look.

Visit Eric Pittman's website to see more hummingbirds up close: https://www.hummingbirdsupclose.com/

Guest: Eric Pittman, Hummingbirds Up Close; subject of "The Bird in My Backyard" documentary

Photo credit: Eric Pittman

Select hummingbird audio courtesy of Paul Marvin and Cornell Lab of Ornithology | Macaulay Library

Educator and activist Septima Clark used her passion for teaching to increase literacy rates in the Deep South, preparing Black citizens to pass the voter registration tests that were designed to disenfranchise them.

Guest: Elaine Weiss, author of "Spell Freedom: The Underground Schools that Built the Civil Rights Movement"

Septima Clark reader: Janice L. Jones

Find Elaine Weiss online:

Author page: https://elaineweiss.com/

X/Twitter: https://x.com/efweiss5?lang=en

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ElaineWeissAuthor/

Photo Caption: Septima Poinsette Clark, 1973; Photo Credit: Avery Research Center for African American History and Culture, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC.

News footage courtesy of EasyStreet, Pond5, www.pond5.com

The best way to see the world is on foot, it might be argued. Mary Colwell has had amazing encounters with wildlife on her walking treks around the globe. She's even used her walks to raise awareness and increase protection of the fascinating but imperiled curlew.

Mary Colwell, Director of Curlew Action; TV and radio producer, conservationist; author, "Curlew Moon"

Learn more about Curlew Action:

https://www.curlewaction.org/

Find Mary Colwell online:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marycolwell1/?hl=en

When Paula Whyman started trying to rehabilitate 200 acres she'd just bought, she knew very little about conservation. Among many other challenges, she faced off with mile-a-minute vine and rattlesnakes, but, with self-effacing humor and passion for this corner of the Blue Ridge Mountains, she persisted (and still persists!) in restoring the land to a healthy equilibrium.

Guest: Paula Whyman, author of "Bad Naturalist: One Woman’s Ecological Education on a Wild Virginia Mountaintop"

Find Paula Whyman online: https://paulawhyman.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/paulawhymanauthor/?hl=en

Use the power of retreat and meditation to ease the stress of our frenetic lifestyle. From decades of friendship with the Dalai Lama, Pico Iyer has learned the value of sacred silence.

Guest: Pico Iyer, author of "Aflame: Learning from Silence"

Explore Pico Iyer's work: https://picoiyerjourneys.com/#about