Hello Unknown

Reflector Project is hosting a special live event for Hello Unknown podcast listeners on Wednesday October 29, 2025. Tickets are here: https://reflector-project.square.site/product/tasting-room-theology-with-jonathan-wright/HTCPQP6EWX5TQ7PU7OR4BBLH?cs=true. The venue is the Reflector Studio, at 736 14th Street East, North Vancouver BC V7L 2P4 (yes, the studio is behind a house). Hope to see you there!

In our season finale, a railroad in Bermuda and a law firm in Vancouver. It's success, failure, and the cost to continue when everything is breaking down.

In this episode Jonathan has a stargazing panic attack. Today, we bring you the Dead Frog Theory and a puzzle from the beginning of time.

Coffee, a pope, and the spiritual being of the secondary universe. In this episode we bring you the history of coffee and get really high on God.

Is Jonathan literally the WORST HUMAN IMAGINABLE? We answer this question with the stories of an 18th century proto-Sherlock and a 21st century English major.

In March '94, with POGs fever gripping his school, 11‑year‑old Chad spots the problem no one else can solve: the slammer. In this episode, the rise and fall of two POGs empires, and what it means to play for keeps.

In our first episode of season two: a Glasgow rivalry and god fans in Vancouver. Welcome back to Hello Unknown!

In the final episode of season 1, Jonathan Wright confronts the unknown, telling the stories of two Hawaiian malls: one in a pineapple cannery in Lahaina and the other in Jonathan's mind.

Sources

Sarah Ruppenthal, "The Sweet and Sour History of the Pineapple in Hawai'i", Flux Hawai'i, https://fluxhawaii.com/hawaii-pineapple-the-sweet-and-sour-history-of-the-island-fruit/

Duane P. Bartholomew, Richard A. Hawkins, Johnny A. Lopez, "Hawaii Pineapple: The Rise and Fall of an Industry", HortScience, https://journals.ashs.org/hortsci/view/journals/hortsci/47/10/article-p1390.xml

Thos. G. Thrum, "Hawaiian Annual for 1927 - The Refernece Book of Information and Statistics Relating to the Territory of Hawaii", chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://evols.library.manoa.hawaii.edu/bitstream/10524/32424/1927.pdf

"Labor in the Territory of Hawaii 1939", United States Department of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://fraser.stlouisfed.org/files/docs/publications/bls/bls_0687_1940.pdfhttps://www.google.com/search?q=labor+in+the+territory+of+hawaii+1939+bulletin+no+687&oq=labor+in+the+territory+of+hawaii+1939+bulletin+no+687&aqs=chrome..69i57.11412j1j7&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8

A monk sees footprints in the snow. He follows the footprints, belonging to his teenaged religious leader, to the home of his forbidden lover. Buddhist Tibet explodes.

In this episode Jonathan Wright tells the history of his favourite Dalai Lama and reads his old notebooks to try and answer the question of how we tell our life stories.

Sources

Mark Tatz, "Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama", The Tibet Journal, https://www.jstor.org/stable/43300034

Geoffrey Waters, "White Crane: Love Songs of the Sixth Dalai Lama", White Pine Press, https://www.amazon.ca/White-Crane-Songs-Sixth-Dalai/dp/1893996824

What do the TV Show Lost and Jonathan's dating history have in common?

In this episode Jonathan Wright watches the first 10 episodes and last 10 episodes of Lost (why??) and also delves into his extremely anxious dating history to answer the question of whether it might, sometimes, be good to get a little lost.

Sources

Chris DeVille, "Lost Was The Best Before It Was The Worst", Deadspin, https://deadspin.com/lost-was-the-best-before-it-was-the-worst-1635804502

Jen Chaney, "No, They Weren't Dead the Whole Time", Vulture, https://www.vulture.com/article/lost-series-finale-oral-history-the-end.html