Outside/In

Growing up, Kiese Laymon thought of himself as a city kid. But he spent his childhood with a foot in two worlds: his mom’s house in the capital city of Jackson, Mississippi and his grandma’s house in a rural country town.

It wasn’t until Kiese left Mississippi that he came to understand that this question of city versus country actually meant a lot more. It carries a lot of baggage: the tensions between north and south, tectonic historical forces, and the contradictions of life in Mississippi.

In this episode, originally published in 2025, our producer Justine Paradis sits down with writer Kiese Laymon for a conversation on this question of country versus city, what that has to do with the history of Black life in this country, and the story of Kiese’s first children’s picture book, his latest in a lifelong exploration of a complicated love of Mississippi.

Featuring Kiese Laymon.

Produced by Justine Paradis. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to join our Patreon and get ad-free episodes of the podcast. 

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ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

Kiese Laymon’s first children’s book, City Summer, Country Summer. 

If you’d like to read more by Kiese, we recommend “Da Art of Storytellin’ (A Prequel)”, his essay about Outkast, his grandmother, and stank. (Oxford American)

Kiese adapted City Summer, Country Summer from this 2020 prose-poem essay. (New York Times)

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Dean Russell had just wrapped several reporting projects on climate change, mental health, and COVID. “My world was just so serious,” he said. That’s when his boss approached Dean with an idea. What if they made a fiction podcast about climate change? 

At first Dean wasn’t sold, but a few years later he’s become a full believer, and is the co-creator of WBUR’s The Midnight Rebellion, a choose-your-own-adventure podcast set in a futuristic climate-ravaged Boston. 

This week we’re sharing the first episode of the series. But we also hear from Dean directly about what it was like to tackle such a different kind of storytelling and why he thinks embracing a format borrowed from a hit book-genre of the nineties is so apt for exploring climate action. 

Featuring Dean Russell, and the cast of The Midnight Rebellion.

To hear the rest of the series, subscribe to The Midnight Rebellion wherever you get your podcasts.

Interview portion produced by Taylor Quimby. The Midnight Rebellion is produced by Dean Russell. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org. 

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Producer Felix Poon goes on a field trip to the headquarters of Consumer Reports, where they test snow blowers on wet sawdust, drop bicycle helmets on anvils, and cover space heaters in towels to see how long it takes them to catch fire. 

How do they come up with this stuff? And, in a world of rampant consumerism, can Consumer Reports really be a force for good?

Featuring Barrie Rosen, Paul Hope, Chris Regan, Scott Collum, Matt Schimmenti, Indu Sunkara, Paolo Fu, Sana Mujahid, Joan Muratore, and Phil Radford.

Produced by Felix Poon. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to join our Patreon and get ad-free episodes of the podcast. 

Follow Outside/In on Instagram, TikTok, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

In Consumer Reports’ very first issue were investigations into the difference between Grade A versus Grade B milk (there was none) and the practice of “slack-fill,” when cereal companies put more air than cereal in their cereal boxes.

Learn more about some of the topics referenced throughout the episode:

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At the height of summer, when so many of us are grabbing picnic blankets, hitting the beach, and embracing an al fresco lifestyle, a tale of two outdoor events gone spectacularly wrong. 

Featuring Anika Krause, Samuel Edward-Cook, Eloise Barker, Simon Vargas, and Stephen Deng.

Produced by Marina Henke. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org  

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to join our Patreon and get ad-free episodes of the podcast. 

Follow Outside/In on Instagram, TikTok, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

You can watch the 2014 production of Titus Andronicus on the Globe’s website. As discussed, it’s incredibly bloody. 

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For over ten years, biologist Mark Higley has been stalking the forests of the Hoopa Valley Reservation with a shotgun. His mission? To save the endangered northern spotted owl. How? By shooting the more aggressive barred owl, which has spread from eastern forests into the Pacific Northwest.

In 2024, the federal government made a plan to scale these efforts by killing hundreds of thousands of barred owls across multiple states. Today, despite lawsuits and opposition, that plan is just beginning to ramp up. 

But can it really save the northern spotted owl? And is the barred owl really “invasive”… or just expanding its range? In this episode, Nate Hegyi dons a headlamp and heads into the forest with Mark Higley to catch a glimpse of these two rivals, and find out what it takes to kill these charismatic raptors, night after night, in the name of conservation.

This episode was first published in 2024. 

Featuring Mark Higley, Tom Wheeler, and Wayne Pacelle. 

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to join our Patreon and get ad-free episodes of the podcast. 

Follow Outside/In on Instagram, TikTok, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

ADDITIONAL MATERIALS

The federal government’s barred owl management plan is very long but they have a helpful list of frequently asked questions.

Check out some beautiful photos of Mark Higley’s work in this Audubon magazine story from a few years ago. 

Curious about the timber wars? Oregon Public Broadcasting has an excellent podcast miniseries you should listen to. 

Animal rights groups have sued to stop the plan from moving forward; in the meantime, People Magazine has reported that culling of barred owls is ramping up in the Yakama Indian Reservation.

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As consumers, we’re looking for a lot in our sunscreen. Not only do we want it to protect us from sunburns and skin cancer, we also want it to be invisible, lightweight, waterproof, nontoxic, shelf-stable, and cheap. 

Can we have it all in one product? Sometimes, the answer might be no. 

It’s high time for the Outside/In team to take a closer look at this surprisingly high-tech lotion that we apply every day (in theory). We review the definition of SPF, the choice between mineral and chemical filters, and if sunscreen is safe for our bodies and the environment. 

Featuring Anna Wang, David Whiteman, Ade Adamson, and Alexa Friedman.

Produced by Justine Paradis. For full transcript and credits, visit outsideinradio.org.

SUPPORT

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to join our Patreon and get ad-free episodes of the podcast. 

Follow Outside/In on Instagram, TikTok, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

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To the American birder, spotting the Tamaulipas Crow is potentially a once-in-a-lifetime event. The crow's range is mostly in Mexico and extends ever so slightly into Texas, specifically in and around a dump called the Brownsville Landfill. Spotting the Tamaulipas — north of the border — means being able to check it off your American Bird Association Checklist.

So just how far will die-hard birders go to see this bird?

In this episode producer (and first-time birder) Michaela Elias sets out to the southern border with a group of experienced birder friends to find out. Together with her "wingmen" Michaela braves the Texas heat, crawls through brush and over slippery rocks, and risks getting attacked by dogs — to find out whether collecting bird sightings as if they're Pokémon is a meaningful way to engage with the natural world.

Featuring Jake Glassman, Joe Hack, and Joel Glassman. 

Produced by Michaela Elias. For full credits and transcript, visit outsideinradio.org.

Outside/In is made possible with listener support. Click here to join our Patreon and get ad-free episodes of the podcast. 

Follow Outside/In on Instagram, TikTok, or join our private discussion group on Facebook.

LINKS

Check out the eBird app, a crowdsourced database of bird observations that lets you log all the birds you’ve seen and where you’ve seen them.

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Pickleball is the fastest growing sport in America. It may also be the most hated. Tennis and basketball players are complaining about losing court space because of an “invasion” of pickleballers. Residents are losing sleep because of the incessant noise. Fights over pickleball have led to a slew of petitions, calls to the police, and even lawsuits.

So why do pickleball players love this sport so much? Just how annoying is it to everyone else? And what will it take for everyone to just get along? 

Producer Felix Poon visits one of the most popular courts in Boston to see how the drama is unfolding there.

This episode was originally reported in 2025.

Featuring Kemardo Henry, Martha Merson, Soren Whited, and Zariyah Cherise.

For a transcript and full list of credits, go to outsideinradio.org. 

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