The Mountain Stories Podcast

This summer we are collaborating with Dr. Xiumei Pu in her Project, "Mountains and Stories: Building Community Among Asian and Pacific Islander Refugee and Immigrant Families in Salt Lake Valley," with the support of a Whiting Public Engagement Programs Seed Grant. Anchored in the theme of mountains, the project consists of a twelve-part podcast and a documentary, a storytelling-conversation cultural event (June 26, 2021), and a group hike in the Wasatch Mountains (October 23, 2021). It is our hope that these efforts will amplify the environmental voices of Asian and Pacific Islander refugee and immigrant communities, and spark more public interest in thinking about the connection between culture, identity, and the natural environment. You can listen to previous episodes here on the IMR Podcast website.

At the heart of the project is a podcast series featuring the life and work of twelve storytellers who come from a range of age groups, occupations, and ethnic and racial backgrounds. Some of them are born in the United States; many of them are born in another Asian country or Pacific Island and immigrated to the US at a young age. Their stories show fascinating complexities of immigration routes and histories, incredible cultural richness and resilience, and long-lasting contributions of the Asian and Asian Pacific Islander communities to the social life and cultural landscapes of Salt Lake Valley and the broader Utah.

You can register for the June 26th event via this google form.

Today we hear from Emilio Manuel Camu. Emilio is a queer Tagalog-Bikolnon Filipino immigrant and first-generation graduate of the University of Utah, where he received both his BS Communication and Asian Pacific Islander Studies and MEd in Educational Leadership & Policy. For the past eleven years, he has served on the boards of numerous Asian Pacific Islander organizations both locally and nationally demonstrating his commitment to equity and justice. He currently serves as the National Vice President of Education & Culture for OCA National, Director and current president of OCA Asian Pacific Islander American Advocates Utah, founder and director of the Filipino American National Historical Society Utah, and the treasurer for Mana Academy Charter School.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

The Institute for Mountain Research is located on the ancestral and traditional lands of the Ute, Goshute, and Shoshone Peoples.

Special Guest: Emilio Manuel Camu.

Sponsored By:

• The Whiting Public Engagement Programs: The Whiting Public Engagement Programs, including the Public Engagement Fellowship and the Public Engagement Seed Grant, celebrate and empower humanities faculty who embrace public engagement as part of their scholarly vocation. They fund ambitious, often collaborative projects to infuse into public life the richness and nuance that give the humanities their lasting value.

Links:

• OCA Utah

We are honored to collaborate with Dr. Xiumei Pu in her Project, "Mountains and Stories: Building Community Among Asian and Pacific Islander Refugee and Immigrant Families in Salt Lake Valley," with the support of a Whiting Public Engagement Programs Seed Grant. Anchored in the theme of mountains, the project consists of a twelve-part podcast and a documentary, a storytelling-conversation cultural event (June 26, 2021), and a group hike in the Wasatch Mountains (October 23, 2021). It is our hope that these efforts will amplify the environmental voices of Asian and Pacific Islander refugee and immigrant communities, and spark more public interest in thinking about the connection between culture, identity, and the natural environment.

At the heart of the project is a podcast series featuring the life and work of twelve storytellers who come from a range of age groups, occupations, and ethnic and racial backgrounds. Some of them are born in the United States; many of them are born in another Asian country or Pacific Island and immigrated to the US at a young age. Their stories show fascinating complexities of immigration routes and histories, incredible cultural richness and resilience, and long-lasting contributions of the Asian and Asian Pacific Islander communities to the social life and cultural landscapes of Salt Lake Valley and the broader Utah.

You can register for the June 26th event via this google form.

In today's episode we talk with Ms. Ze Min Xiao (Ze). She is passionate about helping build strong relationships that result in bringing together various partners while helping guide and build on the future. She has over 20 years of experience working in the public and government sector in advancing equity for immigration and refugees.

Ze directs the newly launched Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging at the Economic Development Corporation of Utah. The Center serves as the private sector commitment to work alongside government and communities of color to advance the principles outlined in the Utah Compact on Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. The Center will focus on advancing economic equity and strengthening community cohesiveness by fostering an environment of belonging for all Utahns.

Ze holds a Master of Art in Community Leadership from Westminster College. She is a fellow of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation’s Community Leadership Network. In her free time, she loves to garden, fishing, and spending time with her husband, two teenage boys, four dogs, and five chickens.

To get yourself caught up on the mountain and stories series, we encourage you to listen to the introductory episode if you haven't done so already.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

The Institute for Mountain Research is located on the ancestral and traditional lands of the Ute, Goshute, and Shoshone Peoples.

Special Guest: Ze Min Xiao.

Sponsored By:

• The Whiting Public Engagement Programs: The Whiting Public Engagement Programs, including the Public Engagement Fellowship and the Public Engagement Seed Grant, celebrate and empower humanities faculty who embrace public engagement as part of their scholarly vocation. They fund ambitious, often collaborative projects to infuse into public life the richness and nuance that give the humanities their lasting value.

Links:

• Economic Development Corporation of Utah: Center for Economic Opportunity and Belonging

We are honored to collaborate with Dr. Xiumei Pu in her Project, "Mountains and Stories: Building Community Among Asian and Pacific Islander Refugee and Immigrant Families in Salt Lake Valley," with the support of a Whiting Public Engagement Programs Seed Grant. Anchored in the theme of mountains, the project consists of a twelve-part podcast and a documentary, a storytelling-conversation cultural event (June 26, 2021), and a group hike in the Wasatch Mountains (October 23, 2021). It is our hope that these efforts will amplify the environmental voices of Asian and Pacific Islander refugee and immigrant communities, and spark more public interest in thinking about the connection between culture, identity, and the natural environment.

At the heart of the project is a podcast series featuring the life and work of twelve storytellers who come from a range of age groups, occupations, and ethnic and racial backgrounds. Some of them are born in the United States; many of them are born in another Asian country or Pacific Island and immigrated to the US at a young age. Their stories show fascinating complexities of immigration routes and histories, incredible cultural richness and resilience, and long-lasting contributions of the Asian and Asian Pacific Islander communities to the social life and cultural landscapes of Salt Lake Valley and the broader Utah.

You can register for the June 26th event via this google form.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research. The Institute for Mountain Research provides a hub to coordinate and support interdisciplinary research and learning related to the cultural, economic, scientific and political facets of mountain landscapes and the people who live in them. We aim to encourage deep and abiding interests in the mountains, the people who live in and near them, and the connections between the two. The Institute supports thinking across disciplinary and political boundaries in order to foster conversations about the landscapes that are part of our lives. We strive to serve as a home for exploration, a refuge for reflection and thought, and a forum for community conversation.

Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys. As our former Mountain Fellow, Naomi used to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• Chinese Women Writers on the Environment A Multi-Ethnic Anthology of Fiction and Nonfiction

In a flashback to winter and the beginning of the pandemic, Jeff Nichols sits down with members of Westminster College's backcountry skiing community to talk about what getting out into the mountains means to them. Back in April, Jeff spoke over Zoom with Westminster Professors Russ Costa, David Baddley, and Will Deutchman, and alum Sally Miller about skiing, the mountains, risk, and how the mountains were helping them get through the lockdown.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• Pixie & The Partygrass Boys

Late last February, Westminster's Student Honors Council invited Hikmet Loe and Russ Costa to lead a discussion around issues of nature and mental health. They called the discussion "Embodied Landscapes, Embodied Minds, and Restorative Nature" and asked Hikmet and Russ to talk about their experiences in nature and links to mental health. Respecting Honors College tradition, Russ and Hikmet grounded this concept in texts, art and photography from around the world. You can see the images Hikmet and Russ discussed below.

Ansel Adams: The Tetons and the Snake River

Stock photo of the moon from Getty Images

Tropical Paradise Beach by Belle Deese on WallpaperUp

Joseph Turner, Rough Sea With Wreckage at the Tate Gallery

Denali (20,310') in the Alaska Range. [Photo] Bradford Washburn Collection, Museum of Science

Andy Goldsworthy, Pebbles around a hole, Kinagashima-Cho, Japan (1987)

Frederick Church: Cotopaxi

Hikmet Loe: Red Rock Canyon National Conservation Area, west of Las Vegas, Nevada, January 2020

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Special Guests: Hikmet Loe and Russ Costa.

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• Pixie & The Partygrass Boys

As we head into Winter Break here in Salt Lake City, I invited Ranjan Adiga, a professor of English to share a story that he's written about the mountains. Today, Ranjan shares a reflection about growing up in Nepal, his move to Utah, and how that move has reframed his relationship to the mountains nearby.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• Ranjan Adiga

Round River Conservation Studies works to acheive large scale wildlife conservation around the world. In this episode we focus on their as one of Westminster's study abroad partners. Their student programs give young people from colleges across the US a chance to serve as field assistants in critical wildlife habitat and conservation areas in Mongolia, Patagonia, Botswana, Belize, and Canada.

Round River field-based study abroad programs provide small groups of students opportunities to contribute to and learn from wildlife conservation efforts in big, wild landscapes. While earning college credit, students from diverse backgrounds study and immerse themselves in the ecology and culture of unique wild places.

Count the infinite stars in the night sky after spending your days counting and monitoring wildlife in the remote landscapes of the Okavango Delta in Botswana.⁠ .⁠ Applications for Fall 2020 and Spring 2021 open now - click the link in bio to apply!⁠ .⁠ Photo credit: Fall 2019 Botswana Assistant Instructor, @the_big_szydlowski⁠ .⁠ #roundriver #studyabroaddifferently #studyabroad #explore #travel #conservation #getoutside #naturalhistory #natureseekers #wildness #wildlifephotography #naturelovers #wilderness #adventuretravel #science #conservationscience #nature #mongolia #darhadvalley #darhad #asia

A post shared by Round River Conserv. Studies (@round.river) on Oct 16, 2019 at 10:08am PDT

I spoke with Elizabeth Brunner (a Round River instructor), Kelsey Barber and Rain Keating (2 students recently returned from Round River Programs), and Frank Black (a Westminster Professor who spent part of his sabbatical with Round River in Patagonia) about their experiences with Round River, what they learned in the work they are doing, and advice they have for students considering a Round River experience.

For can follow Round River on instagram @round.river or check out the blog.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• Round River Student Programs

During the 2017 Fall Semester, 14 students, two professors, and a program coordinator loaded a bunch of books and some camping gear into a trailer, piled into a couple of vans, and took off on a 10,000 mile, 84 day academic adventure around the American West. The trip was designed as an exploration into the issues at the heart of the contemporary West. Students earned 16 credits in environmental studies and history as they study Environmental Cooperation and Conflict, Landscape and Meaning, the History of Public Lands, and the Native West.

This prolonged journey into the field gave us a chance to learn directly from the landscapes and ecosystems of the west. More importantly, we had a chance to talk with the people who live, work, and study in those places. In this weeks podcast, we remember some of the places we visited and people we met. We also take a moment to look forward to the next Expedition, when we'll hit the road with a new cohort of students in the fall of 2020.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• Free Music Archive: napz - Memory (feat Sattaman)

Brenden Rensink, BYU historian and assistant director of the Charles Redd Center, talks about how his trail-running hobby influences his scholarship.

Brenden W. Rensink (Ph.D., 2010) is the Assistant Director of the Charles Redd Center for Western Studies and an Assistant Professor of History at Brigham Young University. Rensink recently published the monograph book, Native but Foreign: Indigenous Immigrants and Refugees in the North American Borderlands (Connecting the Greater West Series, Texas A&M University Press, 2018), co-editor of the forthcoming anthology, Essays on American Indian and Mormon History (University of Utah Press, 2019), co-editor of Documents Vol. 4, and Documents Vol. 6 of the award-winning Joseph Smith Papers projects (Church Historians Press, 2016, 2017), co-author of the Historical Dictionary of the American Frontier (Rowman & Littlefield, 2015), and author multiple articles, book chapters, and reviews. Rensink helps manage events, programming, awards, and research at the BYU Redd Center. He also created and directs two ongoing public history initiatives for the Redd Center: serving as the Project Manager and General Editor of the Intermountain Histories digital public history project and as the Host and Producer of the Writing Westward Podcast. His current research projects include consulting with the Native American Rights Fund, editing a collection of essays on 21st Century West History, and a writing new cultural and environmental history monograph tracing experience in, perception of, and recreation in Western American wilderness landscapes.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Special Guest: Brenden Rensink.

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• Brenden Rensink's personal homepage

In this episode, Westminster College Environmental Studies Professor Xiumei Pu sends us into winter with a reading of a poem by Tao Chien (translated by David Hinton). The episode is, perhaps, best enjoyed with a glass of wine.

Jeff Nichols and Brent Olson co-direct the Institute for Mountain Research and our 2018-2019 Mountain Fellows are Katie Saad and Naomi Shapiro. Our theme song is “Home” by Pixie and the Partygrass Boys.. As Naomi likes to say, “They are awesome and you should check them out.”

Special Guest: Xiumei Pu.

Sponsored By:

• Westminster College, Salt Lake City, Utah: The Institute for Mountain Research is housed at Westminster College, at the base of the Wasatch Mountains in Salt Lake City, Utah. At Westminster, You are someone who is always looking to get more out of life, who yearns for the freedom to explore. You want your college experience to be someplace where you matter. Where your education isn’t just about landing your first job, it’s about starting a meaningful life.

Links:

• The Selected Poems of T'ao Ch'ien