Worth Your Time! with Kristi Lee and Rob Shumaker

Kristi Lee, Dr. Rob Shumaker and guest Josh Arnold break down Oscar season, including best picture, best actor, best actress and best director debates. The conversation covers award show fatigue, movie reviewing culture, streaming versus theaters, and why the big-screen experience still matters. Films discussed include The Golden Compass, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Hamnet, Sinners, Frankenstein, Zootopia 2, Blue Velvet, Basquiat, Blade Runner, Blade Runner 2049, The Godfather, The Wizard of Oz, Lost in Translation, Mamma Mia, Road House, Begonia and Perfect Days, along with reflections on IMAX, movie etiquette and seeing films with an audience.

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Josh Arnold joins Kristi Lee and Dr. Rob Shoemaker for a wide-ranging movie conversation, from black-and-white classics to romantic favorites. They talk about “The Best Years of Our Lives,” “The Philadelphia Story,” “It’s a Wonderful Life,” “Casablanca,” “When Harry Met Sally,” “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” “Out of Africa” and “Once,” plus the reality of how performances and scenes hit differently over time. Then the tone shifts to a debate over the chimp thriller “Primate,” including what the movie gets right and wrong, how rabies and plot rules are handled, and why depictions of apes in entertainment can shape public attitudes.

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In Episode 2 of Worth Your Time, Dr. Rob Shumaker continues his conversation with Ugandan conservationist Mwezi “Badru” Mugerwa, the 2025 Indianapolis Prize Emerging Conservationist Award winner. Mugerwa explains why the African golden cat is listed as vulnerable on the IUCN Red List and how snare traps meant for bush meat can kill the cats as bycatch. He shares how his team works with families around Bwindi Impenetrable National Park on alternative livelihoods, plus the mobile dental clinics behind Smiles for Conservation led by his wife, Dr. Hazel Mugerwa. The episode also points listeners to embaka.org to learn more about the organization named for the cat’s local name, “embaka.”

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In this episode of Worth Your Time, Dr. Rob Shumaker speaks with Mwezi “Badru” Mugerwa, the 2025 Indianapolis Prize Emerging Conservationist Award winner. Mugerwa shares his journey from growing up in Kampala, Uganda, to dedicating 15 years to studying and protecting the elusive African golden cat. The conversation explores his path into conservation, life and fieldwork in Bwindi Impenetrable National Park, and the patience and perseverance required to protect one of Africa’s least understood animals.

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Singer-songwriter Paul Thorn joins Kristi Lee and Dr. Rob Shumaker for Episode 2 of “Worth Your Time,” sharing how Miles Copeland found him playing acoustic sets in a Tupelo, Mississippi, pizza restaurant and how that led to opening for Sting, Jeff Beck and other touring artists. Thorn talks about his new album, “Life Is Just a Vapor,” including the songs “Old Melodies” and “Mission Temple Fireworks Stand,” plus the story behind “It’s a Great Day to Kick Somebody’s Ass” debuting on “The Bob & Tom Show.” He also discusses his songwriting process, his love of coming home, and his musical heroes, including Elvis Presley and John Prine.

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Kristi Lee and Dr. Rob Shumaker welcome singer and songwriter Paul Thorn for a conversation about his childhood in Tupelo, Mississippi, his start singing in Holiness churches, and his early obsession with ventriloquism. Thorn shares how his boxing career led him to a televised fight against Roberto Duran and why he eventually walked away from the sport. He also tells the real story behind “Joni the Jehovah Witness Stripper” and talks about his new album “Life Is Just a Vapor.” The episode features two songs from the new collection and sets up part two, airing on the 15th.

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Dr. Rob Shumaker and Kristi Lee return with Part 2 of their conversation with Dr. Lee James Taylor White and Dr. Catherine “Kate” Abernathy, continuing the story of two conservationists whose work has shaped the future of Africa’s forest elephants.

Kate recounts her near-fatal encounter with a charging forest elephant during a family walk in Gabon, explaining how field instincts and a split-second decision to crawl under the animal allowed her to survive. Lee describes watching the attack unfold and the terrifying moment he prepared to distract the elephant to save her.

The episode moves from that harrowing story into Lee’s years leading Gabon’s national parks, confronting ivory poaching networks tied to Boko Haram, and uncovering large-scale illegal logging operations. He explains how Gabon became the only country in central Africa to grow its forest elephant population during a decade when two thirds of the species were wiped out elsewhere.

Kate shares how her thirty-year data set on fruiting trees and elephant body condition revealed dramatic impacts of climate change on rainforest ecosystems, and how her research network continues even after the 2023 military coup forced the family to leave Gabon.

Together, they reflect on the coup, their family’s evacuation, the struggle to protect conservation progress, and the future of their work.

This episode highlights two voices whose science, leadership, and courage have helped protect the world’s remaining forest elephants.

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Dr. Rob Shumaker and Kristi Lee sit down with 2025 Indianapolis Prize DeHaan Finalist Dr. Lee James Taylor White and fellow conservationist Dr. Catherine “Kate” Abernathy for an extraordinary two-part conversation on wildlife conservation in central Africa.

White shares how he helped create 13 national parks in Gabon, led efforts that protected more than half of the world’s remaining forest elephants, and confronted poaching networks tied to international crime. Abernathy offers vivid insight into decades of field research on gorillas, chimpanzees, and mandrills, including long-term data showing how climate change is reducing fruit availability for wildlife.

They also discuss White’s role as Gabon’s Minister of Forests and Environment, the 2023 military coup that forced him from office, their years living in the Congo Basin, and the dramatic story of Kate surviving a direct charge from a forest elephant.

This episode provides rare, eyewitness accounts of conservation work in the rainforests of Gabon and the Congo Basin from two leading experts recognized by the Indianapolis Prize, the world’s leading award for animal conservation.

Dr. Rob Shumaker and Kristi Lee sit down with 2025 Indianapolis Prize DeHaan Finalist Dr. Lee James Taylor White, Ph.D., and his wife and fellow conservationist Dr. Catherine “Kate” Abernathy. Together they share stories from decades of working in the rainforests of Gabon and the Congo Basin—protecting the critically endangered African forest elephant and studying gorillas, chimpanzees, and mandrills. Dr. White discusses his role in creating 13 national parks in Gabon and leading efforts to safeguard half of the world’s forest elephants, while Dr. Abernathy offers vivid insight into primate behavior and the realities of life in the field.

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Kristi Lee and Dr. Rob Shumaker continue their Halloween series with paranormal investigators and filmmakers Jane Gerlach and Linda Mutchman. The pair share chilling stories of haunted homes, mysterious sounds, and unexplained visions. They discuss their investigations at the Howard County Masonic Lodge in Kokomo, a haunted house in Anderson, and other Midwest sites.

The conversation covers dowsing rods, REM pods, EVPs, and why spirits may linger in certain places. Gerlach and Mann also reflect on the afterlife, fear of the unknown, and the hope found in spiritual connections.

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