Show Notes
Welcome to The Wild Spectacle Podcast, a flash-cast series with host Janisse Ray about ongoing and meaningful participation in a world that matters.
Episode #10 | Susan Usha Dermond | A Shedding Snake
Susan Usha Dermond is a teacher. She began her career teaching English in public high schools, then pivoted and taught for many years in the Education for Life system, mostly in the fourth through ninth grades at the first Living Wisdom School at Ananda Village in northern California. She is the author of a handbook for teachers and parents, Calm and Compassionate Children (Random House). She lives in the Sierra foothills of northern California in an intentional community based on yoga and meditation principles. Her favorite activities are gardening, reading, and watching tufted titmice.
Highlights of the Story
2:20—Susan decides how wild she is.
3:00—The story begins.
4:05—“I noticed a little movement.”
4:55—The snake looks as if it has crawled through ashes.
6:00—“I was one with everything.”
7:05—We talk about people who animals trust.
8:15—Why Susan doesn’t put up feeders.
8:50—She names her favorite bird.
10:35—Susan names a very different way to rewild.
11:25—She calls for planting living growing things other than grass as space and cover for wildlife.
“Think about epiphany. Think about change. Think about the moments that make your face burn, your fingers tingle. Wild Spectacle is about those shocks, encounters that shift the way we see the world and ourselves in it…If the water we drink is maybe older than the sun, then ancient magic pounds inside our skins, too. So speak it. Tell it forth. Cry aloud and call it back home.”
-Joni Tevis, author of The Wet Collection and The World is On Fire
Thank You
Thank you for listening.
If you like what we’re doing here, give this show a thumbs-up, post it on your socials, and/or forward it to your friends.
Janisse Ray’s book Wild Spectacle: Seeking Wonders in a World Beyond Humans inspired the podcast. If you’d like a copy of the book, visit your favorite bookstore or library. Or you may order at www.janisseray.com/bookshop.
Find Janisse on Facebook at “Janisse Ray, Author” and on Instagram @janisseray_writer.
Thanks to Axletree for their beautiful music, “Clothe the Fields with Plenty,” an orchestral piece inspired by a traditional Hampshire folk song, “The Painful Plough,” from Axletree’s project “Music from a Hampshire Farm.” Thanks to the Free Music Archive.
We’re eager for new voices on the show, so if you’d like to come on and tell a story, be in touch at Janisse Ray’s website, janisseray.com/contact.
Go See Some Nature
If we’re going to make a dent in changing our world, we have to understand what kind of amazements it contains. So many people begin to work on behalf of the planet because they see a natural phenomenon, large or small, that infuses them with admiration and wonder. So get out in nature. Take a friend with you. Especially a child. Go see a wild phenomenon. Amaze yourself. Connect yourself. Let’s get wild!
Over the years I’ve seen many snakes use an ancient redbud tree on our farm for shedding. The deep crevices in its bark seems to help them scrape off their old skins to make room for the new. And I grabbed a screenshot of Susan and me talking:
Thank you for listening to the Wild Spectacle podcast. I’m serious about wanting to hear your story. Why don’t you let me record you telling yours?
Ep #10 | Susan Usha Dermond | A Shedding Snake