Dumbo Feather Podcast

On this episode, we have unlearner, uneducator Manish Jain. Manish is deeply committed to regenerating our diverse local knowledge systems and cultural imaginations. He is one of the leading voices on the planet for “de-schooling” our lives and co-founded some of the most innovative educational experiments in the world, including the Swaraj University, India's first university dedicated to regenerating local cultures, economies and ecologies. The interview was held by Alex Jensen from Local Futures, and was part of our Localisation issue of Dumbo Feather magazine.You can learn more about Local Futures and more incredible people involved in the localising movement, Like Manish, over at localfutures.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode is a lecture from one of the wisest and most masterful storytellers of our time, the Canadian teacher, writer and culture activist, Stephen Jenkinson.Stephen is a former palliative care specialist who has written two internationally acclaimed books, Die Wise: A manifesto for sanity and soul, and Come of Age, the case for elderhood in a time of trouble.He is also a farmer, and co-founder of Orphan Wisdom, a teaching house for the skills of deep living and making human culture. This lecture was recorded live in April 2019. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Robyn Davidson is best known as ‘the camel lady’—a reference to her journey as a young woman crossing the Australian desert with four camels and her dog in 1977. Today, Robyn feels like a different person, yet there’s one quality that has remained a constant in her life: her ability to adapt to change.In 2017, Robyn sat down in front of a live audience with our publisher, Berry Liberman, to talk about adaptability—and how to embrace the flux that is ever present in our lives. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Spiritual teacher Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee reads one of his writings for Dumbo Feather, titled, “A Letter to My Granddaughter.” Llewellyn is a writer and teacher based in Northern California whose work focuses on spiritual responsibility in our present time of transition. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, we get to know Pat McCabe, a Navaho mother, grandmother, artist and ceremonial leader who has been deeply immersed in indigenous, land-based ways of living. Having grown up in a multicultural neighbourhood in California, she is also accustomed to the realities of the industrialised world. It makes her an invaluable bridge-builder and cross-cultural communicator, and a powerful voice for the transformation needed to deal with our ecological and social crises. In this conversation for Issue 63 of Dumbo Feather magazine, Pat speaks with our friend and founder of Local Futures, Helena Norberg-Hodge. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey there! In this episode we share an interview we did back in 2017 with Tim Winton, one of Australia’s most beloved and prolific writers. At the time, Tim was on a publicity tour for his collection of non-fiction essays, The Boy Behind the Curtain, which, among many things, explores class. In this chat with Dumbo Feather interviewer Myke Bartlett, Tim shares some of his insights on Australia’s changing socio-economic landscape, and how he has confronted snobbery to open himself up to many different kinds of perspectives and ways of living. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on the podcast we have Dr Tim Dean – author of "How We Became Human, and Why We Need to Change," a book about how our evolved moral minds are out of step with the modern world. Tim has a Doctorate in philosophy from the University of New South Wales on the evolution of morality and has expertise in ethics, philosophy of biology and critical thinking. This chat with Berry spans some of the big ideas and questions around his most recent inquiry into human morality.If you’d like to spend three hours with Tim Dean exploring the philosophy of human morality, join him and the Small Giants Academy for the upcoming masterclass The Future of Morality. Find out more: smallgiants.com.au/the-art-of-arguing Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

We have just launched issue 68 of Dumbo Feather magazine – themed “Treasured Spaces,” and one of the conversations we had for that was with author and TV presenter Holly Ringland. We came to know Holly through the ABC series, Back to Nature, in which she and actor Aaron Pedersen travel through vast, awe-inspiring Australian landscapes hearing the stories of the land. In this chat, Holly speaks with Dumbo Feather editor Nathan Scolaro about her experiences making the show, and the importance of treating our selves as treasured spaces. Holly’s first novel is The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, about a young girl with an abusive farther who is taught the language of Australian flowers by her grandmother to say the things that are too hard to speak. The book has become an international bestseller, and is currently being adapted into a television series produced by and starring Sigourney Weaver. Tune into the ABC’s stunning six-part series Back to Nature on ABC iView.For more stories and conversations like this one, g

Welcome to our third and final instalment of the Dumbo Feather music mini-series. Our guest is a very good friend, someone we’ve had in the mag before and worked a lot with over the years, Dr Catherine Crock. Catherine’s a paediatrician at the Royal Children’s Hospital in Melbourne, and 20 years ago, she founded a remarkable foundation and program called Hush – which brings musicians into hospital environments to compose music that will reduce anxiety and stress for patients and their family and friends.Catherine’s work has evolved to look at and transform the culture of healthcare to one that is centred around kindness and empathy. In this conversation, she talk with Dumbo Feather editor Nathan Scolaro about the Hush legacy, and shares some of her favourite pieces from an extraordinary 19 albums.You can learn more about Hush and shop for some of the albums over at hugh.org.au, and sign up for Gathering of Kindness at gatheringofkindness.org Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This episode we’re bringing back an old favourite, a conversation we recorded in 2018 with psychotherapist Esther Perel who has changed the way we think about love, connection and sex. Her books, Ted Talks and podcast “Where Should We Begin” have all become international sensations as she focuses on relational intelligence, and often brings us inside the therapy room to explore intimacy and eroticism and where those parts of ourselves become stuck. In this chat with Berry, Esther explores why modern relationships are more complex and nuanced than ever. It was recorded for our Love issue of Dumbo Feather magazine, which you can kind find over at our website, dumbofeather.com. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week's chat is led by our good friend Helena Norberg-Hodge, champion of all things localising. She is joined by none other than Johann Hari, the Swiss-British journalist behind the smash hit book Lost Connections, which uncovers the real causes behind depression and the unexpected solutions, some of which land right in Helena’s work – connecting with community.This episode is brought to you by our friends at Patagonia. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Much-loved Dumbo Feather friend Hugh Mackay joins us on the podcast this week, sharing the insights, research and thinking behind his latest book "The Kindness Revolution." Hugh spoke with us as part of an interactive Small Giants Academy conversation event in July, hosted by our head of programming, Eleanor Gammell. Thanks to Australian Ethical for partnering with us on this episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In May 2021, we ran our first four-week Storytelling for Change Course at Small Giants Academy. Each Wednesday, 15 participants would gather in the Zoom room to talk about how story shapes our individual lives and the cultures we are part of. We learned skills for finessing our stories and were joined by some of our much-loved Dumbo Feather storytellers, including Padraig O Tuama, Lydia Fairhall and Danielle Caruana.Across the course, participants were tasked with composing a story from their life, which they then shared in the final week. We were all blown away by each other’s heartfelt, creative, hilarious sharings, and felt the magic of being intertwined in one another’s stories.In this episode, three participants from the course have very generously recorded their stories for you all to hear. First up we have Lizi Hamer reading “The Car Ride” followed by Hermione Stewart reading “Love Survives” and finally Ben Duke with “The Blue Lagoon.”Ben Duke is a performer and choreographer and the artistic director

Welcome to episode 2 of our music mini-series on the Dumbo Feather podcast, where we’re sharing readings, conversations and most importantly music to celebrate our latest issue of Dumbo Feather magazine. In this episode, we’re bringing you a reading by Melbourne-based recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey. Genevieve creates poetic, sensual worlds in a variety of contexts – from the stage to the garden to the radio.During the ups and downs of 2020, Genevieve created the album Bower. In the following reading she shares what that experience was like for her and others within the arts community here in Australia.Genevieve has generously shared some of the music from Bower to accompany her reading, which has been magnificently producer by sound engineer Jim Atkin. The order of music is as follows:Lou Bennett Baiyan Woka arr Erkki VeltheimErkki Veltheim Nocturne over blue ruinsJohann Jakob Froberger Lamentation faite sur la mort très douloureuse de Sa Majesté Impériale, Ferdinand IIIAndrea Keller I SurrenderMadeleine F

Meet Jade Miles from Black Barn Farm! Black Barn is a regenerative, intentional orchard and nursery that operates on permaculture principles. They run farm tours and workshops, and promote homesteading within the rhythms of the seasons. Jade recently released a beautiful book called Futuresteading: Live Like Tomorrow Matter which is full of practical skills, recipes and rituals for connecting with your environment and community, and embracing a simpler, steadier way of being. Jade shares her story and passion for building localised food systems with our publisher Berry. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Lydia Fairhall reads her essay from Issue 64 of Dumbo Feather magazine titled "On Healing." Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Greetings friends! This is the first of three music episodes of the Dumbo Feather podcast, a mini-series we’ve put together to celebrate our music issue of the magazine, which you can get over at our website dumbofeather.com or at speciality newsagents and retailers.For the next three months, we’re going to spotlight some of the musicians featured in the pages of the issue and bring their stories and music to you ears.We’ve got two musical powerhouses for you in this episode. Indigenous opera singer, contemporary songwriter and performer Jess Hitchcock, and piano virtuoso, composer and local Fitzroy jazz player Monique diMattina.Thanks to our partners Bank Australia for helping us bring this mini-series to life. If you’re looking to put your money somewhere that’s having a positive impact on people and planet, then get yourself over to Bank Australia. Bankaust.com.au Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we're sharing the recording from the launch event of our truth issue of Dumo Feather - it’s a conversation between two familiar voices on the podcast – author and activist, Sarah Wilson, and publisher of Dumbo Feather Berry Liberman. We are very sorry about the poor audio quality. The event was recorded live in Sydney and streamed over Zoom, hence the sound didn't come out so great. But, the conversation is so insightful and useful for anyone grappling with the divisiveness and mistruths of this moment, we really wanted to put it out there. The event took place in March this year. Big thanks to our partners Nature Footwear for sponsoring the episode. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hello! Today we are sharing a conversation between two extraordinary women who have both featured in the pages of our magazine, Claire Dunn and Ella Noah Bancroft. Both are passionate rewilding facilitators, leading their communities into deeper relationship with the natural world, them selves and others. Claire has just released her second book, Rewilding the Urban Soul, which we’ll be hearing more about in an episode down the track. Here, she is getting us acquainted with Ella’s mission. Ella is a Bundjalong woman based in the Northern Rivers who writes stories and poems, leads workshops, has a podcast, and for several years has been running the Returning, an annual event that provides a place for all women to relearn the way of their past. We love the intersections in Ella’s work. As well as rewilding, she is thinking deep and wide about decolonisation, the rise of the feminine, belonging, sexuality and movement.Thanks to The Cape for sponsoring this episode! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more

In anticipation of our music issue of Dumbo Feather, we're sharing an oldie but a goodie with you all. It’s our chat with Aussie music legend Xavier Rudd, which took place a few year’s back. Xavier is a folk, blues artist and multi-instrumentalist, whose songs speak to the heart of many environmental and social issues. He’s speaking here with another familiar voice, songwriter and Dumbo Feather friend, Lydia Fairhall. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.