Tree Speech Dori Robinson, Jonathan Zautner, Alight Theater Guild

Welcome back, Tree Speechers! We’re thrilled to begin Season 5 with a new conversation in a clearing, as we continue to find new understandings to the tangled relationships we have with the natural world in which we inhabit. 



We open this season interviewing filmmakers Mina T. Son and Sara Newens who made the eye-opening and thoughtful documentary, RACIST TREES. This intimate film captures an inside look at the frustrations of residents of the historically Black Lawrence Crossley Tract neighborhood, who are cut off from the glitz and glamour of Palm Springs, CA due to the planting of 60-foot tamarisk trees that overshadow their community and are viewed as a symbol of segregation. 



Racist Trees is streaming for free on Pbs.org and the PBS app through April 20th, 2024, and will be available on PBS Passport after that date. We highly recommend that you check it out and would love to hear from you. Email us at treespeechpodcast@gmail.com with your thoughts.



We are so thankful to our guest Sara Newens and Mina T. Son for joining us today.



Sara Newens is an award-winning filmmaker and editor based in LA who has received Primetime Emmy Award nominations for her work on Pretty Baby: Brook Shields and Allen v. Farrow and served as editor and writer for the documentary, On the Record. 



Mina T. Son is a Korean-American filmmaker based in LA whose films have screened at film festivals and museums, including the National Gallery of Art, Margaret Mead, Traverse City and Cinequest. With Sara, she has directed Top Spin, streamed on Netflix, and Racist Trees through their company, Wild Pair Films, and is in post-production on a longitudinal documentary about Japan’s 2011 tsunami. 





This week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, and in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, as well as in         San Francisco on the lands of the Ohlone, Ramaytush, and Muwekma tribes, and Maryland on the Piscataway people. Tree Speech is co-written, edited, and produced by Jonathan Zautner and we thank Alight Theatre Guild for their support. 



To learn more about our podcast and episodes, please visit treespeechpodcast.com and consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude to patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. 


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/treespeech/message

In honor of the recent Winter Solstice and this holiday season, we are re-releasing our episode Let the Light In. Celebrate this moment of transition with a walk in the woods as we share stories of solstice celebration’s from around the world. From old legends to new traditions, join us as we explore how, even during these darker months, we can find ways to let light into our lives.

New episodes forthcoming in 2024!

In this episode, we share several folk tales about the season, rituals old and new, and an interview with Jonathan Mearns of London Christmas Tree Rental, who offers an environmentally sustainable tree option to celebrate the lights of Yule.

This week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, and in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes. Tree Speech is co-written and produced by Jonathan Zautner with Alight Theater Guild.

To learn more about our podcast and episodes, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please also consider supporting us through our Patreon  - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/treespeech/message

Happy Halloween! We are busy working on future episodes to be released soon, but couldn't let this magical time of year pass without a frightful celebration! As the full moon rises, we gather around the campfire for a replay of our special Spooky Trees episode! Join us for supernatural, mysterious, and unexpected tree tales from around the world to get you into the Samhain spirit.

Special thanks to actor, educator, actor Peril - I mean, Cheryl Mullings, and dialect coach Charles Linshaw for joining our episode today. Learn more about Cheryl at https://cherylmullings.workbooklive.com/ and Charles at: https://www.charleslinshaw.com.



This week’s episode was recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, as well as in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes. Special thanks to the Western Avenue Lofts and Studios for all their support.

Tree Speech is produced and co-written by Jonathan Zautner with Alight Theater Guild. To learn more about Tree Speech, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. Visit us also on instagram @ treespeechpodcast.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/treespeech/message

To commemorate the anniversary of Sept. 11, we share this replay of our episode that featured the 9/11 Survivor Tree, a Callery Pear tree found during the excavation of Ground Zero in NYC. Our guest, Ron Vega, shares his insightful and touching story of how he championed and helped nurture the tree from a wounded, burned stump to the powerful sign of hope and survival that it represents today.

Learn more about the podcast at: ⁠⁠www.treespeechpodcast.com⁠⁠, and IG: ⁠⁠treespeechpodcast⁠

Additional resources: 9/11 Memorial Survivor Tree: ⁠https://www.911memorial.org/visit/memorial/survivor-tree⁠

Oklahoma City National Memorial Museum Survivor Tree: ⁠https://memorialmuseum.com/experience/the-survivor-tree/⁠

Wisconsin 9/11 Memorial: ⁠https://www.wisconsin911memorial.com⁠

Bartlett Arboretum & Gardens: ⁠http://www.bartlettarboretum.org⁠

Special thanks to Ron Vega for sharing his time and inspiration.

Tree Speech’s host, Dori Robinson, is a director, playwright, dramaturg, and educator who seeks and develops projects that explore social consciousness, personal heritage, and the difference one individual can have on their own community. Some of her great loves include teaching, the Oxford comma, intersectional feminism, and traveling. With a Masters degree from NYU’s ⁠Educational Theatre⁠ program, she continues to share her love of Shakespeare, new play development, political theatre, and gender in performance. Dori’s original plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Boston. More information at ⁠https://www.dorirobinson.com⁠

This week’s episode was recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the ⁠Wabanaki Confederacy⁠, ⁠Pennacook⁠, ⁠Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett)⁠, and ⁠Pawtucket⁠ people, as well as in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes. Special thanks to the ⁠Western Avenue Lofts and Studios⁠ for all their support.

Tree Speech is produced and co-written by Jonathan Zautner with Alight Theater Guild. The mission of the guild is to advance compelling theatrical endeavors that showcase the diversity of our ever-changing world in order to build strong artists whose work creates empathy, challenges the status quo and unites communities. For more information about our work and programs, please visit ⁠www.alightheater.org⁠.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/treespeech/message

We at Tree Speech are incredibly grateful to Stephanie Kaza and our mothers, Miriam Robinson, Anne-Marie Roach and Jackie Vandenberg for joining us today.

Dr. Stephanie Kaza is Professor Emerita of Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont and former Director of the UVM Environmental Program. She co-founded the Environmental Council at UVM and served as faculty director for the Sustainability Faculty Fellows program. In 2011 Dr. Kaza received the UVM George V. Kidder Outstanding Faculty Award for excellence in teaching. Kaza received a prestigious Religion and Science course award from the Templeton Foundation for her course on Buddhism and Ecology. She lectures widely on topics of Buddhism and the environment.
Kaza is a long-time practitioner of Soto Zen Buddhism, with training at Green Gulch Zen Center, California, and further study with Thich Nhat Hanh, Joanna Macy, and John Daido Loori.  She was lay ordained by Kobun Chino Ottogawa in the late 1980s and applied her understanding of Buddhism as a member of the International Christian-Buddhist Theological Encounter group.⁠ ⁠She is the author of the books A WILD LOVE FOR THE WORLD, GREEN BUDDHISM: PRACTICE AND COMPASSIONATE ACTON IN UNCERTAIN TIMES, CONVERSATIONS WITH TREES, MINDFULLY GREEN: A PERSONAL AND SPIRITUAL GUIDE TO WHOLE EARTH THINKING, and others. 

Also much gratitude and endless love to our mothers, Miriam Robinson, Anne-Marie Roach and Jackie Vandenberg for sharing their tree stories, and for everything. 

To learn more about our podcast and episodes, please visit ⁠treespeechpodcast.com⁠. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. ⁠Please also consider supporting us through our Patreon⁠ - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. See you soon!

Tree Speech’s host, Dori Robinson, is a director, playwright, dramaturg, and educator who seeks and develops projects that explore social consciousness, personal heritage, and the difference one individual can have on their own community. Some of her great loves include teaching, the Oxford comma, intersectional feminism, and traveling. With a Masters degree from NYU’s ⁠Educational Theatre⁠ program, she continues to share her love of Shakespeare, new play development, political theatre, and gender in performance. Dori’s original plays have been produced in New York, Chicago, and Boston. More information at ⁠https://www.dorirobinson.com⁠

This week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massachusett, and Pawtucket people, in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes, as well as the lands of the Confederate Tribes of the Siletz Indians, and the Grand Ronde Cowlitz.

Special thanks to the ⁠Western Avenue Lofts and Studios⁠ for all their support.

Tree Speech is produced and co-written by Jonathan Zautner with Alight Theater Guild. The mission of the guild is to advance compelling theatrical endeavors that showcase the diversity of our ever-changing world in order to build strong artists whose work creates empathy, challenges the status quo and unites communities. For more information about our work and programs, please visit ⁠www.alighttheater.org⁠.


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/treespeech/message

In the final episode of our fourth season, producer and co-writer Jonathan Zautner interviews podcast host Dori Robinson about the Jewish “New Year of the Trees” - Tu B’Shevat. We continue to commemorate the close of the season by discussing our thoughts on the guests and topics we have covered.

Did you have a favorite episode, a thought about family trees, or a suggestion about what we should discuss next? Please message us on www.treespeechpodcast.com, or leave us a voice memo on Anchor. We look forward to hearing from you!

This week’s episode was written and recorded in Massachusetts on the native lands of the Wabanaki Confederacy, Pennacook, Massa-adchu-es-et (Massachusett), and Pawtucket people, and in New York on the land of the Lenapee tribes. Tree Speech is co-written and produced by Jonathan Zautner with Alight Theater Guild.

To learn more about our podcast and episodes, please visit treespeechpodcast.com. We’re thrilled to be able to offer interviews, creative insights, and stories about the natural world we live in, and the trees who guide our way. Please also consider supporting us through our Patreon - every contribution supports our production, and we’ll be giving gifts of gratitude including an invitation to Tree House, our new virtual community for patrons of all levels. Please also consider passing the word to tree loving folks, and rate and review us on Apple podcasts. Every kind word helps. See you soon!


---

Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/treespeech/message