11 episodes
Positively No Outlet George Wood, David Lackey, Damien Bawn
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- Society & Culture
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5.0 • 14 Ratings
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Stories from Unplugged America - Our goal is to bring you stories from rural America — from the fly-over places that are far from the hot light of the national media. Stories of ordinary people doing ordinary and sometimes extraordinary things.
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Calling Home and Sleeping Tight
Back on the road in 2021, George keeps to the rules of staying off the interstates and visiting every small-town museum he sees. In Gridley, Illinois he takes us to the Gridley Phone Museum and a safe with the combination written on the door. Then it is on to Petosi, Wisconsin and the Petosi Brewery where we meet the people behind the resurrection of a local brewery that also houses the world’s best beer museum.
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Fill ‘er Up!
The food writer Michael Pollan cautions us to never get our food where we fill up our cars. But maybe he has never been to Café Neo, the Emmaville Café, and the Farmhouse Restaurant—great diners located in gas stations that we take you to in this episode. We also stop by Cowgirl Pizza - a laundromat where you can get a great pizza and cold beer.
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Always Take the Backroads
In Lynch, Kentucky the coal companies have left, houses have been abandoned, schools and stores closed. But despite all this the folks at Backroads of Appalachia have a plan. By sponsoring road rallies and events they bring thousands of people to Harlan County and the fall out has created new jobs and new businesses. Bailey’s Hogie Shop and The General Store at Creek Crossing are two of the businesses we’ll visit in this episode. Come along on a trip of the backroads of Kentucky and meet the people making an economic comeback.
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Good Food Doing Good
In this episode we stay close to home and visit two great diners, Park's Kitchen in Amesville, Ohio and Triple Nickel Diner in Chesterhill, Ohio. Both locally owned places serve local food, hire local folks, and contribute to the community--and the food is pretty special as well.
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People Might Think We're Not Nice
Since George’s pandemic road trip was the genesis of the podcast, we thought an introduction to that journey would make a good first episode. Here’s George reading “People Might Think We’re Not Nice,” the introduction to his collection of essays about his travels in unplugged country.
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Living in Harmony
Early in his trip, George stumbled into the small town of Harmony, MN. He was looking for a good meal, he found a lot more.
Customer Reviews
Can’t wait for the next episode….!
Each of the 7 episodes are empowering, reminding me of Margaret Mead’s suggestion that, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.”
Each podcast is inspiring. I recognize I can personally make a contribution, NOW, never having to wait for state, federal or world governmentS to get in alignment with my hopes and dreams that justice CAN roll down like mighty waters and equanimity might flow like an unfailing stream. Egalitarian ideals (“Tribe”, author: Sebastian Jungar) are personified in MANY of these encounters with community, compassionate, caring, self-responsible communities.
The hopeFULLness shared in these podcasts transformed my hopelessness about the human race into the recognition that EACH of us CAN act locally, while possibly even thinking globally about what would make this world, that we ALL share, a better place.
The emotional roller coaster of tears in Episode 2 and awe regarding the amazing restoration of native brook trout in another episode piqued my curiosity for visiting many of the places explored in this travelogue of experiences. I might even check out a few local museums along the way!
I adored how resilience is embodied in each of these seven episodes reminding me of the Hawaiian term “lokah” describing the regrowth after a lava flow has decimated life as we know it. Resilience, TEAM (Together Everyone Achieves More) WORK and collaboration allows each of us to make life serving contributions, to arise from the ashes of social injustices like racism, polarization and the politicization of science SO that we can each focus on the common good that arises from conserving natural resources and helping each other, regardless, regardless of ethnicity and politics!
“Problems Are the Doors Through which WE Walk to PEACE” is a text authored by the late Stephen Robbins Schwartz. George Woods hosts this podcast, showcasing how problems, aka “opportunities”, can be addressed in life-serving, community based ways that model well BEing, compassion environmental stewardship and economic sustainability = a fabulous combo!
Thank you
Thanks George, I love listening to these, and excited for more!
G Easton
Amazing! Compelling and entertaining! I’ve listened twice.