The Old Country, the Dead and Justice | Stephen Jenkinson (Orphan Wisdom)

On this episode, I'm honoured to host and welcome back to the pod, my dear friend, Stephen Jenkinson, MTS, MSW. Stephen is a worker, author, storyteller, musician and culture activist. In 2010, he founded Orphan Wisdom, a house for learning skills of deep living and making human culture that are mandatory in endangered, endangering times. It is a redemptive project that comes from where he comes from. It is rooted in knowing history, being claimed by ancestry, working for a time he won’t live to see. When not on the road, he makes books, succumbs to interviews, tends to labours on a small farm, mends broken handles and fences, and bends towards lifeways dictated by the seasons of the boreal borderlands.

We discuss winter(ing) and going without, the ominous Old Country, being more European than the Europeans, what it means to love a place, the Axes of the world and the local numinous, the towering order of staying home. In the second half I propose a different route than we usually take, towards the living and the dead and time, towards justice and freedom. I have to say, Stephen was incredibly generous with his time and we're blessed to hear from him. Enjoy!