1 00:00:15,130 --> 00:00:24,890 Speaker 1: Pushkin. This is Ying Ying and Lee Lee, two pandas 2 00:00:24,890 --> 00:00:26,930 Speaker 1: that live in the Ocean Park Zoo in Hong Kong. 3 00:00:27,370 --> 00:00:29,690 Speaker 1: The zoo has been trying to get them to make 4 00:00:29,810 --> 00:00:34,130 Speaker 1: for ten years with no luck. I'm Ashley Forward and 5 00:00:34,250 --> 00:00:37,410 Speaker 1: this is the Chronicles of Now, where we ask writers 6 00:00:37,450 --> 00:00:43,690 Speaker 1: to dream up short stories inspired by the news. Okay, 7 00:00:43,970 --> 00:00:47,890 Speaker 1: so the news this year has been relentlessly bleak. The pandemic, 8 00:00:48,050 --> 00:00:54,050 Speaker 1: a global economic depression, police violence, a dangerously incompetent president, 9 00:00:54,290 --> 00:00:58,650 Speaker 1: species extinction, climate change. It just goes on and on 10 00:00:58,850 --> 00:01:02,330 Speaker 1: and it's depressing. Right, We felt we needed to change 11 00:01:02,330 --> 00:01:05,170 Speaker 1: it up here at the Chronicles of Now. We needed 12 00:01:05,210 --> 00:01:10,810 Speaker 1: some good news. So on this episode we're going full panda. 13 00:01:11,010 --> 00:01:14,650 Speaker 1: It seems was the Private season when the coronavirus shut 14 00:01:14,650 --> 00:01:18,330 Speaker 1: down the zoo, the pandaly. If there's one good thing 15 00:01:18,370 --> 00:01:21,130 Speaker 1: to come of this, it's not in our absence. Some 16 00:01:21,210 --> 00:01:25,330 Speaker 1: timid pandas finally got it on, and boy did they 17 00:01:25,410 --> 00:01:28,970 Speaker 1: get it on. No visitors were there, but the camera 18 00:01:29,090 --> 00:01:35,570 Speaker 1: was rolling and the media ate it up. These pandas 19 00:01:35,690 --> 00:01:40,370 Speaker 1: are having sex. I'm watching them, and I might be 20 00:01:40,410 --> 00:01:46,170 Speaker 1: the happiest I've been since the pandema. Now this is 21 00:01:46,170 --> 00:01:50,250 Speaker 1: a family podcast, and we would never shamelessly goat at 22 00:01:50,250 --> 00:01:54,130 Speaker 1: panda sex like The New York Times did in this video. 23 00:01:54,290 --> 00:01:58,170 Speaker 1: When those pandas did it, I felt this strange surge 24 00:01:58,170 --> 00:02:01,890 Speaker 1: of pride. Oh no. We commissioned one of the country's 25 00:02:01,970 --> 00:02:04,850 Speaker 1: finest writers of fiction to give the panda take on 26 00:02:04,930 --> 00:02:08,570 Speaker 1: the story. Curtis Sittenfeld is the best selling author of 27 00:02:08,690 --> 00:02:12,810 Speaker 1: six novels. Her latest is Rotten, a novel that reimagines 28 00:02:12,890 --> 00:02:16,290 Speaker 1: Hillary Clinton's life. As she did in that book, she 29 00:02:16,410 --> 00:02:20,370 Speaker 1: took some artistic liberties for her pandas story. The zoo 30 00:02:20,450 --> 00:02:23,330 Speaker 1: in the story is sort of fictitious, and I changed 31 00:02:23,410 --> 00:02:28,530 Speaker 1: the panda's names to respect their privacy. In a world 32 00:02:28,570 --> 00:02:33,290 Speaker 1: gone haywire, sometimes pandas are the only way to make 33 00:02:33,370 --> 00:02:48,290 Speaker 1: sense of it all. The incident the day that bifurcated 34 00:02:48,370 --> 00:02:53,290 Speaker 1: my existence into before and after happened back in twenty sixteen. 35 00:02:54,930 --> 00:02:58,250 Speaker 1: By then, I'd been at Breeze Point Zoo for nine years. 36 00:02:58,290 --> 00:03:03,530 Speaker 1: Though time is elastic in a life such as mine. 37 00:03:04,650 --> 00:03:07,250 Speaker 1: That first time I saw him, I didn't know his 38 00:03:07,410 --> 00:03:11,810 Speaker 1: name or even his speeches. I pieced this information together 39 00:03:11,890 --> 00:03:15,770 Speaker 1: afterward by eavesdropping on my handlers, who have long assumed 40 00:03:15,770 --> 00:03:19,530 Speaker 1: that I don't understand cantonese. All I knew that day 41 00:03:19,570 --> 00:03:21,970 Speaker 1: when I awakened from a morning nap atop of a 42 00:03:22,090 --> 00:03:25,650 Speaker 1: massive rock, was that perched on a log hardly more 43 00:03:25,690 --> 00:03:29,890 Speaker 1: than a meter away, regarding me unabashedly, was a small 44 00:03:29,930 --> 00:03:35,650 Speaker 1: creature with reddish fur, pointy ears, inquisitive brown eyes, white whiskers, 45 00:03:36,090 --> 00:03:43,570 Speaker 1: and a long striped tail. How enchanting he was, how 46 00:03:43,650 --> 00:03:48,690 Speaker 1: life has build, how glossy his coat, and in his gaze, 47 00:03:49,570 --> 00:03:56,650 Speaker 1: what depths, what perspicacity. The internal jolt I experienced made 48 00:03:56,650 --> 00:04:00,010 Speaker 1: me abruptly understand that I was sleeping my life away, 49 00:04:00,050 --> 00:04:08,570 Speaker 1: both literally and figuratively. I'd been napping on my stomach 50 00:04:09,090 --> 00:04:11,810 Speaker 1: with my glossy black fore legs flung in front of me, 51 00:04:12,250 --> 00:04:15,810 Speaker 1: and I rolled on to my side to display my heft, 52 00:04:15,850 --> 00:04:19,010 Speaker 1: all one hundred twenty kilograms of it, to its most 53 00:04:19,050 --> 00:04:23,810 Speaker 1: flattering effect. I routinely twenty kilograms of bamboo a day 54 00:04:24,490 --> 00:04:27,770 Speaker 1: up until this very moment. That consumption had been my 55 00:04:28,130 --> 00:04:37,610 Speaker 1: raison d'etre. He approached tentatively at first, then with greater confidence, 56 00:04:38,530 --> 00:04:41,810 Speaker 1: he passed my head and walked regally around me to 57 00:04:41,850 --> 00:04:47,850 Speaker 1: sniff my hind quarters. To nudge my back, the contact 58 00:04:48,410 --> 00:04:55,290 Speaker 1: with electrifying returning to my head. He made eye contact 59 00:04:55,330 --> 00:04:59,490 Speaker 1: with me from close range, then cocked his ears to 60 00:04:59,490 --> 00:05:09,970 Speaker 1: the right, indicating I should follow. What ensued was truly magical, 61 00:05:10,930 --> 00:05:14,690 Speaker 1: the most intoxicating interlude of my life, and I am 62 00:05:14,730 --> 00:05:17,850 Speaker 1: still unable to say whether it lasted minutes or hours. 63 00:05:25,410 --> 00:05:29,010 Speaker 1: My enclosure featured an air SAT's bamboo forest and cave, 64 00:05:29,610 --> 00:05:33,730 Speaker 1: multiple ponds, and wooden climbing structures, and my new friend 65 00:05:33,730 --> 00:05:39,570 Speaker 1: and I frolicked through it. All. I did not know 66 00:05:39,650 --> 00:05:42,850 Speaker 1: then that my friend was a red panda, that his 67 00:05:42,970 --> 00:05:46,850 Speaker 1: name was Zusian, or that he'd escaped his enclosure from mine. 68 00:05:48,530 --> 00:05:51,010 Speaker 1: All I knew was that it was delightful to lumber 69 00:05:51,050 --> 00:05:54,010 Speaker 1: and climb with him in the sun. I was impervious 70 00:05:54,050 --> 00:05:57,450 Speaker 1: to the humans pointing and hooting from above, their strange 71 00:05:57,530 --> 00:06:02,970 Speaker 1: rubbery faces contorting with pleasure, and yet it was the 72 00:06:03,050 --> 00:06:05,330 Speaker 1: delight they took in the sight of Zusian and me, 73 00:06:06,130 --> 00:06:08,770 Speaker 1: the commotion of their delight that eventually drew the attention 74 00:06:08,770 --> 00:06:12,370 Speaker 1: of the zoo handlers, who, when they realized what had happened, 75 00:06:12,570 --> 00:06:17,210 Speaker 1: entered my enclosure. There were six of them in blue 76 00:06:17,210 --> 00:06:21,250 Speaker 1: medical gowns. And rubber boots and restrained me while removing Zeeshan. 77 00:06:24,570 --> 00:06:27,090 Speaker 1: I still remember the sight of him as one of 78 00:06:27,090 --> 00:06:30,650 Speaker 1: the handlers carried him away, the yearning in his mournful 79 00:06:30,690 --> 00:06:34,490 Speaker 1: expression and proud tale. I have not seen him since, 80 00:06:35,250 --> 00:06:45,370 Speaker 1: and it has been agony. I soon learned that he'd 81 00:06:45,410 --> 00:06:47,650 Speaker 1: been living, and as far as I know, still does 82 00:06:47,970 --> 00:06:52,570 Speaker 1: in an enclosure adjacent to mine. Also that his species 83 00:06:52,610 --> 00:06:55,130 Speaker 1: in general and he in particular, are known for being 84 00:06:55,250 --> 00:06:58,850 Speaker 1: escape artists. It is this fact that has kept me 85 00:06:59,210 --> 00:07:02,570 Speaker 1: these last four years in a constant state of alertness 86 00:07:02,570 --> 00:07:06,890 Speaker 1: and hope that he's plotting another escape, that one day, 87 00:07:07,370 --> 00:07:10,850 Speaker 1: if even for just another moment of bliss, we'll be 88 00:07:10,970 --> 00:07:23,570 Speaker 1: together again. It's not that I dislike Da Pung, my 89 00:07:23,770 --> 00:07:28,570 Speaker 1: enclosure mate. Indeed, I feel a sincere, if moderate affection 90 00:07:28,690 --> 00:07:31,970 Speaker 1: for him. But really, who could be attracted to someone 91 00:07:31,970 --> 00:07:35,330 Speaker 1: when you see them defecating up to fifty times a day. 92 00:07:35,890 --> 00:07:38,970 Speaker 1: I've heard our handlers attribute our aversion to mating to 93 00:07:39,010 --> 00:07:43,290 Speaker 1: the low libido endemic among giant pandas, But this explanation 94 00:07:43,410 --> 00:07:48,170 Speaker 1: underestimates our individual idiosyncrasies. All of which is to say 95 00:07:48,170 --> 00:07:51,050 Speaker 1: that the handlers are erroneous in their assumptions about why 96 00:07:51,530 --> 00:07:54,210 Speaker 1: once the zoo was closed to visitors earlier this spring, 97 00:07:54,650 --> 00:07:57,770 Speaker 1: Da Pung and I engage in our first ever how 98 00:07:57,850 --> 00:08:02,890 Speaker 1: might I say this voluntary coupling, Jiang Jian and Dapong 99 00:08:03,050 --> 00:08:05,810 Speaker 1: have made a breakthrough, the handlers told one another and 100 00:08:05,930 --> 00:08:11,690 Speaker 1: journalists worldwide. All they needed was a little privacy. They 101 00:08:11,770 --> 00:08:18,170 Speaker 1: rewarded us with apples and carrots. But it wasn't privacy 102 00:08:18,210 --> 00:08:23,930 Speaker 1: that motivated me. It was boredom. I mean, seriously, COVID 103 00:08:24,010 --> 00:08:28,010 Speaker 1: just didn't shut down your world. For the last four years, 104 00:08:28,290 --> 00:08:31,090 Speaker 1: I've spent my waking hours being mildly amused by the 105 00:08:31,170 --> 00:08:34,610 Speaker 1: human visitors to our zoo, and my sleeping hours dreaming 106 00:08:34,650 --> 00:08:42,210 Speaker 1: of a reunion with Zushan. Then the human visitors vanished, 107 00:08:42,650 --> 00:08:45,410 Speaker 1: and many weeks into the new quiet, in a moment 108 00:08:45,410 --> 00:08:49,250 Speaker 1: of profound enui, and I decided I might as well 109 00:08:49,290 --> 00:08:54,250 Speaker 1: give a union with Da Hung a whirl. But even 110 00:08:54,250 --> 00:08:57,850 Speaker 1: in the act itself, with dab Hung fumbling behind me, 111 00:08:58,250 --> 00:09:01,490 Speaker 1: pressing his body against mine, the small bump of his 112 00:09:01,650 --> 00:09:05,410 Speaker 1: panda hood trying to find the appropriate cavity, it was 113 00:09:05,610 --> 00:09:12,090 Speaker 1: Zeeshan I thought of. As for dab Hung, I'm not 114 00:09:12,170 --> 00:09:15,290 Speaker 1: convinced he felt any more enthusiasm than I did. I 115 00:09:15,450 --> 00:09:18,090 Speaker 1: know that over the years, our handlers have tried to 116 00:09:18,170 --> 00:09:22,170 Speaker 1: encourage him with legs strengthening exercises, with exposure to the 117 00:09:22,210 --> 00:09:26,250 Speaker 1: excretions from my scent glands, and even with spicy videos 118 00:09:26,290 --> 00:09:29,650 Speaker 1: of others of our kind. But I suspect in the 119 00:09:29,770 --> 00:09:32,930 Speaker 1: end it was less that such incentives proved effective than 120 00:09:32,970 --> 00:09:36,650 Speaker 1: that he was trying to please our handlers. Passion alas 121 00:09:36,930 --> 00:09:45,730 Speaker 1: cannot simply be summoned. Meanwhile, the fact that so much 122 00:09:45,770 --> 00:09:51,530 Speaker 1: about Zeshen was and is forbidden and impossible our respective sizes, 123 00:09:52,210 --> 00:09:58,090 Speaker 1: our enclosures, our differing species, has never decreased my longing 124 00:09:59,650 --> 00:10:02,130 Speaker 1: to know what it's like to yearn for four years 125 00:10:02,330 --> 00:10:04,850 Speaker 1: for a red panda who is mere meters from you, 126 00:10:05,250 --> 00:10:08,130 Speaker 1: beneath the same sky, breathing the same air from the 127 00:10:08,130 --> 00:10:14,090 Speaker 1: South China Sea. Did you know? Are you tiny, wiley heartbreaker? 128 00:10:14,290 --> 00:10:17,250 Speaker 1: I think as I chew bamboo, are you coming back 129 00:10:17,290 --> 00:10:22,530 Speaker 1: to me? And if so, when hurry? Please Zeshian, because 130 00:10:22,570 --> 00:10:33,770 Speaker 1: I miss you terribly. That was breeze point by Curtis 131 00:10:33,770 --> 00:10:36,690 Speaker 1: Sitt and felt the narrator was the one and only 132 00:10:36,930 --> 00:10:41,970 Speaker 1: Rachel dratch Hi. Curtis Hi Ashley. So I get the 133 00:10:42,050 --> 00:10:44,970 Speaker 1: feeling that you didn't stop with the news reports of 134 00:10:45,050 --> 00:10:48,330 Speaker 1: panda's having pandemic sex. I'm feeling like you went a 135 00:10:48,370 --> 00:10:52,970 Speaker 1: little bit deeper. You did some serious research into panda sex. 136 00:10:53,730 --> 00:10:57,930 Speaker 1: Am I correct? Well, I assume you mean that as 137 00:10:57,970 --> 00:11:04,250 Speaker 1: a great compliment. I do, and I do well, Okay, 138 00:11:04,330 --> 00:11:07,050 Speaker 1: so this is what I did. I mean, of course, 139 00:11:07,170 --> 00:11:11,090 Speaker 1: of course I didn't research into panda sex as any 140 00:11:11,410 --> 00:11:16,890 Speaker 1: self respecting fiction writer would. I started by buying a 141 00:11:17,130 --> 00:11:23,570 Speaker 1: National Geographic book for kids about pandas, which I often 142 00:11:23,650 --> 00:11:28,370 Speaker 1: find books meant for kids to be a useful starting 143 00:11:28,410 --> 00:11:31,210 Speaker 1: place for research in fiction because it sort of tells 144 00:11:31,250 --> 00:11:35,170 Speaker 1: you the general information you need but doesn't overwhelm you, 145 00:11:35,210 --> 00:11:37,170 Speaker 1: and it's not like you lose like five years of 146 00:11:37,170 --> 00:11:40,410 Speaker 1: your life doing research. And then, of course I also 147 00:11:40,970 --> 00:11:43,730 Speaker 1: went into all the nooks and crannies of the Internet, 148 00:11:43,770 --> 00:11:48,250 Speaker 1: and I've learned quite a bit. So is it true 149 00:11:48,330 --> 00:11:52,850 Speaker 1: that giant pandas have low libido? It's true the giant 150 00:11:52,890 --> 00:11:56,810 Speaker 1: pandas have low libidas. And actually, and I'm saying this 151 00:11:56,930 --> 00:12:03,170 Speaker 1: like factually, not disrespectfully, Supposedly, the male panda does have 152 00:12:03,250 --> 00:12:08,850 Speaker 1: an unusually small penis and weak hind legs, which make 153 00:12:08,890 --> 00:12:14,610 Speaker 1: the physical act of sex challenging. Wow, that that part 154 00:12:14,650 --> 00:12:16,930 Speaker 1: I did not find in a children's book, but I 155 00:12:18,650 --> 00:12:23,850 Speaker 1: did find it online. I mean, useful information in case, 156 00:12:23,930 --> 00:12:28,090 Speaker 1: in case you ever have like a panda libido emergency, 157 00:12:28,770 --> 00:12:31,930 Speaker 1: you know, in your future, I think you'll you'll be 158 00:12:31,970 --> 00:12:34,730 Speaker 1: well equipped a hand. You never know. The world is 159 00:12:34,770 --> 00:12:40,130 Speaker 1: a big and surprising place, speaking of with everything going 160 00:12:40,210 --> 00:12:44,410 Speaker 1: on in the world, why this story, Why panda sex? 161 00:12:44,690 --> 00:12:49,610 Speaker 1: Why now? I always longed for an interviewer to say 162 00:12:49,690 --> 00:12:53,850 Speaker 1: to me, why panda sex? Why now? No? Well, so, okay, 163 00:12:53,930 --> 00:12:58,130 Speaker 1: So I'm not sure how great a level of detail 164 00:12:58,170 --> 00:13:03,210 Speaker 1: I should get into. But I actually originally thought that 165 00:13:03,290 --> 00:13:06,650 Speaker 1: I wanted to write a story based on a different headline, 166 00:13:06,690 --> 00:13:09,610 Speaker 1: based on a headline about sort of the chat challenges 167 00:13:09,890 --> 00:13:15,410 Speaker 1: of dating during a pandemic, and especially like what if 168 00:13:15,450 --> 00:13:19,410 Speaker 1: you had just started seeing someone and then then maybe 169 00:13:19,410 --> 00:13:22,090 Speaker 1: gone on like one or two dates and then everything 170 00:13:22,170 --> 00:13:25,090 Speaker 1: shuts down. And so I actually started working and worked 171 00:13:25,090 --> 00:13:26,810 Speaker 1: for a few days on that story, and I just 172 00:13:26,890 --> 00:13:31,130 Speaker 1: felt like, you know, it was kind of tonally off, 173 00:13:31,330 --> 00:13:33,250 Speaker 1: or I don't maybe it's because I'm about to turn 174 00:13:33,530 --> 00:13:36,290 Speaker 1: forty five, and it was from the perspective of like 175 00:13:36,330 --> 00:13:39,690 Speaker 1: a millennial, and I really really felt my age, like 176 00:13:39,730 --> 00:13:42,370 Speaker 1: I kind of like almost like like it was like 177 00:13:42,770 --> 00:13:45,370 Speaker 1: trying to be a cool mom and like use the 178 00:13:45,370 --> 00:13:48,690 Speaker 1: current lingo. And so then I just kind of thought, like, 179 00:13:48,730 --> 00:13:51,610 Speaker 1: you know, maybe I'm just not going to do this project, Like, 180 00:13:51,650 --> 00:13:54,330 Speaker 1: of course I love the Chronicles of Now and like, 181 00:13:54,370 --> 00:13:57,690 Speaker 1: I think it's such a sort of interesting premise and 182 00:13:58,010 --> 00:14:00,090 Speaker 1: have enjoyed the other stories. But I was like, you know, 183 00:14:00,130 --> 00:14:02,090 Speaker 1: maybe I'll just wait six months or something. And then 184 00:14:02,650 --> 00:14:07,690 Speaker 1: Tyler Cabot, the founder, showed me his list of headlines 185 00:14:07,810 --> 00:14:11,250 Speaker 1: he had gathered. And of course, because headlines from the 186 00:14:11,370 --> 00:14:19,010 Speaker 1: recent past are all so overwhelmingly sad and heartbreaking and 187 00:14:19,050 --> 00:14:22,770 Speaker 1: frustrating in so many different ways, I mean, across lots 188 00:14:22,770 --> 00:14:27,290 Speaker 1: of topics, and so this headline about you know, these 189 00:14:27,450 --> 00:14:32,330 Speaker 1: two pandas have made it for the first time voluntarily 190 00:14:32,370 --> 00:14:36,170 Speaker 1: after all these years together. It was the one headline 191 00:14:36,210 --> 00:14:40,250 Speaker 1: that made me literally laugh out loud, and I thought like, oh, 192 00:14:40,250 --> 00:14:43,090 Speaker 1: there's no question, like that's that's definitely the one I 193 00:14:43,090 --> 00:14:45,690 Speaker 1: want to write about it, like ding ding ding, yes, 194 00:14:45,810 --> 00:14:47,850 Speaker 1: And I mean I also I do have a soft 195 00:14:47,850 --> 00:14:53,850 Speaker 1: spot for just like writing about like crushes and romance 196 00:14:54,090 --> 00:14:56,930 Speaker 1: and yes, sex, I mean, I try to write about 197 00:14:56,930 --> 00:15:00,650 Speaker 1: sex in like a intentional way where it serves the plot. 198 00:15:00,690 --> 00:15:02,650 Speaker 1: But so in some ways I also saw this as 199 00:15:02,650 --> 00:15:07,290 Speaker 1: a really festive opportunity to make fun of myself and 200 00:15:07,290 --> 00:15:09,490 Speaker 1: and to make fun of myself and the people who 201 00:15:09,490 --> 00:15:11,850 Speaker 1: make fun of me for writing sex scenes in fiction. 202 00:15:12,650 --> 00:15:16,530 Speaker 1: Your latest novel is Rodham, a novel about Hillary Clinton, 203 00:15:16,850 --> 00:15:19,010 Speaker 1: and there are sex scenes in that book with Bill, 204 00:15:19,490 --> 00:15:23,210 Speaker 1: and I'm wondering which was more interesting and challenging to 205 00:15:23,330 --> 00:15:26,610 Speaker 1: imagine Hillary is having sex with Bill or panda sex. 206 00:15:29,330 --> 00:15:35,890 Speaker 1: They were each challenging yet rewarding in their own way. 207 00:15:37,610 --> 00:15:42,330 Speaker 1: It's the best possible answer for that question. You end 208 00:15:42,330 --> 00:15:47,410 Speaker 1: with a note about forbidden love across species, sizes, enclosures. 209 00:15:48,090 --> 00:15:56,450 Speaker 1: What can we humans learn from the female panda's love affair. Well, 210 00:15:56,490 --> 00:16:00,170 Speaker 1: I think I think that one thing that maybe I 211 00:16:00,210 --> 00:16:03,930 Speaker 1: don't know if this is like unsettling or reason for hope, 212 00:16:04,130 --> 00:16:05,890 Speaker 1: is that you know, she she sort of lives her 213 00:16:05,890 --> 00:16:09,250 Speaker 1: life in her enclosure. And my research did reveal to 214 00:16:09,330 --> 00:16:12,370 Speaker 1: me that giant panda spent the majority of their time 215 00:16:12,570 --> 00:16:16,530 Speaker 1: eating bamboo and napping and kind of pooping. I think 216 00:16:16,730 --> 00:16:20,410 Speaker 1: to a lesser but still significant degree of pooping and 217 00:16:20,530 --> 00:16:25,050 Speaker 1: knit like. But actually that I think the appearance of 218 00:16:25,090 --> 00:16:29,530 Speaker 1: the red Panda is maybe like a lesson that all 219 00:16:29,610 --> 00:16:33,530 Speaker 1: of our lives can take surprising twists when we don't 220 00:16:33,570 --> 00:16:41,370 Speaker 1: expect it. M M, come on, Curtis, yes, bring that 221 00:16:41,410 --> 00:16:46,290 Speaker 1: back around. You can read my full uncensored interview with 222 00:16:46,370 --> 00:16:50,410 Speaker 1: Curtis Settenfeld on our website Chronicles dot fm, where you 223 00:16:50,410 --> 00:16:54,010 Speaker 1: can also read her story and other short fiction torn 224 00:16:54,090 --> 00:16:59,210 Speaker 1: from today's headlines. Our sound designer and composer is Bart Warshaw, 225 00:16:59,650 --> 00:17:03,130 Speaker 1: our producer is Curtis Fox, and our associate producer is 226 00:17:03,130 --> 00:17:07,530 Speaker 1: Emily Roston. Tyler Cabott is the executive producer and founder 227 00:17:07,570 --> 00:17:11,850 Speaker 1: of Chronicles of Now for Pushkin Industries. Our executive producer 228 00:17:11,930 --> 00:17:16,730 Speaker 1: is Ali Tom Mullock. Special thanks to Jacob Weisberg, Carly Migliore, 229 00:17:17,010 --> 00:17:21,490 Speaker 1: Heather Fame, and Eric Sandler for the Chronicles of Now podcast. 230 00:17:21,650 --> 00:17:23,810 Speaker 1: I'm Ashley Ford. Thanks for listening.