1 00:00:01,680 --> 00:00:03,240 Speaker 1: Cool Zone Media. 2 00:00:06,559 --> 00:00:12,639 Speaker 2: Dinah Wars, Dinah Wars, Dinah Wars, Dinah Wars. Hello and 3 00:00:12,680 --> 00:00:14,640 Speaker 2: welcome to Cool Zone Media book Club, the only book 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:16,440 Speaker 2: club where you don't have to do the reading because 5 00:00:16,480 --> 00:00:18,680 Speaker 2: I do it for you. I'm your host, Margaret Hildoy, 6 00:00:19,079 --> 00:00:22,600 Speaker 2: and I'm on a kick right now. I'm really enjoying 7 00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:24,960 Speaker 2: doing Dinah Wars. If you're enjoying it too, you should 8 00:00:24,960 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 2: tell people about it. And so it's still Dinah Wars. 9 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:31,560 Speaker 2: I mean, I don't know what you're talking about. We 10 00:00:31,600 --> 00:00:34,360 Speaker 2: have a missive from the future from the Cool Zone 11 00:00:34,400 --> 00:00:39,200 Speaker 2: Media team of twenty fifty five. We were sent audio 12 00:00:39,440 --> 00:00:42,400 Speaker 2: from our very own show I'm thirty years from now 13 00:00:43,680 --> 00:00:50,519 Speaker 2: and we're just gonna jump into it. You know what 14 00:00:50,680 --> 00:00:54,440 Speaker 2: this is, It's the Dinah Wars. Either your triceratopsy, it's 15 00:00:54,520 --> 00:00:58,640 Speaker 2: Nazis or Nazi zombies are gonna EU. This here is 16 00:00:58,720 --> 00:01:01,600 Speaker 2: part three of our EXCLUSI report from the Front from 17 00:01:01,640 --> 00:01:05,559 Speaker 2: Behind the Iron Curtain with mixed bunnyface murder our top 18 00:01:05,600 --> 00:01:09,600 Speaker 2: correspondent and yes top And that sentence has more than 19 00:01:09,640 --> 00:01:12,479 Speaker 2: one meaning, though I suppose anyone listening to the uncensored 20 00:01:12,560 --> 00:01:14,720 Speaker 2: version of this report over on under the pants and 21 00:01:14,800 --> 00:01:18,399 Speaker 2: under the ground knows that it might be more accurate 22 00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:23,120 Speaker 2: to call mixed bunnyface murder our switch correspondent. But if 23 00:01:23,160 --> 00:01:27,920 Speaker 2: you want to switch careers, then do you want to 24 00:01:28,000 --> 00:01:32,280 Speaker 2: check out our top sponsor, our switch sponsor, Dino Cadence. 25 00:01:32,680 --> 00:01:37,399 Speaker 2: That's right, Dino Cadence, the premiere Dino Writer Academy is 26 00:01:37,480 --> 00:01:42,000 Speaker 2: opened applications. If you ever dreamed of decapitating fascists with 27 00:01:42,040 --> 00:01:44,560 Speaker 2: a saber in one hand, a rifle in the other, 28 00:01:44,880 --> 00:01:48,720 Speaker 2: and the reins to a rampaging ragisaurus held in your teeth, 29 00:01:49,760 --> 00:01:54,200 Speaker 2: and by God, Dino Cadence is for you. When you 30 00:01:54,240 --> 00:01:56,880 Speaker 2: think to yourself, I want to see the blood of 31 00:01:57,040 --> 00:02:01,920 Speaker 2: fascists grant life to the climate changevage soil, then you 32 00:02:02,040 --> 00:02:06,640 Speaker 2: need to think Dino Cadence. Tuition is free, but spots 33 00:02:06,640 --> 00:02:12,239 Speaker 2: are limited, so apply today. The sun rose the next morning, 34 00:02:13,040 --> 00:02:16,080 Speaker 2: as is its relentless habit, and it lit a field 35 00:02:16,120 --> 00:02:20,200 Speaker 2: littered with detritus of flesh. I don't think you can 36 00:02:20,240 --> 00:02:22,519 Speaker 2: be alive in twenty fifty five without having seen a 37 00:02:22,560 --> 00:02:25,280 Speaker 2: dead body or two. But this was at a scale 38 00:02:25,320 --> 00:02:29,720 Speaker 2: I'd never quite imagined. The high of combat had receded, 39 00:02:30,160 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 2: and I looked out, and I wept. What has become 40 00:02:33,440 --> 00:02:39,440 Speaker 2: of humanity? Of course, to kill the liminal, it's a mercy. 41 00:02:40,120 --> 00:02:44,320 Speaker 2: The biospawn literally beg for death with their ripped vocal cords, 42 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:48,480 Speaker 2: and the zombies have already died once, but it's still 43 00:02:48,800 --> 00:02:52,000 Speaker 2: brutal and raw. A stare at the horrors of war 44 00:02:52,760 --> 00:02:55,560 Speaker 2: to see what teeth and bullet and pike can do. 45 00:02:57,320 --> 00:03:01,200 Speaker 2: In order to stop crying, I went to work. I 46 00:03:01,280 --> 00:03:04,840 Speaker 2: think most listeners are familiar with that particular trick. The 47 00:03:04,840 --> 00:03:08,239 Speaker 2: busy bee has no time for sorrow. With the first 48 00:03:08,360 --> 00:03:10,600 Speaker 2: light of dawn, a pair of rangers rode in on 49 00:03:10,680 --> 00:03:13,239 Speaker 2: day it ends. For those who aren't familiar, these are 50 00:03:13,280 --> 00:03:18,480 Speaker 2: basically megafauna pigs. They went extinct about sixteen million years ago. 51 00:03:19,400 --> 00:03:22,160 Speaker 2: The rangers rode in with a whole herd of giant 52 00:03:22,440 --> 00:03:26,600 Speaker 2: half wild pigs, and those pigs set to work cleaning 53 00:03:26,600 --> 00:03:31,919 Speaker 2: the field. About six herding dogs regular old canine MutS 54 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:35,480 Speaker 2: kept all the giant beasts in line, and for hours 55 00:03:35,960 --> 00:03:40,480 Speaker 2: there was this omnipresent sound of munching bones. It was 56 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:44,960 Speaker 2: faster than burial and more ecologically sound than fire. Are 57 00:03:45,040 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 2: dead and they're dead. Both went into the gullets of 58 00:03:48,200 --> 00:03:53,200 Speaker 2: giant pigs with no other task. Immediately before me, I 59 00:03:53,280 --> 00:03:55,400 Speaker 2: went to the pair of rangers who were overseeing the 60 00:03:55,440 --> 00:03:58,960 Speaker 2: whole thing. I was prepared to talk in Spanish, but 61 00:03:59,040 --> 00:04:01,080 Speaker 2: I was in luck in. One of the rangers, a 62 00:04:01,120 --> 00:04:04,440 Speaker 2: black man in his early sixties named Aiden, was born 63 00:04:04,480 --> 00:04:06,480 Speaker 2: and raised in Brooklyn, and we got to talk in 64 00:04:06,560 --> 00:04:10,800 Speaker 2: English and talk about the New York giants. I kept 65 00:04:10,800 --> 00:04:13,120 Speaker 2: calling him a zoomer, and he kept correcting me that 66 00:04:13,160 --> 00:04:17,640 Speaker 2: he was a millennial. Thank you very much. I started 67 00:04:17,640 --> 00:04:21,120 Speaker 2: off the interview a bit more properly. I asked who 68 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,839 Speaker 2: he was, what his role was. The herd of Diodens 69 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,760 Speaker 2: was one of only three such herds in the world, 70 00:04:27,960 --> 00:04:31,840 Speaker 2: at least in the semi wild. The other two were 71 00:04:31,839 --> 00:04:37,240 Speaker 2: in North America. Introducing extinct species was a delicate mamble. 72 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 2: If we weren't in the middle of a climate apocalypse already, 73 00:04:40,880 --> 00:04:44,440 Speaker 2: it would be unconsciousable. But the past fifty years have 74 00:04:44,520 --> 00:04:49,440 Speaker 2: seen unprecedented die off of species after species. Entire genuses 75 00:04:49,520 --> 00:04:52,880 Speaker 2: go extinct more or less every day, and generally, when 76 00:04:52,880 --> 00:04:57,039 Speaker 2: a newly extinct species is de extincted, it can't compete 77 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:02,120 Speaker 2: and it just disappears again. So the megafauna and other 78 00:05:02,160 --> 00:05:06,080 Speaker 2: ancient animals are sort of a hail. Mary Aiden is 79 00:05:06,080 --> 00:05:07,960 Speaker 2: a New York Giants fan. In his speech is peppered 80 00:05:07,960 --> 00:05:12,279 Speaker 2: with sports references, some of which I understood. Some of 81 00:05:12,320 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 2: the reintroductions have been wildly successful. Think the giant sloths 82 00:05:16,440 --> 00:05:18,680 Speaker 2: that have become almost a mascot of what's left of 83 00:05:18,680 --> 00:05:25,560 Speaker 2: the Amazon charismatic megafauna. The pigs are a particularly dangerous gamble. 84 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:29,240 Speaker 2: According to Aiden, wild pigs are, of course already one 85 00:05:29,279 --> 00:05:32,560 Speaker 2: of the most prolific invasive species across the world, and 86 00:05:32,600 --> 00:05:35,640 Speaker 2: they're in no more danger of extinction than cockroaches are. 87 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 2: But during lab experiments with the datin, scientists discovered something 88 00:05:40,600 --> 00:05:46,960 Speaker 2: they hadn't expected. Datin can eat plastic. Of course, so 89 00:05:47,080 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 2: can a bunch of worms and microbes and such. But 90 00:05:49,839 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 2: a single datin that are about the size of a 91 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:56,120 Speaker 2: largish bowl can eat around twenty pounds of plastic a day, 92 00:05:56,560 --> 00:05:59,360 Speaker 2: so long as it is interspersed with plant matter and protein. 93 00:06:00,279 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 2: So the potential risks of wild daadin may yet be 94 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:09,240 Speaker 2: outweighed by their ecological facility. Most datin are kept in captivity, 95 00:06:09,320 --> 00:06:12,520 Speaker 2: but before the outbreak of war in the Iberian Peninsula, 96 00:06:12,960 --> 00:06:16,520 Speaker 2: Aidan was working with a team experimenting with allowing deadon 97 00:06:16,600 --> 00:06:19,880 Speaker 2: to graze. They must be closely monitored at all times, 98 00:06:19,920 --> 00:06:26,640 Speaker 2: but initial results were promising. These days, dadon mostly eat 99 00:06:26,720 --> 00:06:29,960 Speaker 2: the war dead. Their ability to chew through fabric and 100 00:06:30,000 --> 00:06:33,800 Speaker 2: plastic and flesh and bone is simply unmatched when it 101 00:06:33,800 --> 00:06:38,560 Speaker 2: comes to cleaning battlefields. Aidan's affinity for these animals is clear, 102 00:06:39,200 --> 00:06:42,320 Speaker 2: though so is his worry if we're not careful. He 103 00:06:42,360 --> 00:06:45,400 Speaker 2: told me these things could wind up turning half the 104 00:06:45,440 --> 00:06:49,640 Speaker 2: biomass of the planet into more of themselves. He thought 105 00:06:49,680 --> 00:06:52,640 Speaker 2: about that for a moment and then laughed, kind of 106 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:56,480 Speaker 2: like what humans have done, turning half the planet's biomass 107 00:06:56,480 --> 00:07:01,240 Speaker 2: into humans and cows, Much like, if you think of it, 108 00:07:01,520 --> 00:07:04,080 Speaker 2: how humans have turned a solid half of the planet's 109 00:07:04,160 --> 00:07:10,680 Speaker 2: entertainment content into advertisements. This podcast is brought to you 110 00:07:10,720 --> 00:07:13,920 Speaker 2: by the Committee for the Curtailment of Sexually Transmitted Diseases 111 00:07:13,960 --> 00:07:19,480 Speaker 2: among Internationalist Forces the CCSTDAIF would like to remind you 112 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:22,560 Speaker 2: that while sex is good and healthy, and there is 113 00:07:22,600 --> 00:07:27,400 Speaker 2: no particular ethical imperative for or against monogamy, sexually transmitted 114 00:07:27,440 --> 00:07:32,360 Speaker 2: diseases reduce the fighting strength of our forces. The CCSTDAF 115 00:07:32,720 --> 00:07:35,800 Speaker 2: works with medics and based hospitals to provide std testing, 116 00:07:36,160 --> 00:07:39,160 Speaker 2: and we ask any sexually active soldier or anyone who 117 00:07:39,240 --> 00:07:42,240 Speaker 2: is sexually active with soldiers to get tested on a 118 00:07:42,280 --> 00:07:47,200 Speaker 2: regular basis and treated when necessary. Because remember, you can fuck, 119 00:07:47,920 --> 00:07:52,600 Speaker 2: just don't fuck up. This podcast is brought to you 120 00:07:52,680 --> 00:07:58,080 Speaker 2: by dogs. Are you lonely, sad, overworked, stressed about the 121 00:07:58,080 --> 00:08:01,160 Speaker 2: impending death of all life on earth to climate change? 122 00:08:01,600 --> 00:08:06,600 Speaker 2: Do you want unconditional love? Try petting a dog. Studies 123 00:08:06,640 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 2: indicate that most people report a ten percent overall baseline 124 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:13,560 Speaker 2: happiness when they are around friendly dogs on a regular basis, 125 00:08:13,960 --> 00:08:17,280 Speaker 2: and a thirty percent higher overall baseline happiness when they 126 00:08:17,280 --> 00:08:20,240 Speaker 2: are the principal caretaker for a dog. Don't forget the 127 00:08:20,320 --> 00:08:26,760 Speaker 2: charismatic medium fauna just because there's charismatic megafauna around. Reminder, 128 00:08:27,040 --> 00:08:28,920 Speaker 2: not all dogs would like to be pett Every dog 129 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:30,640 Speaker 2: has a unique personality and may or may not be 130 00:08:30,640 --> 00:08:33,280 Speaker 2: compatible with different living situations. If you choose to adopt 131 00:08:33,280 --> 00:08:35,680 Speaker 2: a dog, please do so from a responsible rescue shelter. 132 00:08:35,960 --> 00:08:37,960 Speaker 2: If you choose to adopt a dog, you must accept 133 00:08:38,000 --> 00:08:39,920 Speaker 2: that you are responsible for that dog for the foreseeable 134 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:42,720 Speaker 2: future and cannot abandon the dog without finding another safe 135 00:08:42,720 --> 00:09:07,839 Speaker 2: home first, and we're back. Aiden and I talked for hours. 136 00:09:08,320 --> 00:09:10,120 Speaker 2: Here was a man who had lived through the whole 137 00:09:10,280 --> 00:09:13,760 Speaker 2: of the long twenty first century thus far and God willing. 138 00:09:13,840 --> 00:09:16,200 Speaker 2: He told me he was going to live to see 139 00:09:16,280 --> 00:09:19,199 Speaker 2: it end. I told him I didn't think any human 140 00:09:19,280 --> 00:09:21,640 Speaker 2: was going to live to see the century end. And 141 00:09:21,679 --> 00:09:24,840 Speaker 2: he looked me dead in the eyes and said, you 142 00:09:24,880 --> 00:09:28,880 Speaker 2: can't think like that. I asked him, why not, he said, 143 00:09:28,960 --> 00:09:33,560 Speaker 2: and I quote here, you can't think like that because look, 144 00:09:34,080 --> 00:09:37,439 Speaker 2: have I buried two of my three daughters already? Yeah? 145 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,800 Speaker 2: Have three of my grandkids died in the fighting? Sure have. 146 00:09:41,559 --> 00:09:44,280 Speaker 2: That leaves me with a non binary kid and a daughter, 147 00:09:44,360 --> 00:09:47,120 Speaker 2: and that leaves me with three grandkids who are still alive. 148 00:09:48,000 --> 00:09:50,199 Speaker 2: I know it's hip and cool to live like you're 149 00:09:50,240 --> 00:09:53,040 Speaker 2: going to die, and you should live that way because 150 00:09:53,200 --> 00:09:56,960 Speaker 2: you are going to die. But not everyone is. There 151 00:09:57,000 --> 00:10:00,440 Speaker 2: was this old fiction writer check guy and anarch from 152 00:10:00,559 --> 00:10:04,720 Speaker 2: before my time, before your time, Franz Kafka. He lived 153 00:10:04,720 --> 00:10:07,720 Speaker 2: through the First World War in Europe. One day he 154 00:10:07,800 --> 00:10:09,800 Speaker 2: was talking to his friend and he said something that 155 00:10:10,120 --> 00:10:13,439 Speaker 2: keeps me going. They were talking about how God has 156 00:10:13,480 --> 00:10:17,040 Speaker 2: forsaken everyone, how everyone was killing themselves and killing each 157 00:10:17,040 --> 00:10:20,760 Speaker 2: other and dying, and how everything was just raw and bleak. 158 00:10:21,720 --> 00:10:24,920 Speaker 2: His friend brought up hope, and Franz he looks at 159 00:10:24,920 --> 00:10:28,559 Speaker 2: his friend and he goes, hope. There's an infinite amount 160 00:10:28,600 --> 00:10:34,120 Speaker 2: of hope in this universe, just not for us. And so, yeah, 161 00:10:34,400 --> 00:10:38,080 Speaker 2: you and me, we're probably fucked. I hate to tell 162 00:10:38,080 --> 00:10:41,400 Speaker 2: you that, but like iron curtain is down, maybe you 163 00:10:41,480 --> 00:10:44,680 Speaker 2: boys here, sorry, force a habit, you all will break 164 00:10:44,720 --> 00:10:47,560 Speaker 2: that curtain, or maybe that curtain will break itself against you. 165 00:10:48,440 --> 00:10:52,400 Speaker 2: Might happen, probably won't. But every fascist government that's ever 166 00:10:52,480 --> 00:10:55,520 Speaker 2: risen has fallen. And right now we've got more than 167 00:10:55,520 --> 00:10:59,160 Speaker 2: the usual amount of hope. All over the world, people 168 00:10:59,160 --> 00:11:03,120 Speaker 2: are fighting. Fascism requires people to give up, and for 169 00:11:03,240 --> 00:11:06,280 Speaker 2: once in history, with our backs up against the collective 170 00:11:06,320 --> 00:11:11,480 Speaker 2: wall of climate change, we're fighting. We're gonna win. You 171 00:11:11,559 --> 00:11:16,520 Speaker 2: and me we're gonna die, But everyone else we're gonna win. 172 00:11:17,679 --> 00:11:19,400 Speaker 2: He said all that to me. I said to him, 173 00:11:19,920 --> 00:11:21,440 Speaker 2: but you said you were going to live to see 174 00:11:21,440 --> 00:11:26,720 Speaker 2: the whole century come and go. He responded, sure, sure, 175 00:11:27,360 --> 00:11:29,240 Speaker 2: you never held onto two opposite thoughts in your head 176 00:11:29,280 --> 00:11:32,200 Speaker 2: at the same time, I'm gonna die in bed in 177 00:11:32,240 --> 00:11:35,760 Speaker 2: a Brooklyn brownstone. It's gonna be cooperatively owned, and the 178 00:11:35,760 --> 00:11:38,240 Speaker 2: whole of Brooklyn, maybe the whole Turtle Island is gonna 179 00:11:38,240 --> 00:11:41,440 Speaker 2: be under traditional stewardship, because we'll have fought like hell 180 00:11:41,559 --> 00:11:44,400 Speaker 2: to make it that way. There's gonna be three cats, 181 00:11:44,480 --> 00:11:48,040 Speaker 2: two dogs, and at least two previously extinct animals lying 182 00:11:48,120 --> 00:11:51,640 Speaker 2: in my bed, and my great great grandkids are gonna 183 00:11:51,640 --> 00:11:54,360 Speaker 2: ask me about the war, and I'm gonna smile and say, 184 00:11:54,640 --> 00:11:57,080 Speaker 2: what war? And then I'm gonna see the light that 185 00:11:57,120 --> 00:12:00,440 Speaker 2: I don't know if I believe in. And my first husband, Gary, 186 00:12:00,440 --> 00:12:03,120 Speaker 2: who died in the war in the forties, he's going 187 00:12:03,160 --> 00:12:05,000 Speaker 2: to be waiting for me, smiling, and he's going to 188 00:12:05,080 --> 00:12:08,560 Speaker 2: lead me up that light. That might happen. I hope 189 00:12:08,600 --> 00:12:12,160 Speaker 2: that'll happen. There I go talking about hope. That's one 190 00:12:12,160 --> 00:12:15,000 Speaker 2: thought in my head, and it's a pleasant one. Then 191 00:12:15,000 --> 00:12:18,560 Speaker 2: there's this other thought, and the thing is this thought 192 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:22,679 Speaker 2: is pleasant too. Me and Gary we moved to Portugal 193 00:12:22,760 --> 00:12:24,480 Speaker 2: during one of those times when we thought the US 194 00:12:24,600 --> 00:12:26,559 Speaker 2: was going to go fascist instead of just split up. 195 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:29,160 Speaker 2: And Gary had a good remote job and I'm good 196 00:12:29,160 --> 00:12:31,640 Speaker 2: with languages, so I started driving for a ride share. 197 00:12:32,360 --> 00:12:35,560 Speaker 2: Then you know, he goes and dies during that war, 198 00:12:35,600 --> 00:12:37,800 Speaker 2: and I go back to school and I get a 199 00:12:37,800 --> 00:12:41,080 Speaker 2: PhD in wildlife restoration, but just start working for the 200 00:12:41,120 --> 00:12:44,040 Speaker 2: park Service because being outside is the only thing that 201 00:12:44,120 --> 00:12:47,079 Speaker 2: keeps me away from my thoughts. All of a sudden, 202 00:12:47,400 --> 00:12:50,560 Speaker 2: MegaFon are back, and that's what I studied an undergrad 203 00:12:50,600 --> 00:12:53,440 Speaker 2: a million years ago. And I wind up a ranger 204 00:12:53,480 --> 00:12:56,720 Speaker 2: in Catalonia. New war breaks out, and I think about 205 00:12:56,760 --> 00:12:59,040 Speaker 2: signing up, but mostly people tell me I'm too old, 206 00:13:00,040 --> 00:13:02,000 Speaker 2: But animals they never tell you that you're too old, 207 00:13:02,040 --> 00:13:05,200 Speaker 2: and so I stay on as a ranger. Iron curtain 208 00:13:05,280 --> 00:13:08,280 Speaker 2: goes down. All my family they're on the other side 209 00:13:08,320 --> 00:13:11,600 Speaker 2: of that curtain. Are they still alive? I don't know. 210 00:13:12,520 --> 00:13:17,200 Speaker 2: I might never know. So probably one night while I'm sleeping, 211 00:13:17,400 --> 00:13:19,640 Speaker 2: the phalax is going to come over the hills and 212 00:13:19,760 --> 00:13:22,440 Speaker 2: they're going to kill me and eat my pigs. And 213 00:13:22,480 --> 00:13:25,040 Speaker 2: maybe I'll get a round off and maybe I won't, 214 00:13:25,200 --> 00:13:28,200 Speaker 2: But the end result is the same. I'm walking towards 215 00:13:28,280 --> 00:13:30,080 Speaker 2: the light, whether or not I believe in that light, 216 00:13:30,480 --> 00:13:32,920 Speaker 2: and Gary is there, and it don't matter in the 217 00:13:33,040 --> 00:13:35,240 Speaker 2: end if I die in Brooklyn sixty years from now 218 00:13:35,400 --> 00:13:38,960 Speaker 2: or Catalonia today, because because I've lived my life as 219 00:13:39,000 --> 00:13:42,440 Speaker 2: well as I could. What's it matter that I die 220 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:47,200 Speaker 2: in the Pan Africanist, decolonial, anti authoritarian, socialist utopia or 221 00:13:47,240 --> 00:13:51,120 Speaker 2: that I die fighting for it? Either way? So you 222 00:13:51,120 --> 00:13:53,640 Speaker 2: can tell me that me and you that we're going 223 00:13:53,720 --> 00:13:57,320 Speaker 2: to die because we are now. We might die today, 224 00:13:57,320 --> 00:13:59,840 Speaker 2: they might try to double tap our ass, but people 225 00:14:00,160 --> 00:14:02,400 Speaker 2: the earth, we're going to fight to make sure that 226 00:14:02,440 --> 00:14:06,720 Speaker 2: those keep going. There is hope, bunny face, but not 227 00:14:06,840 --> 00:14:11,080 Speaker 2: for us. And uh, you know what else, there's hope 228 00:14:11,120 --> 00:14:15,160 Speaker 2: for our advertisers. They're hoping that you'll drop your critical 229 00:14:15,160 --> 00:14:17,440 Speaker 2: thinking skills and just do whatever they tell you to do. 230 00:14:19,640 --> 00:14:23,160 Speaker 2: This podcast is brought to you by Bobby Blues Bastard Blades. 231 00:14:23,640 --> 00:14:25,960 Speaker 2: Are you tired of wielding a sword that's designed for 232 00:14:26,040 --> 00:14:30,040 Speaker 2: either one hand or two hands, feeling a little non 233 00:14:30,120 --> 00:14:33,280 Speaker 2: binary when it comes to sword and hilt length, then 234 00:14:33,320 --> 00:14:37,480 Speaker 2: Bobby Blues Bastard Blades is for you. We are the 235 00:14:37,480 --> 00:14:40,840 Speaker 2: world's finest purveyor of Bastard swords, and don't worry, we 236 00:14:40,960 --> 00:14:49,320 Speaker 2: are definitely not affiliated with Robert Evans. This podcast is 237 00:14:49,360 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 2: brought to you by Marty's Mattress Mall. It sure is 238 00:14:52,440 --> 00:14:55,680 Speaker 2: hard to sleep lately, what with all the evocative hand 239 00:14:55,680 --> 00:14:57,600 Speaker 2: gesture goes here. If this had is recorded in a 240 00:14:57,680 --> 00:15:02,080 Speaker 2: video format, I know that it's been ages since I 241 00:15:02,240 --> 00:15:06,000 Speaker 2: had a good night's rest, or it had been until 242 00:15:06,120 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 2: Marty's Mattress Mall sent me their latest and greatest, The 243 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:12,920 Speaker 2: Matte Rest, the only mattress that makes you coffee in 244 00:15:12,960 --> 00:15:18,080 Speaker 2: the morning. This podcast is brought to you by Food 245 00:15:18,120 --> 00:15:22,120 Speaker 2: and Usually Not Bombs, the ideological successor of food not bombs. 246 00:15:22,760 --> 00:15:26,400 Speaker 2: All the food and occasionally some bombs. Don't know how 247 00:15:26,440 --> 00:15:28,960 Speaker 2: else to make the world a better place. Feed people 248 00:15:29,520 --> 00:15:32,920 Speaker 2: food and usually not bombs is a horizontal, decentralized collection 249 00:15:32,960 --> 00:15:36,080 Speaker 2: of autonomous collectives to provide food to all comers and 250 00:15:36,480 --> 00:15:40,240 Speaker 2: occasionally bombs to people who just you know, really need 251 00:15:40,280 --> 00:16:06,080 Speaker 2: to go blow something up back. For most of the 252 00:16:06,080 --> 00:16:09,680 Speaker 2: morning I talked to Ranger Aiden as coworker I know 253 00:16:09,800 --> 00:16:12,360 Speaker 2: h came over and joined us for lunch, though she 254 00:16:12,480 --> 00:16:16,040 Speaker 2: asked me not to report on anything. She said I 255 00:16:16,160 --> 00:16:18,640 Speaker 2: was glad to have civilian company because the soldiers in 256 00:16:18,680 --> 00:16:21,680 Speaker 2: camp were rather busy. In the morning, there was an 257 00:16:21,720 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 2: open forum, well open to all enlisted soldiers, not to 258 00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:30,000 Speaker 2: civilians like me, discussing the tactical situation and brainstorming ideas. 259 00:16:30,520 --> 00:16:33,000 Speaker 2: Those ideas then went with the elected officers into the 260 00:16:33,000 --> 00:16:35,600 Speaker 2: command tent. I don't know what they talked about, and 261 00:16:35,880 --> 00:16:39,400 Speaker 2: I wouldn't tell you even if I did. In the afternoon, 262 00:16:39,440 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 2: I thought we'd be packing up to move camp. The enemy, 263 00:16:42,200 --> 00:16:45,120 Speaker 2: after all, knew where we were. They knew our numbers, 264 00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:48,640 Speaker 2: our defenses, everything. We'd taken out an entire battalion the 265 00:16:48,720 --> 00:16:53,840 Speaker 2: night before, but somewhere nearby was an entire brigade, which is, 266 00:16:53,960 --> 00:16:56,840 Speaker 2: in case you're not up on such things, bigger than 267 00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,960 Speaker 2: a battalion. If we were attacked by an entire brigade, 268 00:17:00,200 --> 00:17:04,080 Speaker 2: there is no way our defenses would hold. One of 269 00:17:04,080 --> 00:17:06,320 Speaker 2: the fag hags caught up with me in the afternoon 270 00:17:06,359 --> 00:17:09,359 Speaker 2: to tell me that we were staying put. Don't worry. 271 00:17:09,440 --> 00:17:12,760 Speaker 2: They told me they won't attack us directly again, not tonight. 272 00:17:13,880 --> 00:17:18,280 Speaker 2: Then they got contemplative, Well, they might shell us, but 273 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:22,639 Speaker 2: there's no point lingering on that thought. They spent the 274 00:17:22,680 --> 00:17:26,880 Speaker 2: afternoon alongside two Katalan teenagers repairing a machine gun nest. 275 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 2: There was blood and gore everywhere, and the scent snuck 276 00:17:30,320 --> 00:17:33,960 Speaker 2: its way past my bandana mask. Soon enough, there weren't 277 00:17:34,040 --> 00:17:36,880 Speaker 2: enough respirators to go around, though, so I choked back 278 00:17:36,920 --> 00:17:39,159 Speaker 2: bile and cleaned out some meat that used to have 279 00:17:39,240 --> 00:17:42,119 Speaker 2: memories and friends and threw it into the field to 280 00:17:42,119 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 2: be eaten by ancient pigs. We finished just around the 281 00:17:46,840 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 2: time the sun started going down. The two teenagers sat 282 00:17:50,000 --> 00:17:53,199 Speaker 2: down in that nest to staff the machine gun. I 283 00:17:53,240 --> 00:17:55,960 Speaker 2: can only imagine what must have been going through their minds, 284 00:17:56,640 --> 00:17:59,960 Speaker 2: because they didn't want to answer my questions. They said, 285 00:18:00,080 --> 00:18:01,720 Speaker 2: ed and I have run across this a lot with 286 00:18:01,760 --> 00:18:05,720 Speaker 2: the youngest soldiers that they were immediatists, that they didn't 287 00:18:05,760 --> 00:18:09,959 Speaker 2: believe in mediating their experiences through photos and videos. The 288 00:18:10,000 --> 00:18:12,240 Speaker 2: only mark they wanted to leave on the world would 289 00:18:12,280 --> 00:18:14,639 Speaker 2: be their actions, which, if they were lucky, would go 290 00:18:14,800 --> 00:18:20,120 Speaker 2: unrecorded and unrecognized. That they said was the only way 291 00:18:20,240 --> 00:18:23,000 Speaker 2: to truly be free was to be free from the 292 00:18:23,119 --> 00:18:28,160 Speaker 2: yoke of posterity. So I don't know how they felt 293 00:18:28,200 --> 00:18:30,640 Speaker 2: to sit down into a machine gun nest that had 294 00:18:30,760 --> 00:18:33,159 Speaker 2: just the night before been the death of two people 295 00:18:33,200 --> 00:18:37,800 Speaker 2: they knew. As we were finishing up, a dreadnought walked 296 00:18:37,880 --> 00:18:41,520 Speaker 2: up to me, it's really easy to recognize a dreadnought. 297 00:18:41,960 --> 00:18:44,439 Speaker 2: No one else in camp had chainmail woven through her 298 00:18:44,440 --> 00:18:47,520 Speaker 2: plate carrier. No one else in camp had a labris, 299 00:18:48,080 --> 00:18:50,640 Speaker 2: a two headed axe, a lesbian symbol now used more 300 00:18:50,680 --> 00:18:54,359 Speaker 2: literally than it had been in previous generations, hanging from 301 00:18:54,400 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 2: a loop on her belt, next to a glock seventeen 302 00:18:56,640 --> 00:18:59,800 Speaker 2: and a medkit. No one else but a Dreadnought would 303 00:18:59,800 --> 00:19:03,640 Speaker 2: walk up to me, salute and say hail, and well met, 304 00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:07,640 Speaker 2: weary word smith in a Catalan accent so thick. I 305 00:19:07,720 --> 00:19:11,000 Speaker 2: wasn't sure I heard her right. So a Dreadnought walked 306 00:19:11,080 --> 00:19:13,800 Speaker 2: up to me and look, I swear to you, I 307 00:19:14,240 --> 00:19:16,639 Speaker 2: fell in love a little. I fall in love a 308 00:19:16,640 --> 00:19:18,800 Speaker 2: little about once a week, so this wasn't a world 309 00:19:18,880 --> 00:19:22,840 Speaker 2: changing moment for me or anything, but still I fell 310 00:19:22,880 --> 00:19:25,960 Speaker 2: in love a little. Her name was Octavia, after the 311 00:19:26,000 --> 00:19:30,160 Speaker 2: prophet Octavia Butler. She was born and raised in Barcelona. 312 00:19:30,320 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 2: A third generation syndicalist and a second generation trans woman, 313 00:19:34,600 --> 00:19:37,200 Speaker 2: she was in her thirties. You would assume that the 314 00:19:37,280 --> 00:19:40,199 Speaker 2: Dreadnoughts would skew younger than the rest of the anti fascists, 315 00:19:40,520 --> 00:19:44,080 Speaker 2: but they don't. Fanato nihilism attracts people of all ages. 316 00:19:45,480 --> 00:19:48,639 Speaker 2: We are saying farewell to the blessed ones tonight. She said, 317 00:19:49,240 --> 00:19:52,520 Speaker 2: you should come, You should see before all of us 318 00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:56,080 Speaker 2: are so blessed. I knew enough about the Dreadnoughts to 319 00:19:56,119 --> 00:19:58,679 Speaker 2: parse out what she was saying. The dead were the 320 00:19:58,680 --> 00:20:01,879 Speaker 2: blessed they or the lucky ones, and all of the 321 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,959 Speaker 2: Dreadnoughts would soon follow. I can't say no to a party, 322 00:20:06,200 --> 00:20:08,520 Speaker 2: I can't say no to a trans woman with a labyris, 323 00:20:08,560 --> 00:20:10,720 Speaker 2: and I can't say no to getting to see a 324 00:20:10,760 --> 00:20:15,439 Speaker 2: new funeral write. So I went with her. It was 325 00:20:15,600 --> 00:20:20,320 Speaker 2: like nothing I'd seen before. All six hundred Dreadnoughts plus 326 00:20:20,359 --> 00:20:24,000 Speaker 2: a couple hundred regular soldiers paying their respects, stood in 327 00:20:24,040 --> 00:20:26,280 Speaker 2: a line at the edge of the camp, facing towards 328 00:20:26,280 --> 00:20:29,920 Speaker 2: the field of battle. Thirty of the Dreadnoughts came over 329 00:20:29,960 --> 00:20:33,679 Speaker 2: the hill, carrying the six fallen Knights, a torch bearer, 330 00:20:33,720 --> 00:20:37,639 Speaker 2: a company in each body. For a moment, everything was 331 00:20:37,680 --> 00:20:40,480 Speaker 2: silent but for the rustle of chainmail and the scraping 332 00:20:40,520 --> 00:20:45,480 Speaker 2: of metal armor. Then the horns began. I'd never seen 333 00:20:45,640 --> 00:20:49,680 Speaker 2: or imagined these things before. Celtic War horns with dragonheads 334 00:20:49,680 --> 00:20:53,280 Speaker 2: that rose five feet above the crowd. I don't know 335 00:20:53,280 --> 00:20:58,119 Speaker 2: how to describe their music haunting. This didn't feel like 336 00:20:58,160 --> 00:21:02,160 Speaker 2: a like a ren fare with happy minutess. This felt 337 00:21:02,880 --> 00:21:08,159 Speaker 2: something ancient. An extinct giant boar wandered close to the 338 00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:12,480 Speaker 2: edge of camp, and curiosity sat on its haunches and listened. 339 00:21:14,320 --> 00:21:19,879 Speaker 2: Ten singers began keening, a wordless, toneless morning singing. The 340 00:21:19,960 --> 00:21:24,679 Speaker 2: ancient hills were around us. Dear listener, I am not 341 00:21:24,760 --> 00:21:29,480 Speaker 2: a religious person, yet there is another world beneath this world, 342 00:21:29,520 --> 00:21:33,240 Speaker 2: an invisible world, and I believe that now. I felt it. 343 00:21:33,320 --> 00:21:37,720 Speaker 2: That night, the bodies were laid on a makeshift altar 344 00:21:37,760 --> 00:21:40,760 Speaker 2: of lashed logs, and I assumed they would be burned. 345 00:21:41,400 --> 00:21:44,720 Speaker 2: It just seems like what should have happened, or maybe 346 00:21:44,800 --> 00:21:49,560 Speaker 2: fed to the dinosaurs, I don't know. Instead, while the 347 00:21:49,560 --> 00:21:53,560 Speaker 2: horns played, while the boar watched, while the keeners sang. 348 00:21:54,320 --> 00:21:56,840 Speaker 2: One by one, the friends of the dead came up 349 00:21:56,840 --> 00:22:01,280 Speaker 2: and stripped their bodies. The first people took bits of armor, 350 00:22:01,720 --> 00:22:06,840 Speaker 2: the next took clothes. After that, knives came out. Tattoos 351 00:22:06,840 --> 00:22:09,640 Speaker 2: were flayed from flesh to be turned into leather patches. 352 00:22:10,920 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 2: Then people took teeth took bones as emblems. Once there 353 00:22:15,040 --> 00:22:18,639 Speaker 2: was almost nothing left, a single man, heavy set and 354 00:22:18,680 --> 00:22:23,080 Speaker 2: half naked, came out with a gigantic hammer. He walked 355 00:22:23,119 --> 00:22:26,480 Speaker 2: up to a body. The crowd breathed in. As he 356 00:22:26,560 --> 00:22:30,000 Speaker 2: breathed in, he let out his voice with a hun, 357 00:22:31,080 --> 00:22:34,200 Speaker 2: and the crowd joined him. He brought the hammer down 358 00:22:34,240 --> 00:22:37,240 Speaker 2: on the skull of the dead, crushing it and the 359 00:22:37,280 --> 00:22:42,159 Speaker 2: platform beneath it into the ground. He did this for 360 00:22:42,240 --> 00:22:47,720 Speaker 2: each body in turn. Then the thirty pallbearers took the 361 00:22:47,800 --> 00:22:51,000 Speaker 2: ruined bodies back out to the field, the whole order 362 00:22:51,040 --> 00:22:55,520 Speaker 2: of operations in reverse. The strong man disappeared into the crowd. 363 00:22:56,240 --> 00:23:01,120 Speaker 2: The singing stopped, the horns stopped. We stood silent as 364 00:23:01,119 --> 00:23:06,040 Speaker 2: the torches disappeared over the hill. One figure, a small, 365 00:23:06,119 --> 00:23:09,400 Speaker 2: olive skinned woman wearing Middle Eastern armor, stood in front 366 00:23:09,400 --> 00:23:12,520 Speaker 2: of the crowd. She held a human femur in each hand. 367 00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:16,720 Speaker 2: Aloft above her head. She held something in Arabic, then caughtalum, 368 00:23:17,280 --> 00:23:23,520 Speaker 2: then in English, hail the victorious dead, which is for 369 00:23:23,600 --> 00:23:25,840 Speaker 2: anyone who isn't caught up on such things a lord 370 00:23:25,840 --> 00:23:28,320 Speaker 2: of the rings quote. I had to have it explained 371 00:23:28,320 --> 00:23:33,000 Speaker 2: to me later. The ceremony ended, and the party began. 372 00:23:34,080 --> 00:23:36,440 Speaker 2: The young and the young at heart danced and drank 373 00:23:36,560 --> 00:23:39,880 Speaker 2: and sang all night, challenging each other to build fires 374 00:23:39,960 --> 00:23:45,359 Speaker 2: higher and higher. But even drunk, they were cautious. A 375 00:23:45,440 --> 00:23:50,240 Speaker 2: dreadnought aims to die in battle, not drunk at a party. 376 00:23:51,680 --> 00:23:54,879 Speaker 2: The older Dreadnoughts formed circles to talk, to drink or 377 00:23:54,920 --> 00:23:58,760 Speaker 2: to not drink, to sing songs to reflect. I joined 378 00:23:58,800 --> 00:24:02,240 Speaker 2: Octavia one of these, and we talked late into the night. 379 00:24:02,359 --> 00:24:05,400 Speaker 2: And I'm not going to become an immediatist anytime soon, 380 00:24:05,920 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 2: but I'm still not going to tell you everything that 381 00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:11,280 Speaker 2: we talked about, not the details. We talked about our 382 00:24:11,320 --> 00:24:15,119 Speaker 2: hopes and fears and dreams and what we liked in 383 00:24:15,160 --> 00:24:18,919 Speaker 2: bed and what we liked about each other. As for 384 00:24:18,960 --> 00:24:21,040 Speaker 2: how the rest of the night went, you'll have to 385 00:24:21,040 --> 00:24:24,280 Speaker 2: pop on over to our sister podcast, Under the Pants 386 00:24:24,520 --> 00:24:29,679 Speaker 2: and Under the Ground. Thanks so much for listening. That 387 00:24:29,880 --> 00:24:33,960 Speaker 2: ends Part three of Mixed Bunny Face Murders Reports from 388 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:36,680 Speaker 2: the front line. But don't worry, that's not the end 389 00:24:36,680 --> 00:24:41,080 Speaker 2: of it. There is more of that to come. And 390 00:24:41,119 --> 00:24:46,320 Speaker 2: if you liked this podcast, you, for whatever reason, might 391 00:24:46,520 --> 00:24:49,359 Speaker 2: like the fact that I wrote a book thirty years ago. 392 00:24:50,240 --> 00:24:52,440 Speaker 2: It came out in twenty twenty five. It was called 393 00:24:52,440 --> 00:24:55,040 Speaker 2: The Immortal Choir Holds Every Voice and it was published 394 00:24:55,040 --> 00:24:58,000 Speaker 2: by Strangers in Tangled Wilderness, and it was kickstarted in 395 00:24:58,040 --> 00:25:02,600 Speaker 2: March twenty twenty five, and early twenty twenty five was 396 00:25:02,640 --> 00:25:05,560 Speaker 2: a weird time to be pitching fantasy books instead of 397 00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:08,200 Speaker 2: just getting ready for the rise of fascism in the 398 00:25:08,280 --> 00:25:11,679 Speaker 2: United States. I'll tell you what, but you know I 399 00:25:11,760 --> 00:25:14,840 Speaker 2: was grateful thirty years ago. In twenty twenty five, were 400 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:17,040 Speaker 2: all the people who signed up for alerts on the 401 00:25:17,119 --> 00:25:21,280 Speaker 2: Kickstarter's page telling them about how the book was going 402 00:25:21,359 --> 00:25:26,400 Speaker 2: to come out, which they probably did by googling Immortal 403 00:25:26,480 --> 00:25:32,440 Speaker 2: Choir Marret Kiljoy. Anyway, see y'all next week. Good luck 404 00:25:32,480 --> 00:25:37,879 Speaker 2: with everything. Hope you survive the Dino War. But there's hope, 405 00:25:39,040 --> 00:25:40,560 Speaker 2: even if not for us. 406 00:25:42,480 --> 00:25:45,000 Speaker 1: It could happen here as a production of cool Zone Media. 407 00:25:45,080 --> 00:25:47,719 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from cool Zone Media, visit our website 408 00:25:47,800 --> 00:25:50,040 Speaker 1: cool Zonemedia dot com, or check us out on the 409 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:53,720 Speaker 1: iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to podcasts. 410 00:25:54,040 --> 00:25:56,200 Speaker 1: You can find sources for It could Happen here. Updated 411 00:25:56,240 --> 00:25:59,680 Speaker 1: monthly at cool Zone Media dot com Slash Sources thanks 412 00:25:59,680 --> 00:26:00,320 Speaker 1: for listen. The name