Disrupted

'America Outdoors' host Baratunde Thurston on names, nature and 'How to Citizen'

By Kevin Chang Barnum,

Wayne Edwards, Khalilah Brown-Dean, Meg Dalton, Catie Talarski

Published October 4, 2023 at 12:23 PM EDT

A photo of Baratunde Thurston wearing a gray shirt and standing in front of a background of green leaves. — Baratunde Thurston hosts *America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston*. He says we have forgotten that we are a part of nature.

Baratunde Thurston is a bestselling author, has been nominated for an Emmy and gave a TED Talk that now has over a million views on YouTube. He's also the host of the PBS series 'America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston.' This hour, Baratunde opens up about everything from from doubting himself while attending an elite private school to the need for a rebirth of democracy. And he explains how America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston has shaped the way he relates to people and other parts of the natural world.

GUEST:

Baratunde Thurston: bestselling author, activist and comedian. He's also host of the PBS television series 'America Outdoors with Baratunde Thurston' and the podcast 'How to Citizen with Baratunde.'

Special thanks to our interns Lateshia Peters and Joey Morgan.

Disrupted is available as a podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music, Spotify, Google Podcasts, TuneIn, Listen Notes, or wherever you get your podcasts. Subscribe and never miss an episode.

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Kevin Chang Barnum

Kevin Chang Barnum is a producer for Connecticut Public Radio’s weekly show Disrupted. Kevin grew up in Connecticut and started his radio work at his graduate university’s radio station, KUCI. He has also worked for HRN, a network of food and beverage podcasts.

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Wayne Edwards

Wayne Edwards is a freelance producer at Connecticut Public contributing to multi-platform productions, including ‘Disrupted’, ‘Where Art Thou?’, and ‘Cutline in the Community’.

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Khalilah Brown-Dean

Dr. Khalilah L. Brown-Dean is an award-winning scholar at Quinnipiac University, author, and host of 'Disrupted' on Connecticut Public.

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Meg Dalton

Meg Dalton is the deputy director of storytelling for Connecticut Public. She previously worked for The Takeaway from WNYC, in collaboration with GBH and PRX, and Mobituaries with Mo Rocca. She's also reported and edited for the Columbia Journalism Review, PBS NewsHour, Slate, MediaShift, Hearst Connecticut newspapers, and more. Her audio work has appeared on ‎WNYC, WSHU, Marketplace, WBAI, and NPR. She earned her master's degree from Columbia Journalism School in 2017, where she specialized in audio storytelling and narrative writing, and has taught audio storytelling at Columbia Journalism School, UnionDocs, and public libraries.

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Catie Talarski

Catie Talarski is Senior Director of Storytelling and Radio Programming at Connecticut Public.

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