Dogs didn’t just become our companions. They helped make us human.

They've been by our side for tens of thousands of years, helping us herd and hunt, migrate, heal, grieve, fight war, imagine the afterlife, and more.

Religion and environmental studies scholar Laura Hobgood joins us to explore the long, complicated co-evolution of humans and dogs—how humans have loved, used, protected, and sometimes harmed them in return. Her book is called A Dog’s History of the World: Canines and the Domestication of Humans.

Whether you love dogs, miss one deeply, or have never thought much about them at all, this episode will change how you see our oldest animal partner. Even if you aren't a dog person, you're still kind of a dog person!

Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.

• Check out Grumpy's grave here.
• Pat Lee Shipman, "The Woof at the Door," on the child and dog in a cave.
• "Do dogs go to heaven?" Glad You Asked podcast.

Dr. Hobgood is co-chair of the Environmental Studies program and has chaired the Religion program at Southwestern University. She also holds the Elizabeth Root Paden Chair in Religion and Environmental Studies. Hobgood received her Ph.D. from St. Louis University and her M.Div. from Vanderbilt University. She is author of A Dog’s History of the World: Canines and the Domestication of Humans.

Some songs take decades to reveal what they’re really about.

Back in the 90s when 20-year-old Steven Page wrote “What a Good Boy,” he understood it as a plea to ease up on restrictive gender expectations that harmed boys and girls. But as he performed it over the years, he realized it was about much more than that.

The stirring anthem has become a greater exploration of gender identity and sexuality, a perennial wrestle against a binary world's hostility to people who don't fit the mold—trans, nonbinary, genderqueer, gay, or otherwise.

Page, a founding member of the smash-hit band Barenaked Ladies now enjoying his solo career, has spent much of his life writing songs to explore vulnerability, humor, grief, and joy, a signature blend of comedy and tragedy.

In this discussion, Page reflects on how "What A Good Boy" came to be, and what it's like to have his creation become part of someone else’s becoming.

Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org. But you'll want to hear this one!

• A.R. Moxon, The Reframe
• Steven Page, "Where Do You Stand?"
• Steven Page, "White Noise"
• Barenaked Ladies, "What a Good Boy"

• David Friend, "Steven Page project takes political turn with new album," Toronto Star (Sept. 21, 2018)

• Nonbinary Thinking (with Eris Young)
• The Challenges of Parenting Trans Kids (with Abi Maxwell)
• A Haunted Trans Story (with Kyle Lukoff)
• What The News Isn't Telling You About Trans Teenagers (with Nico Lang)
• Black and Beyond the Binary (with KB Brookins)
• How to Support Trans Youth (with Ben V. Greene)
• The Incredible Brain Science About Sex and Gender (with Daphna Joel)
• Recovering Queer Black History for Everybody (with George M. Johnson)

Steven Page is a Canadian musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and founding member of the music group Barenaked Ladies. Since going solo, Page has released five albums, he performs with groups like the Trans-Canada Highwaymen, and he publicly advocates on issues including mental and behavioral health. He has three sons and lives in New York with his partner, Christine Benedicto. I'm not sure if he has any dogs or cats, and I forgot to ask him. Join his Patreon at patreon.com/c/stevenpage.

When George M. Johnson was a kid growing up in New Jersey, they loved Black History Month. They were thrilled to learn about the people who shaped American history for the better. But as they got older, they started noticing things were missing—hidden stories that might have meant the most to a queer kid like they were.

George was especially drawn to one of the most dazzling moments in Black history, the Harlem Renaissance. They went searching for what had been covered up, forgotten, or erased, and resurrected those stories in their book, Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known. It's a celebration of the Black queer writers, performers, and activists of 1920s America.

George M. Johnson joins us to talk about Black and queer culture—how it impacted the past, how it enlivens our present, and how it can open up new possibilities for the future. This is a conversation about truth-telling, lineage, identity, and the stories that save us when we finally get to hear them.

Full transcript is available here at relationscapes.org.

Langston Hughes, "Let America Be America Again"

• Black and Beyond the Binary (with KB Brookins)
• Celebrating Black Womanhood (with Catherine Joy White)

George M. Johnson is an award-winning Black non-binary writer, author, and activist. They are the author of the bestselling Young Adult memoir All Boys Aren’t Blue discussing their adolescence growing up as a young Black Queer boy in New Jersey. Their other books include Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I'd Known, and There's Always Next Year. George has also published in places like Teen Vogue, The Root, Essence, Ebony, THEM, and The Grio.