meta_pixel
Tapesearch Logo
Log in
Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

A Chicken Saved My Life

Going Wild with Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant

WNET

Science, Pets & Animals, Nature, Kids & Family, Natural Sciences

4.9636 Ratings

🗓️ 8 November 2022

⏱️ 23 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Ornithologist (bird scientist), poet, and author Drew Lanham was recently awarded the Macarthur Genius Grant—$800,000 with no strings attached. But despite his deep love for birds he almost never studied the creatures at all. As a young man, he won a full-ride scholarship to any school he wanted, only this award did have strings attached. Drew would have to give up his dreams of ecology and instead be an engineer. Hear how Drew was saved first from a career he loathed by the lilting song of a prairie warbler and then how a chicken saved Drew from going into the military to be a pilot. Instead, it set him on the true path of his heart, to study the magical flying creatures we call birds.   Thanks for listening! If you want to support us, you can follow “Going Wild” on your favorite podcast listening app. While you’re there, please leave us a review - it really helps.  You can also get updates and bonus content by following me, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant, and PBS Nature on Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and Facebook. And you can catch new episodes of Nature Wednesdays at 8/7c on PBS, pbs.org/nature and the PBS Video app. Follow J. Drew Lanham on Twitter and Instagram and listen to more "Going Wild" HERE. This episode of “Going Wild” was hosted by me, Dr. Rae Wynn-Grant. Production by Caroline Hadilaksono, Danielle Broza, Nathan Tobey, and Great Feeling Studios. Editing by Rachel Aronoff and Jakob Lewis. Sound design by Cariad Harmon.  Danielle Broza is the Digital Lead and Fred Kaufman is the Executive Producer for Nature.  Art for this podcast was created by Arianna Bollers and Karen Brazell.  Special thanks to Amanda Schmidt, Blanche Robertson, Jayne Lisi, Chelsey Saatkamp, and Karen Ho.  NATURE is an award-winning series created by The WNET Group and made possible by all of you. Funding for this podcast was provided by grants from the Anderson Family Fund, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS. Views and opinions expressed during the podcast are those of the individuals expressing them and do not necessarily reflect those of THIRTEEN Productions LLC/The WNET Group.

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

The cage doors, any that were, that I had caged myself in were flung open.

0:08.4

There's nothing like it when someone says, you know, be you, do you. And then you're like,

0:14.5

wait, really? I'm talking to Drew Lanham in his home office in South Carolina. It's raining

0:20.4

and we can hear the rain

0:21.7

falling on this tin roof. Recently, Drew won the prestigious MacArthur Genius Grant. It's $800,000,

0:30.0

paid out over five years with no strings attached. It's only given to highly creative people

0:36.2

to help them with their future creative work in anything like art, music, literature, math, or even science.

0:44.3

The foundation just selects you because you're a rock star. Some of the past winners include Cormick McCarthy, Taunahassee Coates, Lynn Manuel Miranda, and even N.K. Jemison.

0:56.2

And like everyone on that list, Drew is a creative powerhouse. And his primary area of

1:02.7

expertise is birds. Just this very sweet, lilting song, this...

1:07.0

Drew is an ornithologist. And his love for birds led him down a path to get his doctorate, do research, write a memoir, write poetry, teach, and on and on.

1:19.9

But what's hard to believe about this award-winning scientist is that he almost didn't study birds at all.

1:26.9

Part of my story has been one of living life,

1:33.3

not necessarily for myself, but oftentimes for others.

1:38.3

Here I was a black kid good at math and science.

1:42.3

The algorithm was if black and good at math and science. The algorithm was if black and good at math and science, then engineer.

1:50.3

I felt choiceless.

1:53.8

I felt trapped.

1:56.4

Really dark thoughts at times about my life.

2:04.9

And so I have always been appreciative of chickens because it was a bird that saved my life. I'm Dr. Ray Wyn Grant, and this is a different

2:15.1

kind of nature show, a podcast all about the human drama of

2:19.5

saving animals. This season, I want to share my story. But I also want to introduce you to the other

...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from WNET, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of WNET and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.

Copyright © Tapesearch 2025.