Zooier Than Thou

Mike the Dog and Sigma are joined by Argil for a history lesson on the gay rights movement pre-stonewall, culminating in a discussion of the 1961 film Victim. Plus, Be Prepared for the King of the Pride, celebrate a Muppet wedding, and unravel the complex queerness of cross-species romance with Zooey.

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

Last episode, I’m not exactly how it came about — perhaps from Sigma’s discussion of Magnus Hirschfeld — but we decided that it was time to put Sigma to work as our resident history buff and discuss the lgbt rights movement and what we as a community can learn from it. Sigma had so much content that we ended up splitting it into two episodes, so this month was pre-Stonewall, and next month will be about Stonewall and the aftermath. Sigma was joined by Mike the Dog as host, and Aqua gave some feedback during the planning sessions. Argil joined for a discussion about the 1961 movie Victim, a pivotal film for pre-Stonewall gay rights. I think maybe the history is a bit “white gay male” centric, but I think a lot of queer history in general is hard to put together, let alone queer POC history. And frankly, what we learn from this aspect of history is incredibly relevant to the zoo community. You won’t get everything, unfortunately, but if what we get is super relevant, it’s totally worth it. The parallels between pre-Stonewall gay history and what we’re living right this moment as zoos is incredibly striking. We have a lot to learn, and it boils down to the fact that we’re not like the LGBT community because we’re queer, we’re like them because we’re human, and we’re being put through the same sorts of crucibles they faced and reacting like humans do.

This is one of those episodes I basically had nothing to do with, so it was pretty interesting to get to hear the final product of their discussion having not participated myself, nor having been a part of the planning at all. We started using a new project management platform, and holy shit did Mike step up in terms of managing the project. If he weren’t already stretched so thin, I’d steal him to be a full time project manager. For those projects that have him permanently, y’all are really lucky. Don’t take that kind of work ethic and focus for granted. Not a lot of people can do what Mike does, but we really desperately need more Mikes for community projects.

That said, Mike was super nervous about hosting, but you’ll find he did a great job. I hope he starts getting more comfortable in front of a mic, cuz I think he gets it. I think I can be a bit of a hardass when it comes to giving feedback and direction, but he adapted well and hopefully realizes he did a fantastic job.

So like I said, this was basically a vacation month for me, so I only really stepped in really to put the audio together. I’m very pleased with the work everyone put in, and the final product is excellent.

I have King of the Pride stuck in my head. Kynophile was like, “Ex’s and Oh’s,” but also “Be Prepared” from The Lion King, and I was like, “Uhhhh ok.” It worked! Loved his last chorus in particular. Sells the ending.

Also, I feel like the Muppets sketch was spot on. Maybe not the voices per se, but the humor seems right. I’m happy with it.

The new project management system is Wrike, and it’s working out really well. It has all the features I wanted to see, even in its free version. Not as touchy as Trello was. I’m kind of in love with it!

I’m looking forward to another month or two off. Much needed! And I know the podcast is in capable paws.
----
Does any of our early gay history ring true to your own experiences as a zoo? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

S3E3. Get Help!

Aqua and Toggle are joined by Dr. Hani Miletski for a discussion about therapy for zoophiles. Plus, seek help from a specialist in animal linguistics, swoon over a zooey love song, learn a bit about the history of sexology, and process the loss of a loved one with Zooey.

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

Let’s get this out of the way:

AHHHHHHHHH! We actually got Hani Miletski to come on our podcast! It feels like leveling up! +1 Legitimacy

That’s all thanks to very thorough and careful planning by Aqua, who finally did what we’ve wanted to do since day one and reached out to Hani to invite her to the podcast. Get this: one of her patients linked her to our S1E10 episode about coming out, and she liked it! She thought Aqua was Fausty and wished him well with his cancer when he reached out. *sigh* It is a shame Fausty wasn’t here to see this big milestone met, but I know he’d be jumping for joy.

I gotta say, NOT telling everyone that Hani Miletski was coming on the show was HARD. But I knew I’d regret it if I spread the word and then for some reason she couldn’t make it. I had constant anxiety about my internet going out or something right when we were supposed to record, so I maintained a position that it wasn’t real until it was recorded. Bitch, it happened, and she is like the nicest person ever. Also she looks really cool. I like her hair :3 I hope you enjoy the interview and find it useful.

Aqua, Sunny, Sigma, and LC have been planning this episode for quite a while, and it really shows in the thoroughness of the topic we put together. The original recording was literally 3 hours long — as long as this whole episode — but I machete’d it down to an hour and twenty minutes. I hope this one helps a lot of people overcome their fear of seeking therapy in a time where everyone really could use a little help. Also, when we slated this episode for May, we had no idea it was Mental Health Awareness Month, so that’s some pretty impeccable timing!

The first asset that was finished for this episode was the song. I’d been thinking there weren’t any zoo love songs, and that needed to change — basically the motivation for everything we do on the podcast, right? I wrote it during last month’s episode and put it together way more quickly than I expected. I was originally going for a big, 90’s pop ballad, but there’s too many starts and stops that it wouldn’t flow well enough with those big drums. Instead, I opted for a stripped down string quintet arrangement, with some larger orchestral backing to thicken it up when things got dramatic. It’s got a sort of Broadway musical vibe about it, prompting a few people I showed to declare there needed to be a whole zooey musical. That sounds like a lot of work. One of y’all can pull that one off x3

During planning, Sigma had this great narrative about Magnus Hirschfeld that we wanted to incorporate. What we ended up with wasn’t the same sort of painting he’d originally written, but I think it’s interesting and informative, and very importantly, I think it’s the exact right length to give an engaging overview of the topic without getting into the weeds, and it really sets up sexology as a science of protest against repressive sexual attitudes. I like it.

Kynophile came through with a really topical Secret Zoo, which I think has some great characters, featuring our non-zoo friend as Dr. Doolittle. I’m pleased with how it turned out. And one of our contributors who is dealing with a lost loved one submitted an Ask Zooey question that I thought would resonate with zoos who have gone through many lifetimes of love and loss. I hope our answer is satisfactory and useful for people going through similar things.
----
Have you considered therapy, or do you have any stories of therapy to share? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

"Wherever we are, that's where people will find us." Toggle interviews three zoos about zoo culture and spaces, accountability, and the difficult past and positive future of the zoo community. Plus, travel up north for some reindeer games, remember a lost lover, and Howl at the Moon!

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

You can consider Lykon the inspiration for this episode. Lykon was asking me advice for a program he wanted to create called the Double Shield Initiative, to help make zooey telegram spaces a little bit safer from being exploited for abuse. I thought it was interesting, and I was getting a sense that this was a real problem in our spaces, the sharing and glorifying of abusive content. It’s not something I often get to see, as I’m actually not in that many zoo spaces, and it got me thinking about community accountability and why it’s traditionally been so hard for us.

Around the same time, Akela figured out who I was and approached me. We had a really long heart-to-heart about the things that happened surrounding the zoosadist leaks and the podcast’s second episode, and elements of his story really spoke to me about this very thing I’d been pondering over. Not only that, but he’d asked me what I thought of Lykon, told me how he’d been impressed by what he saw on ZooCommunity, and how he saw a positive future in Lykon’s various projects. At that point, I saw a narrative arc that I wanted to consider at length.

I conceived of this episode in three parts: some historical background that established the issues I wanted to address, Akela’s story which I felt was indicative of those issues, and then Lykon’s projects which inspire a vision of the future that’s positive and potentially address those issues. In this way, we could tackle a really heavy topic and do it justice, while also leaving everyone with a sense of hope. When I put out feelers for someone with a little insight into the history I wanted to talk about, Bo stepped up. Lykon was taking a much-needed break from the internet, but Mike the Dog had stepped up to run things in his absence, and he agreed to speak to some of the projects they were working on.
I also wanted to be sure to touch on purity spirals, lest this call to action be seen as some kind of “cleaning up the community” type of thing. I really want to avoid this narrative being used in service of the same sort of moral panic that furries have toward everything remotely “impure.” That stuff destroys communities, so being really purposeful about how you define the things you want to address is incredibly important.

These were really long conversations, literally two hours apiece before editing, but I think the final product is worth the listen. I thought it was also really worth bringing Fausty into frame, and how the issues with community accountability left him feeling responsible for a decision he came to regret for the rest of his life.

Meanwhile, I didn’t have any inspiration for an Ask Zooey this month, and no one else was able to put anything together in time, so this is the first month without an Ask Zooey segment. Ah, well.

Kynophile took care of the Secret Zoo, which is super cute, and we had a listener submit an incredible eulogy for his lost canine lover that brought a tear to my eye. To balance things out, Zipwok gave us permission to showcase the song he’d written inspired by the show, and I feel like it goes perfectly after that wonderful essay.

So there it is, two months in the making! Next month, you’ll get a real treat, an episode three months in the making about therapy, with a special guest we’ve been trying to get on the show since day one. If you have any questions about therapy you want to address, email us or respond to this thread on ZooCommunity:

Got questions about therapy? This is your chance to ask!

zoocommunity.org

----
What kinds of ways have you considered making positive zoo spaces for the community? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

Kynophile and Lovecat are joined by a pagan, an indigenous American, and a christian to discuss where zoophilia and religion intersect. Plus, hark the tale of Pan Hu the Doggie King, and join Zooey for a discussion about the best treats for two-leggers.

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

This was my month off, and Kynophile and Lovecat really stepped up to put this one together. LC reached out and said that the topic was going to be religion, and that they had an amazing guest to work with. I said, “Excellent. But be sure to pull Jack in on this episode. He’s been asking to do this topic for months.” Once they finally brought in Jack, his experiences fit perfectly with what they wanted to discuss. I'm pretty happy with how the discussion turned out, but I'll need to remind them to make sure people have good mics next time. I hate how hard it is to hear what Mark is saying half the time. If you're thinking of coming on the podcast, we absolutely need to make sure you have a good mic.

Kyno wrote up a secret zoo about Zeus, but I wasn't sure we really tackled the issues with Zeus correctly — namely that he had a penchant for raping the women he impregnated. That might show up in another episode down the line in a modified form. It's a topic that shouldn't be rushed, and that's kind of where we were with it. It's not the first time we’ve cut a skit because we couldn't give the topic the right attention it needed. I think it was S2E1, I wrote a secret zoo segment that upon listening we completely scrapped. It dealt with a toxic situation for a mare, but it didn't bring the right gravity to the topic. Sometimes what you cut is just as important as what you're able to produce.

Speaking of what we were able to produce, the Big Iron parody about Pan Hu was pretty dope, right? If most episodes feel like the Toggle show, this one was definitely Kynophile’s time to shine.

And finally, NEW ARTWORK! Oh my God, new artwork was long overdue. I worked with the artist to do inking and colors to help the style feel like it didn't belong to any one person, and I'm pretty pleased with the results. Please take some time to go to zoo.wtf on a computer and stare at my massive, massive balls that I actually didn't ask for but which are anatomically correct and therefore incredibly large. X3 We’re working to do Fausty and Kynophile next over the course of this month, with any luck.

If you're looking for transcripts, we’re a little behind, but they're coming. Using Descript is a real pain in the ass if you're trying to edit audio and transcription at the same time. But it's amazing if you're just using the audio editor. So we’re editing audio and then having someone go back and manually edit the transcript. This takes time, but it saves me a lot of hassle, which is something I really need.

We have exciting things coming up in the coming months. I can't reveal it yet, but I'm chomping at the bit to share. Soon!
----
How does zoophilia fit into your own religious beliefs? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

Join Zemen, Togs, and Tugs for a friendly dive into the world of podcasting. Plus, learn about fantastic beasts and where to find them, head on down to Broadway, and catch up on Stableboy's situation with Zooey.

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

I basically forgot I needed to write this. Sorry for the delay!

Wow, the final episode of Season 2. A lot has happened in the month up to this one. I came out to my mom finally, and it went well! Our relationship hasn’t changed. I can still go over and hang out with her and help her out the way I always have. I’m pretty grateful for that.

I honestly started writing this right when the episode came out, and I don’t remember everything I wanted to say. I know we weren’t sure what topic to end the season with, and I knew we wanted to have Tugs back on, so I asked him if he was available to talk shop, and he agreed. As always, he was a fantastic guest with lots of insight. Tugs is actually the person I asked for podcast advice when we started this project, so I hope you’ll find his insight useful! And I hope you’ll understand why we only do this once a month. It’s a lot of work! But one of our stated goals was to help other zoos with the interest and drive start their own projects, so this is just another step in that direction.
I’m thankful for Kynophile having music and scripts ready to go for this one. He’s basically coming on as a regular writer, helping our staff take a little bit of a break. This song is still always stuck in my head, and I’m not mad about it!
We’re working on a couple of community initiatives in the background that we hope will have a positive affect on the zoo community and on the animals we love. We’re working with unlikely allies, and ZooCommunity.org is absolutely at the forefront of our plans. This place is great, and I hope you’ll continue to cultivate it and make it a space where the best aspects of our community thrive. Love you all!
----
Got an idea for your own podcast? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

Toggle and Kynophile host this special episode about the therian community. Plus, take a peek into a doctor's diary, Ask Zooey about big bones, and take a stab at one of the zoo community's greatest enemies -- ourselves.

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

This turned out to be a fantastic discussion. It was flying by the seat of the pants for a little while there. One planned host couldn’t make it, one guest had reservations about joining us on the podcast, and I didn’t have anyone helping me host the dang thing until the last minute — thank you, Kynophile! Aqua planned out this discussion, with input from a number of therians, and despite a whole lot of imposter syndrome all around, it came out beautifully. I have a little time between release and writing, and I’m thrilled to see that the therian community has responded so well to the episode, even nonzoos — even nonzoos that aren’t especially zoo friendly. That speaks to the genuine nature of the discussion and the relevance of the topic. We couldn’t have done this without everyone involved, even those that didn’t appear on the episode.

This month’s rap is one I’ve been working on since October, on and off. Discussion about it actually lead to Kynophile writing the first Crabs in a Bucket song from November, but this one’s my original vision. It’s also the first beat I’ve produced myself for the show, and I’m quite pleased with it. Kynophile wrote the last verse for his version of the song, but I told him to hold off so I can use it. The first verse is a zoo who complains that activists bring too much spotlight to the community and make things worse, and the second verse is about Randy Pepe. The chorus is based off of 3 Tearz by Danny Brown and RTJ. And even though it doesn’t sound like it, the inspiration that helped me finally nail down the beat was Battle Cry by Nujabes. I wrestled with it for a long time, but the sparseness and reservation that defines that beat helped me figure out the approach I wanted to take. I also like that slightly off-kilter beat that defines beats by folks like Nujabes and J-Dilla.


Doing character voices of real people is a lot harder than doing Shaggy and Scooby, but the Scrubs skit turned out great. I was worried about it, but man, mm, so good. Also, we didn’t pull this one out of our ass, either. (Make sure the video starts at 3:08)


“Sure hope I don’t have dog flu.” There are secret zoos all throughout our pop culture if you’re paying attention!

Lastly, it seemed like it was about time to bring back the blackmail skit from Season 1. It seems a number of people I know are facing these kinds of threats right now. Hell, even I’m being doxxed. We’ll see how that goes. At any rate, it seemed relevant. Please take it to heart. Don’t let anyone hang your sexuality over your head, and never give into an extortionist’s demands. Don’t give them the power of your fear. Stay defiant.

This is a great episode. I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks for listening. We really appreciate all the positive response we’ve gotten over these past two years. Season 2 ends next episode, and then Season 3 begins in March!
----
Are you a therian? What did you think about our discussion? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

S2E10. 'Tis the Season for Animal Autonomy

Toggle and Lovecat are joined by Quantum for a discussion on animal autonomy. Plus, visit the great hall of Valhalla, file a formal request for an amen, and help a stableboy make a hard decision with Zooey.

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

This month is a little bit of a blur. Putting together the podcast happened all in the last two weeks of the month, but that doesn’t mean we haven’t been working! The biggest achievement of the month is finding a suitable subscription platform for people to donate to the podcast. Seriously, I’ve been casually looking on and off for a while, and at first, SubscribeStar seemed like a viable option, but it turns out their payment model isn’t great and they’re associated with far-right propagandists, plus they keep any money you’ve earned if they decide to suspend you. Other options didn’t quite fit, either being run by Patreon (and thus ban-happy thanks to PayPal) or requiring us to create even more content only for backers — we’re already spread thin as it is doing a monthly podcast. Liberapay turned out to be ideal. Their bylaws specify a commitment to neutrality, which is really good news when it comes to worries about being deplatformed. Everything is really easy to use and simply laid out, and we can’t see anything about the people donating to us. It’s pretty much all the things we were looking for. In the first month or so of piloting the donation system, people have donated almost $900, which is nothing short of mindblowing, considering we haven’t really announced it yet. It’s allowing us to fund much-needed asset updates, pay for the next few months of expenses plus yearly website fees, and try out new software that we otherwise wouldn’t have had access to. Check this little bit of technology out we’re looking into:
[https://www.descript.com/]
It’s pretty interesting, and it’s made editing off-the-cuff dialog a breeze while facilitating the creation of transcripts, something we’ve been trying to do since the beginning. $30/month is kind of steep, but with donations coming in, it makes that a realistic investment. I enjoyed getting to test out the platform with this episode.

This was Lovecat’s episode to put together, so I let him steer the ship for the most part. I was thrilled to get submissions for Secret Zoos and Ask Zooey questions, too, so I already have next month’s lined up and ready to go! I love that new people are getting involved in actually creating the podcast, which takes a lot of pressure off of me and the main writer.

Our discussion on animal autonomy, to me, went really well. We were quoting books and articles and shit. We had receipts, bitch! I dunno, I really like when we can do stuff like that, because it feels all the more legitimate that way. I like to think we generally come from an educated perspective, but it feels nice to be able to say, “Here’s what Peter Singer had to say about this in Animal Liberation, and here’s a section from Animal Ethics and the Autonomous Animal Self by Natalie Thomas.” Maybe that’s a little childish or pedantic, to like pulling out quotes and shit. But I think it’s neat, and it feels like we prepared, which makes me feel fuzzy and warm and safe. There’s no worse feeling when putting together a podcast than feeling completely unprepared.

This episode didn’t really get into the holiday spirit that much, but it doesn’t really feel like the holidays. That’s probably fine. I did get to visit my parents, though, which was super nice. My family is really awesome. Unlike almost everyone else, none of them have ever even questioned me choosing to go vegan, which makes the fact of the matter a lot easier to deal with when I have to say, “No, thanks, I think I’ll skip Christmas dinner this time.” My sister isn’t vegan, but she’s been generally cutting meat out, so I got to have semi-vegan hot cocoa made with oat milk because she had some on hand. She’s been telling me her favorite meatless alternatives. My mom keeps forgetting, but she never complains when I remind her.

We might do an off-the-cuff New Years bonus episode, but we haven’t finalized any plans yet. We’ll see what happens. I’ve got a lot of non-podcast work I’ve been neglecting, so it depends on how labor-intensive an extra episode is. We still have planned bonus content we haven’t recorded yet — namely some text interviews that need to be voiced. Finding extra time to make more stuff is hard. But I’ll tell you what, having a monetized podcast makes it a hell of a lot easier to justify the significant amount of time that goes into producing this show. Thanks to all of you for your support and allowing us to make this viable.
----
What are your thoughts on veganism, animal autonomy, and animal welfare? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

Zemen and Lovecat share tips on making traveling with your animal companions a breeze! Plus, hear a new song by Kynophile, ask your doctor about Zootec, and help Zooey navigate jealousy on the road!

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

This was my month off to get a bunch of other things done, and I’m proud of my team for putting this one together in my absence. I’m always afraid of how things will turn out if I’m not there to run the ship, but I think this turned out well. Big thanks to Zemen and Lovecat for writing and hosting the episode, and to Kynophile for writing the entire rap, even as I performed on it, to Aqua for his Zootec skit, and to Zemen and Reginald Rat for helping me put together this month’s Ask Zooey.

Probably the biggest crazy thing this episode was the letter we got from a concerned uncle. Very heavy topic, to be sure, but the implications are kind of incredible. Not only is there an uncle out there who’s willing to put aside his biases for the love of his nephew, but there is a state-sponsored therapist who recommended OUR podcast, and recommended that the uncle reach out to the zoo community at large to help his nephew. Not only is that positive progress, but it also means the work we’re doing is reaching beyond our community to the psychology community. It’s humbling, because that’s a huge responsibility, but I think if we just keep up the standards we have now, we should continue to be worthy of that recommendation. Uncle, if you and your nephew have made it to this site, please reach out so we can keep in touch. You’ve definitely got your work cut out for you, but starting with a foundation of love and the desire to understand and support your nephew is going to serve you very well in your coming challenges, zooey and otherwise. If you’re here, nephew, we want to support you as best as we can, and I hope we can bring a bit of positivity and stability to your life along with your uncle’s help. I can’t imagine what you’ve been through, but I also don’t want to patronize you, so I guess I’ll leave it at “Welcome to the Zoo Community!”

In other news, we got our ZooTube campaign off the ground, and I already see some mirrors of ZooTT popping up on YouTube! If you want to find out more or get involved, check out zootube.zoo.wtf.
----
What tips do you have for traveling zoos? Any stories you wanna share of your travels? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @MeowofLove, @ZeMenDepo
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

Toggle and Kynophile host this halloween spectacular! Learn the truth about witch-hunts, make a pact with a demon, get into trouble with 14 werewolves, and help solve a young woman’s supernatural boy troubles!

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

Happy Halloween!

Ahhh this episode is so much fun! And it’s likely the first episode we actually finished a whole week before release! Very happy with this one. The skits turned out great, and we got to a large chunk of our e-mail backlog, many of which had some pretty substantive questions that I hope we addressed well.

So after we finished the rap from last month, I messaged Kynophile and told him I wanted to do a pop-punk song about getting fucked by 14 werewolves, and I sent him some examples of the genre since that’s not really his background. Before I could start writing, Kyno sent me a parody of Cute Is What We Aim For’s “The Curse of Curves,” and it was pretty excellent. One problem: not a lot of WEREwolf references. He came back with the changes, and it was perfect! So I put the track together with the help of some zoo musician friends, and the rest is history! It turned out SO GOOD. Kyno told me he was feeling a little insecure, since he hadn’t put anything quite like that arrangement to paper since college, but I think he proved he has the chops!

I put out a call for Halloween skits, and Kyno also submitted a modified version of one of his stories, and that turned out to be the best skit in the episode, in my opinion. Great acting, great audio cues, just all around fantastic.

Since Kynophile had helped do half of the work for the episode anyway, I reached out to see if he wanted to co-host, and he agreed! Kyno’s pretty busy with a ton of other projects, so I’m really happy he was able to lend as much time as he did to make this episode particularly fantastic.

Like last year’s Howloween episode, I think this does showcase some of our best skit-work. I’m pleased with how this one turned out, and I’m happy with how much fun it was to produce.

We were on track for me to have a pleasant and easy weekend. That is, until YouTube banned our account. Their claim? Our account violated their TOS against pornography. Which is laughable, except for a specific (and new) clause banning “bestiality or the promotion of bestiality.”

Luckily, I had most of the episodes backed up, but I had to recreate some of the more recent ones, which was a bit of a pain in the ass. Plus, simply spinning up a single version of the account just meant we’d get banhammered again. Making redundant backups, tagging them, etc. takes a ton of time. Shout out to Harley for making me a python script that could pull all the info from our website into convenient text documents, or it would have been significantly worse.

ZooTT started with a foundation of being decentralized so that we couldn’t effectively be deplatformed. Even when YouTube or Spotify go down, we always have rss.zoo.wtf which can be accessed with any browser or podcast client. Still, YouTube does serve a good portion of listeners. In thinking about how to make ourselves resilient on the platform — frankly, most podcast segments don’t violate their TOS — we were inspired by this idea of being decentralized. Soon, we’re going to make it easy for ANYONE to upload their favorite ZooTT segments to YouTube. Rather than merely having a central hub that can be taken down in one fell swoop, if random people post their favorite segments, then there’s always a chance for those segments to be found when searching for zoophilia on YouTube.
That’s the idea, anyway. Not sure how Content ID will rear it’s ugly head in response, but it’s difficult to plan ahead for that when no one really knows how it works.

Stay tuned to our bonus.zoo.wtf feed for more information on that when the project is completed.
----
What did you think of the 14 Werewolves song? Any e-mails that spoke to you? Let us know in the comments, or e-mail us!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @ACatWhoLovesYou, @CanisGnosis
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf

Toggle and Sigma are joined by guest hosts Hush and Chocobo to discuss trans identity among zoos. Also, Toggle and Doggie D bring the heat once more, a cursed pool grants a birdwatcher's ultimate wish, and Zooey helps a dog deal with his identity crisis.

Click to expand...

Listen @ zoo.wtf
_________________________

Thoughts About the Episode

This is the first blog I'm writing on ZooCommunity.org! And it's upsettingly late! Like, basically a month late. I've been working really hard and haven't been able to work up the chutzpah to actually sit down and write about this episode. Suffice it to say, it's been a pretty hectic month.

It’s a shame, because I felt like this, of all episodes, needed to be featured on ZooVille, and I might just crosspost it there anyway. It can be a bit of a toxic place for trans zoos, so I thought maybe this episode would make the trans people there feel a little less alone.

I had a little trouble with this episode. Sigma had proposed it when we got a letter from a transphobic zoo the episode prior, and I let them and Lovecat mostly take the reins on organizing it. They did great, and Vee was super helpful, as well, but I didn't have time to attend the meetings and oversee the episode's development. One major conflict that happened in our chatroom of trans zoos involved Ray Blanchard's typologies. It seemed like something that was important to discuss prior to including, but I missed the meeting I set up because I couldn't get away from my other job in time, and the topic slipped through the cracks. When we started recording and the topic came up, it blindsided the guest host, who later voiced their issues, ultimately leading to that part of the discussion being cut. I felt it was more important not to alienate the people we were trying to connect with, than to keep a discussion in which we didn't address people's concerns about the topic. Sigma was very adamant that we revisit the topic, though, so we spent another couple of weeks talking about it together and released a bonus episode. I'm hoping our discussion was nuanced enough not to alienate our trans audience, and so far the response has been positive, but I worry about it.

The rap, though? That was so much fun, and even better than the first rap, imo. @Kynophile and I worked together and made each other's verses better, and the collaboration aspect of it was really rewarding! Looking forward to doing this every month!

Also enjoyed doing the Ranma 1/2 Secret Zoo segment, put together by Canis and LC. Found that song at the end to tie it together and MWAH! Came out lovely in the end!
----
Are you trans, or do you have any trans friends? Let us know in the comments what you thought of the episode!

_________________________

You can subscribe to our RSS feed using your favorite podcast application: rss.zoo.wtf
Don't forget to subscribe to our Bonus Content feed: bonus.zoo.wtf
You can subscribe to us on Twitter @ZooierThanThou, @OneBigGrumpyRat, @ACatWhoLovesYou, @CanisGnosis
You can contact us using the anonymous web form at zoo.wtf