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Episodes
Conversations with writers and authors, historians, and everyday voices about history, craft, resilience, and place
The Wandering Pen is an eclectic podcast about history, writing, resilience, and the places and stories that matter. Each week, Christine Musser speaks with writers and authors, historians, and everyday voices who share journeys of creativity, struggle, and discovery. Together, we explore how books, personal stories, and history shape the way we understand our world—and ourselves.
Episode examples:
Between Verses and Translations: Nancy Jean Ross on Crafting Literary Bridges
Writer and translator Nancy Jean Ross shares how poems cross borders—and what gets lost or found along the way. A practical talk on voice, revision, and choosing what to keep.
Description:
Nancy Jean Ross—writer, translator, and editor—walks through her approach to translation as creative writing: reading for music, carrying tone across languages, and shaping drafts for clarity without flattening meaning. We talk daily practice, revision tools, and how translators become co-authors in the best sense.
Suggested chapter markers:
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00:00 Why translation is writing
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08:40 Finding voice across languages
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20:10 Revision tools & workflow
The Peebles' Homestead: A Piece of Pennsylvania’s Past Worth Saving
A Pennsylvania homestead with stories in every beam. Why places like this matter—and how ordinary people can help save them.
Description:
We explore the history and preservation of the Peebles’ Homestead—architectural details, family records, and the community ties that make a site worth protecting. Practical steps for partnering with local historians, documenting a property, and telling a place’s story so others care, too.
Suggested chapter markers:
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00:00 The Peebles story & timeline
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10:15 What “worth saving” really means
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22:30 How to start a preservation effort
Walking It Off: Grief, Faith, and Self on the Camino de Santiago
A pilgrimage for a broken heart. What the Camino teaches about loss, endurance, and coming home to yourself.
Description:
A candid conversation about grief, resilience, and walking the Camino de Santiago—from blisters and solitude to small encounters that changed the journey. We talk journaling on the trail, the role of place in healing, and how storytelling turns pain into meaning.
Suggested chapter markers:
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00:00 Why the Camino, why now
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12:05 Journaling and memory on the move
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25:30 What healing looked like afterward
Episodes
Saturday Oct 18, 2025
Saturday Oct 18, 2025
From the Appalachian Trail to the African savanna, this episode explores what it means to live between two wild worlds. Each year, military veteran, Brian N. Johnson leaves his home in the Appalachian Mountains of Tennessee and travels to Kenya to lead safaris, capture wildlife through his lens, and share the powerful rhythm of life where lions hunt, zebras run, and elephants roam free.
Brian is currently developing his own tour guide business, Alpine and Savanna Adventures, LLC, which he plans to kickoff in 2026. His mission is to invite others to experience the wonder of the wild — and to see how adventure, purpose, and conservation connect across continents.
Follow the link to hear Brian's 2015 experience climbing Mt Kilimanjaro with friends Dave & Kris Gilbert to bring awareness to the "Save the Elephants" organization. All photos are courtesy of Brian N. Johnson.
Climbing Mt Kilimajaro to Save the Elephants in Africa
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