American Wasteland: Dr. Daniel Gerling Gets Down with Doodie

SHHH: The Poopcast (aka S**t and Shame with Shawn)

Constipated? Take relief: it's probably not because your sphincter is too tight. In this month's episode of SHHH, The Puru sits down with Dr. Daniel Gerling, Assistant Professor at Augustana University and perhaps the foremost expert on poop history in the United States (who else could write the dissertation, "American Wasteland: A Social and Cultural History of Excrement, 1860-1920"?). Hear Danny explain why American occupiers collected over 120,000 jars of Filipino feces, how the demodex (eyelash mite) may be the only creature that doesn't poop, and why sphincter expanders were recommended as a cure for constipation in the early 1900s. Put down that fork--this is one fascinating hour you might not want to eat through.

Also mentioned in this conversation: Thomas Jefferson, Dominique LaPorte, History of Shit, Tlazolteotl, Austin TX, John G. Bourke, Scatologic Rites of All Nations, Sigmund Freud, colonialism, Henry Moule, earth closet, flush toilet, Cuban occupation, Filipino occupation, Inner Hygiene, James C. Whorton, constipation, diarrhea, IBS, Irritable Bowel Syndrome, The Bathroom, Alexander Kira, taboo, auto-intoxication, Dillo Dirt, Harvey Kellogg, Sylvester Graham, Road to Wellville, Horace Fletcher, Gulp , Mary Roach, Alexis St. Martin, Everyone Poops, Taro Gomi, Rose George, The Big Necessity, LooWatt, SOIL Haiti, Patricia Arquette, miasma, persimmons, hoshigaki, Nicolas Guillen