Episode 1.5. Dragons, part 2
There’s way too much in the way of dragons to complete a discussion in a single episode! Join Mike and Michael as they confront the legendary serpent and its astonishing cultural contexts!

About this podcast:
MONSTERS! They haunt our days and chill our dreaming nights, to paraphrase Emily Dickinson. There's not a population on earth that does not have its own unique monster stories to tell to frighten, but also to instruct on the nature of good and evil, right and wrong. But what happens when monsters get out of control, when the monstrous imagination starts to bleed over into the real world? What are the effects of monsters on real people's real lives? This podcast examines the histories and mysteries of some of our favorite monsters to unlock their secrets and expose their influence on our lives.

About the hosts:
Michael Chemers (MFA, PhD) is a Professor of Dramatic Literature in the Department of Theater Arts at UC Santa Cruz. His work on monsters includes The Monster in Theatre History: This Thing of Darkness (London, UK: Routledge 2018). Dr. Chemers is the Founding Director of The Center for Monster Studies.

Formerly the Founding Director of the Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dramaturgy Program at Carnegie Mellon University, he joined the faculty of UCSC in 2012. He is also the author of Ghost Light: An Introductory Handbook for Dramaturgy (Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2010) and Staging Stigma: A Critical Examination of the American Freak Show (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2007). Dr. Chemers is also an actor, a juggler, and a writer of drama.

Mike Halekakis is an entrepreneur, business owner, internet marketer, software engineer, writer, musician, podcaster, and hardcore situational enthusiast. He is the co-founder of What We Learned, a company that specializes in compassionate training courses on complex adult subjects such as caregiving for people who are sick, planning for death, and administering after the loss of a loved one. He is also the CEO of Moneyfingers Inc., a company that trains people on how to successfully create, market, and sell products on the internet.

When not burning the candle at both ends with a blowtorch, Mike loves video games, outdoor festivals, reading comics and novels, role-playing, writing and playing music, hanging out with the world’s best cats, and spending time with his amazing wife and their collective worldwide friend-group.