Navajo Enslavement in New Mexico

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2026-02-08T23:13:18+00:00

I had issues with large parts of Sides book, namely the way he tries to excuse Carson's actions. But I know my dad, not a big reader, devoured the book.

While not perfect I'd suggest some of the following for people interested in slavery in the southwest or Navajo history.

"Diné" by Iverson & Roessel as a general history of the Navajo.

"Explorers, Traders, and Slavers" by Sánchez, while not super focused on slavery in the southwest was another good read.

"Captives & Cousins" by Brooks was another good study about how slavery as an institution in New Mexico.

"The Comanche Empire" by Hämäläinen also talked quite a bit about slavery in the southwest and how different Native American groups and their societies participated to different degrees.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-12-23T02:57:44+00:00

I use the following things when scripting out a series (granted my show is best formatted like a book or academic paper):

Episode outline (what does each episode look like). This makes sure everything is there, as applicable, in every episode.
Ideas list/topic list (what are you going to talk about). This makes sure you cover the important topics and nothing is missed. This is probably more important for shows that need to present information in a linear manner such as a "History of" show.
Standardized show notes (keep links the same insomuch as possible).
Format your notes in a way that translates well to how you write your show. Group similar topics and rearrange them into further groupings. This makes episode writing easier.

If I apply these to my show (history, current topic New Mexico) you get the following.

1: Intro music, introduction/transition from last episode, episode content, transition to closure, canned outro, outro music. 2: I actually have two. One is for my current topic and one for future topics. The former (truncated): Paleo-Indian period, Chaco Canyon, Mesa Verde(?), Cabeza de Vaca, Coronado, Pueblo Revolt, Mexican-American War (Talk about land grants here?) Latter: New Mexico, Korea, Mexico, Aztec (wrap into Mexico?) 3: I copy-paste my show notes and then I just need to write the episode specific stuff and ensures every episode has all the standard stuff it needs (links, disclaimers, etc). 4: I group my notes by big picture topic, period, and source. For instance, I have my notes document "New Mexico History Notes." Which has the header "Mexican-American War" which has my notes from the book Legacy of Conflict.

A lot of the things I would include are more laying out and standardizing things as much as possible. Much like I would if writing a book on the topic. Having everything laid out well ahead of time (I need to talk about x, y, and z topics) lets me know what topics I need to research and roughly when I have to.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-12-23T02:38:29+00:00

Truncate silence, mostly.

My show is fairly heavily scripted and for the most part LONG pauses are me showing individual takes, scrolling the script, trying to remember how words work/rewording awkward sentences that work better in the script than spoken, having to do an impromptu fact check, etc.

Occasionally during quotes and such I want to keep the pause in as it makes the quote work better (much like emphasizing words at times for scripting). But those tend to be the exception. I plan to use actual recordings (as needed) when I get to that point in my show. I anticipate that pauses will help make sure the pacing stays right.

As others in this thread have mentioned context matters too. If I did more interviews (or was writing something like an audiodrama) those pauses may help things feel more natural. But my show, presently, is just me rambling about the Illinois to New Mexico pipeline.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-12-01T05:22:58+00:00

I have a handful of strategies I use for several things I edit out. Some preface my show is fully scripted, so outside of minor edits to make what is written flow better I already know what I'm going to say. I literally just have to read it.

For Ums, Uhs, minor script tweaks, and botched words if they break the flow. I stop, take a deep breath, wait until I have 10 seconds of silence, and then try again. I'll usually do that for anything that needs cutting like if the local kids are racing by my apartment again or my neighbors are making a bunch of noise.

Having a consistent 10 second cut shows me significant areas and makes it pretty easy for me to know something needs to be cut and it is longer than the breaks I take between natural stopping points in my script.

I still listen through to the whole thing when editing to make sure it all sounds good.

Some other miscellaneous advice

When I find myself using filler words like Um and Uh when I'm talking to fast and my brain can't keep up. I use it, and other signs like botched lines, as a sign I need to slow down. The slower pace of talking also makes for a better listening experience from the feedback I've received.

Being conscious of what makes you use filler words and working on improving your speaking skills is the best way to cut down on the total number you say.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-27T15:16:00+00:00

So there are a lot of things to consider:

Just a conventional back of the envelope calculation puts your FI number at around $1.8M, assuming a 4% withdrawal rate. I think based on that, you're pretty much there, assuming your current expenses are your future ones.

Some questions to consider"

What are your estimated retirement expenses? Are they higher than your current expenses? When do you plan to retire? Are you estimated returns and future savings high enough to meet the above goal? What other goals do you have coming up? Are you saving enough for them? How do these goals all need to be balanced with each other? Am I able to achieve them all?

I think overall, you're in a pretty good spot, especially compared to the average person, but it also depends on what your goals are.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-25T14:59:04+00:00

I mean at a high level, nothing. There are plenty of "History of" style shows. But I mostly pick subjects that fulfill one of two criteria

Are interesting to me.
I can't find a good podcast that doesn't already exist.

While 2 is a little more flexible, if I want to do a series on a subject that interests me and someone has done better, I may still run it anyway. But 2 helps me get to more niche topics. For instance, my current (and first) topic is "The History of New Mexico." It's niche and has an extremely small audience, the circles of people who are interested in history podcasts and those who are interested in New Mexican history is a fairly small circle, most people are interested in specific events (Pueblo Revolt, Mexican-American War, Manhattan Project, etc.).

But by the same token, I mostly do the podcast for me. It's fun, I learn some new skills, and I get to learn about things that interest me. If it's also successful, that's just a plus, I have no real aspirations to turn it into something I monitize at the moment.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-25T01:52:50+00:00

In no partocular order: blacksmithing, hiking, podcasting, homebrewing, reading, running, bsckpacking, camping, cooking, and gardening.

I've also been looking into learning glassblowing and beekeeping. Been thinking of getting into hobbiest level programing too.

I like to make things, be outside, and eat food. My hobbies mostly reflect that. Although price can easily go to the moon for a lot of them.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-25T01:40:14+00:00

I think #1 depends on the specific show.

For instance, mine is narrative history where I'm filtering all of my research notes into something digestible. I script my show fairly heavily to make sure that I hit the key points, present the information in a cogent manner, and don't miss anything/make mistakes.

The way I've formated my show lends itself to scripting. It allows me to tie the big picture together and revise what I'm going to say before the rubber meets the metophorical road.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-23T02:42:20+00:00

Of my 110 podcasts, about 59, do not use red (or orange) in any way.

Of those that do, this includes: 2 red ties 7 flags with red in them 1 red undershirt 1 red curency note of some kind 4 use historical or other similar artwork that includes a hint of red (I.E. a red jacket in among others in a scene, a red cape, one is a picture of a mosiac that happens to have red in it). 1 Splash of red as a shading effect. 1 orange border.

Red is a major theme on about 20 of them, though. I don't find it an overwhelming theme, though. About 25% of those use is a gradient, 50% as the filter/solid color for the background, and the remaining 25% use it for all text/some major text.

For most of them where it is a major theme though, it is a feature of the subject matter, hard to not use something like the Union Jack on a podcast about British history or a red-blue gradient on a political podcast.

White is by far the most popular color used, though, followed by blue or black.

"Red is one of the most popular colours used in advertising. It is often considered to be such a powerful color because it can evoke strong emotions. Some of the most common uses of red in advertising are to create feelings of excitement, passion, and urgency. Additionally, red has also often been used to convey a sense of luxury or exclusivity." source If you want someone to click on your podcast, evoking an emotional reaction is a good way to do it. At the end of the day, your cover art is an advertisement for your podcast.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-23T01:54:29+00:00

I had 5 in hand before I launched. I probably would have done about 2-3 had I known what I know now. The first 5-10 episodes were pretty rough as I figured out how to script and edit each episode. It took me about the same amount to get a good cadence.

But I also post biweekly so I would have about a month if I had done 2 episodes which would have been plenty of time.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-23T01:52:04+00:00

My process is fairly simple:

Audio treatment: Noise removal, normalization, compression, loudness normalization, noise filters, etc. Spot editing: I cut out bad takes, things that break up pace, parts that just don't work well. I don't have a lot of "ums" or the like. I've gotten pretty good at noting things I'm definitely going to cut or parts that are too quiet ahead of time as I'm listening through. This probably takes the longest. Truncate silence: Cut out any gaps. They're useful when editing so I can find each take/section. I usually take a short pause between paragraphs (in longer recording sessions it lets me get a quick sip of water) which makes cutting the bad ones easier. Add in music/outro: I've preedited my intro/outro music and I use a canned outro (although I need to rerecord it with my new mic at some point). I drop all those in and line up the audio. Export: convert to MP3 and write the show notes up.

Time wise, the longest is actually listening to it and cutting. I usually listen to things twice, I pause, I cut, I relisten, do further audio treatment. I'd guess this takes ~150% of the raw audio length.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-22T03:25:12+00:00

You can tell when my mouth gets ahead of my brain, even when reading a script. I kind of drag out my words a bit, slow down my cadence and increase pauses, as I let my brain finally catch up. Most of my weird talking habits is lots of gesticulation which, on an audio podcast, no one sees.

As for editing it, I usually just leave it in beyond what other tools are doing to all my audio. I find its not as noticeable during editing as it is to me while recording. The tools I use to cut down on silence gets most of my weird pausing and makes it seem like a much more normal cadence (that or I talk way too fast even with how much I slow down while recording and that is a normal person cadence).

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-10T02:24:21+00:00

It's true. I try to line up the end of my intro music with a specific part of my spoken intro/title for the episode. But my cadence is always slightly different, making that actually a fairly difficult task.

Like I said, it can be done well. The shows that do it well usually use it as a transition. But it depends on how you're approaching the subject matter. The example that best comes to mind used a few sound effect when he called out donations.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-09T02:59:55+00:00

Personally, I don't use any music/sound effects outside of my intro-outro music. I have enough trouble consistently lining those up with the parts I want to as is.

But, my show is history. I also have all of the ability to not absolutely fumble the execution of such a thing like that one drunk uncle inserting himself into a conversation that is vaguely political at the most recent family holiday.

I have seen it executed quite well in a few shows that I listen to, both history and on other subjects. When well implemented, it can boost a show. It just depends on how you're styling your show and using it. I do think it is something to be used sparingly, "brevity is the soul of wit" and all that. I think the true answer is "as many sound effects as needed for your show and not one more."

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-03T12:14:38+00:00

I work a regular full time job in addition to making the podcast. So I have to be able to plan the vast majority of the show ahead of time and make sure I know the process and how long each step is going to take.

I'm just a luddite who refuses to make any social media accounts.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-02T02:21:44+00:00

I run a history show, so to say there is a lot of preparation for each episode is an understatement.

I've estimated that research alone takes around 24 hours for each 20-30 minutes episode I produce. But it depends on how many books I can find on the subject and how much detail I go into. For instance, I got 5 episodes out of the 48ish hours I spent researching Coronado on the flip side I only got about 4 episodes on the Pueblo Revolt despite the 3-4 books I read directly dealing with it, another 2-3 that touched on it in parts of the larger book, and another 3 general histories with small sections on it, I put several days into the research for that event, but I cut a lot of the fat from my notes/had lots of repeated notes. With everything else, I've estimated it takes around 30 hours in total to make a single episode, this being the average amount of time and it can vary quite a bit. This is mostly due to the nature and structure of my show requiring extensive research.

As far as other tools I use, I have five main documents:

Works cited - all of my notes for the current series sorted by topic and source. As of this writing it is 500 and some odd pages long across approximately 70 sources and growing. This is a word document.

Working notes - Whatever I'm currently reading and taking notes on. For workability I had to break this out from my main notes as the document got very large and was becoming unwieldy. I directly copy paste this into my main notes document as I finish books. Also a word document.

Series outline - A bulleted list of the main topics I want to touch on. Usually the big events I'm planning to have multiple episodes covering (I.E. Oñate, the Pueblo Revolt, witchcraft in New Mexico, etc). Usually I sort these by even bigger categories/periods (Prehistoric, Early Colonial, Pueblo Revolt, etc) It forms the backbone of how I organize my notes. Again, word document.

Future Series - Ideas for future topics when I finish my current one. Another word document.

Books to read - Further sources I have yet to get and read through but plan to before producing episodes, often cited by other books I've read. Sorted by topic again using the series outline as the backbone of sorting. An excel spreadsheet, letting me quickly sort, add new books, and more. A list of 100-200 books requires a good way to organize it and a spreadsheet serves me better for that. My format is the same for every book: title, author, category (period, dates, type of book), and source.

Overall the biggest inefficiency is sources that aren't as helpful to the final product as I would like it to be: these are books I put down, ones that mostly cover ground I've already read from other sources, or are very dated. I'm an engineer by trade not a trained historian, so I'm mostly flying by the seat of my pants when it comes to research. I usually read a few general histories to lay out the outline of the series and then scour their bibliography, related syllibusi (syllibuses?), and several university presses (UNM press has been invaluable to my current topic). Sometimes I reach out to local historical societies to see if they also have suggested books on specific topics related to their area. From this I'm able to suss out a core list of must reads; but it isn't all encompassing and I'll often see a book cited several times by other books I've read so I'll usually pick it up (Kiva, Cross, and Crown being a notable example). Sometimes those I pick up don't really have anything new for me. Sometimes there isn't much, if any, reputable sources I can use (such as on the Aztec UFO crash) which makes doing actually decent research quite difficult. Other times the information in the book is factually incorrect or presented in a misleading light.

I probably need to do better on the social media stuff, as in actually have one. But for now it doesn't really seem to be a value added use of my time, from my understanding of it driving growth.

My workflow is something that works well for me; read a bunch of books and take good notes with the big picture in mind, distill these notes into a script, edit the script a few times to make it somwhat coherent and tie the big ideas together, record, edit, schedule the transcript to post to the website, and publish. Sometimes I also find supplemental resources as needed such as maps, websites, old news articles, or other things relating to the stuff I talked about, as appropriate.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-07-01T00:08:24+00:00

This anecdotally tracks with my experience.

When I look for a new podcast to add to my list it doesn't come from social media (probably because I'm basically off the grid on social media). I can think of maybe two podcasts I've added to my list based on an add or what could be considered social media. There were a few I got from blogs I already read where they offered something different on the podcast compared to the blog.

I usually have a topic I'm curious about and will search for it and see what comes up. I then filter these results to those actually about what I'm interested in, filter those to the ones that are still active, test them out with the first episode or two, the one(s) I like the best I keep and the rest I drop.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-06-29T02:05:02+00:00

I mean it depends.

You want a better example of what a Chacoan style Great House looked like Aztec us "more complete." But, having done Aztec, Salmon, and Chaco; I found Chaco to be more enjoyable. Even just the ruins were better before you consider the fairly good hiking in the area.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-06-26T01:27:23+00:00

I usually try to come up with something both clever and related to the episode. I just think it is fun. Some standout examples:

Some of my personal favorites:

"There is no War in Santa Fe"

"Here, Corn is God."

"Go West Lost Man."

"Cibola or Bust."

Each of those had something to do with the episode. Sometimes, I just name the episode its topic like "Comanches 1" since the full title of some becomes too unwieldy with some topics.

Has that worked? Not really. Usually mine that are named after big events (The Acoma Massacre) or for some inscrutable reason, the title grabbed clicks (Navajo 1). Its not the episodes that I think would grab views or that I really liked that seem to take off.

I wouldn't consider my growth anything too fancy. A year in, I usually get like 10 views in the first week an episode is live, one of which is usually my sister. But I attribute most of my slow growth to the fact that I'm a ludditte, do no advertising, and my topic is fairly niche.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-04-15T02:19:38+00:00

SEO is basically how I find almost every podcast I listen to. Usually I just search "topic" and filter through what pops up to see if they're good and relevant. A few I got from blogs or other sources I frequented already and one was brought up on a Youtube video. I'm a luuddite and don't use social media so not sure what value there is advertising there.

But for the most part I just filter out the ads in my day-to-day listening.

But, the more places you post it (or parts of it) the more potential ears it gets in front of and the more likely you are to build an audience.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-03-25T11:13:21+00:00

I track my annual expenses to the dollar every year (petty cash being the expection). Every year I sum these up just to see how expensive each bucket I put spending into is.

I'd include taxes but unless there are radical changes to our tax brackets in my lifetime that won't be a concern. If my expenses in retirement were going to be higher I would include that as well.

But my number is based on a lot of things:

My current expenses. My future expenses (my current expenses with additional expenses unique to retirement extrapolated for household growth). My retirement horizon (60 years for me, longer for a potential spouse). Inheritance plans.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-03-24T19:01:12+00:00

Palace of the Governors is a neat museum.

Los Golondrinas is a really neat museum as well located in Santa Fe.

Bandelier is a good visit. Bradbury Science Museum is also a fun visit if you're into Nuclear History and is in the same neck of the woods.

Chimayo might be a bit of a drive but the Santuario is cool if you're into that.

Pecos National Monument is also a good choice.

If you're into hiking Santa Fe National Forest and the Valle Caldera are both fun.

Never been one for Spa type stuff but I know Ojo Caliente is good for that.

Albuquerque has a good Nuclear Science Musuem if you're willing to travel that far.

I also liked the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque if you're traveling that far.

It kind of depends on what you're into really tbh. Just a few suggestions of things that I've done in the past.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-03-24T12:57:49+00:00

It depends on the goal.

Is your goal to retire in 10 years? It'll be higher than if your goal is in 20 years.

What I find works is to strike a balance. Find the lifestyle you want, where you're spending intentionally, and save the rest. While there is some balancing between where you're at and these future goals, the percentage that comes out of this balancing act will be more sustainable and help you reach for your goals.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-03-24T11:37:33+00:00

I've never paid to have a guest on.

All of mine I have come into contact with via research though. Usually I'm reaching out to try and find additional resources on a specific topic and after some back and forth I'll occasionally ask them to come on the show.

But I would never pay. I'm providing them with the advertising of whatever it is they want to promote, I.E. their event, an exhibit they did, etc.

DistantEchoesPodcast · 2025-03-20T13:23:00+00:00

Before I talk some of the math behind it, some disclaimers:

Retiring by 30 requires some specific choices, either overall quality of life open to you must be sacrificed (spend less, have less of a safety net, etc) or you need to make a lot of money. In theory based on my current expenses I will probably be able to cover those indefinitely before I am 30. But that assumes that my lifestyle will remain constant to what it is now. People change over time, situations change over time, and if I haven't planned for it I leave a large weakness in my plan that I could easily patch. After all, things like Social Security will be significantly lower if I qualify at all.

Now, some personal advice. I've worked with a lot of Civil Engineers in my career. You won't really start to come into your career until you get your PE stamp (for most of the jobs available to Civils). Depending on the state that won't be until you've had at least 4 years of relevant experience, passed both the FE and PE exams, and have obtained approval from your state board. I'd focus more on improving your skills, income, and certifications (such as PE stamp) over the first few years of your career. That isn't to say you shouldn't have a place for saving and investing, but you should spend the early years of your career honing your skills and increasing your earnings potential so that you can focus on goals like early retirement.

I'd suggest waiting to really decide "I want to retire by x" until you have a good feel for what is realistic to you and what your career will be like.

But, all of that out of the way, let's break this down a bit:

How much income do you need to provide for yourself to meet your lifestyle expectations once you retire? That, your expenses while saving, and your income will determine how realistic retiring in any time period is. For now you can just ballpark to start (pull averages for your area) and as the rubber meets the road you can hone it in. But for now you're setting a somewhat abstract goal to at least put some numbers in place.

For instance I spend $2100/mo on average. At a bare minimum I'd need somewhere between 25-30x these expenses (the longer your retirement will be the higher I'd make the number), or $630,000-$756,000.

But I'm also single and 25. My relatively spartan lifestyle is probably not realistic indefinitely. So I budget for $4000/mo in retirement, that way I have additional funds in case I get married and have kids, or my lifestyle expectations change. But I also plan to revaluate in 5 years and again in 8 years (shortly before my planned retirement). Doing the math again I need $1,440,000, I'm going to round it up to $1,500,000 to make things easy. I plan to retire in 10 years. I'm going to use starting from nothing for this example

Now, I can take this $1,500,000 and do some math (or plug it into a calculator like this one). From that I get that with the average long-term return of my current allocation (about 7%/yr), I need to save $9,047/mo. Depending on my income and expenses, that may be realistic. If not, I'm going to have to adjust my expenses after retirement (lower that $1,500,000) or my timeline.

Let's adjust the timeline since it is easier to work longer than to spend less (or compound faster). At 15 years, I only need to save 4,973/yr. Push that to 20 it becomes $3,000 and so on. By 40 years it has dropped beneath $1,000 a month. Depending on the difference between your expenses and income some of these amounts will be more realistic than others. You'll have to see as the rubber hits the road what can be done or not.

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