7. "We Were Forced to Eff Ourselves"

Taylor Mali interviews distant cousin B. A. Van Sise, a charmingly nerdy photographer and polymath and one of the closest living relatives of Walt Whitman. THERE IS ONE WELL-PLACED SWEAR WORD EARLY IN THE EPISODE. There's also news of The Marble House Meeting at The Metropolitan Museum of Art and audio clips of Broadway actor Michael Crane reading selections from Taylor's grandfather's journal. Van Sise asks Taylor whether his extended family considers him their "shepherd" or their "Judas Goat." Last, if you are a relative stranger and plan to be at the opening cocktail reception, you might want to remind yourself of the words to "Edelweiss." The founding sponsor of Relative Strangers is FamilyTreeChart.com. Use promo code METROPOLITAN to get 10% off your first order. Please follow the podcast on Instagram at RelativeStrangersPodcast, where Taylor is generally a little less dramatic.