Podcasts about East Berlin

The Busses are joined by special guest Sigi Oblander, a dear friend and one of the founders of Global Outpouring. Having survived the intense hardships of growing up in communist-controlled East Berlin, Sigi has an understanding of surrender that most of American Christianity has yet to experience. Sigi shares some amazing testimonies of what God can do through an ordinary person with a fully surrendered life.Sigi will be the speaker on the opening night of Convention 2025! She always brings a deep, life-changing Word from the Lord, so come join us to see what God has in store! Registration is available on our website.EMAIL: feedback@globaloutpouring.orgWEBSITE: https://globaloutpouring.net Upcoming Events:Global Outpouring Convention 2025 Info and RegistrationGeneration Awakening Youth and Young Adult Retreat 2025School of the Supernatural – Translation by Faith 2025 Related Links:Podcast Episode 26: Freedom with Sigi and David Oblander – Part 1Podcast Episode 27: Freedom! Part 2 with Sigi and David Oblander“Sigi and I” By Gwen Shaw (Book)“Sigi and I” By Gwen Shaw (PDF)“Rich Wounds” by Sharon Buss CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIAGlobal Outpouring Facebook PageGlobal Outpouring on InstagramGlobal Outpouring YouTube ChannelGlobal Outpouring on X

Welcome to HODGEPOD with Rob Fredette, featuring an exclusive conversation with Bernd Haber, the grandson of Fritz Haber, an author whose diaries unveil captivating stories from World War II. Born and raised in East Berlin, Bernd recounts his journey to Phoenix, Arizona, and shares insights into his grandfather's experiences as a German soldier captured by American troops during World War II. Bernd delves into his grandfather's diary, being a POW in an American camp, life in post-war Germany. They also explore family secrets that span generations, including connections to the Spanish Civil War. The conversation paints a vivid picture of Germany's historical changes and the resilience of its people. RECORDED MARCH 29, 2025 HODGEPOD can be heard on APPLE, SPOTIFY, IHEART, AUDACY, TUNEIN RADIO AND THE PODBEAN APP. hodgepodallin@yahoo.com  

Welcome to HODGEPOD with Rob Fredette, featuring an exclusive conversation with Bernd Haber, the grandson of Fritz Haber, an author whose diaries unveil captivating stories from World War II. Born and raised in East Berlin, Bernd recounts his journey to Phoenix, Arizona, and shares insights into his grandfather's experiences as a German soldier captured by American troops during World War II. Bernd delves into his grandfather's diary, being a POW in an American camp, life in post-war Germany. They also explore family secrets that span generations, including connections to the Spanish Civil War. The conversation paints a vivid picture of Germany's historical changes and the resilience of its people. RECORDED MARCH 29, 2025 HODGEPOD can be heard on APPLE, SPOTIFY, IHEART, AUDACY, TUNEIN RADIO AND THE PODBEAN APP. hodgepodallin@yahoo.com  

Send us a textHEDWIGBefore we say auf wiedersehen to Season 14 with its eight revamps of the previously covered during the show's first five years, the boys of TGTPTU reveal their unexpected special little packages: 1x1's, wherein each host shall choose a single film by its merits of discussion and unlikelihood to be exposed on a future 4x4, creator, or thematic season. The first of these darlings is Thomas's: HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH (2001). Adapted from the rock musical of the same name that started as the collaboration between frontman of the NYC-based band Cheater (performing on stage as Hedwig's band) Stephen Trask and then actor later turned actor-director with this debut film John Cameron Mitchell. Hedwig's story, on stage told in song and monologue, of male-to-female surgery so as to marry an American GI and leave East Berlin originated from Mitchell's own experiences as a military brat in Germany and Kansas trailer parks while the jealousy and newer betrayal Hedwig expresses toward her protégé and superstar success/successor Tommy Gnosis (also played by Mitchell in the play but embodied by Early Aughts indie film darling and pod-contentious actor Michael Pitt) is elevated by Trask's music and lyrics and is expanded and enriched with animation, locations, and added characters (most notably Andrea Martin as the band's manager) for the silver screen.   Learn more about the progression from stage to screen from Thomas on research; jam out to Rock Facts with Ryan (sorry, mineralogists, but we're talking glam and punk rock here); former host Jack on vibes in the rhythm section wakes up mid-episode to like the film and dig the hand-drawn animation; and Ken lands his rimshot, getting to tell his joke that calls back to TGTPTU's Nolan coverage (Season 12).  Spoiler: You'll be hearing from four Hed heads.  Reminder: You don't put a bra in a dryer!  CONTENT WARNING: At least once during the episode the “f” word (“Ferengi”) is used. For those allergic to Star Trek and nerdom, our sincerest apologies. My you live long and prosper. THEME SONG BY: WEIRD A.I.Email: thegoodthepodandtheugly@gmail.comFacebook: https://m.facebook.com/TGTPTUInstagram: https://instagram.com/thegoodthepodandtheugly?igshid=um92md09kjg0Bluesky: @goodpodugly.bsky.socialYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC6mI2plrgJu-TB95bbJCW-gBuzzsprout: https://thegoodthepodandtheugly.buzzsprout.com/Letterboxd (follow us!): Podcast: goodpoduglyKen: Ken KoralRyan: Ryan Tobias

This week's episode is one you cannot miss. We're joined by the extraordinary Ute Monsen, whose incredible journey from the oppressive walls of East Berlin to personal liberation is nothing short of transformative. Raised in fear and under constant suppression, Ute's story will leave you rethinking everything you know about freedom. In this raw, honest conversation, she opens up about the challenges she faced and how she ultimately discovered a freedom that changed not just her life but her entire perspective. Tune in for a gripping, life-altering story that will redefine what freedom truly means—and how it can unlock your own inner peace.Also, remember to submit your questions or topic suggestions anonymously for a future Insight Exchange. https://collectinginsight.com/insight-exchange All episodes edited and mixed by Jake Musiker.

Ever wonder what spy books former CIA spy Valerie Plame can't put down? Today on Spybrary, host Shane Whaley is joined by none other than Valerie Plame—former CIA covert operative, bestselling author, and an iconic voice in the world of intelligence and espionage. For over a decade, Valerie Plame served on the front lines of national security, operating undercover in some of the world's most complex and volatile environments. Her CIA career—and the controversial public outing that ended it—has been the subject of headlines, books, and a major Hollywood film 'Fair Game' Now, Valerie Plame joins us for a very different kind of mission—her Spybrary Dead Drop 5. She'll reveal the five spy books she'd choose to stash in a hidden drop in East Berlin, the titles she'd rely on during a covert operation behind the Iron Curtain. From childhood favorites to deeply researched histories, Valerie's picks promise intrigue, insight, and a few surprises. Strap in—this is going to be a Spybrary episode to remember. The Dead Drop 5 is back! In this much-requested Spybrary feature, our guest is embedded behind the Iron Curtain and can request five spy books, a gadget, luxury items and more from their handler. Before we get to Valerie Plame's five favourite books do check out her event Spies at Seas. Valerie and her team have kindly offered a discount for Spybrarians.

In this episode of the On The Rail Podcast, we get into the intricacies of saddle making with custom saddle maker Joey Wenger from East Berlin, Pennsylvania. Joey shares his journey from growing up in a horse show family to becoming a renowned saddle maker. He discusses the challenges he faced starting his business, the learning curve of working with leather and tools without any prior experience, and how he gradually perfected his craft. Joey also provides insights into the importance of saddle trees, the process of designing custom saddles, and the evolving trends in the industry, particularly the rise of ranch saddles. This episode offers a thorough look at the dedication, craftsmanship, and innovation required to excel in the saddle making business.00:00 Introduction and Guest Introduction01:22 Joey's Background and Early Years02:20 Starting the Leather Business03:39 Challenges and Learning on the Job06:12 Family Support and Initial Struggles10:54 Transition to Saddle Making20:22 Developing Custom Saddle Trees29:49 Saddle Making Process and Custom Orders38:56 Innovations in Saddle Design39:22 The Rise of Ranch Saddles42:39 Leather Tooling and Craftsmanship46:48 Challenges in the Saddle Industry50:33 The Impact of Rising Costs55:43 Future Trends and Opportunities57:17 Personal Reflections and Family Life01:01:25 The Importance of Quality and Customization01:08:20 Closing Thoughts and Contact Information

Fritz Häber, The Complete Diary: 16 Months in an American POW Camp by Bernd Häber Amazon.com Worldstrings.com 16monthsaspow.com Examining history through family archives frequently complicates our understanding of the past. This complexity is heightened when descendants encounter diverse forms of testimonial evidence from a bygone era—whether it be a photograph, an object, postcards, official documents, or a diary—and undertake the challenging endeavor of deciphering the meaning of these personal remnants within the broader context of historical events. This diary stands apart from the typical World War II narratives found in documentaries, textbooks, and retellings, often providing only the highlights and a broad overview. For readers seeking a genuinely fresh and intimate perspective on the physical war and psychological war that unfolds beneath the surface, this real-life account offers an insightful and comprehensive experience. This is the story of Fritz Häber, a young German father who grappled with the dual responsibilities to his family and country. His reflections provide personal insights that extend beyond him to encompass broader global perspectives. Forced to serve in a Nazi anti-aircraft unit near Munich during WW2, he later endured 16 months imprisoned in an American POW camp. Fritz Häber begins his diary with this dedication: “I dedicate these pages to my wife and my children of whom I hope are still alive and whom to find well when I return from captivity… May these lines serve my wife in the future as a compensation for the long time during which she knew nothing about my well-being, and for the children to serve as an example of how human destinies can get easily mixed up.” Stories such as his prompt an exploration of our family histories and their untold narratives. They illuminate themes of resilience and survival, morality and choice. Even when these tales harbor discomfort or controversy, they possess the power to enlighten us and offer valuable guidance for our present actions. His steadfast and unyielding belief in his survival gave him the faith that he would be reunited with his family one day. Having endured physical and emotional challenges, his story is a timeless, powerful source of inspiration 75 years later and will resonate with future generations. From the author: n this book, which is both a diary and a memoir, you will meet my grandfather, Fritz Häber. As a child, he was just my grandpa, a jovial, vigorous, warmhearted man, whom I would visit during the occasional holiday vacation. It was only later when contentious, life altering, family events were revealed to me that I realized Fritz had served in Hitler's Wehrmacht during WWII, one of the most tumultuous and violent time periods of world history. I had so many questions. Although his part in this global drama can be considered minor, he extensively documented his experiences and shared his astute reflections on everything from human psychology to political philosophy. Like many history buffs, I have spent countless hours reading about high level diplomacy and watching documentaries that detail the technical and military aspects of war, but it was not until reading Fritz's diary that I could fully imagine both the momentous decisions he made and the drudgery of being a reluctant soldier. Fritz, an antifascist, not only warns “human destinies can get easily mixed up” during war, but also reminds us to pay attention to forces that might interfere with our lives in unexpected ways. I am excited to now share his story with you. About the author Bernd, grandson of Fritz, was born in East Berlin - after the Berlin Wall was erected. He grew up in the German Democratic Republic under a Communist ruling government. Bernd attended the Technische Universität in Chemnitz in Saxony/Germany and graduated with a Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering, Manufacturing Process Design and Computer Aided Manufacturing.

Today, the German capital is a busy, fun and coherent city. But I first knew Berlin when the Wall carved through its streets, dividing families. Some of those oppressed in East Berlin were allowed to leave – along with curious tourists like me.The main way out was at Friedrichstrasse station, where the Tränenpalast – or Palace of Tears – is now the most powerful reminder of division.This podcast is free, as is Independent Travel's weekly newsletter. Sign up here to get it delivered to your inbox. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week on No Priors, Sarah and Elad talk with GitHub CEO Thomas Dohmke about the rise of AI-powered software development and the success of Copilot. They discuss how Copilot is reshaping the developer workflow, GitHub's new Agent Mode, and competition in the developer tooling market. They also explore how AI-driven coding impacts software pricing, the future of open source vs. proprietary APIs, and what Copilot's success means for Microsoft. Plus, Thomas shares insights from his journey growing up in East Berlin and navigating rapidly changing worlds. Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @ThomasDohmke Show Notes: 0:00 Introduction 0:37 GitHub Copilot's capabilities 4:12 Will agents replace developers? 6:04 Copilot's development cycle 8:34 Winning the developer market 10:40 Agent mode 13:25 Where GitHub is headed 16:45 Building for the new challenges of AI 21:50 Dev tools market formation 29:56 Copilot's broader impact 32:17 How AI changes software pricing 39:16 Open source vs. proprietary APIs 48:01 Growing up in East Berlin

US Is Important But We Have Gotten More Unity From Europe - Zelenskyyhttps://osazuwaakonedo.news/us-is-important-but-we-have-gotten-more-unity-from-europe-zelenskyy/03/03/2025/#Editorial #NATO #Putin #Russia #Trump #Ukraine #US #USSR #Zelenskyy ©March 3rd, 2025 ®March 3, 2025 6:12 pm President Donald Trump of the United States, US maybe trying to cause unnecessary confusion to the traditional way of war settlements which date back to the end of World War One in 1918 and World War Two in 1945 when Germany, considered as the aggressor was made to pay damages or reparation or the costs incurred by the US, Britain, France and the Soviet Union which comprises Russia, Ukraine and 13 other republics when Germany on August 1, 1914 mobilized troops from Berlin to support the defunct Austria-Hungary country which included German-speaking Austrians, Magyars, Slavs, and Italians after the Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia on June 28, 1914 following the bombing and shooting to death the Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the heir to Austro-Hungarian throne and his wife, Sophie, the Duchess of Hohenberg, by a suspected group of extremists from Serbia that wanted to increase Serbian power in the Balkans by breaking up the Austro-Hungarian Empire; and the shooting specifically was carried out by a 19-year-old Gavrilo Princip, this, Russia came to the aid of Serbia and with the support of other countries like Britain and France, Austria-Hungary was defeated after so many deaths especially on the side of Serbia civilian populations, and at the end of the World War One, Germany was made to pay the damages and costs of war as the aggressor, and on September 1, 1939, Adolf Hitler of Germany who is considered a nationalist extremist, on his apparent quest to expand Ayran race in Europe, invaded Poland, a border country whose people were considered inferior and powerless people likely the same way Vladimir Putin of Russia may had seen Ukrainians, the action of Adolf Hitler forced Britain, France, US, and the Soviet Union to declare war on Germany on September 3, 1939 and they defeated Germany at the end of the World War Two in 1945 after Adolf Hitler and his top generals refused to surrender and reportedly committed suicides inside their underground bunkers after millions of deaths especially Jews, and in order to make Germany unable to attack another country again, Britain, France and US occupied West Germany including West Berlin for years with capitalist economy system and at the same time, the Soviet Union occupied East Germany including East Berlin with Communist economy system and Germany considered as the aggressor was again made to pay the damages or the costs of the World War Two, which Germany has struggled to pay, up to 2010, and it maybe clearer that, no victim of World War One, Serbia and World War Two, Poland was apparently made to pay debts or sign economic deals for the costs incurred by the countries that came to their aid, this may justified the action of Donald Trump requesting Ukraine to sign rare earth minerals deal with the US as criminally exploitative demand, and Donald Trump pushing the narratives that Europe will get their money back and US will not get its money back is seemly an half-truths made to mislead the public, like President Emmanuel Macron of France recently corrected Donald Trump at the Oval Office that Europe is not getting the money back from Ukraine, that Russia is the one to pay them back the money most especially from the seized Russia assets in Europe and the US under the immediate past President Joe Biden seized billions of dollars of Russia assets confiscated to finance US aid to Ukraine, interestingly, Vladimir Putin of Russia who is also considered as a Nationalist extremist like Adolf Hitler of Germany on February 24, 2022 in a world news broadcast, made it very clear that he decided to declare special military operations in Ukraine because of US, that for many years, the US tried to expand its powers, stressing, he does not have problem with Europe or NATO, saying, NATO is the US foreign policy used by the North America to try to conquer Russia by thus enlisting some other countries that made up the defunct Soviet Union into NATO and he would never allowed US to assemble its military infrastructures in Ukraine, its closest neighbouring country hence he decided to go after the pro US Ukrainian politicians and government officials by demilitriarising Ukraine and reclaiming it as an independent territory he said was once part of Russia, adding that, he mobilized Russia troops to invade and reclaim parts of Ukraine which included Crimea in 2014 in support of Russia speaking people in Donbas he said were suffering humiliation and genocide attack by Kyiv government for many years which President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in several occasions has accused Putin of always sponsoring and organising terrorists to kill Ukrainians. #OsazuwaAkonedo

In this third episode of the East Germany series, Artie is joined by Deputy Minister and fellow Berlin tour guide Tina to discuss East Germany's first major crisis.By the early 1950s, West Germany was booming thanks to American subsidies, while the GDR remained in ruins, burdened by Soviet reparation payments. Living standards had declined, fuelling unrest. When the government ordered a 10% productivity increase without extra pay, anger boiled over. On 16 June 1953, workers in East Berlin went on strike. By the next day, protests had spread nationwide, turning into a full-scale uprising. Crowds stormed government buildings, tore down propaganda, and overpowered security forces. The SED was on the brink of collapse—until Soviet tanks rolled in.The uprising was brutally crushed, killing 55 people, with more subsequently executed after show trials. In response, the GDR expanded Stasi surveillance, cementing its status as one of history's most oppressive police states.The Ministry of History offers more than just podcast episodes! Check out our blog for engaging historical insights, access transcripts of episodes, subscribe to our newsletter for updates and early access to posts, and explore our digital content. Planning a trip to Berlin? You can even book a history tour with Artie himself! To find all this, simply head to our website. You can also follow us on Instagram, YouTube and TikTok.Artwork by Leila Mead. Check out her website and follow her on Instagram. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On 29 March 1974, Czesław Kukuczka stormed into the Polish embassy in East Berlin, threatening to detonate a bomb unless he was allowed to escape to the West. Shot at point-blank range while trying to cross the Berlin Wall, the identity of Kukuczka's killer remained a mystery for decades - until archive documents led investigators to former Stasi officer Martin Naumann. Naumann's historic trial made him one of the first former Stasi officers to be convicted of murder.Dan Hardoon speaks to Dr Filip Gańczak, the historian whose work helped bring Kukuczka's killer to justice.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more. Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic' and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy's Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they've had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America's occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.(Photo: The Berlin Wall. Credit: Owen Franken/Corbis via Getty Images)

Download Bios:https://we.tl/t-kchI8WwhMT Playlist No 264 Another month commences our journey filled with wondrous sounds, where men and women harmonise with machines on an electric voyage, manifesting in atmospherics of interlacing moods static-hypnotic sequences diverse rhythms varied melodies and experimentation into strange soundworlds. Making their debut on our podcasts is flutist Liesbet, seamlessly blends with ambient guests and transports listeners into a sound and visual universe. For the first time since the EP was recorded in East Berlin over 40 years ago, the music of Martin Zeichnete, a disciple of Kosmische Muzik, can finally be heard. From The Sine label C37, an emotional downbeat album captures moments of love, loss and hope. Ambient producer from Finland Janne Hanhisuanto has described his work as spacious and cinematic. Rounding off with Matthew Labarge, whose orchestral mood unfolds like novels and yields new insights after many listens. 02.42 Kosmischer Läufer ‘Die Weisse Rose' (Track Club EP) https://kosmischerlaufer.bandcamp.com 07.51 Hello Mr Klaus ‘Il viaggio delle balene cosmiche (per Manuel, seconda parte)' (album The Fairy Of The Cyclical Journey) https://cyclicaldreams.bandcamp.com 16.47 Hanni Rani '24.03 (Studio 1, Warsaw)' (album Nostalgia) https://haniarani.bandcamp.com/album/nostalgia 21.41 Hanni Rani ‘The Boat (Studio 1, Warsaw)' 27.56 Janne Hanhisuanto ‘Barycentre' (album Moon On Man) https://jannehanhisuanto.bandcamp.com/album/moon-on-the-man 31.04 Janne Hanhisuanto ‘Moon And Sea' 37.33 Steve Roach ‘The Nurturing Ground' (album The Reverent Sky) www.projekt.com 50.04 Noveller ‘Mannahatta' (album No Dreams) https://noveller.bandcamp.com 58.10 Atlus ‘Holding The Moment' (album The Sun Will Rise Tomorrow) https://altusmusic.bandcamp.com/album/the-sun-will-rise-tomorrow 01.03.46 Atlus ‘Such Fleeting Advancement (Stoic Mix)' 01.09.58 C37 ‘Between The Lines' (album) Into Thin Air) https://sine-music.bandcamp.com/album/into-thin-air 01.13.18 C37 ‘I Believe I Was Wrong' 01.17.00 C37 ‘Our Day Will Come' 01.20.51 Tom Eaton ‘Traces' (single) https://tomeaton1.bandcamp.com/track/traces-single 01.24.36 Urs Fuchs ‘Wolkenfee' (single ) www.bscmusic.com 01.29.46 DELREI ‘Mysterious Traveller' (album Live Curtarock Festival Curtarolo 07/26/2024 www.projekt.com 01.32.51 DELREI ‘Into The Wasteland' 01.36.11 Thaneco ‘Hercules Supercluster' (album Cosmic Atlas) https://thaneco-syngate.bandcamp.com 01.44.54 Thaneco ‘The Observable Universe' 01.51.54 Endless Dive ‘Petit Bain' (album Souvenances) https://endlessdive.bandcamp.com/album/a-brief-history-of-a-kind-human 01.54.44 Endless Dive ‘Iridescence' 01.57.00 Frank Tischer ‘The Grande Mirage' (album Circumpolar) https://franktischer.bandcamp.com 02.03.43 Frank Tischer ‘Cygnus' 02.06.47 Matthew Labarge ‘All Hope Illuminated' (Windy Starry Blue) https://www.matthewlabarge.com 02.11.10 Matthew Labarge ‘Night Divine' 02.14.59 Orchestra Indigo ‘Chimera#2' (album Hearing Visions) https://orchestraindigo.com 02.16.41 Orchestra Indigo ‘Hearing Visions' 02.21.17 Ivan Black ‘Follow The Leader' (album Dancing With The Stars) https://ivanblack.bandcamp.com/album/dancing-with-the-stars-2 02.28.56 Ivan Black ‘Pluto's Heart' (album Pluto's Heart) https://ivanblack.bandcamp.com/album/pluto-s-heart 02.36.21 Liesbet Leroy, Christian Alsemgeest ‘Calm After The Storm' (album Kindred Spirit) https://marenostrumlabel.bandcamp.com/album/kindred-spirit 02.39.09 Liesbet, Andrea Accorsi ‘Dawn Chorus' 02.41.29 Lightwave ‘To the Deep!/Waterfalls' (album Cantus Umbrarum) https://lightwave-musique.bandcamp.com 02.51.52 Lightwave ‘Tycho On The Moon/Apolgee' (album Tycho Brahe) 03.00.52 Lightwave ‘Sonnenstürme' (albums, Mundus Subterraneus) 03.09.46 Dirk Serries ‘Other Transformations' (album Treasure To The Stars (Streams Of Consciousness) *** www.projekt.com Edit ***

Citizens of the GDR were exposed to an idealised version of western freedoms made up of luxury shopping, blue jeans and cowboy flicks. Read by Helen Lloyd. Engelsberg Ideas is funded by the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation for Public Benefit. Image: Intershop in Friedrichstrasse in East Berlin. Credit: Sueddeutsche Zeitung Photo / Alamy Stock Photo

Today, Martin Luther King Day and the day before the reinauguration of King Ubu of the Divided States of America, is an appropriate time to revisit the life and legacy of the great Paul Robeson. Both great Americans, King and Robeson, were met with great resistance, incomprehension, and opposition in their day. While Dr. King is now justly celebrated with a national holiday, his legacy is often watered down by those, even right-wing extremists, that seek to attach their own agenda to his progressive legacy. Paul Robeson returned to his native country during the dark days of World War II. Shortly after the war ended, Robeson was also subject to incomprehension and oppression related to his embrace of Communism, which led to him being blacklisted and his passport being rescinded. Finally in 1958, after eight years of being hounded by the FBI, Paul Robeson finally regained the right to travel abroad. During the years of his blacklisting, he had effectively been unable to support himself. In thanks to his supporters following his emancipation, Robeson gave a celebratory concert on June 1, 1958 at his home church, Zion African Methodist Episcopal Church in Harlem. Shortly thereafter, he departed on years' long sojourn abroad. His first stop was the Royal Albert Hall in London, where he performed on August 10, 1958, the beginning of a nationwide tour across the UK. Thereafter he visited other countries as well, including East Germany, where he was particularly celebrated and revered and where, in 1959 in an East Berlin recording studio, he made a new recording of old and new favorites with his frequent collaborator Earl Robinson. Rare selections from each of these events are featured on this episode, which is enhanced with excerpts from, and commentary by, Paul Robeson on his greatest stage success, the title role in Shakespeare's Othello, a work which is distressingly relevant as the United States faces its greatest challenge in recent history. This episode is both a celebration of one of the greatest patriots our country has known as well as a warning of the pitfalls that await a nation that chooses to ignore or misrepresent those great Americans in lieu of hate-filled opportunists. Countermelody is a podcast devoted to the glory and the power of the human voice raised in song. Singer and vocal aficionado Daniel Gundlach explores great singers of the past and present focusing in particular on those who are less well-remembered today than they should be. Daniel's lifetime in music as a professional countertenor, pianist, vocal coach, voice teacher, and journalist yields an exciting array of anecdotes, impressions, and “inside stories.” At Countermelody's core is the celebration of great singers of all stripes, their instruments, and the connection they make to the words they sing. By clicking on the following link (https://linktr.ee/CountermelodyPodcast) you can find the dedicated Countermelody website which contains additional content including artist photos and episode setlists. The link will also take you to Countermelody's Patreon page, where you can pledge your monthly or yearly support at whatever level you can afford.

David Mackay is a former Cold War special forces officer and author of Bubbleheads, SEALs and Wizards: America's Scottish Bastion in the Cold War. He continues his unvarnished anecdotes about his Cold War career as an officer in the Parachute Regiment. The conversation extends to further experiences in East Berlin, West Germany, Nigeria, and Northern Ireland, highlighting the varied roles and military duties he undertook—from Flag Patrols in East Berlin to being shot by the IRA  with many stops in between. Through David's unique humorous and reflective storytelling he sheds light on the often absurd and dangerous realities of being a British officer during the Cold War. All our combat episodes in one convenient playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6j6YJmRWzt42kYiPGkcFfa?si=95e5366e4ad945a3 Buy David book here https://uk.bookshop.org/a/1549/9781849955546 Episode extras here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode384/ The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation, you will give me the ammunition to continue to preserve Cold War history. You'll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we welcome one-off donations via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Follow us on BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/coldwarpod.bsky.social Follow us on Threads https://www.threads.net/@coldwarconversations Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Love history? Join Intohistory https://intohistory.com/coldwarpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/military-history

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/world-affairs

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/russian-studies

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In a narrative-redefining approach, Engaging the Evil Empire: Washington, Moscow, and the Beginning of the End of the Cold War (Cornell UP, 2020) dramatically alters how we look at the beginning of the end of the Cold War. Tracking key events in US-Soviet relations across the years between 1980 and 1985, Simon Miles shows that covert engagement gave way to overt conversation as both superpowers determined that open diplomacy was the best means of furthering their own, primarily competitive, goals. Miles narrates the history of these dramatic years, as President Ronald Reagan consistently applied a disciplined carrot-and-stick approach, reaching out to Moscow while at the same time excoriating the Soviet system and building up US military capabilities. The received wisdom in diplomatic circles is that the beginning of the end of the Cold War came from changing policy preferences and that President Reagan in particular opted for a more conciliatory and less bellicose diplomatic approach. In reality, as Miles vividly demonstrates, Reagan and ranking officials in the National Security Council had determined that the United States enjoyed a strategic margin of error that permitted it to engage Moscow overtly. As US grand strategy developed, so did that of the Soviet Union. Engaging the Evil Empire covers five critical years of Cold War history when Soviet leaders tried to reduce tensions between the two nations in order to gain economic breathing room and, to ensure domestic political stability, prioritize expenditures on butter over those on guns. Written with style and verve, Miles's bold narrative shifts the focus of Cold War historians away from exclusive attention on Washington by focusing on the years of back-channel communiqués and internal strategy debates in Moscow as well as Budapest, Prague, and East Berlin. Grant Golub is a PhD candidate in U.S. and international history at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). His research examines the politics of American grand strategy during World War II. Follow him on Twitter @ghgolub. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/book-of-the-day

Argentinian artist Tomás Saraceno's studio is two big and old industrial units covered in graffiti, in what was East Berlin. This was where the company AGFA developed and made the chemicals that made colour photography possible. The ground is so polluted Saraceno's lease forbids him from growing any vegetables, and this matters to this environmentally concerned artist. But the industrial past of Studio Saracen is fitting as Tomás' work is highly technical. Here he has an architecture department, an arachnid research laboratory and an engineering works. He has about 40 people working on different projects. Tomás talks to Julian May about some of his projects, including Aerocene - sculptural hot air balloons that ascend and fly without the use of any fossil fuels, by capturing the reflected heat of the sun. His ambition is to create a kind of slow aviation, in which his balloons circumnavigate the globe on air currents.

"You go through this feeling to then be in freedom." The notorious photographer and bouncer talks about the ethos behind selecting the world's hardest door, early life in East Berlin and Berghain's 20th anniversary. Today's Exchange guest is Berghain's infamous figurehead and doorman Sven Marquardt, who was born and raised in German Democratic Republic (GDR)-era East Berlin. He lived a rebellious life as a queer punk in Prenzlauer Berg, which banned him from entering Berlin's central districts because of how he looked. It was during these years that he congregated with fellow East Berlin new wave kids and began documenting their relationships and his own life through photography. When the wall fell, electronic music and the exciting scene that arose in the DDR's vacuum became Marquardt's focus. He started partying at gay fetish parties and bouncing doors at new clubs alongside his brother. In this interview, he talks to RA Exchange producer Chloe Lula about how Berlin has evolved from his adolescence in the post-war years and his thoughts on the changes erasing institutions in the city's clubbing landscape today. He also reflects on the contemporary nightlife industry and how Berghain's policies have shifted with the times, initially catering to an almost exclusively gay male crowd but now welcoming a demographic more representative of the diversity of people who make up club culture. While German politics and the rise of the right wing have deeply affected him, he says, he recognizes the opportunities it enables for his community to use art and culture as a reactionary, countercultural force. Listen to the episode in full. Photo by Torsten Ingvaldsen.

"You go through this feeling to then be in freedom." The notorious photographer and bouncer talks about the ethos behind selecting the world's hardest door, early life in East Berlin and Berghain's 20th anniversary. Today's Exchange guest is Berghain's infamous figurehead and doorman Sven Marquardt, who was born and raised in German Democratic Republic (GDR)-era East Berlin. He lived a rebellious life as a queer punk in Prenzlauer Berg, which banned him from entering Berlin's central districts because of how he looked. It was during these years that he congregated with fellow East Berlin new wave kids and began documenting their relationships and his own life through photography. When the wall fell, electronic music and the exciting scene that arose in the DDR's vacuum became Marquardt's focus. He started partying at gay fetish parties and bouncing doors at new clubs alongside his brother. In this interview, he talks to RA Exchange producer Chloe Lula about how Berlin has evolved from his adolescence in the post-war years and his thoughts on the changes erasing institutions in the city's clubbing landscape today. He also reflects on the contemporary nightlife industry and how Berghain's policies have shifted with the times, initially catering to an almost exclusively gay male crowd but now welcoming a demographic more representative of the diversity of people who make up club culture. While German politics and the rise of the right wing have deeply affected him, he says, he recognizes the opportunities it enables for his community to use art and culture as a reactionary, countercultural force. Listen to the episode in full. Photo by Torsten Ingvaldsen. Audio overdubs by Marios Gavrilis.

It is day six of our 12 Nightmares Before Christmas, and we are headed to Germany. After World War II, Germany was divided into four Allied occupation zones, with the Soviet Union controlling East Germany and East Berlin, while the United States, France, and the U.K. managed Western Germany and West Berlin. By 1949, Europe had transformed dramatically, symbolized by the creation of two Germanies. Initially, movement between the two regions was unrestricted, but as East Germans fled westward in droves, the border was sealed in 1961, culminating in the Berlin Wall, a defining emblem of the Cold War.  In Plauen, East Germany, young Volker Eckert grew up in a Communist city near the Czech border. As a child, Volker developed a fixation on hair, playing with his sister's dolls and mother's wigs, which sparked sexual fantasies he kept secret. By age 14, his obsession with hair escalated into violence. On May 7, 1974, he strangled his classmate Sylvia Unterdörfel in her home under the pretense of needing help with homework, driven by an uncontrollable urge to feel her hair. Fearing exposure, he killed her and staged her death as a suicide. Sadly, Sylvia would not be his only victim. In fact, there would be many more. Join Jen and Cam of Our True Crime Podcast on this episode entitled ‘The Polaroid Killer: Volker Eckert.'A huge thank you to Sleep Creme for sponsoring this episode. Order your bottle today at sleepcreme.com. Use the code OTCPODCAST at checkout to save twenty bucks on the first order! Thank you to our team:Written and researched by Lauretta AllenListener Discretion by Edward October from Octoberpod AMExecutive Producer Nico Vitesse of The Inky PawprintSources:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8BLkEZ7zk0&ab_channel=Mia%27sRealityChannelhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volker_Eckerthttps://murderpedia.org/male.E/e/eckert-volker.htmhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jun/07/crimehttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/dec/01/germany.gilestremletthttps://web.archive.org/web/20120103001441/http://www.typicallyspanish.com/news/publish/article_11264.shtml#ixzz5TG24bAlwhttps://www.novinite.com/articles/73211/Bulgarian+Victim+of+German+Sex+Killer+was+Pregnanthttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2006/nov/23/germany.gilestremletthttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

When she began her masterpiece The Handmaid's Tale in 1984, Margaret Atwood was living in West Berlin, just a stone's throw away from the Wall to East Berlin, with its omnipresent secret police. The world behind the Iron Curtain clearly influenced her famous future dystopia, in which she set as a rule that she would not include any horrors that humans had not already done in some other place or time in history.On the other side of the Wall, author Jenny Erpenbeck grew up in the east, the German Democratic Republic (DDR), experiencing the country's zenith as well as its disintegration and the victorious capitalist West just a few years later. In her award winning body of work, Erpenbeck has gone on to explore the complex history of Germany and greater Europe, where ordinary citizens become hostages to the grand ideas and ruptures of the times.Both Atwood and Erpenbeck are concerned with totalitarianism, with history and how it informs the present and the future, with our fragile normality, and how quickly it can turn into brutality. While they write lyrical and innovative fiction - incorporating mythology, literature and philosophy - the links to the world around us, either past, present or futures we are headed towards, are always there.Margaret Atwood has published more than 70 books of poetry, short story collections, novels, children's books,and essay collections. Stories like The Handmaid's Tale and the MaddAddam trilogy have made her a name across the world, and a number of her books have been adapted to film, TV, opera and ballet, and, like Erpenbeck, she is regularly mentioned as a favorite for the Nobel prize in literature.Jenny Erpenbeck is the author of a number of critically acclaimed and award winning novels, short story collections, plays and essays. Her latest novel, Kairos, won the 2024 International Booker Prize.In this event, these two exceptional authors met for the first time on stage, for a conversation about history and society, memory and hope for the future. The conversation was moderated by Helge Jordheim, professor of cultural history at the University of Oslo.The conversation took place on November 2st, 2024 in The University of Oslo's Ceremonial Hall. LitHouse is a podcast from the House of Literature in Oslo, presenting adapted versions of lectures and conversations featuring international writers and thinkers. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Wanna have a coffee? Well, I hope you're not an East German in the '70s & '80s, 'cos it's gonna be tough (and taste like wood).On this episode of History Flakes Pip & Jonny dive deep into the lukewarm cup of coffee that is East Germany's struggle to procure the brown stuff for its people. To do that we've enlisted the help of TikTok's own Call Me Steve. If you follow Jonny on various socials you may have bumped into Steve's excellent, deep, engaging, and humorous East German/Cold War content. He takes us on a ride through East Germany's economic woes as we sit and sip our own coffee (Jonny had tea...) in East Berlin's Café Sibylle.++++++Jonny's idea (sorry) to record this in a café was perhaps a little ambitious. Bear with us through some robotoic AI-sounding audio.++++++Want more Steve? You got it:YouTubeTikTokInstagram++++++ToursWant to book Pip & Jonny for tours you can get in touch via the Whitlam's Berlin Tours website.You can follow Jonny online on Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, and more!++++++Donations keep us running. If you like the show and want to support it, you can use the following links:Donate €50 •• Donate €20 •• Donate €10 •• Donate €5++++++SourcesBooksBrewing Socialism: Coffee, East Germans, and Twentieth-Century Globalization by Andrew Kloiber ⁠Communism Unwrapped: Consumption in Cold War Eastern Europe edited by Paulina Bren and Mary Neuburger ⁠Illustrierte Konsumgeschichte der DDR by Annette Kaminsky ⁠The Plans That Failed: An Economic History of the GDR by André SteinerStasi Fileshttps://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/reaktionen-auf-die-versorgungsprobleme-mit-kaffee-1/https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/tendenzen-der-unzufriedenheit-in-der-bevoelkerung-1/https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/tendenzen-der-unzufriedenheit-in-der-bevoelkerung-2/https://www.ddr-im-blick.de/jahrgaenge/jahrgang-1977/report/reaktionen-auf-die-versorgungsprobleme-mit-kaffee-2/

Today is the 35th anniversary of the Berlin Wall and East German border opening in the autumn of 1989. In this riveting episode, I speak with Dietmar Schultke, a member of the Grenztruppen, the East German Border Guards and delve into the life of those responsible for preventing escapes over the Berlin Wall and the East German Border. Dietmar opens up about his life in the GDR, sharing personal stories of his recruitment into the border troops, the rigorous training he endured, and the psychological pressures he faced during his service. Training in Eisenach prepared him for a potential third World War, with exercises in sharpshooting, combat, and gas mask drills. The psychological toll of such training was immense, as soldiers were constantly under surveillance, with one in ten being a Stasi informant. The cultural impact of the time was not lost on Dietmar. He vividly recalls attending a Bruce Springsteen concert in East Berlin, an event that felt like a taste of freedom amidst the oppressive regime. The concert was a beacon of hope, yet, the return to the border was a stark reminder of the barriers that still existed. Episode extras including links and videos here https://coldwarconversations.com/episode373/ Dietmar's web site https://www.dietmar-schultke.de The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation, you will give me the ammunition to continue to preserve Cold War history. You'll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, We also welcome one-off donations via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Love history? Join Intohistory https://intohistory.com/coldwarpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

We've reached No. 90 on our list and it comes with a visit to Kansas via East Berlin as we watch the 2001 punk rock musical comedy ‘Hedwig and the Angry Inch'. The film was written, directed and stars John Cameron Mitchell who had previously played the role on stage. The story follows a rock musician chasing after an ex lover who plagiarised her songs. Full of beautiful music and storytelling join us as we journey through Hedwig's journey in this cult classic!

The Berlin Wall is, for most, one of those historical topics you're aware of, but probably don't know a ton about. Well don't freak out because that's what we're here for. Post WW2 Germany was divided into zones with the U.S., U.K. and "France" taking stewardship of West Germany and the Soviet Union taking East Germany. Now this was right at the start of the Cold War,  East Berlin and West Berlin, which were also divided basically become a 24/7, 365 side by side comparison of Western Capitalism vs. Soviet Communism. Things got pretty bad in East Germany and East Berlin as their neighbors to the West thrived with the influx of western culture and that sweet sweet money. Well eventually J. Stalin got fed up with the embarrassment suffered due to the mass exodus of young talented people from East to West and decided to put a stop to that. How did he do it you ask, well he started building a wall. But it was what was happening on the East side of the wall that's really the story. Support the show

James Stejskal, ex-special forces, tells of the jubilant and vitriolic scenes, as the Berlin Wall came down. November 9th 1989 - the Iron Curtain descends. Hear how it was on the ground, as both ordinary citizens, and global intelligence services, descend on East Berlin, seeking the vast archives of information meticulously gathered over decades by the Stasi. From SPYSCAPE, the HQ of secrets. A Cup And Nuzzle production. Series producer: Joe Foley. Produced by Morgan Childs. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In 2008, Union Berlin played in the third division in German football. They were best known for the extraordinary atmosphere at their unique stadium, the Stadion An der Alten Försterei, which is surrounded by forest in East Berlin. But long term financial challenges for the club meant the stadium was becoming too run down to use. The team was at risk of having to move, until fans volunteered in their thousands to take on the renovation work themselves. Lifelong Union fan Sylvia Weisheit oversaw the project, and she tells her story to Kit Holden. This is a Whistledown production for the BBC World Service.Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive and testimony. Sporting Witness is for those fascinated by sporting history. We take you to the events that have shaped the sports world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes, you become a fan in the stands as we take you back in time to examine memorable victories and agonising defeats from all over the world. You'll hear from people who have achieved sporting immortality, or those who were there as incredible sporting moments unfolded.Recent episodes explore the forgotten football Women's World Cup, the plasterer who fought a boxing legend, international football's biggest ever beating and the man who swam the Amazon river. We look at the lives of some of the most famous F1 drivers, tennis players and athletes as well as people who've had ground-breaking impact in their chosen sporting field, including: the most decorated Paralympian, the woman who was the number 1 squash player in the world for nine years, and the first figure skater to wear a hijab. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the tennis player who escaped the Nazis, how a man finally beat a horse in a race, and how the FIFA computer game was created.(Photo: A supporter cements stairs during renovation work at Union Berlin's stadium. Credit: John MacDougall / AFP via Getty Images)

This episode explores Bridge of Spies (2015), the Cold War legal and political thriller directed by Steven Spielberg (and written by Matt Charman, Ethan Coen, and Joel Coen). The film is based on the true story of American attorney James Donovan, who is assigned to represent Soviet spy Rudolf Abel after Abel is arrested in New York and prosecuted for espionage. The story takes a turn when American pilot Francis Gary Powers is captured by the Russians after his plane is shot down over the Soviet Union while conducting a surveillance mission. Donovan is then tasked with negotiating a high-stakes prisoner exchange—Abel for Powers—that culminates in a climactic scene on the Glienicke Bridge connecting Potsdam with Soviet-controlled East Berlin. The film is not only highly entertaining; it also provides a window into important legal issues around national security, criminal, and immigration law that still resonate today. Joining me to talk about Bridge of Spies are Lenni Benson, Distinguished Chair in Immigration and Human Rights Law at New York Law School, one of the nation's foremost authorities immigration law and a prominent advocate in the field, and Jeffrey Kahn, University Distinguished Professor at SMU Dedman School of Law, a leading scholar on constitutional and counterterrorism law, an expert on Russian law, and the author of a must-read article on the Abel case, published in the Journal of National Security Law and Policy. Timestamps: 0:00   Introduction2:19     Who were Rudolf Abel & James Donovan6:08    Cold War tensions and anxieties9:09    American justice on trial12:12    Misusing immigration law18:18    Abel's arrest and the legal issues in the case24:40  Abel's disappearance and coercive interrogation      30:23  A history of anti-communist hysteria 33:06 Cherry-picking from legal categories to avoid constitutional guarantees42:16  A frightening time for noncitizens engaged in political activity48:22  A foreshadowing of government abuses after 9/1153:55  A questionable citation to Yick Wo v. Hopkins59:17   The vast system of immigration detention105:24 Behind the Iron Curtain115:14  An ex parte conversation with the judge119:16  The aftermath for Abel, Donovan, and Francis Gary Powers123:31  The absence of women in important positions Further reading:Arthey, Vin, Like Father, Like Son: A Dynasty of Spies (2004)“‘Bridge of Spies': The True Story is Even Stranger Than Fiction,” ProPublica (Feb. 24, 2016)Donovan, James B., Strangers on a Bridge: The Case of Colonel Abel and Francis Gary Powers (1964)Epps, Garrett, “The Real Court Case Behind Bridge of Spies,” The Atlantic (Nov. 17. 2015)Kahn, Jeffrey D., “The Case of Colonel Abel,” 5 J. Nat'l Sec. L. & Pol'y 263 (2011)Sragow, Michael, “Deep Focus: ‘Bridge of Spies,'” Film Comment (Oct. 14, 2015)  Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember. For more information about Jonathan, here's a link to his bio: https://law.shu.edu/profiles/hafetzjo.htmlYou can contact him at jonathanhafetz@gmail.comYou can follow him on X (Twitter) @jonathanhafetz You can follow the podcast on X (Twitter) @LawOnFilmYou can follow the podcast on Instagram @lawonfilmpodcast

“I had a friend who read an early version of the book, and she just said, well, I mean, it's a bit far fetched though, isn't it? And I was like, no, no, no, this did happen.” ~Josie Ferguson Being separated from a loved one, never sure when you might be reunited again - a familiar feeling for many of us, having lived through the COVID lockdowns. But for Berlin residents alive in 1961, when the Berlin Wall was put up almost overnight, this happened on a devastating scale. Josie Ferguson is the debut novelist of The Silence in Between, a dual-timeline historical story that follows Lisette, a mother separated from her newborn baby when the wall slices the city in two. The book follows her journey to escape East Berlin to be reunited with her child - but it also takes us back to Lisette's childhood, during World War 2. Josie explores the genesis of the book - her experience of being separated from her own family during covid, shortly after the birth of her child. She explores the connection between the atrocities of World War 2 and Russia's war on Ukraine that still rages on. And she explores the long road as an unpublished author that led her to this moment. In this episode you will learn: How familiar events of the past still have new stories to tell  Why it is vital we continue to write about the tragedies of wartime Why determination in the face of failure is essential as a writer Find out more about Josie here. Your host is inkjockey founder Mark Heywood. Behind The Spine is an inkjockey production, and the audio accompaniment to The Writing Salon. Sign up to the newsletter here. You can buy copies of our anthology series here.  You can view the full transcript here. Connect with the show: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/behindthespinepodcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BehindTheSpine Twitter: https://twitter.com/BehindTheSpine Website: www.behindthespine.co.uk

Juli begins by recounting her early years in East Berlin, a time marked by the tragic loss of her father. Drafted into the army just days before her birth, her father continually deserted to see his family, ultimately leading to his untimely death. This early loss left Juli and her mother to navigate a harsh landscape in East Germany alone. Life in East Berlin was a world of contrasts. Juli describes the indoctrination she experienced in school, where lessons were steeped in socialist propaganda. The Berlin Wall, a symbol of division and oppression, loomed large in her family's life, cutting them off from relatives in the West. Despite the regime's efforts to control information, Juli's family found ways to glimpse the outside world through Western television channels, fuelling her desire for freedom. As Juli grew older, she became increasingly aware of the regime's lies and the oppressive nature of the state. The revolutionary movements of the late 1980s, sparked by events like the Tiananmen Square massacre, galvanized her. Juli joined the Monday demonstrations in Leipzig, risking her safety to demand change. Juli's story doesn't end with the fall of the Wall. She moved to Ireland, where she built a new life and family. Her reflections on transitioning from a controlled, oppressive state to a free society are profound. She speaks candidly about the challenges of adapting to a new way of life and the lingering impact of her upbringing. East Germany episode playlist https://open.spotify.com/playlist/1gHCa6R8q5OXkUncJQmyFm?si=9cc56794cf7244bc Episode extras https://coldwarconversations.com/episode363/ The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation, you will give me the ammunition to continue to preserve Cold War history. You'll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, We also welcome one-off donations via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Love history? Join Intohistory https://intohistory.com/coldwarpod Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Mark Milde, the race director of the BMW Berlin Marathon joins Set the Pace to talk about what it's like to race 26.2 miles through one of Germany's most storied cities. With the marathon celebrating its 50th anniversary this year, Mark has a lifetime of experience when it comes to this race because his father, Horst Milde, founded the race in 1974. This year will have a celebratory feel with lots of music along the course and a special exhibition at the Brandenburg Gate showcasing the history of the race. The past 50 years has seen dramatic change in Berlin, most notably, the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 that had divided the city. Mark's father, along with other race organizers, rerouted the course from being run entirely in West Berlin to entering parts of East Berlin, yet still maintaining the fast and flat course that it's known for.Then, the great Meb Keflezighi will be here with NYRR member and seasoned marathoner Paola Marte, and today's Meb Minute which focuses on week 7 of training for the TCS New York City Marathon.FOLLOW NYRR: Instagram | Facebook | X | TikTokSUPPORT: Support the Set the Pace podcast! If you enjoy the show, please subscribe and leave a rating and review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.DISCLAIMERSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Perhaps best known for his accomplishments on the field, at its core, Coach Troy Calhoun's work is about building athletes in to leaders of character.----more---- SUMMARY In this conversation, Coach Troy Calhoun discusses his journey from childhood to becoming the head football coach of the Air Force Falcons. He talks about his upbringing in a family of service and the influence of his parents. Coach Calhoun shares his experiences as a cadet at the Air Force Academy and the lessons he learned in leadership. He also discusses the intersections of athletics and academics and the importance of patience in navigating the highs and lows of life. In this conversation, Coach Troy Calhoun discusses the importance of resilience, patience, and delayed gratification in the pursuit of success. He emphasizes the need to slow down and assess challenges, rather than seeking instant affirmation. Coach Calhoun shares examples of cadets who have shown tremendous growth and success after facing initial difficulties. He also highlights the importance of instilling values and standards in his players, both on and off the field. Coach Calhoun discusses his philosophy on leadership, which includes being right alongside his people, knowing his craft well, and creating an environment where ideas and perspectives are valued. He also emphasizes the significance of believing in and supporting others. Outside of football, Coach Calhoun enjoys spending time with his family, learning, and maintaining a balance in life. He concludes by emphasizing the importance of passion, involvement with people, and the development of others in leadership.   OUR FAVORITE QUOTES "Coach Calhoun can easily be considered a game changer and trailblazer shaping the world of sports, leadership and beyond." "You gotta go serve the people." "The discipline, the attention to detail, and the unselfishness for what was required and demanded in terms of teamwork." "If you push forward when you come out the other side, just the additional strength, the confidence." "Maybe you can share a story? And what I'm thinking about is when you talk about patience and affirmation showing in an outcome that is later on." "You know, I think it is more difficult than ever for a teenager, for all human beings."   SHARE THIS EPISODE FACEBOOK  |  TWITTER  |   LINKEDIN   CHAPTERS 00:00 Introduction and Background 01:50 Childhood and Upbringing 04:25 Discovering the Air Force Academy 05:22 Life as a Cadet 09:00 Leadership and Mentorship 10:27 Intersections of Athletics and Academics 13:23 Lessons in Leadership 16:06 Navigating Challenges and Growth 19:43 Transition to Coaching 22:54 Coaching and Leadership 23:23 Values and Character Development 25:46 The Power of Resilience and Patience 30:08 Instilling Values and Standards for Success 31:59 The Philosophy of Leadership 35:18 Believing in and Supporting Others 42:30 Finding Balance and Pursuing Personal Interests 49:34 Passion and Involvement in Leadership 51:59 The Reward of Developing Others   TAKEAWAYS Coach Calhoun's upbringing in a family of service shaped his values and commitment to leadership. His experiences as a cadet at the Air Force Academy taught him the importance of discipline, time management, and teamwork. Coach Calhoun emphasizes the value of mentorship and the impact it can have on young people. The intersections of athletics and academics provide opportunities for personal growth and leadership development. Navigating the highs and lows of life requires patience and a willingness to learn and grow. Resilience and patience are key qualities for success in any endeavor. Delayed gratification can lead to greater strength and confidence. Instilling values and standards is important for personal and professional development. Leadership involves being involved with and supporting your people. Believing in and supporting others can help them achieve more than they thought possible. Maintaining a balance in life and pursuing personal interests is important for overall well-being. Passion and involvement with people are essential in leadership. Developing others and helping them grow is a rewarding aspect of leadership.   ABOUT COACH CALHOUN BIO Air Force Academy Head Football Coach Troy Calhoun graduated USAFA with the class of ‘89.   Coach Calhoun can easily be considered a game-changer and trailblazer, shaping the world of sports, leadership and beyond.  He is the very dynamic head coach of the Air Force Falcons football team. Known for his innovative approach and unwavering commitment, Coach Calhoun has led the Falcons through remarkable seasons, transforming them into a formidable force in college football and as warfighters. With a career that spans over a decade at Air Force Academy, Coach Calhoun has earned a reputation for building resilient teams and cultivating emerging leaders using a blend of discipline and inspiration.  We'll walk through his journey from his days as a child, to becoming a cadet, then on to coaching and the challenges and triumphs he's experienced in and out of sports. We'll explore his unique strategies, his philosophy on leading and what it takes to succeed at the highest levels of leadership. He is among the most recognizable and respected figures in football.  - Image credit:  Ryan Hall, USAFA AOG   CONNECT WITH COACH CALHOUN RADIO SHOW  |  AIR FORCE FOOTBALL  |  FULL BIO     ABOUT LONG BLUE LEADERSHIP Long Blue Leadership drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on Apple Podcasts, TuneIn + Alexa, Spotify and all your favorite podcast platforms. Search @AirForceGrads on your favorite social channels for Long Blue Leadership news and updates!          TRANSCRIPT OUR SPEAKERS Guest:  Coach Troy Calhoun '89  |  Host:  t. Col. (Ret.) Naviere Walkewicz '99 Navier Walkewicz My guest today is Air Force Academy head football coach Troy Calhoun, USAFA Class of '89. Coach Calhoun can easily be considered a game changer and trailblazer, shaping the world of sports, leadership and beyond. He is the very dynamic head coach of the Air Force Falcons football team and a 2023 recipient of the Association of Graduates' Leadership Achievement Award. Known for his innovative approach and unwavering commitment, Coach Calhoun has led the Falcons through remarkable seasons, transforming them into a formidable force in college football and as warfighters. With a career that spans over a decade at the Air Force Academy, Coach Calhoun has earned a reputation for building resilient teams and cultivating emerging leaders using a blend of discipline and inspiration. We'll walk through his journey from his days as a child to becoming a cadet, then on to coaching and the challenges and triumphs he's experienced in and out of sports. We'll explore his unique strategies, his philosophy on leadership and what it takes to succeed at the highest levels. This promises to be an insightful and engaging conversation with one of the most respected figures in football and leadership. Coach Calhoun, welcome to Long Blue Leadership. Coach Calhoun Well, thank you, Naviere, and what an honor it is to be a part of your show. Naviere Walkewicz Well, this is an honor for us, and I think what our listeners really appreciate about each of our guests is they kind of know a little bit about them, but once they start to learn about your paths and your journey, I think they really find ways to connect with you. So we hope that this will continue that trend so that they feel just as connected to Coach Calhoun as we do. Coach Calhoun We sure hope so. So let's kick it off, right?   Naviere Walkewicz Yes, let's do it. So, Coach, the way we like to start, we like to roll back the dial, we go back to when you were a child. What were you like as a child? Where'd you grow up? Coach Calhoun You know, I grew up in southern Oregon. Ironically, we settled in a town, it was a lumber town, which at that time was very labor-intensive. My dad was a high school teacher and a high school coach. My mom raised the kids and as soon as the kids started grade school — myself and my younger sister — she went and got a two-year nursing degree and then worked as an emergency room nurse. Naviere Walkewicz Wow, so you guys have a just a family of service. Coach Calhoun That's exactly it. I can't tell you how many times I heard my mom say, “You know —" we'd ask mom, “Hey mom, don't you know it's a holiday, it's Thanksgiving, it's, you know, you don't have to go to work today.” And she said, “No, you gotta go serve the people.” The way that resonates now when you look back and to have that kind of figure that way was very inspirational, still is. Naviere Walkewicz That's wonderful. And I can imagine that. So what were some of the experiences like in the Calhoun household when you were a child? Coach Calhoun You know, my dad, obviously being a coach, goodness, he knew so much about every sport, whether it was basketball or baseball. So myself and my younger sister, we both played all kinds of sports. It was year round. It was wiffle ball in our front yard, or it was, we learned how to pole vault at a really young age, which was hard to do. We had a little paved cement area and we had a basket on each end. So we were always playing 2-on-2 or 3-on-3 basketball. Naviere Walkewicz So who would win, your sister or you? Coach Calhoun She'd tell you she always won, but it was just an unbelievable upbringing that way. Naviere Walkewicz My goodness. So you're in sports, no one in your family was  serving in the military though, so how did that even touch your family? Coach Calhoun You know, great question. My mother had three brothers. This was in the early '60s. They were around 20, 22 years old and each enlisted: one in the Marines, one in the Navy and one in the Army. So we really thought, well, that's about the extent of it. And at the beginning of my senior year high school, I got a call from the Air Force Academy, one of the football coaches, who shared a little bit about the Academy. And I really, to be candid, I had no idea. I really didn't. And so my mom goes into work the next morning and asked one of the ER docs, who was also in the Reserves, and said, “Hey, there's this place called the Air Force Academy that called Troy last night, but I really would like for him to go somewhere where he can get an education. Do you know anything about the place?” And immediately one of the docs said, “Joan, if he has that opportunity, you have to make him go.” And she took it literally to heart. And ironically, two years later, my sister also came to the Air Force Academy too. Naviere Walkewicz Wow. truly connected. So let's talk about that. So your mom kind of helped facilitate that encouragement. What did that look like? So you came out here, what was that experience like? Coach Calhoun You know the very first day I arrived here was the first day of basic training, which is not the way to do it. Naviere Walkewicz You knew you were coming for football, but you had not been here yet. Coach Calhoun I had not because I played three sports in high school. I played football… Naviere Walkewicz Then you went right into basketball, then you went right into baseball… Coach Calhoun In the summers, it was all three. It was baseball in the evenings playing games. You'd have football workouts in the afternoon, and I ran the YMCA basketball camp in the morning for younger kids. So, yeah, Day 1 of arrival here was July 5, the morning of July 5, 1985. The first four days, I'm just telling you, I thought, “No way. How do I get out of here?” And I just vividly recall whether you're brushing your teeth or shaving thinking, “There's no way.” And then I got to thinking, you know, “Your mom's an ER nurse in an area where there are lot of significant accidents,” because it was the lumber industry, whether it was, you know, trees falling, accidents at the mill. I mean, just all kinds of different things. And I remember once in a while she'd come home, I thought, “Goodness, she had a real game that day. It's not one of those where the ball bounces one way or the other. And there's no way you can call home and say, no, this isn't for me.” Naviere Walkewicz So that makes sense. You develop that deep resilience you saw from your mom. So I want to talk, before we go into the Academy, let's talk about — you had that great family, it was shown to you as embodied through your mom, your dad, and obviously you and your sister. Were there any other leaders that inspired you? Your own coaches as well, or just teachers? Coach Calhoun Yeah, absolutely. I was blessed to have some really, really outstanding teachers. I don't know why. Math was always a strength, which I think helps while you're here at the Academy, they jump you right into calculus and then Calc 2 and then later on it's Aero and it's Astro. But the other part was to have teachers that taught you the value of history, you know, to understand yesterday. And we're always living to make the most of the present in the moment and what kind of vision we can put forth for the future. But to learn from some of the mistakes in the past, to learn from the good things in the past, just to know where that can be applied as we move forward too. And my high school football coach was incredibly influential. He ran an incredible program where not only did they win a lot, but more importantly than the result were the standards, the discipline, and more than anything else, just the attention to detail and the unselfishness for what was required and he demanded in terms of the teamwork. Naviere Walkewicz So you actually were living the life of a cadet as a high school football player. Coach Calhoun I tease people about this when I'm asked back home once in a while and I say, you know, all those times you were lining up just getting through the first 10 minutes of practice — which was stretching where you couldn't put your toes on the line, they had to be just behind it — I said, “After playing for Coach Thurman Bell in high school, basic training wasn't all that hard.” So, absolutely I do. Naviere Walkewicz I love that. OK, so the Academy recruited you for football, you showed up and you made it through basic training. So, let's talk a little bit about your life as a cadet, because I think we appreciate this about our athletes. We've had a chance to talk with Karl Falk, who was also on the team. I think what's interesting is there's more to the cadet life than just one facet. And so while I think athletics is a huge part of it, what were you like as a cadet? What were some of your experiences? Coach Calhoun You know, I actually did really well on the MPA part of it. I think the academic end took me a little bit of time, to be frank. Now I end up making the Dean's List towards the end of my time here at the Academy a few times. And yet you learn the value of time management. We're all blessed with the ability to make good choices, to be disciplined, to work hard. We all have that talent. And I think that's a key part of moving forward to coaching. You realize how important that is to share with young people. Yeah, that's in there, now we gotta tap into it. And certainly here at the Academy, it's just invaluable, all those intrinsic qualities that I think come to the surface. And I certainly felt that way, in a good number of facets were just how transformational it was for you as a human being. Naviere Walkewicz Some of our listeners are early in their leadership journeys and so I think there is a period of time where maybe there's more peer leadership. Can you share some examples when you're a cadet, what did that look like to you and where did you maybe struggle or soar? Coach Calhoun I'll say this, during the four-degree year I was fortunate enough to be with the older guys and to travel a good bit and so you naturally looked up to some of those juniors and seniors and those older players, and the older cadets too. I think the part that was so — it made such an imprint while you were here was really the strong interest that older students took, in this case older cadets, their first year, two-degree year, they're juniors or seniors in college, but how committed they were to younger grades, because, candidly, you rarely experience that maybe when you're in high school or even on other teams. Boy, I just, I thought that's so incredible where the older guys want to help the younger guys on your team or the older cadets truly do — the way they're invested and how much they care about the younger generation. Naviere Walkewicz Was there one in particular that kind of took you under his wing that there's something that you carry with you now in the way that you lead? Coach Calhoun I had so many, you know, they were teachers. I think that was the other part that was absolutely awesome. I think we both felt this at times, maybe in different ways. The commitment of our faculty here at the Academy, you know, to be able to go get extra instruction. You complete a quiz and maybe you didn't do real well on that quiz and the instructor comes to you and says, “Hey, let's find a time where we can get together,” and I think we know how unique that is in higher-level education in this day and age because there are a good number of universities where the classroom size may have 250 or 300 students, or there may be a teaching assistant or a graduate assistant, but here the expertise and truly the commitment to the cadets, it just made it even more inspiring to say, “All right, I want to be a good student while I'm here.” Naviere Walkewicz You actually are seen and felt in the classrooms here for sure. So you saw some of your upperclassmen really kind of pouring into you. How did that translate in your leadership as a cadet, either on the field or off? Coach Calhoun No doubt. I think not only, you know, while you're young person growing up, whether it's in your home, playing sports or you're working in a job or you're in your squadron during your time in Vandenberg or  Sijan, you see so many different ways to lead or to have impact. A lot of good and honestly, there are some times where you say, “No that might not be the most effective way to reach and to encourage and to mentor somebody,” and I try like crazy to learn from everybody, you know, because no matter what the encounter is or the experience, maybe let's pull from it. Naviere Walkewicz Is there anything from when you were a cadet that you carry now with you as a coach and leader? Coach Calhoun Yeah, an immense amount. I think more than anything else, you have to do everything you possibly can and it's no way can you put yourself in the soles of each person, but to realize that every human being is a unique individual. Are we trying to build teams? Absolutely. But we're trying to bring the most to tap into those talents of each person and to do everything we can to help them sprout. Naviere Walkewicz I think I can share firsthand with our listeners: I've had the great honor of listening to you introduce your team, introduce your coaches and I think what's so impressive about you is it's beyond just their name and maybe some of their stats, but you know them as people and you know them as how they are in their families. And I think that translates really, really well to all those pieces you just spoke to. Coach Calhoun Well, I appreciate it. I'll tell you this: I want to know them as deeply as you possibly can. I think in order to be the most effective for our team's sake, again, it's got to be person by person. And I truly believe in this day and age, it's easier to reach a young person than it's ever been. Not everybody would agree with that. And I say that from the standpoint — we all do, we spend so much time looking at a monitor or a phone or, you know, that whenever we have real human interaction and their sincerity, you know, there's a genuine feeling where this person's trying to help me grow as a leader, grow as a person, do a little better academically and realize the value of education or help me develop as a better football player too. Naviere Walkewicz Just to dig into that a little bit more, I think part of leadership is being able to have conversations that help people grow. Sometimes that's, “Hey, this is a good fit for you, this is not a good fit for you.” When you were a cadet, how did you navigate some of those conversations that's translated over time? Because I know a lot of our listeners feel like that's one of the biggest challenges in leadership. It's great when things are great, but when things aren't, how do we navigate that? Coach Calhoun Well, honesty. If you provide me, it may be critical, but I know you're doing it to help correct or to improve, you got me. I think the other part is to have a forever appetite and thirst to learn and to grow. And I think when that's really your heart, your mindset, that you're completely open to understand and various viewpoints that will help you do exactly that. Naviere Walkewicz I think that's powerful for people to really intake because, especially when it's coming from a place of care, and I think that's what we're in the business of and being open to feedback is really critical for leadership. So I'd like to transfer to when you graduated from — well actually before we do that, your sister was here. How were you as a cadet supporter of her? Coach Calhoun You know she had an amazing four years here at the Air Force Academy. She graduated No. 1 in her major academically, was a 10-time All-American distance runner in track and cross country, won six NCAA championships as a runner. Her senior year she was the NCAA champion in cross country and then won five other national championships in indoor and outdoor track. You know, she teases her brother a little bit. “So,” she says, you know, “you must suffer from big brother syndrome or older brother syndrome.” I say, “Cool it, young lady.” But, you know, she made the utmost of the cadet, the Academy experience. And truly I, boy, in so many ways, I looked up to my younger sister and I still do. Naviere Walkewicz Well, I understand why you chose baseball. So let's talk about when you graduated. What were the early years of post-graduation like for you? Coach Calhoun Yeah, I stayed for one year here at the Academy as a graduate assistant football coach and also taught a PE class. I'm thinking initially, “This will be kind of neat. You'll let down a little bit after you've been at the Academy.” But it was an awesome leadership experience. You know, the mentorship, the interaction, especially with the new cadets or new basics going through basic training, during that four-degree year being able to help them plan their schedule academically or teach them how if they have better footwork for this particular call they'll execute a play a little bit better or just interacting with them as people. My goodness, you realize, I mean just the various backgrounds, the interests, maybe the motivational levels too because that's real, the different strengths in terms of skills and talents — that was where you realized, my goodness, as a leader, as a coach in this case, how helpful you can be. Naviere Walkewicz Is that when the seeds were planted for you that you knew you wanted to coach golf and football down the road? Coach Calhoun You know, that wasn't the plan, it really wasn't. In fact, I really wanted to go to pilot training. Naviere Walkewicz So after that first year, what happened? Coach Calhoun Well, you have your physical late in your junior year, it was March of your two-degree year. And at that time, they said there's a little bit of distance concern. And we didn't have LASIK or PRK, you know? And so you end up taking a little different path naturally. Naviere Walkewicz So after you did the year here kind of teaching and also supporting the team, what did you do? Coach Calhoun I worked in management information systems in the Air Force and specifically it was a program where if the president, the commander-in-chief, had to send an EAM literally from one of the legs of the triad to launch, is it a real message? Can you authenticate the message? And is it dual key where it's truly two people that say, “Yep, it's a go?” Trying to recreate some of the roles and the intensity of what that situation may be and being able to get to execution and just to see it in so many fascinating ways because you saw it at the field level, with longer range missiles, the ICBMs, being able to interact with that community, to interact with a contractor for software for hardware, just every facet of it that way — you had an awful lot on your plate in terms of managerial leadership responsibility. Naviere Walkewicz Right off the bat, I'm familiar with that — I'm actually retired strategic command so, yes, everything you just shared is definitely important. So you did that, and then what happened? Coach Calhoun You know, I got a call when I was a first lieutenant from the Academy that said, “We'd like for you to come back.” So I came back for what would have been years five and six, my first two years as a captain here to the Air Force Academy and coached during those two years and recruited during those two years. One of the assistants on the staff, Jim Grobe, became the coach at Ohio University. He asked a few of us that were here at the Academy — It was Brian Knorr, was Billy Mitchell, it was... And then he went and asked Tim DeRuyter, who was a 1985 graduate of the Academy, if we wanted to join him at Ohio University. And that's exactly what we did. Naviere Walkewicz So you started your team there, and now we see a lot of that team has been part of this Falcon family as well. Coach Calhoun Absolutely, you know, and I think, you know, you just kind of knew immediately so much of what we leaned on initially were the lessons that we learned while we're here at the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz Can I pull on that thread a little bit? You're here as a captain, you're coaching. Let's talk about the intersections of athletics and academics because I think that's really important for our listeners just to understand, how you said earlier, those leadership skills translate. Can you talk a little bit more about that — what you saw in the cadets from your perspective as a coach? Coach Calhoun Well, I think I think there are so many different reasons why cadets come to the Academy. There are a good number of them that are either second-generational, second-generation or multi-generational in terms of military families. We probably, I know we do, we have many that are first-generational as far as being the reason why they chose to come to the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz Like you. Coach Calhoun Yeah. And yet what's neat is the rewarding part of it, whether it's seven years later or 15 years later, being able to see how many of them have absolutely thrived once they go on to active duty or even beyond in the civilian sector too. Just, boy, I mean, it's a process. It truly is. If everybody was ready on Day 1, we wouldn't need a United States Air Force Academy. We'd commission them right away. But during those four years, 47 months, the ups and the downs, so many different mistakes that are made, but to learn and to grow from those mistakes, I don't think we can ever take for granted. There's a reason why from really initially, the very first week, there's so many things that are spelled out in terms of our values. When it comes to respect for each human being, the work ethic, always give a third effort, the resiliency and the grit part of it, that really — that's what we want them to internalize in terms of the fortitude and the character. And then we go on to the other skills when they're here a little bit longer at the Academy. Naviere Walkewicz So some of our listeners love when there's shared ways of how they can navigate. You talked about some of those highs and lows. And I'm sure that happens in life, right? Not just on the field, but also academically and all of the different facets of life. So what would be just something you would share with a leader that's helping someone navigate through the highs and lows that's kind of cyclical? Coach Calhoun Yeah, I think more than anything else is to be patient, which kind of works a little bit… while you're here at the Academy initially. So much of it is creating an instant impulse or the instant drive rather than saying, “No. We're working with human beings here.” There are going to be some bumps and some struggles and some adversity, but let's help them realize that what may look like a real challenge, and it is a real challenge, or a real time of difficulty, if you push forward when you come out the other side, just the additional strength, the confidence, the forever resiliency that hopefully has become internalized. Naviere Walkewicz I love that. Teach a little bit of patience because I think in a society that is running so fast, everything is instantaneous, to teach our cadets, our future leaders, et cetera, to slow down and really kind of assess. Is that what you mean? Coach Calhoun Absolutely. And you hit the nail on the head. In this day and age, how quickly we can get anything, we think we're getting so much instant affirmation. That somebody re-liked or re-tweeted something that I said. You know, we think that's real affirmation. Or maybe that's not the case in terms of it really being best in terms of our well-being. Naviere Walkewicz So maybe can you share a story? And what I'm thinking about is when you talk about patience and affirmation showing in an outcome later on, maybe talk through, has that been someone that you've seen come through your program that maybe you thought was, “I don't know,” and then on the other end, you're just, “Wow!”? Coach Calhoun I have many, many examples. The reason why, you know, it's so many other — comparatively speaking, a college football program, how many are bringing a guy in, they're saying in Week 1 in June. In fact, I'll back up. Instead of  finishing high school in spring semester your senior year, we're going to bring you in in January so you can get going to classes, you can go through spring practices. That way, maybe we have you ready in the fall to be able to play right away. Where here, it's a different approach, you know? No, when you first get here, you're gonna start basic training and you're gonna go through five and a half weeks. We get you one tremendous haircut. No, you're not gonna have your phone or really any interaction with any kind of outside source, whether it's media, whether it's any kind of personal interaction unless you handwrite a letter, you got a pen right there and now exactly where to put the stamp on the top right hand part of the envelope. And so the foundation that you see here, probably specifically to the football part of it, it takes a little longer because there is that basic training prior to the freshman year or four-degree year. There is the first three weeks of June are going through CST or what used to be SERE, you know, prior to the three-degree year. And so football-wise, a lot of times maybe you don't see the real capability of that person until their two-degree year. And so the lessons that you have to share, I think especially with four-degree players is that, hey, it takes time, but you can cite so many examples of guys that didn't play a snap their freshman year, maybe only played in three games their three-degree or sophomore year. And whoa, PJ Ramsey has seen years as a First-Team All-Conference player. But why? You go back, incredibly hard worker, sharp, cared about other people and was incredibly committed to whatever his craft was at that time, whether it was school during the academic time, being a good cadet, or certainly when it came to football during those times, whether it was in the weight room, meeting rooms, just the commitment that way. Naviere Walkewicz Yes, that's a great example. How do you instill in your players the importance of those same standards off the field? Coach Calhoun You know, I think it is more difficult than ever for a teenager, for all human beings. And, you know, the amount of distractions that are present for all of us, you know, there's a lot more items happening on Facebook. There's a lot more media. There's a lot more judgment. To have the discipline to be able to put that aside at times, boy, that can become a strength for you later in life if you do develop that. There are times where you have to turn your phone off. I think the other part is you don't take for granted that everybody understands the values that maybe our team is — each team member is going to be committed to as a part of our program. I think you have to be very clear in terms of what those standards are, how you treat people. We're here to get an education. We're going to be completely committed to help you develop as a football player. But most importantly, when you're done playing football, whether that's at age 19, 22 or 32, we want to put you in a position where you can do tremendous work, whether it's in our Air Force or our Space Force. You can be a really strong contributing member of our community or whatever community in which you live. And to be a quality member of your family, whatever that may be in your personal life too. Naviere Walkewicz So you talked about some of those standards that you expect from the team. Can we shift a little bit to some of your philosophy on leadership that you've developed over the years, right? I'm sure that it's continued to evolve. You mentioned that you're learning all the time. What are some of those things? Coach Calhoun I'll say this. I think you have to be right alongside your people. Goodness, maybe 125 years ago during the Industrial Revolution, everything could be top down and dictated and say you have to be here from 7 to 3, you're working that shift or you have the late night shift from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m. That's not where you're going to get the most out of people and certainly not where they're going to develop the most either. I think you have to know your craft incredibly well. Even the nuances, certainly strategically there has to be a vision, but even tactically, you know, they know if you know your stuff and, again, I just can't say enough about getting to know each individual human being too. Naviere Walkewicz How do you lead your staff so that they carry that same level of care — the cadets and the team members? Coach Calhoun Yeah, awesome question. You know, I think first of all, during the hiring process is making it quite clear in terms of every place has challenges or obstacles. Certainly if you come to the Air Force Academy and you coach football, you're a recruiter for the United States Air Force Academy, the admission standards. We're looking for somebody that's an exceptionally strong student, has a good bit of aptitude leadership-wise. And the other part of it is, yeah, there are some things that are involved here in terms of conduct, in terms of personal choices. And yes, you are going to serve because often, with a good number of the 17-year-olds with whom we interact initially they don't know that. Naviere Walkewicz That's right. So how do you communicate the values and the standards so that it does kind of reach them? Coach Calhoun Well, I think more than anything else, again, I think you have to be as much as you possibly can involved in the inner workings of how the day to day goes. And I don't think you can be distant. I don't think you can say, “Well, it's a little bit of the CEO mindset,” or, “I'll just tell people what to do.” That doesn't work real well in this day and age, especially. People want to know why. They want to know the logic behind a good number of the choices or decisions that we make for our program. I think deep down they appreciate that. I think you tend to get a little more buy-in when that's the case. And the other part, quite frankly, is trying to create an environment — not everybody feels comfortable this way, but where they will bring thoughts and ideas to you, the cadets do. And realizing that's embraced, because they have some pretty unique perspectives or adjustments. I mean, you're forever going to evolve and adapt. And that's a must, I think, in any environment, really in any industry in this day and age too. Naviere Walkewicz I mean, leadership is 360, right? Up, down, sideways. Can you share something that you learned in leadership from a cadet? Coach Calhoun Well, a bunch. I mean, the number of things they bring us. I remember one year we were playing at Army. This was in 2008. And it was a 12 o'clock Eastern kickoff, which is 10 o'clock Mountain. And so we left on Friday. We really didn't get any rest at all on Friday afternoon. And our meetings were a little bit hurried on Friday evening. And a couple of the junior cadets after the season came up and said, “Coach, would there be any way we could maybe leave on Thursday evening after practice, so we had all day Friday to carry forth on a regular schedule like we usually are accustomed to the 24 hours leading up to the game?” I was like, “You're on it. Let me go see what we can get done.” And it did not compromise in terms of more missed classes. They were better rested and they played better as a result. And so I think more than anything else is do everything you can again to make people feel welcome to bring different perspectives, especially when it makes our team better. Naviere Walkewicz Absolutely, that's a great example. Our listeners are always looking for, “I might not be the most seasoned leader. I might not be charge so I don't feel like I have a voice.” It sounds like what you're sharing is good leaders, make it an open field for feedback. Coach Calhoun Absolutely. I think more than ever how important that is. There are so many different viewpoints and perspectives. Like I share with the guys all the time, you know, I try to meet with the seniors frequently and just say, “Don't assume that I know,” you know — if there's not hot water in the showers and we aren't practicing good hygiene, boy, that's going to affect maybe having more viruses. Something that simple, you gotta bring it to me. Naviere Walkewicz That's wonderful so you make that open — that communication is key. Wow, this has been really incredible. Maybe tell some of our listeners, because I think a lot of times people will assume, well, this is what they do, this is all they do. What are some of the things that you enjoy outside of football? Coach Calhoun I think being with your family, trying to soak in as much of an imprint, to be with your own. I have kids. You know, that time and how much you learn from your own son and daughter. I've been beyond fortunate to have an incredible co-pilot with Amanda, just how bright she is, how caring she is, how perceptive, how much she's helped me coach, might not necessarily be X's and O's, but just when it comes to, you know, maybe how people are doing. And then the other part is I think the level of fitness, you know, to be committed that way. Naviere Walkewicz Is physical fitness a part of it? Coach Calhoun It is. trying to create some balance and perspective. You've got to carve out a little time, even in the heat of the season, you know, where that's the case. Naviere Walkewicz How do you do that? Coach Calhoun And well, I think you got to read. That's one way, you know, for many, and it is for us. Is there a spiritual balance there? There is. I think the other part of it is still trying to engage with people, because they bring you so many ideas and thoughts that may not be necessarily that are in our working field, but certainly we can carry over. Is it a new use of a technology? Is it a different way to look at nutrition? Just because of how important that is. And so I love learning. I think there are so many awesome examples that way. We went on a trip for 15 days here in early June, Amanda and I did, and we tried to digest as much World War II, Cold War, Holocaust and Europe. And it was just astounding how much we were able to learn during that journey. Naviere Walkewicz What did you take from that? Coach Calhoun Well, we were in Berlin. We spent two nights there in East Berlin — what was East Berlin. You know, and certainly you could recognize a good number of the buildings that were formerly in old East Germany. You could see some of the influence of the infrastructure and commitment, whether it was to business or facilities on the east side that's been made. That was unbelievable. You know, to go to Nuremberg, to go to Dachau, just how stunning it truly was. To go to Munich and then to come back up through, down into Austria and Switzerland. We ended up in Amsterdam and went through the Anne Frank house. More than ever, you realize how important it is, what we do at the United States Air Force Academy. The commitment to freedoms, to how you interact and treat people, the maturity and the respect, and how I believe even more strongly we need the United States Air Force Academy and the commitment to the values that we have here. And not only in our Air Force and our Space Force, but really to carry that forth into our communities and throughout our society. Navier Walkewicz Oh my goodness. What a trip to reinforce so much of what you live every day. Maybe you can share with us, as a coach, we talk about many successes. That's come with a lot of learning. What have you learned about yourself through the years? Coach Calhoun Well, it's not about you. You know, and I think especially as time passes, if you really want your team to perform at the highest level possible, goodness, it's got to be about the people that are especially at the front line. That's our players that are blocking and tackling; it's our coaches that are providing that individual, you know, individualized instruction. And are we doing everything we can to support them that way? And I think we all do in all of our roles. We know somebody really does have a strong, sincere interest in helping us achieve or to win. You know that. And that's where you want to gravitate towards, because they're going to help you change and transform. Trying to provide that to not only our young men that are a part of our team, but the number of young women that we have that support, whether they're as cadet managers or working and recruiting, it takes everybody. Naviere Walkewicz It really does. I think that's really powerful. It's Interesting when you know that someone believes in you, it's almost like you're capable of more than you ever thought possible. Coach Calhoun So true. I mean, I think we all can cite examples, whether it was a loved one, a family member, a teacher, a coach, somebody that you just knew they believed in you. And that's how you grow. That's how you change. Are there going to be failures and mistakes? Absolutely. Yet as we go through life, we can't be afraid to make a mistake. You know if you're flying an F-16, there are going to be some mishaps and yet hopefully you don't repeat those mistakes because you learn from them and that's how you grow. Naviere Walkewicz Coach, this has been amazing. Sometimes our listeners want to learn something interesting that you would share with us that you haven't shared with others. Is there a hidden talent or something that is unique to Coach Calhoun? Coach Calhoun I don't know if there's a hidden talent. I'll say this: I absolutely love what I do. I've felt that way all along. And yet maybe even more today than ever before. Just because now that you've done it for a few years, there have been a good number of young men. Maybe you were in their home when they were 17 years old and now you see them when they're 28 or 29 and they're flying F-35s or they're your team doctor like Travis Decker is currently, or guys that are working out in the corporate world. And so you see and the kind of fathers or maybe husbands they are that's quite impactful in fact it just tells you we got to go even harder here. So, you know, I think the other part that's so unique about the Air Force Academy too is we have to develop a warrior mindset. You know, and are there times where we are in an office setting? Yeah, there's a different demeanor there that you have to have in terms of the maturity and how you work together. Yet at the same time, we're developing young men and young women that are ready to be right at the tip of that spear too. You know, that's a requisite as part of our work is to prepare them to, if you have to eliminate an enemy or an object, to be in the right frame of mind to do that legally and operate in a way where you're following a candid order. Naviere Walkewicz You didn't share with us a hidden talent but we do know you love what you're doing. No, I'm just teasing. So, is there anything that I — so, two more things. One, I'm gonna ask you if there's anything I didn't ask that you really want to make sure our listeners hear. And then we always like to leave our listeners with like very specific kind of leadership lessons. So I'll just ask you the first one: What haven't I asked you that's on your heart to speak about today? Coach Calhoun Well I I'll say this: I think the other part that's so important for a service member or a cadet is there's somebody else that's been instrumental, whether it was in their upbringing or a co-pilot — I mentioned Amanda earlier — how invaluable they are to the performance of a person. And boy, you just know there's somebody in that — whether it was a parent, mom, dad, maybe a coach. Getting to know them a lot of times helps you too. There's so much insight that a parent provides me so often, even when a cadet is at the Academy. That's why you want to do everything you can. We talked about lines of communication, of trying to create that two-way dialogue. I know a lot — and it happens frequently in college coaching — there are a good number of coaches that say, “Man, those parents are something else.” I'm like, “Nah, I love my parents.” They share a lot with me. That helps me not only coach their son, but helps me develop and grow their young man too. Naviere Walkewicz I love that. Alright, well, I know our listeners are really excited to hear what are going to be those key items you want to share on leadership. But before we get there, I want to be sure that we provide a note of thanks to all of you listening to Long Blue Leadership. Naviere Walkewicz (Long Blue Leadership promotion) This podcast drops every two weeks on Tuesdays and is available on all your favorite podcast apps. Be sure to send us your thoughts and comments at socialmedia@usafa.org and listen to past episodes at longblueleadership.org. Naviere Walkewicz So coach, I want to get back to you because this is all, and I know you said it's not about you, but today it's about you, Coach, and we're really appreciating this. What do you want to leave our listeners with? Because we have leaders of all levels and I think that's the whole point, right? You can be a leader at all levels. But what are some of the best leadership lessons you'd like to share? Coach Calhoun Well, you need to be doing something that you love, that you're passionate about. And the other part is, again, just the involvement that you have with your people. You know, to get in there literally where you're hip to hip and shoulder to shoulder. And I think sometimes whether you're in a leadership role or maybe you have a certain rank, you think, “I can't do that in order to maintain my distance professionally.” And I wholeheartedly disagree. I think you have to be able to operate from different perspectives as a leader. I think clearly you can still articulate and live the standards that are a part of your operation or your unit or your football program. But again, it's about people and that's what makes it go. I heard somebody say once, “If there were only computer chips or ones and zeros, the binary, then maybe we would need these standards or we wouldn't have some of these behavioral challenges,” yet we'd be really, really limited, not only in the growth, but the talent that gets to come to the surface. And it's our job to identify potential attributes and see them sprout, to see them change, and to see them grow. It's the greatest reward there is to help another human being, not only maybe in the future, be it their quality of life or to help them professionally, or maybe with a specific task. And that's what real leadership — that's what real coaching is. Naviere Walkewicz That's outstanding, Coach. Thank you. You've done this a couple times. Coach Calhoun Not like this. Naviere Walkewicz I appreciate you doing this then. Just kind of opening up. Was there anything else that was on your mind though? I didn't want to focus on asking you about the season. I'm sure you get plenty of that. Coach Calhoun No. Goodness, I think we hit the main points. You could talk about leadership — the breadth and the depth of what's involved — you could go on and on and on and on about how important so many things are, but I think we hit the key points, at least from kind of the way I see it.   Naviere Walkewicz Alright, I wanted to make sure we were able capture your thoughts on leadership in the way you feel really good about it because I think you're going to have listeners hanging on to every word. Coach Calhoun OK, thank you. If you need anything else, let me know. Naviere Walkewicz Oh, definitely will, Coach.   KEYWORDS Troy Calhoun, Air Force Academy, football, leadership, childhood, upbringing, cadet, coaching, challenges, triumphs, strategies, philosophy, success, sports, education, mentorship, resilience, teamwork, discipline, inspiration, resilience, patience, delayed gratification, challenges, growth, success, values, standards, leadership, involvement, support, family, learning, balance, passion, development     The Long Blue Line Podcast Network is presented by the U.S. Air Force Academy Association and Foundation        

In 1983, punk rock was strictly forbidden in East Berlin. However, that didn't stop young music obsessive Mark Reeder, from Manchester in the UK, smuggling cassettes, and then a punk band across the Berlin Wall. Mark shares how he arranged for the West German band, Die Toten Hosen, to perform illegally at a secret concert in a church. This episode was produced by Paul Hanford and Rosalie Delaney. A Munck Studios production for the BBC World Service.(Photo: Members of the band Die Toten Hosen and friends in East Berlin in 1983. Credit: Mark Reeder)

In this episode of our podcast, DLS co-founder Katy Derbyshire brings us the story of  Therese Giehse, a German actor, pacifist and exile known for founding an anti-Nazi cabaret (which, really, we could all get behind these days). Therese had artistic and other adventures with her lover Erika Mann (daughter of Thomas Mann), was photographed by Annemarie Schwarzenbach, and embodied several of Bertolt Brecht's best-known characters on stage. She also acted in movies with Vivien Leigh and previous DLS star Romy Schneider.   Born in Munich in 1898, she went against her liberal Jewish family's expectations to train as an actor, cast as older characters even as a young woman. The Pfeffermühle cabaret started up in 1933, swiftly moving to Zürich to escape the Nazis. With Erika and Klaus Mann, Giehse toured the political show around Europe, never mentioning any names but using parables and storytelling to rip the piss out of Hitler and his henchmen.    Therese returned to Zürich in 1937, where she joined the outstanding cast at the Schauspielhaus theatre, many of them also emigrants like her. During the war, she performed in the premiere staging of Brecht's anti-war play Mother Courage, defining the title role in what some directors have called the greatest play of the 20th century.    She went on working with Brecht and other key playwrights and directors after 1945, in Munich, Zürich and East Berlin. Therese Giehse maintained her pacifist stance throughout her life, criticizing the Vietnam War at public events. She died in 1975 and is buried with her sister in Zürich.   For more on Therese Giehse, please visit our episode notes at  https://deadladiesshow.com/2024/07/19/podcast-73-therese-giehse   Our theme music is “Little Lily Swing” by Tri-Tachyon https://freemusicarchive.org/music/Tri-Tachyon/the-kleptotonic-ep/little-lily-swing   Check out our Patreon here: www.patreon.com/deadladiesshowpodcast   Thanks for listening! We'll be back with a new episode next month.   **** The Dead Ladies Show is a series of entertaining and inspiring talks about women who achieved amazing things against all odds, presented live in Berlin and beyond. This podcast is based on that series. Because women's history is everyone's history.   The Dead Ladies Show was founded by Florian Duijsens and Katy Derbyshire. The podcast is created, produced, edited, and presented by Susan Stone.    

In 1980, Dalkey United went on a football trip to Germany which ended up in East Berlin. A certain economist, festival director and once under 13s centre half was on that schoolboy trip and so began a lifelong fascination with all things East German. Less than ten years after that Dalkey Utd. trip, the country vanished. In her wonderful book, Katja Hoyer argues that amid oppression and frequent hardship, East Germany was home to a rich political, social and cultural landscape, a place far more dynamic than the Cold War caricature often painted in the West. This is one for cold war anoraks, communist nostalgists and the odd few intrepid ones who always know there's more to the story of any country than first meets the eye.  Join the gang! https://plus.acast.com/s/the-david-mcwilliams-podcast. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Today we say goodbye to our annual MOVIES ARE GAY theme for June and it's one of our favorite months. So eye opening. Sometimes hole opening. We're coasting out strong with our last selection and it just so happens to be (I think) our first official musical and it's one that took us by surprise waaaaay back in 2001 when we happened to lay eyes on it in our movie theaters and dorm rooms. It was intensely appreciated in its time by a small audience but John Cameron Mitchell & Stephen Trask's undeniably entertaining rock musical has proven influential and enduring. Of course we're discussing the 2001 queer cult classic “HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH” directed by John Cameron Mitchell and starring himself, Miriam Shor, Andrea Martin and Michael Pitt with music by Stephen Trask. A young boy growing up in East Berlin finds her way to America following a botched gender reassignment surgery. Hansel, now carrying her mother's name, is alone in an isolating new world. She reinvents herself through music and falls in love. Of course it doesn't work out so we come into the story of Hedwig through bitterness, salad bars and solid rock and roll jams. Will Hedwig find the fame that was stolen from her? Will she become what she was always meant to be? One way or another we all do. Shit, dawg, that's deep ((hits blunt)). We got that Criterion up at the house but here's a version we found online in Spanish: https://archive.org/details/Hedwig.And.The.Angry.InchAngeeParaZoowoman.website_201804 Don't gat mad at us if it's a dead link. You took too long. Go buy it. Stay gay. Subscribe to us on YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCuJf3lkRI-BLUTsLI_ehOsg Contact us here: MOVIEHUMPERS@gmail.com Check our past & current film ratings here: https://moviehumpers.wordpress.com Hear us on podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/6o6PSNJFGXJeENgqtPY4h7 Our OG podcast “Documenteers”: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/documenteers-the-documentary-podcast/id1321652249 Soundcloud feed: https://soundcloud.com/documenteers Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/culturewrought

Germany's Jenny Erpenbeck is the winner of the International Booker Prize 2024 for her novel Kairos, translated by Michael Hofmann. She spoke with Eleanor Wachtel, who chaired the International Booker Prize jury, in 2015 about The End of Days, an imaginative story that spans the 20th century through the eyes of a character who lives multiple versions of her life. Erpenbeck also reflects on her own childhood, growing up in a literary family in East Berlin before the fall of the Wall, and the ways in which history, politics and her experience with personal and national transformations have inspired her work.

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest European playwrights of the twentieth century. The aim of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was to make the familiar ‘strange': with plays such as Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle he wanted his audience not to sit back but to engage, observe and discover the contradictions in life, and act on what they learnt. He developed this approach in turbulent times, from Weimar Germany to the rise of the Nazis, to exile in Scandinavia and America and then post-war life in East Berlin, and he has since inspired dramatists around the world.WithLaura Bradley Professor of German and Theatre at the University of EdinburghDavid Barnett Professor of Theatre at the University of YorkAnd Tom Kuhn Professor of Twentieth Century German Literature, Emeritus Fellow of St Hugh's College, University of OxfordProducer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio productionReading list: David Barnett, Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)David Barnett, A History of the Berliner Ensemble (Cambridge University Press, 2015)Laura Bradley and Karen Leeder (eds.), Brecht and the GDR: Politics, Culture, Posterity (Camden House, 2015)Laura Bradley, ‘Training the Audience: Brecht and the Art of Spectatorship' (The Modern Language Review, 111, 2016)Bertolt Brecht (ed. Marc Silberman, Tom Kuhn and Steve Giles), Brecht on Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2014)Bertolt Brecht (ed. Tom Kuhn, Steve Giles and Marc Silberman), Brecht on Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)Bertolt Brecht (trans. Tom Kuhn and David Constantine), The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht (Norton Liveright, 2018) which includes the poem ‘Spring 1938' read by Tom Kuhn in this programmeStephen Brockmann (ed.), Bertolt Brecht in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2021)Meg Mumford, Bertolt Brecht (Routledge, 2009)Stephen Parker, Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life (Bloomsbury, 2014)Ronald Speirs, Brecht's Poetry of Political Exile (Cambridge University Press, 2000)David Zoob, Brecht: A Practical Handbook (Nick Hern Books, 2018)

Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss one of the greatest European playwrights of the twentieth century. The aim of Bertolt Brecht (1898-1956) was to make the familiar ‘strange': with plays such as Mother Courage and The Caucasian Chalk Circle he wanted his audience not to sit back but to engage, observe and discover the contradictions in life, and act on what they learnt. He developed this approach in turbulent times, from Weimar Germany to the rise of the Nazis, to exile in Scandinavia and America and then post-war life in East Berlin, and he has since inspired dramatists around the world.WithLaura Bradley Professor of German and Theatre at the University of EdinburghDavid Barnett Professor of Theatre at the University of YorkAnd Tom Kuhn Professor of Twentieth Century German Literature, Emeritus Fellow of St Hugh's College, University of OxfordProducer: Simon Tillotson In Our Time is a BBC Studios Audio productionReading list: David Barnett, Brecht in Practice: Theatre, Theory and Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)David Barnett, A History of the Berliner Ensemble (Cambridge University Press, 2015)Laura Bradley and Karen Leeder (eds.), Brecht and the GDR: Politics, Culture, Posterity (Camden House, 2015)Laura Bradley, ‘Training the Audience: Brecht and the Art of Spectatorship' (The Modern Language Review, 111, 2016)Bertolt Brecht (ed. Marc Silberman, Tom Kuhn and Steve Giles), Brecht on Theatre (Bloomsbury, 2014)Bertolt Brecht (ed. Tom Kuhn, Steve Giles and Marc Silberman), Brecht on Performance (Bloomsbury, 2014)Bertolt Brecht (trans. Tom Kuhn and David Constantine), The Collected Poems of Bertolt Brecht (Norton Liveright, 2018) which includes the poem ‘Spring 1938' read by Tom Kuhn in this programmeStephen Brockmann (ed.), Bertolt Brecht in Context (Cambridge University Press, 2021)Meg Mumford, Bertolt Brecht (Routledge, 2009)Stephen Parker, Bertolt Brecht: A Literary Life (Bloomsbury, 2014)Ronald Speirs, Brecht's Poetry of Political Exile (Cambridge University Press, 2000)David Zoob, Brecht: A Practical Handbook (Nick Hern Books, 2018)

Tilo offers an engaging and personal account of growing up in East Berlin before the fall of the Berlin Wall. He begins by describing his early childhood in a rundown building in Prenzlauer Berg before moving to a new prefab neighbourhood in Lichtenberg. Tilo's grandfather on his mother's side was a  pastor in the Lutheran church and second in command to a Bishop at the end of his career. His grandfather on his father's side had been a teacher and had joined the Nazi party After the World War Two he was banned from working. Tilo's family faced educational and career limitations due to their religious and political background compounded by the pervasive influence of the Stasi and party loyalty in determining one's future. Tilo  also recounts experiences of attending school with a strong military and ideological indoctrination, including paramilitary training and pressure to join the National People's Army (NVA). Despite these challenges, he  describes a vibrant underground punk scene and moments of resistance against the regime. The story reflects on the significant socio-political changes during Tilo's adolescence, including the impact of Chernobyl, the introduction of Glasnost, and the unexpected persistence of Nazi elements in East German society. The fight to preserve Cold War history continues and via a simple monthly donation, you will give me the ammunition to continue to preserve Cold War history. You'll become part of our community, get ad-free episodes, and get a sought-after CWC coaster as a thank you and you'll bask in the warm glow of knowing you are helping to preserve Cold War history. Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ If a monthly contribution is not your cup of tea, we welcome one-off donations via the same link. Find the ideal gift for the Cold War enthusiast in your life! Just go to https://coldwarconversations.com/store/ Support the project! https://coldwarconversations.com/donate/ Follow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/ColdWarPod Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/coldwarpod/ Instagram https://www.instagram.com/coldwarconversations/ Youtube https://youtube.com/@ColdWarConversations Love history? Join Intohistory https://intohistory.com/coldwarpod 00:00 Introduction to Cold War Conversations 00:35 Growing Up in East Berlin: A Personal Journey 00:48 Family Background and Political Challenges 01:17 School Life and Ideological Indoctrination 01:44 The Impact of Glasnost and Political Changes 03:30 Navigating the Complexities of East German Society 23:01 Reflections on East German Education and Military Training 25:55 Facing the Draft and the Pressure to Conform 41:37 The Punk Scene and Resistance in East Berlin 46:35 Concluding Thoughts and the Legacy of the Cold War Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

#Berlin:     At odds with Macron, Orban, Trump. Judy Dempsey, Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, Editor-in-Chief: Strategic Europe, in Berlin. https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/03/12/macron-allies-liken-him-to-churchill-for-ukraine-plan/ 1958 East Berlin