Podcasts about New York Public Library

A conversation with poet Reuben Gelley Newman about his debut collection, Dear Dear (Trio House Press, 2026). In Dear Dear Newman focuses on the work and queer lives of the musicians Arthur Russell and Julius Eastman. We share an appreciation for their radical boundary pushing careers which helped define the downtown New York scenes of experimental art music in the 70s and 80s. In the last 20 years, as myself and Newman came of age, much of Russell and Eastman's work was released and rediscovered, offering us both an exuberant connection to the past, and, in Newman's words, a wonder if "nostalgia" is "[t]he prerogative of queers." The poems in Dear Dear—which also incorporate Newman's personal reflections on the music of Mitski, Sufjan Stevens, and Bach, paintings by David Hockney and Jasper Johns—make a music all their own. Newman crafts fascinating ways to voice the ecstacies, tensions, and ironies of finding poetic inspiration among the archives of what was lost or could have been. He is also a librarian at the New York Public Library, and our conversation touches on our shared experiences of the ecstacies, tensions, and ironies of library work.  Listen for provocative and playful poems (sometimes filled with hums, whistles, and footnotes!) from a poet who contains both echoes of the queer past and documents the way we live now.  You can find more about Reuben Gelley Newman on his website, or check out copies of Dear Dear in our Podcast Collection. Dear Dear was selected by the poet Randall Mann (previously featured two times on our Queer Poem-a-Day series) for the Louise Bogan Award. Newman is also the author of a chapbook, Feedback Harmonies, from Seven Kitchens, and his poems have appeared in Fence, Fairy Tale Review, and Denver Quarterly. Special thanks to Matt Sitman for his help locating the quote from Edmund White's 2009 memoir, City Boy: My Life in New York During the 1960s and '70s. We hope you enjoy our 71st interview episode! Every month (or so), we release an episode featuring a conversation with an author, artist, or other notable guests from Chicagoland or around the world. Learn more about the podcast on our podcast page. You can listen to all of our episodes in the player below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or anywhere else you listen to podcasts. We welcome your comments and feedback—please send to podcast@deerfieldlibrary.org.  

Dr. Brian Jones, Senior Director of Reading and Engagement at the New York Public Library, talks with Dr. Robert Robinson, assistant professor in Africana Studies and Gender Studies, Urban Studies, and Interactive Technology and Pedagogy at John Jay and the Graduate Center, about Brian's book Black History Is for Everyone. Visit IndoorVoicesPodcast.com for more information.

Notes and Links to Benjamin Moser's Work      Benjamin Moser is the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 2009. For his work bringing Clarice Lispector to international prominence, he received Brazil's first State Prize for Cultural Diplomacy. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017, and Sontag: Her Life and Work won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020. The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters appeared in 2023. He completed Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.    Buy Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History   Benjamin Moser's Website   Book Tour Events   Review of Anti-Zionism from Forward Magazine   At about 1:45, Ben talks about what he expects with the September 22 Pub Day At about 2:40, Ben expands on ideas of repentance and the Jewish Yom Kippur, as well as political and personal complicity in the ongoing genocide in Gaza At about 4:20, Ben expands on his understanding of the acronym “P.E.P” and people being againstt genocide, as evidenced by the bravura shown by the people profiled in Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History  At about 5:00, Ben talks about his early reading and writing and what put him in his path to being a writer, including Clarice Lispector and V.S. Naipul At about 7:00, Ben reflects on lessons learned from researching for biographies and expands on the “craziness” of Zionism titan Theodor Herzl At about 8:30-Saudade unmasked! At about 10:00, Ben shouts out places to buy the book and talks about upcoming tour events and about his hopes for the book At about 11:30, Pete cites the book's Acknowledgements and Ben explores a “joke” from his friend over the split among Jews and others regarding Zionism while also examining people's courage and reticence to speak against genocide  At about 13:25, Ben talks about the “original cancel culture” At about 14:25, The two reflect on The Onion and social media as news dispenser  At about 15:30, Ben talks about what “it cost them” in discussing the heroes of the book At about 16:40, Ben responds to Pete's question about seeds for the book, and Ben describes the indescribable: the “highly fraught” atmosphere in Palestine, and its racist daily life At about 19:10, Ben emphasizes the relatively-young Birthright program and the effects of Israeli propaganda and the world seeing the genocide on phones At about 20:40, Ben responds to Pete's questions about the significance of verses from the Hebrew Bible At about 22:20, The two discuss an important book and Ben discusses the book's gravitas  At about 24:00, Ben talks about how “weird” Der Judenstatt is At about 24:45, Pete and Ben talk about Herzl as the “L. Ron Hubbard of the Jews” and wonder how Herzl's work and persona were/and so impactful At about 26:15, Ben expands on connections between Zionism and Herzl and an “Ibsen plot” At about 28:15, The two reflect on an incredibly anecdote recounted by Herzl himself that sets off alarm bells for a friend of his, and for Ben as well At about 30:10, The two discuss Herzl as a self-styled prophet At about 33:25, Ben reflects on modern and historical connections between Zionism and Anti-Semitism At about 36:40, Pete cites “The Sensitive Rabbi” as an example of putting religious faith into good works, and Ben expands on Judaism as a "pacifistic religion” At about 41:00, Ben discusses the retroactive “claim[ing]” of the Holocaust in Zionism, and the process of “unlearning” narratives At about 44:25, Pete asks Ben about one of the appeals of Zionism, as Ben explains the desire to be tough and strong in response to oppression  At about 46:20, The two discuss the enduring and uncomplicated meaning of “Never Again” At about 47:25, The two discuss those who are fighting back against the genocide and apartheid in Palestine         You can now subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts, and leave me a five-star review. You can also ask for the podcast by name using Alexa, and find the pod on Stitcher, Spotify, and on Amazon Music. Follow Pete on IG, where he is @chillsatwillpodcast, or on Twitter, where he is @chillsatwillpo1. You can watch other episodes on YouTube-watch and subscribe to The Chills at Will Podcast Channel. Please subscribe to both the YouTube Channel and the podcast while you're checking out this episode.       Pete is very excited to have one or two podcast episodes per month featured on the website of Chicago Review of Books. The audio will be posted, along with a written interview culled from the audio. His conversation with Jeff Pearlman, a recent guest, is up now at Chicago Review.     Sign up now for The Chills at Will Podcast Patreon: it can be found at patreon.com/chillsatwillpodcastpeterriehl      Check out the page that describes the benefits of a Patreon membership, including cool swag and bonus episodes. Thanks in advance for supporting Pete's one-man show, DIY podcast and extensive reading, research, editing, and promoting to keep this independent podcast pumping out high-quality content!    This month's Patreon bonus episode is the second episode for Pete's limited podcast series, Rage is a Gift: Evil Empire at 30. Pete reflects on the Importance (and the power of this capital "I") of Rage Against the Machine and their seminal Evil Empire album, which is celebrating 30 years of resistance. The episode focuses on the opening track, “People of the Sun.” The limited podcast series will do a deep exploration of, and reflection on, the lyrics and context of each of the 12 powerful songs on the album.     Pete has added a $1 a month tier for “Well-Wishers” and Cheerleaders of the Show.    The intro song for The Chills at Will Podcast is “Wind Down” (Instrumental Version), and the other song played on this episode was “Hoops” (Instrumental)” by Matt Weidauer, and both songs are used through ArchesAudio.com.     Please tune in for Episode 351 with Daniel Dockery, who has been a Senior Writer and Assistant Editor at Crunchyroll, as well as a Columnist and Assistant Editor at Cracked.com. He's also written for WIRED, Vulture, Polygon, SYFY, Paste Magazine, Roger Ebert, Thrillist, and various other outlets. His first book, Monster Kids: How Pokémon Taught a Generation to Catch Them All, was released by Running Press on October 4, 2022. His upcoming book, I AM THE NIGHT: The Ultimate Unauthorized History of Batman: The Animated Series, is out with St. Martin's Press as of September 1, 2026.      The episode airs on September 22.     Please go to ceasefiretoday.org, and/or https://act.uscpr.org/a/letaidin to call your congresspeople and demand an end to the forced famine and destruction of Gaza and the Gazan people.    You can also donate at chuffed.org, World Central Kitchen, and so many more, and/or you can contact writer friend Ursula Villarreal-Moura directly or through Pete, as she has direct links with friends in Gaza.

Today I have the honor and pleasure of speaking with Benjamin Moser about his new book, Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History. A book of immense historical and geographic reach, Anti-Zionism conveys its arguments through the lives of twelve Jewish anti-Zionists. From the 19th century Polish-Jewish rabbi Aaron Samuel Tamares to the contemporary photographer and activist Nan Goldin, we learn how Jews have fought against the reduction of the traditional, expansive notion of Jewishness open to and in service to the world, to a form of narrow ethno-nationalism, closed off to all how do not subscribe to its genocidal settler colonial logic.  We learn how many of these figures foretold precisely the perpetual cycles of violence Zionism has unleashed. One of the reasons Moser wrote this book is contained in this statement. I offer it as a contribution to the movement by so many noble people who are working to construct an alternative vision of Jewish life, one that is free from racism, nationalism, and militarism. It is an attempt to say, especially to younger people, that we are not the first, and that we do not need to start afresh.Benjamin Moser is the author of Why This World: A Biography of Clarice Lispector, a finalist for the National Book Critics' Circle Award and a New York Times Notable Book of 2009. For his work bringing Clarice Lispector to international prominence, he received Brazil's first State Prize for Cultural Diplomacy. He won a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2017, and Sontag: Her Life and Work won the Pulitzer Prize in 2020. The Upside-Down World: Meetings with the Dutch Masters appeared in 2023. He completed Anti-Zionism: A Jewish History at the Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library.

Rosemary Woodruff Leary sat in a jail cell for a month rather than testify against her husband. While she was inside, Timothy Leary gave a ten page interview to Playboy about what LSD does to a woman's body and did not mention her once.She was his editor, his translator, the person who read the room for him, and the organizer who coordinated his 1970 prison escape across the Weather Underground, the Black Panthers, and the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. She called herself The Computer. Then he turned on her, pointed the FBI in her direction, and she spent twenty four years underground as Sarah Woodruff, running an inn in Provincetown with a go bag by the bed.Susannah Cahalan found her the way forgotten people usually get found. She was working through four hundred boxes of Timothy Leary's papers at the New York Public Library when she noticed a much smaller collection almost nobody had opened.Key TakeawaysRosemary Woodruff Leary served a month in jail rather than testify against Timothy Leary before a grand jury investigating Millbrook, and the Playboy interview that made him famous ran while she was inside.She was the coordinating point between the factions who organized Leary's 1970 prison escape, working with the attorney who also represented the Weather Underground and the Black Panthers. She called herself The Computer.Leary later decoded their letters for investigators and offered her mother money for her location. She spent twenty four years underground and could not hold any job requiring a Social Security number.She died at 66. Cahalan connects that directly to going without health insurance for the years she was a fugitive, which is the harm reduction point of the episode and has nothing to do with the drugs.Rosemary told students explicitly that psychedelics are not for everyone and that there is a shadow side, a position Cahalan argues is more relevant to the current renaissance than anything Leary said.LSD remains a Schedule I substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act. The April 2026 executive order directs faster federal review of psychedelic research; it does not reschedule anything.Timestamps0:00 Introduction 2:38 Ketamine, the NMDA receptor, and the sense of self 3:18 Humphry Osmond, asylum architects, and where set and setting came from 4:38 Finding Rosemary in the New York Public Library archive 5:38 Signs, synchronicity, and the I Ching 6:38 What Rosemary changed in Susannah 9:26 The women who carried the archives while the men made headlines 10:26 Millbrook, the grand jury, and a month in jail 13:06 The Playboy interview she was in jail for 14:41 The prison escape, the FBI, and the letter that ended it 16:05 Twenty four years underground and what it actually cost 18:47 Cape Cod, a new name, and a secret affair 20:47 Invisibility after a certain age 22:32 A contradictory woman 24:32 The warning Rosemary gave about psychedelics 27:32 The Robot, overuse, and why integration mattersGuest SpotlightSusannah Cahalan is a journalist and the number one New York Times bestselling author of Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness and The Great Pretender.Her third book, The Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary, was published by Viking in 2025 and named a Best Biography of 2025 by The Guardian. She spent years in archives at the New York Public Library and in Rosemary's family's hands to reconstruct a life that survived mostly in other people's footnotes.Additional ResourcesThe Acid Queen: The Psychedelic Life and Counterculture Rebellion of Rosemary Woodruff Leary by Susannah Cahalan (Viking, 2025). [LINK]The 2026 to 2027 Psychedelic Salon season [LINK]April on Substack: https://aprilpride.substack.com Visit April Pride: https://aprilpride.com Instagram: https://instagram.com/aprilpridecreatesYouTube: https://youtube.com/@aprilpridecreates

Maureen Footer is an author and cultural historian whose work explores the ways artists, designers, and creators shape the culture around them, and she joined The Adult Ballet Studio this month!Maureen is the author of several acclaimed books on fashion, architecture and design, and her newest book takes her into the world of dance with Feel the Floor: Restoring the Life and Legacy of Jazz Choreographer Buddy Bradley, published by Beacon Press.The book tells the story of Buddy Bradley, a Black choreographer and teacher whose career began during the Harlem Renaissance and eventually took him from Broadway to London's West End. There, his work helped transform theatrical dance. Bradley taught and influenced some of the biggest performers of his era, and his choreography drew from tap, jazz, ballroom, folk dance and mime.Bradley's influence also extended into classical ballet. His work helped shape the movement vocabulary of many choreographers, including George Balanchine, and contributed to the development of what would become neoclassical ballet. Yet, despite the reach of his influence, Bradley's name largely disappeared from mainstream dance history, especially in the U.S. Feel the Floor seeks to change that by restoring Bradley's story.Maureen is also a lifelong ballet enthusiast and serves on the boards of New York City Ballet, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library, and the American Friends of the Paris Opera Ballet.We talk about Bradley's remarkable legacy, the ways racism and cultural hierarchies have shaped what gets preserved in dance history, and what his story can teach us about influence, inclusion and belonging in the world of ballet. Check it out!Get a copy of Feel the Floor: https://www.amazon.com/Feel-Floor-Restoring-Choreographer-Bradley/dp/0807045241Follow Maureen on Instagram: @maureenfooterLearn more about Maureen's work: www.maureenfooter.netSubscribe to The Adult Ballet Studio on YouTube: @adultballetstudioMusic in this episode:Waltz of the Flowers - TchaikovskyBarroom Ballet - Silent Film Light - Kevin MacLeodBarroom Ballet - Silent Film Light by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100310Artist: http://incompetech.com/@eblosfield | theadultballetstudio@gmail.comThe Adult Ballet Studio has merch! https://theadultballetstudio-shop.fourthwall.com/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here 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 the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: hereSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: hereSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/gender-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: hereSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biography Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: hereSupport our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/french-studies Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In the winter of 1472, the city of Dijon, France, became the stage for a remarkable legal drama. On the mayor's orders, an investigator named Jaques Borestel went door-to-door questioning his neighbors about an alleged sexual assault—and about the victim's history and place in the community. At the center of Jaques's inquiry was a woman named Jehanne, who took the unusual step of making a criminal complaint in an age when victims of sexual violence did so at their own peril. Justice for Jehanne: The Tale of a Medieval Survivor (Princeton UP, 2026) follows Jaques's investigation as he uncovers one woman's story of resilience and survival. Applying forensic analysis to witness testimony and Jaques's case files, Sara McDougall finds in Jehanne a woman of many lives and many secrets. An outsider on her own in Dijon, Jehanne had every reason to distrust the local authorities, who regularly extorted money from the city's most vulnerable residents. Separating facts from falsehoods, McDougall challenges preconceptions about the experiences of marginalized women in medieval France, showing how neighbors, clergy, and other residents aided Jehanne throughout her legal struggles—and how justice of a sort was exacted from her attackers.Richly detailed and powerfully told, Justice for Jehanne paints an unforgettable portrait of a woman who mounted an extraordinary response to a crime that was so difficult to prosecute at the time, and of a community that gave her shelter, protection, and acceptance as she endeavored to survive on her own terms. Sara McDougall is professor of history at John Jay College of the City University of New York and is on the faculty in Biography and Memoir, French, History, and Medieval Studies at the CUNY Graduate Center. She is the author of Royal Bastards: The Birth of Illegitimacy, 800–1230 and Bigamy and Christian Identity in Late Medieval Champagne. Her fellowships include the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. Morteza Hajizadeh is a Ph.D. graduate in English from the University of Auckland in New Zealand. His research interests are Cultural Studies; Critical Theory; Environmental History; Medieval (Intellectual) History; Gothic Studies; 18th and 19th Century British Literature. YouTube Channel: here Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Surviving September 11 took more than courage. It took preparation, trust, and the ability to manage fear. I share my experience escaping from the 78th floor of the World Trade Center with my guide dog, Roselle, and the lessons that shaped how I responded that morning. You'll hear how years of learning my surroundings, trusting my training, and understanding my role as a leader helped me stay focused during the evacuation. I also explore blindness, the limits society places on blind people, and the power of teamwork between a guide dog and handler. Most of all, this story is about focusing on what you can control, trusting the relationships you've built, and preparing yourself to act when fear shows up. Highlights: 00:10 – Why Michael is revisiting September 11, 25 years later. 11:45 – How Michael learned that blindness itself isn't the limitation. 32:50 – Why preparation inside the World Trade Center mattered when crisis hit. 36:40 – How staying calm helped Michael lead others toward safety. 44:46 – The lesson Michael heard while running from the collapsing tower. 51:59 – What Roselle taught Michael about fear, trust, and moving forward. About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can subscribe in your favorite podcast app. You can also support our podcast through our tip jar https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/unstoppable-mindset . Transcript: Michael Hingson  00:04 Hi everyone, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset. I am your host, Mike Hingson, and today we're doing something a little bit different. This is Friday, september 4, 20/26, and this is the first of four episodes commemorating all of the events that happened in and around September 11, 2001. As many of you know, I was in the World Trade Center working for a company. I had opened an office for them on the 78th floor of Tower One of the World Trade Center, and on September 11th, I was in my office because we were going to be doing some special sales training for people, and I was there getting prepared to do all of that when the terrorists attacked the towers, and then later the Pentagon. And as you may know, a fourth aircraft was crashed in Shanksville, Pennsylvania, because people on the aircraft took it over from the terrorists or tried to anyway, so one of the things that we thought would be helpful would be for me to give you again a taste of what I actually went through and what occurred on September 11, 2001, when we started this podcast back in August of 2021, I played a speech that talked about some of what happened to me in the World Trade Center. But today we're going to do a different speech. In April of 2024, I was invited to be a speaker at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. Now that festival is a yearly event celebrating and commemorating different events in American history. In 2024, I was invited to come and speak and talk about my experience at the World Trade Center and to help put some of that into context. I thought it would be very relevant for all of you if we played that speech for you, so that you would again get a taste of what occurred with me, why I was able to survive and escape, and a little bit about the lessons that we should learn about not only September 11th, but frankly, from my perspective, being the fact that I have been blind since I was born in 1950, I want you to learn a little bit more about blindness. So we're going to present to you now my speech delivered in April on April 27, 2024, at the Marshfield, Missouri Cherry Blossom Festival. I hope that you'll enjoy it. I hope that it will teach you some things, and don't forget that we have other episodes coming up. We have another episode occurring on the eighth of September where I'm going to be interviewed by Michelle Abraham from Amplify You. Amplify You is the company that I work with to get these podcasts out twice a week, and Michelle has her own podcast, and she's going to interview me to talk about lessons we've learned, to talk a little bit about what happened on September 11th. But we won't give anything away for what's going to happen later in this series of episodes. On September 11th, I will be talking with Bob Ellis. Bob was at the Pentagon on September 11th and literally just walked out the door just before the aircraft hit the Pentagon. We're going to talk about that and again, hopefully, put some of things in perspective for you. Then on the 15th of September, I'm going to come back on episode 475 of our podcast, and talk a little bit more in detail about the lessons that I've learned, and talk about things that I hope people will take away and remember from september 11. I know many of you weren't even born when the World Trade Center terrorist attacks occurred, and so this episode 472, especially, I hope will give you a little bit better sense of what occurred, and from my perspective, why things occurred the way they did, and and how we proceed. So I hope you'll enjoy this episode. Hope that you'll enjoy what it brings, and we will definitely be moving forward to talk about some other things later on. Speaker 1  04:24 There are moments in American history that changed the national conscience. Yesterday, we heard about the assassination of President Kennedy. Some of you might be old enough to remember the attack of Pearl Harbor, and for most recently in American history, of course, the terrorist attacks September 11th. Today, you're going to hear a riveting account, a a heroic story of a man whose story I believe will really pull at your heartstrings. And to moderate that panel today, or that interview, to do is conduct our interview. Today is Mary Acher, who's no stranger to this stage, good friend, presidential historian, and a great interviewer. If you'll put your hands together for Miss Mary, Speaker 2  05:11 I just am so honored to met Michael Hinkson and Alamo. You know by what you see that he came down on the 78th floor of the North Tower with his guide dog Brosel, but I have a friend named Doug Weed who always told me, "You don't brag on yourself; you get somebody else to brag on you. And I want to brag on Michael before we start this. Before I ask him to tell this story, Michael was a premature baby, and at the time when he was born, they put the babies in pre in a the premature babies in a incubator sealed with 100% oxygen, and the doctors didn't know that then, but it blinded the children, and Michael was blinded at birth. So Michael was very fortunate that he had parents that refused to allow him to even think about being disabled. They mainstreamed him before mainstreaming was even known, and they taught him to ride a bicycle. They let him drive a car, and later in his life, he actually piloted an airplane. Is that amazing? He loved mathematics. He loved physics. He was taught geometry. He solved math problems in his head. He's got a master's degree in physics and another-not a master's, but a regular in in teaching. So that is why he is such an amazing man. He's never ever let this what enough people call a disability stop him at all? As a matter of fact, he has been such an amazing gift to the unsighted community in in the Braille and things that technology that blind people can utilize to be online and be all kinds of of things that they wouldn't ever have been allowed to do even 50 years ago. So anyway, I'm just so honored to have met you, Michael. It's just been amazing. I'm going to take him to Lambert's tomorrow. He says I have to catch the rolls, or somebody else will catch them and they'll eat them and he won't get it. I promised him I'd catch the rolls. All right, my dear Michael, would you start telling us about that horrendous day? I am Michael Hingson  08:00 going to not do what I said I was gonna do. I'm gonna stand up, and I'm gonna be very interested to go to Lambert's to see what they do with me, since normally they would throw the rolls, as I understand it. And I'm gonna point out that doesn't really work. So now, what are you gonna do? Because if they all fall on the floor and the dog gets them, and the dog gets sick, you guys are in trouble. So I'll be interested to see exactly what happens. No, I'm sure it will work out. Mary, thank you for those those kind words. I'd like to start by defining a couple things to help us in all of this. Mary is absolutely right about what my parents did in their position, the doctors told my parents when it was discovered I was blind at about four months of age that I should be sent to a home because no blind child could ever grow up to amount to anything or contribute to society. If you think that's bad, it was worse in other parts of the world where, when children were born who were blind, were just drowned in a bucket of water. So, in a sense, it wasn't as bad. Not every child who was born premature and put in an incubator did go blind, and it's unfortunate, in a sense, that at the time that I was born. Dr. Arnold Papps at the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins University had discovered that, in fact, oxygen could cause blindness, and even a few minutes a day of a non-oxygen environment would drop the incidence of blindness down to zero. But medical science didn't believe him because they said, "Well, too much oxygen can't be a problem. And what Dr. Arnold Pats essentially really proved is that too much of anything can be a problem. So it is it is an issue. I finally actually some time ago got to meet Dr. Pats. Before he passed, it was it was fascinating to talk with him about that. The condition at the time when I was born was called retroenterial fibroplasia. If you want to know how to spell that, I wrote a book called Thunderdog: The Story of a Blind Man, His Guide Dog, and the Triumph of Trust at Ground Zero, which we plan to have here, but the publisher messed up, so it wasn't. But you can go buy Thunderdog anywhere, and you can learn how to spell retrolateral fibroplegia. It is now called retinopathyoprematurity. I guess that's a little easier to spell. I don't know still why they changed the name, but they did. So fine, I don't care. I am blind. I don't care. Blindness isn't the problem. I've learned from my parents and growing up and being alive now for yep 74 years, blindness isn't the problem. The problem is our perception of blindness, what we believe blind people can and can't do, as opposed to what they truly can and can't do. If you want to really see a story or something about a blind person driving a car, there is a website www.blinddriverchallenge.org. Blinddriverchallenge.org. The president of the National Federation of the Blind in October of 2001 challenged private industry and universities to create a vehicle that a blind person could drive, not an autonomous vehicle, but truly a vehicle that would transmit to the blind person the information necessary for them to drive the vehicle. What you will see at blinddriverchallenge.org is a video of a gentleman named Mark Riccobono. Too many marks. Mark Riccobono driving a vehicle independently without any assistance around the Daytona Speedway, right before the 2011 Rolex 24 race, he will go through an obstacle course. He will pass boxes that are being thrown out of a van to try to block his way. He will pass the van and a number of things like that. The reality is, what is driving? It's all about you having the information necessary for you to control your vehicle, and as far as I'm concerned, given what Mark Riccobono did, and given the reality that the information is available to us, given the way most sighted drivers drive, I'll take me any day, especially where I live in Victorville. My gosh! But the the reality is, blindness isn't the problem. I grew up believing that I went to public school. I went to college. Michael Hingson  12:26 I did get a master's degree in physics. As I love to tell people, I'm as good as Doc Brown from Back to the Future in building reactors and nuclear bombs. The only difference between me and Doc Brown is I won't go steal fissionable material from some source that might come after me later. So you know, I think I was a little smarter than Doc Brown, but the fact is, again, it's not the problem. I was also the program director of the campus radio station for a while, and I worked at the campus radio station KUCI 89.9 on your FM dial for seven years. I did a show playing old radio shows every Sunday night from six to nine. Didn't even know what 60 minutes was. I heard about it, and one day finally somebody from the show or from the the Orange County Jail called and said, "We really got a situation. We want you to know about it here at the jail. People who heard about you, they've heard about 60 minutes, and on Sunday nights we have to divide the jail in half. Half of the people go up to a television room to watch 60 Minutes, and the other half, which is the bigger half, want to hear your show playing old radio shows on Sunday nights. So you know we must be doing something right. That even at the jail, they liked us. I went to work in 1976 for the National Federation of the Blind. It's the largest organization of blind consumers in the country. I was offered a position because I was in in the science world, one of the few at the time in that world. And the president of the federation, Dr. Jernigan, told me in late 74, early 75, we got a situation. There's a guy named Ray Kurzweil. You may have heard of Ray. He's a futurist. He's an inventor. He's invented the singularity. I'm not totally sure I agree with everything that Ray says. You know, Ray once said the only problem with God is we haven't invented it yet. I don't agree with that. And the other part about it is Ray says that we're really going to all become part of the world when chips are created that will allow us to directly interact with computers. Well, we'll see. I don't want to chip in my brain yet. But Ray at that time had developed a piece of technology that would actually look at a printed page. It actually had to build it up line by line, so it wasn't like snapping a picture. But it would learn to recognize all the characters on that page, no matter what their type styles or print styles were, and it would read it out loud, called the Kurzweil Reading Machine for the Blind. Just like with blindness and retro-entral fibroblasia, the government didn't believe he could do it because nobody else had been able to do it, and so they wouldn't help fund it. He came to the federation, and the federation said, "Tell you what we're going to do." Ray, I'm not sure they said it quite that way, but tell you what we're going to do, Ray. We're going to send somebody up there with a bunch of material, and if your machine reads what we bring up, not what you want to read, if it reads what we bring up, then we're going to help you get funding. And Ray, I'm sure again it wasn't quite the way he said it, but he said, "Bring it on. They did. It did, and a relationship began that exists to this day-a machine that literally would read print out loud. And Ray wanted the first application of omnivore optical character recognition to be a machine that would read print out loud for blind people. We created a project where we purchased several machines, and then for 18 months, from 1976, in October through June of 1978, I lived in suitcases or out of suitcases in hotels, traveling around the country where we put machines at places like the New York Public Library, the Iowa Commission for the Blind, the San Francisco Public Library, and some other agencies for the blind around the country. Michael Hingson  15:59 The idea being that we wanted blind people to come and use the machine, read whatever they wanted to read, and then give us information about what needed to go into a final production model of the machine. I wrote training curriculum. I wrote the the technical manuals for teaching people how to use the machine. I taught people to use it. I observed people using it. Sometimes grabbed my old soldering gun and fix things that broke on the machines. These were $50,000, 400 pound machines. They weren't little things like an app on an iPhone today, right? So anyway, we finally wrote the final recommendations, and then Ray said, "I want to hire you to come and do the same sort of thing within the company. So I went to work for Ray, moved to Cambridge, Massachusetts. Actually, I learned I moved to Winthrop, Massachusetts, learned how to go from Winthrop to Cambridge every day, and we began a relationship. And I worked at Kurzweil Computer Products, in and that started in again October of 1978. In May of 1978, I was called into the office of the VP of Marketing, and Andrew Parson said, "We're laying you off. What? We're laying you off. Why? Oh, it's not that you're doing a bad job or anything, but unfortunately, like a lot of engineering startup companies, we've hired too many people who aren't revenue producers, and we have to have more revenue producers. And so, as important as your job is, it's not as important as making money for the company. So we have to lay you off. Then he paused and he said, "Unless you'll go into sales. Now, I'm a science guy. However, I thought about it for a micro nanosecond, and I said, "Sure, I'll go into sales. As I love to tell people, I decided I would lower my standards and go from science to sales, and did. I said I don't know anything about sales. He said we'll send you to a Dale Carnegie sales course and all that. Well, I started selling, but not the reading machine for the blind. Instead, I sold a new product they had called the Kurzweil Data Entry Machine, and unlike the reading machine for the blind that sold for $50,000, if you want one, we might be able to find one of the old machines for you for 49 995. Instead, I sold a new product called the Kurzweil Data Entry Machine, which was only $125,000. I guess they had confidence in my ability, and I was very grateful for it. The real reason that I didn't want to refuse the sales position is I knew that at that time, and it's still somewhat today, the unemployment rate among employable blind people is close to 70. That is seven 0% It's not because we can't do the work; it's because people think we won't be able to do the work and don't give us the opportunity. So the bottom line is, I lowered my standards and went from science to sales, and did that for a while. And then in 1981, while Xerox was considering and actually working toward buying the product, I was asked by Ray and the VP of Sales to move back to California, where I was from, to help integrate Kurzweil into the Xerox West Coast environment, including their research center called Palo Alto Area Research Center Park, and I did. And my thanks for that was that after the the whole sale was consummated and Xerox completely took over. I was the last salesperson in June of 1984 to receive a FedEx letter saying thank you for your service, but we don't want you anymore. Goodbye, because all Xerox wanted was the technology. They didn't want the people. Now I was confronted with the situation. How am I going to find a job? What am I going to do? 70% unemployment. and I went out and I wrote lots of cover letters, sent out lots of resumes, and I even got a headhunter who called me and said, "Love your resume. We're going to have you interview with this company up in San Jose, California. We'll send you a ticket. They sent me the ticket the night before the flight. The guy called. Back and he says, "You know, I was just looking at your resume again. I see you do a lot of things with blind people. Michael Hingson  20:04 Is there somebody in your family who's blind? You notice that? And I said, "Yeah, I'm blind. You're blind? Well, I'm going to have to call them. They're not going to want to talk to you. I said, "Nothing has changed. My resume is still the same, but you're blind. It's all changed. No, it hasn't. There were no laws to stand on. The reservation was canceled, and I didn't do the interview. Their loss. If Speaker 3  20:30 you enjoy Unstoppable Mindset and would like to help us continue bringing these conversations to you each week, we've created a way for you to support the show. Your contribution helps us cover production costs and continue sharing stories, insights, and ideas that inspire people to live with purpose and possibility. If supporting the podcast feels right for you, you'll find the link in the show notes. Thank you for being part of the Unstoppable Mindset Community. Michael Hingson  21:02 Eventually, not finding a job, I started my own company selling computer-aided design systems to architects. A blind guy selling CAD systems? Why the heck not? I didn't need to work the machine. What I needed to know was how to work the machine, so I could describe it to architects, and I could sit them down in front of a machine and talk with them and talk them through it. We also hired people to demo CAD systems, and I did that for four years. And then I went back into the workforce. And when I went back into the workforce, my wife and I were talking one day, and she said, "You know, I got this great job I just discovered in the newspaper. It's selling high-end, new, revolutionary, hot, pluggable disc technology. It's perfect for you. You should apply. And I said to my wife Karen, who I had married in 1982. By the way, Karen also had a disability. She was in a wheelchair her whole life. She reads. I push. Worked out well. I said, so do I say in my cover letter I'm blind or not? Because typically, if you say you're blind, same thing will happen with the headhunter. You won't even get a call back if you don't say you're blind. You might get a callback, but then they're going to have all their defenses go up when you show up for the interview. And she said, "You're an idiot. Wives can do that, gentlemen, and it's fine. You're an idiot. Why? What's the most important thing you always said to every salesperson you ever hired, well, I wasn't quite sure which things she was thinking of. I had several things that I always said to salespeople I hired. She said, "You always told every salesperson you ever hired turn here's the operative word perceived liabilities into assets. You ever watch those little cartoons in the newspapers and all that, where the light bulb goes on over your head. Well, that's what happened, and I went and I wrote a cover letter to send with this resume to this company. And here are the last two paragraphs of the letter. The most important thing you need to know about me is that I am blind. As a blind person, I have had to sell all my life just to be able to function and survive. I've had to sell to take my guide dog on airplanes. I didn't tell them that we had to sue one airline because they violated their own policy because they wouldn't let me go on an airplane with my guide dog. I've had to sell to convince people to let me buy a house, move into apartments, sometimes take my guide dog into grocery stores, and do anything else because I was blind, I've always had to sell. So, second paragraph: When you're hiring someone for this job, do you want to hire somebody who comes in and works for eight or 10 hours a day, and then just goes home because the job is over, or do you want to truly hire somebody who understands sales for the science and art that it is, and who sells 24 hours a day as a way of life. Sent off the letter. Waited for two weeks, wondering if I'd get a call or an email. Well, no, not an email, not back then. But in late June 19 or May 1989, I got a call. This is Doug Cooper, head of marketing for Articon. We love your letter. Would you come for an interview? And I said sure. Next day we were down there. I was hired and started on july 2, 1989. Love to start on the second of July, or actually the third of July, because then I got the next day off. It was great. So I went to work for them, and we moved from where we were living in Mission Viejo down to Vista, California. The company was in Carlsbad. I began selling to the East Coast, selling our technologies and other technologies, Sun Microsystems products, and so on. And then in 1996, the owner of the company asked me to move to New York for them because we were selling to Wall Street. Michael Hingson  24:37 Wall Street was always good at getting and demanding and getting what they demanded, and they always said, "If you are a manufacturer and you're selling products to us, we want a representative, not an agent, but we want the company in Wall Street Arena to be able to to hold responsible and deal with. So we moved to New York. And I went to work on the 23rd floor of Tower Two of the World Trade Center, and was there for about a year, and then was recruited away by another company, and it wasn't hard because Articon did not figure out how to support a branch operation. So I was recruited away, and then in 1999 I was recruited away by Quantum Corporation, and now we're getting to what Mary asked about. But I needed to give you the background. Hope it was okay. So in 1999, I was hired to open an office for Quantum Corporation on well in New York City. Quantum was a company that made products called tape libraries. They were big boxes that consisted of tape drives and lots of tape cartridges, and you would attach them to computer networks, and then you would use software like one called Veritas, which is still used today. And what you would do is you would back up all of your data over the network into these tape libraries, onto tape cartridges, and then you would take the tape cartridges out and store them off-site. Now I gotta stop and be spiteful because in New Jersey they love to say that they stored them in a town called Mountainside Under a Mountain. You ever see a mountain in northern New Jersey? I came from California where we had mountains that were eight, 910, 1000 feet tall. They didn't even have decent hills, but they still called it a mountain. That was fine, whatever. They still were able to store the tapes in safe places. But the point is that all the data was backed up off-site, which is what they needed to do. We opened the actual office on august 1, 2000. I hired a staff, and we had a staff that came in and and sold, and we also worked with resellers. And in August of 2001, our main distributor Ingram Micro said, "You know, we got a lot of resellers who are selling your products, but they don't really know how to do it. Can we hold some seminars to teach our your reseller partners, our customers, the resellers, how to sell your product? I said, "You bet. We worked it out with the folks at Quantum. David Frank, who was in charge of pricing and distribution, said he wanted to come back to be a part of the seminars, and we set up doing the seminars. The idea was that we would teach them. I would be their main point of contact since I worked and lived there. David would be the person that I or they would contact without with any pricing issues, but I would be the technical point of contact contact. Master's degree in physics helps, and so we set up the seminars. And wouldn't you know it, we set them up to be held on september 11, 2001. The evening before, or the morning of September 11th, about 12:30, Roselle, my guide dog at the time, woke me up. She was very nervous and fidgety. I knew what it was like when she was fidgety. It was usually because it was a thunderstorm. She didn't like thunder, and we went down to my office. And of course, a thunderstorm did happen, and the storm literally came right over our house. I've never been in an environment where bombs went off around me, but I got to say that in this case, the thunder claps were, as I said, literally right over us, and it had to be like what a bomb sounds like going off. Anyway, it went on till about two, and then we went back up and got a couple more hours of sleep, three more hours of sleep. I got up. We went in and got to the office at about 7:40 in the morning on September 11th. As I came to the door, somebody came up with a cart. It turns out it was a guy from the Port Authority cafeteria. Michael Hingson  28:33 We were going to be providing breakfast and snacks for the first and second seminarians. We had seminars going all day, so we went in. I showed him where I wanted to set up everything in the conference room. I went in, got my laptop computer out of my backpack briefcase. I got my PowerPoint projector, and I went into the conference room and set everything up because I was going to be doing a PowerPoint show that day to give people all the information they needed about the ATLP 3000, the ATLP 1000, and so on. Yes, blind people can do PowerPoint, folks. It's not magic. You sighted bigots. So I had a script, and my wife and I had created the script, and I'd used it many times. The script was in Braille. I knew what was on every slide. We put a couple of things in addition on the script. We put all the wording from the slides on the script, and we also put on the script descriptions of the pictures, as well as where the picture would show up on the screen. So I would, for example, when we showed this to other customers around the city, I'd blow their minds because I would be doing the presentation. My sales guys loved it when I went out and did PowerPoint presentations because I could just point over my shoulder. On the left side of your screen, you'll see the ATLP 3000 with 16 cartridge, 16 drives, 326. Cartridges, and you see the label that says Prism Technology. We could hook five of them together. On the right side of your screen, you'll see the ATLP 1000, which was a single unit with 30 cartridges and one tape drive. And people would come up to me afterwards, and they say, "You know, we're ticked at you. I go, "Why? Well, first of all, your presentation was not boring, which usually they are. But second of all, you never turned and looked at the screen. You kept looking at us, even though you were pointing right to where everything was with your laser pointer. We didn't dare fall asleep. We forgot you were blind. And my response was, "You don't get it. My dog was down here taking notes. If you'd fallen asleep, we would have got you anyway. But that was what it was about. My responsibility was to be the leader of that office, and I had to do what anyone else would do. One of the main things that I did was spend hours, days walking around the World Trade Center, learning what the kiosks were in the shopping mall on the first floor, learning where different offices were, consulting with the Port Authority police and the fire prevention people learning what to do in case of an emergency because sometimes I might be in the office all by my little self. There would be nobody else around. I didn't want my staff in the office. I wanted them out selling and working and supporting customers. Not being in the office, of course, they did usually come in at least once a week. And and so I learned never watched The Sopranos, but I got to tell you, I learned more about the Sopranos from all the Italian Americans on my staff who talked about the Sopranos constantly. Bada bing, bada boom, and I learned a whole lot about Tony Soprano without ever watching the show. But the point is that I needed to know all that stuff. I needed to know where the restaurants were. Customers come into the office. Oh, you want to go out to lunch? What kind of food do you want? There's a great deli downstairs called Fine and Shapiro. Let me take you there. How would it have looked if I didn't know how to do that, and I had to say to someone, "You're going to have to let me take your arm and lead me there because I don't know how to get there, and two hours later we're supposed to be negotiating multi-million dollar contracts? No, I needed to know it. I didn't have the luxury, and I don't regard it as a luxury. I regard it as a disability of reading signs. I needed to know all of that stuff. What I didn't realize is that was creating a mindset in me, which I'll talk about in a moment. Michael Hingson  32:15 Anyway, got all the laptop projectors and everything set up. The only thing I knew I didn't know how to do extremely well is to get it exactly aimed right, but about 8o'clock, David Frank came in and I said, "Say, David, this is all set up, but let's aim the projector just exactly where you want it on the screen. And we did have to turn it just a little bit, but not too much. But anyway, at 845, I was in my office and David was with me. We were creating a final list of all the people who were going to be attending the seminars, because the Port Authority police, the security people, needed to know who was coming. There were two ways you could get into the building: either we faxed on letterhead a list of people who were coming on any given day, and then the people coming in would show their photo IDs, and it would be verified against the list. And if they were allowed in, then they would be given a badge that they would put over their neck, and they would carry that, and they could scan barcode and go into the appropriate elevator to come onto our floor, or they'd have to call us every time somebody came in. And I didn't want a lot of phone calls coming in, so we were faxing the list. I was reaching for Letterhead to fax to to print the list on Letterhead when suddenly I heard and felt kind of a muffled thump and a vibration. And then literally, if you any blind people in the room, well, I'll do it anyway. I'm holding up my hand, and what happened was that literally, as I'm now tipping my hand toward you, the building began to tip. We probably moved about 20 feet. The building kept tipping and tipping. David and I said together, "What's going on? I don't know. What's going on? What do you think? Was it an explosion? I said. David said, "Didn't sound like it. Is it an earthquake? David was from New York, and now he's living in California. He didn't know about earthquakes. I said, "No, the building wasn't shaking around. It was going in one direction. And finally, and I went over and I stood in the doorway between my office and the the outside lobby of our our offices, and I stood there. Roselle was asleep under my desk. David was just on the other side of my desk, holding it near our windows, looking out over Manhattan, the south side of Manhattan. And finally, David and I both said goodbye to each other because we thought we had moved so far that the building was going to take a 78 floor plunge to the street. And then the building slowed down, and it stopped, and it moved back. As soon as it got vertical, I started walking back into the office. I met Roselle coming around from under my desk. I took her leash. I said "heel, which meant to come around behind me to sit and lie down, which is what I would normally have Alamo do, but he's comfortable, so we'll just leave him there. Roselle sat down, and about that time. The building dropped straight down about six feet. Why did it drop down? Because tall buildings like that literally are springs. They're made to flex in windstorms and other things like that. An Empire, an airplane hit the Empire State Building in the 1940s because it got lost in a fog bank. Tall buildings are flexible. They have expansion joints, and when the building was hit, the expansion joints took up all of the the things that were going on. And then when the building got straight again, the expansion joints dropped back down to their normal configuration. I knew that because I had talked to people about stuff like that. I'd forgotten it until later, but I knew it. What I hadn't realized is that what was happening when I was learning so much stuff was that a mindset was being developed in me that said, "You know what to do in an emergency. And as soon as the building dropped, David turned and looked out the window and started shouting, "Oh my God, Mike! There's fire and smoke over us! There were millions of pieces of burning paper falling outside the windows. Michael Hingson  35:59 We got to get out of here right now! Slow down, David. No, we got to get out of here. The building's on fire. I could hear things rushing and brushing outside our windows, and now I knew what they were. David told me millions of pieces of burning paper, right? And I didn't smell any smoke. Roselle wasn't doing anything to indicate any concern, and David kept saying, "We got to get out of here. The building's on fire. And I kept saying, "Slow down. Our guests began to scream. We had like five or six who were in our conference room. Early arrivals. They started coming out, but then they heard me say, "Slow down, stop, David. Just wait. And they waited to see what was going to happen. And finally, David used the big line: "You don't understand. You can't see Speaker 4  36:37 it. The Michael Hingson  36:38 problem wasn't what I wasn't seeing, the problem was what David wasn't seeing-a dog sitting next to me, wagging her tail, yawning, going, "Who the heck woke me up? I was comfy, not giving any indication of fear. And I eventually got David to focus, and I said, "David, get our guests to the stairs. Don't let them take the elevators, because I knew if there's fire, especially because if there's fire, the elevators could become fire traps. The fire could get into the elevator shafts, which it did, and anybody in the cars would be burned. David left with our guests, got them to the stairs. Meanwhile, I called Karen and told her that there had been an explosion or something. We had no clue. There was no way to know. I love it. Reporters, even today, and other people say, "Well, of course you didn't know you couldn't see it. Excuse me, you numbskulls. The last time I checked, Superman and X-ray vision were fiction, and the airplane hit 18 floors above us on the other side of the building. No one knew. All the way down the stairs, we didn't know because no one saw it. No one knew. Anyway, I called and told Karen she wanted to know more. I said, "I don't know anything else. I've got to go because we're not staying here. We knew instantly that we had to leave, but we got our guests out. Then David came back. We swept the offices one last time. Went to the stairs and we started down. If I knew it was the last time I was going to be in the building, I would have taken a couple of things that I didn't take. Like I had a really neat talking scientific calculator that I couldn't replace. And if I had known that I wasn't coming back, I would have taken it. It would have been a little heavier, but I would have taken it anyway. We started down the stairs. There were other people, of course, on the stairs. We got down about four floors, and I was smelling an odor. I couldn't quite figure it out, and suddenly I realized I'm smelling the fumes from burning jet fuel. I traveled 100,000 miles a year for my company. I knew what the odor of jet fuel was like. I knew the kerosene smell, but it took a while to associate it with the World Trade Center because no one would have ever thought you would have smelled it there. When I realized what it was, I observed to the other people around me on the stairs, "I'm smelling the fumes from burning jet fuel. And they said, "Yeah, you're right. That's what it is. We must have been hit by an airplane. You understand? Nobody knew. We must have been hit because of what we're smelling, so we all accepted that that was what was going on, but we had no clue. We continued down the stairs, about 10 floors down. At one point, a woman stopped right behind me, and she said, "I can't go on. I can't breathe. We're not going to make it out. And I stopped and turned around and said, "Sure, we are. Come on, this is my guide dog Roselle. He's guiding me, and and she'll encourage you. Roselle gave her kisses, and this lady gave Roselle a few pets, and so on. And other people surrounded her, and we had a group hug, and the lady was able to keep going. A few burn victims passed us on the stairs as we went down. At about the 50th floor, David, who had gotten a little quiet. Suddenly said, "Mike, we're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. Now you heard that I have a teaching credential. What you don't know, and teachers won't generally acknowledge it, but I'm going to tell you anyway. There's a secret class we take called Voice 101: How to Yell at Students. Didn't know that, did you? And anyway, as soon as David. Said Mike, "We're going to die. We're not going to make it out of here. I just said as sharply and with a snap into my voice that I could, "Stop it, David! If Rosella and I can go down these stairs, so can you. And David told me later that that brought him out of his funk. Michael Hingson  40:12 What he then said is, "I got to keep my mind off this. I want to walk a floor below you and shout up to you what I see on the stairs. Is that okay? And I said, sure. Did I really need him to do that? No. Did it matter? No, but it did to David. However, what I came to realize over time was, David doing that was one of the most important things that I experienced on that day. So I'm going down the stairs. I get to floor 49. David, I'm on the 48th floor. All's clear here, Mike. Going on down. I get to 48 floor, 47. We keep going down. Finally, I get to the 45th floor, David. I'm on the 44th floor. This is where the Port Authority cafeteria is. Not stopping. So David was obviously doing better, and he kept going down. Why do I say what I did about David and doing that? Because David became a focal point for anyone within the sound of his voice who could hear him say, "43rd floor, all's clear, everything is good. He had to have helped 1000s of people stay focused and not panic going down the stairs, and I think that was so cool that he did that all the way down 42nd floor, all good. We kept going down the stairs. We met firefighters on the 30th floor. They wanted to escort me down, and I finally convinced them that I was capable of going down without them. And I did it by playing the sight card. I said, "Look, my friend David is here. He can see we're good, and the firefighters let us go. I didn't want them to escort me. First of all, they don't know how to work with a blind guy and do sighted guide. But second of all, I didn't want to break up their team because I knew that each of those people were carrying the equipment that they had to use to fight the fire. You couldn't store it somewhere. Where would you store it? Oh, the 34th floor. And what happens if a fire broke out on the 33rd floor, you couldn't get to it. You had to carry the equipment, so we kept going down the stairs. Finally, got to the first floor. David got there, and I was at floor two. And he said, "Hey, there are water sprinklers running. You're going to have to run through a waterfall or a down torrent of water to get out of the stairwell. Why was there all that water? Because it wanted to keep fire either in or out of the stairs, if fire was around. David ran through. Then I got to the bottom. Roselle stood there, and I picked up her harness and said, "Rosel, forward, hop up, which is a command to speed up. We went through this torrential downpour. It was a waterfall, and we came out the other side, soaking. David was there, and there were voices. Hey, don't go outside! No, no, don't go that way. Go this way. A PA system, a guy on a bullhorn. No, no, no! Don't go outside. Don't go to the outside. Go this way. What we didn't know is, if they had let people go out, they might have been right below where people were jumping. And so that was one of the reasons they didn't want anyone out. They wanted people to go through the complex and get out at the far side, as far away from where everything was occurring that they could. This guy comes up to us and he goes, "I'm with the FBI. I'll get you where you need to go. And of course, I'm sitting there with my warped sense of humor, going, "I'm sorry, I only talked to McGarrett, and I didn't do it. I'm innocent. I just thought that I didn't say any of it out loud. Anyway, he got us through out to the outside of Tower One. We passed now the empty Ben and Jerry's ice cream kiosk that was there. Darn didn't get a chance for a scoop. Kept going. Finally, went up an escalator and got outside into the sunshine outside of Tower. Well, of the whole complex, as far away from the towers as we could be, we got outside. Michael Hingson  43:44 We were told to leave the area, but David looked around and he said, "Mike, I see fire in Tower Two. And I said, "What are you talking about? There's fire in Tower Two, really? What's that all about? We didn't feel a thing going down. We were in our own little cocoon, our own little cave. We had no clue. Anyway, we were told to leave, so we went to Broadway. We walked across the plaza to Broadway, turn left, going now north on Broadway. There was a building on my left. Broadway was on my right. We crossed several streets, crossed Fulton Street, finally got to Vetsy Street. David said, "I want to stop because I can see the fire in Tower Two really clearly from here, I want to take some pictures, and I said, "Great, I'll try to call my wife. I got out my phone. David was taking pictures, which I have today. I tried to call Karen. I couldn't get through. Later, of course, we learned that people were saying goodbye to loved ones, and that was why the circuits were busy. I had just put my phone away, and a police officer, and while David was putting his camera away, and a police officer yelled out of here! It's coming down now. We heard this rumble that became this deafening roar. I describe it as kind of a combination of a freight train and a waterfall. You could hear glass breaking and tinkling, and metal crashing down, and then this white noise sound as Tower Two, 100 yards away from. Pancake down. Everyone turned and ran. David ran. He was gone. I literally lifted Roselle by the harness, turned her 180 degrees, and started running back the way we came. And the first thing I remember saying in my mind was, "God, I cannot believe that you got us out of a building just to have it fall on us. And as soon as I thought that, I heard in my head as clearly as you hear me now, a voice that said, "Don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. Who is God? Absolutely no question. Don't worry about what you can't control. Focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. And so I also had this incredible sense of peace and calm that came over me. That said, you're okay if you work together. We kept running. We got back to Fulton Street, turned right on Fulton Street, and ran about 25 yards. And suddenly we caught up to David, who had apparently gone the same way. And David suddenly realized that he had left us behind and he was going to come back, but we caught up to him first, and he apologized. I said, "David, don't worry about it. Let's just keep going. The building's coming down, you know. And we both just started to run with Roselle, and suddenly we were engulfed in all the dirt and debris and the dust cloud from Tower Two. It was so thick that David said he couldn't see his hand six inches in front of his face, and all I can tell you is that every breath I took, I felt dirt and debris and junk going down my throat into my stomach, and we knew we had to get out of that. So I started telling Roselle, "Go right, right. There was a building on our right side, and I wanted her to find the nearest opening if she could even hear me, see my hand signals, or whatever. And I was also listening for openings. Yes, I can hear when I pass an opening, and I and I can tell it's there and deal with it accordingly. Like during a time when you're running away from a collapsing building, run into it. Suddenly, I heard an opening on the right, and Roselle must have known what I wanted. She must have been able to see my hand signals or something because she turned right, she took one step, she stopped, and she would not move. Come on, Roselle, keep going. She wouldn't move. Come on, Roselle. Nope, wouldn't do it. And I realized, focus on running with Roselle, and the rest will take care of itself. So I stuck out a foot. Michael Hingson  47:13 I trailed a hand along a wall, and realized that we were at the top of a flight of stairs. Roselle had done exactly what she was supposed to do, and I knew what I was supposed to do if I wanted to get her to move. But before I did that, I gave her a big hug, good girl, and then I said, "Roselle, forward! That's the command. And we went down the stairs into an arcade area that was the entrance to the Fulton Street subway station. There were a few other people down there. Then a guy came up from the subway system and saw about eight or nine of us there. He introduced himself as Lou, an employee of the subway system, and he took us down to an employee locker room where we could sit down and and kind of hack and cough and get the dust out of our lungs. There was a water fountain and there were fans. We were there about 10 minutes. Then a police officer came, and he said, "You got to get out of here right now. The air's clear up above. You can't stay here. And so we followed him. Of course, he probably had already been told that Tower One was going to collapse. the The officials knew that each building was going to collapse probably about a half hour before it actually did. At least that was their presumption, and that's what I've been told. Anyway, we followed him back up the stairs, through the arcade, up the last two flights of stairs. We got outside. David looked around and he goes, "Oh my God, Mike, there's no Tower Two anymore. And I said, "What do you see? And he said, "All I see are pillars of smoke, hundreds of feet tall. We stood there for a moment, and then we just turned, and we kept walking. Now west on Fulton Street, we walked about 10 minutes, and we were in this little plaza area when we heard that freight train waterfall sound again, and we knew it must be our tower collapsing. We saw a little retaining wall David did, and we got behind it and ducked down, and we waited until everything stopped, and then we stood back up. And David looked around and he said, "Oh my God, Mike, there's no World Trade Center anymore. And I said, "What do you see? And he said, "I just see fingers of fire and flame, hundreds of feet tall. We see, I see pillars of smoke. It's gone. Are you sure? Yeah, it's gone. It's not there. We stood there a moment, then I tried to call my wife Karen again. That was kind of my first thought. I need to tell her we're okay. This time I did get through because clearly the circuits were were free. And after some tears on both sides of the phone, she is the one who told us how two aircraft had deliberately been hijacked and crashed into the towers, one into the Pentagon, and a fourth at that time was still missing over Pennsylvania. Who would have thought? We spent the rest of that day getting up toward Midtown Manhattan, and eventually I got to Penn Station, learned that the trains were running, and went back. Out to New Jersey, David wanted to go back up to be with his sister, who he who he was staying with. She lived on the Upper East Side, so I got on trains and I went back over toward New Jersey. I called Karen and told her what was going on, and a friend of ours, a friend that Karen had known since high school out in California, Tom Painter, was also living in New Jersey, he had come down to be with her, not even knowing at the time whether I was in the World Trade Center or working from home that day or whatever. But he drove her to the station in our accessible van, and as I came off the train, I heard the van show up. I went downstairs, climbed and went up the ramp into the van, and got to hug Karen about 7o'clock that night, for the first time since leaving home, we got home. Tom drove us home. We all went inside. I was going to take Roselle outside because she hadn't been out since like five that morning. Michael Hingson  50:53 Well, I take that back about six that morning, and I took her harness off. But before I could do anything else, she was off like a shot. She went to her toy box, found her favorite tug bone, and started playing tug of war with my retired guide dog Linny. Why? Because it was over for her. And I talked to the guide dog people later, and I said, "Will any of this affect her? And they said, "Was she threatened? Did anything hit her or injure her in any way, and I said no. They said then no. It was over for her because dogs don't do what if. It was over. It was done. She was fine. Lesson to be learned. Lesson you will learn more about if you buy our new book, Live Like a Guide Dog: True Stories from a Blind Man and His Guide his dogs about being brave, overcoming adversity, and walking in faith. That that book is available for pre-order, and I've been signing bookmarks all day. I still even have a few with me. But the point is, you can pre-order it, and and it's about something that I learned later. I thought about during the pandemic. I've talked a lot about escaping and not being afraid because I developed a mindset that said you know what to do, but what I've not done is to teach others how they can learn to recognize that fear is not something that needs to blind or overwhelm you. You can use fear as a very powerful tool to guide you and steer you in the right direction if you know how to control it, and live like a guide dog is all about that. So I hope that you'll all get that when it comes out in August. But again, you can pre-order it now if you go to michaelhinkston.com. There's a link there where you can go to a web page to get information and to go to a link where you can pre-order it. And like I said, I have some bookmarked with a QR code on it, and and I'm and I yes I am plugging the book, but I'm also saying, look, folks, the bottom line is we operate in so many ways with misconceptions about things. I've talked about blindness. Anybody could have been in the World Trade Center, and and a lot of people were. The reality is, though, if you learn what to do and how to prepare for situations in general, when it becomes something specific, you'll know what to do. People have asked a number of times, "Well, wasn't your guide dog trained to operate in an emergency like the World Trade Center? How are we going to do that? No, the dog isn't trained to do that. The guide dog's job is not to lead. Guide dogs do not lead blind people. Guide dogs' jobs are to make sure that we walk safe. It's my job to know where to go and how to get there to give the dog direction. The dog depends and relies on me to give it direction. The dog's job, as I said, is to make sure we walk safely. It's a team effort. We each have a job to do, and we develop a trusting relationship when we learn to trust each other and respect the job the other member of the team is doing, which is what it's all about. Which is what happens on any team, trust is all around us. Trust is under attack in so many ways from our politicians, and in so many ways. But the reality is, trust is all around us. I think we all trust that the roof isn't going to fall in on the church. I think that we trust that the PA system is going to continue to work, and so on. Trust is all around us. The difference between dogs and people is that dogs, while they do love unconditionally, do not trust unconditionally. But dogs are open to trust unless some incredibly traumatic thing has happened to them where they lose that ability. But dogs are open to trust, dogs want humans to give them direction to establish rules, and all too often with our pets and so on, we don't do that. We don't really develop the relationship that we should and can with them. Michael Hingson  54:54 If we would, we would have so much stronger bond and relationships with them. It would be. Amazing for for all of us, but the bottom line is that's the relationship that I get with each guide dog. That's the relationship I have with Alamo. He trusts that I am going to feed him before too awfully long. He trusts that you guys are going to buy books, so he'll have kibbles for me to feed him. Just saying, but but seriously, the the trust has to be earned with a dog or with people or whatever, and if you find that you you discover you can't trust someone, don't wish them ill will, forgive them and move on. So you don't trust them, but you know what you have, and you go off and make new friends and learn other trusting relationships that you can develop. Focus on running with Roselle; the rest will take care of itself. The reality is, we worry so much about so many things. We are always doing what if we create most of the fears that we face in our lives, and we Don't need to do that. If we would focus on just the things that we have some control over and leave the rest alone, well, we might want to be aware of them, but we don't have to worry about them. We don't have control over them. Trust and deal with the things that you have to deal with, and let the rest take care of itself. And that was what I learned on September 11th, listening to the voice of God, absolutely, and that is something that I pass on to all of you, and I think that's the most important thing that I can leave you with. Hi again, everyone. This is Mike Hingson. I hope that you found that speech to be helpful and relevant and interesting. I hope that you learn some things from it. From a personal standpoint, I hope that you learn that blindness isn't really the big problem that I face. The challenge that I face really comes from the fact that people who have eyesight tend to believe that blind people are not capable of doing much because they can't see. Wrong thing to believe. I'm not going to spend a lot of time on that because we did it during the speech, but I just wanted to thank you for being here today, for listening and watching this episode. I hope that you will also tune in for our episode on Tuesday, where I'm in conversation with Michelle Abraham on next Friday, the 11th of September, that you will tune in to hear the conversation with Bob Ellis, and then episode 475, which will occur on the 15th of September, where we will talk about lessons to be learned and and give you some things to hopefully take away that maybe you haven't thought about. Thanks very much for being here with us. I really very much appreciate all of your support. If any of you have any questions or want to reach out to me, you are welcome to do so. Please feel free to email me at speaker@michaelhinkson.com. That's s p e a k e r at m i c h a e l h i n g s o n.com speaker@michaelhingson.com hope to hear from you and as you gather I do speak I continue to speak publicly I've been a keynote speaker since September 11 if anybody knows of anyone that needs a keynote speaker or you can use us in events that you have please reach out to me at speaker@michaelhingson.com let's talk about it. Let's see how we can help. I'm always looking for ways to inspire, but also to teach and help. And I'd like to be part of your world in that regard. Thanks again for being here. Thanks for listening, and come back next time for another episode of Unstoppable Mindset.

The following audio was recorded live at the KGB Bar on August 12th, 2026, with guests Suzanne Palmer & Kailee Pedersen Support the Fantastic Fiction at KGB series by clicking here!​​​​​​​​​​​​ ​​ Suzanne Palmer Suzanne Palmer has won Hugo Awards for her novelettes, “The Secret Life of Bots” and “Bots of the Lost Ark”, and the Theodore Sturgeon Memorial Award for her novella Waterlines. Her latest novel, Ode to the Half-Broken, is a standalone SF tale about a retired old war mech living in the old Botanical Garden in the ruins of New York City. She also completed her four-book series, The Finder Chronicles, about an interstellar repo man. She is currently working on new things, both short and long, as one does. & Kailee Pedersen Kailee Pedersen is the author of queer poetry chapbook Pastorale and the Midwestern Gothic novel Sacrificial Animals, which was named one of the New York Public Library's Best Books of 2024 and a finalist for Best Horror at the 2025 Libby Book Awards. Adopted from Nanning, China, she works as a software engineer and opera singer in New York City. The Minimalist is her second novel.

Nick Jeffery and freshly Shorn & Clean Shaven John Granger sit down to discuss John's two posts about the symbolism of the Letter ‘G' in Strike 8. Part One of the series did the necessary work of demonstrating that, yes, the letter ‘G' is all over Hallmarked Man, from the online guess that the murderer carved that initial into ‘William Wright's back to the Witness G echoing with Green-jacked Gorilla-bearing man and a bit of calligraphic terrorism on the Agency door at street-level. The first also covered the accepted Masonic interpretations of why the ‘G' is featured in the Compass and Square symbolism of their fraternity.Part Two was a deep dive into more esoteric meanings given to the ‘G' by Freemasons and by Rene Guenon, notable Perennialist, and into what associations Rowling-Galbraith tried to make between the seventh letter and the key hallmark of the book. It concluded with three answers to “So What?” including some fun speculation about a possible shape for the series, a shape highlighted in Strike 8, and with a discussion of whether Rowling-Galbraith's subliminal artistry with ‘G' worked or failed.Perhaps the biggest take-away of this series of posts was to introduce subliminal coloration as the common denominator of Rowling-Galbraith's signature seven Shed tools. Nick and John open their conversation about the letter ‘G' with that subject and everything they discuss in the end folds back into that covert artistry.As always, the Dynamic Duo covet your comments and feedback as the best follow-up to their conversation. Please jump right in!Hogwarts Professor is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.The Ten Questions and Relevant Links1. Okay, John, let's talk coloration. You mentioned some examples in famous authors' work in Part One of your deep dive into Letter G Symbolism in Hallmarked Man; do we have coloration in Harry Potter? Another Strike novel? * ‘Donegality' in Planet Narnia, Michael Ward, the subliminal artistry of C. S. Lewis' Narniad;* From ‘Literary Alchemy: Sacred Science, Sacred Art, and the Alembic of Story'C. S. Lewis, according to Michael Ward, author of Planet Narnia, also felt appreciating the “manner of the author,” his “various special tricks,” especially those connected to creating atmosphere, were critical to understanding the style of the Greats.Again and again, in defending works of romance, Lewis argues that it is the quality or tone of the whole story that is its main attraction. The invented world of romance is conceived with this kind of qualitative richness because romancers feel the real world itself to be ‘cryptic, significant, full of voices, and the mystery of life.' Lovers of romances go ‘back to fruit tree for its taste; to an air for… what? For itself; to a region for its whole atmosphere – to Donegal for its Donegality and London for its Londonness' (Ward, 16).Donegal was one of Lewis'favorite vacation spots as a child in Northern Ireland. Ward defined Lewis' stylistic atmosphere as his ‘Donegality:'By donegality we mean to denote the spiritual essence or quiddity of a work of art as intended by the artist and inhabited unconsciously by the reader. The donegality of the story is its peculiar and deliberated atmosphere or quality; its pervasive and purposed integral tone or flavor; its tutelary but tacit spirit, a spirit that that the author consciously sought to conjure, but which was designed to remain implicit in the matter of the text… the more influentially to inform the work and so affect the reader (Ward 75).Ward's concern is especially with Lewis' character Aslan, in whom this donegality is “concentrated and consummated” as a “Christologically representative character” (Idem), but the thesis of Planet Narnia is that the “kappa-element,”[xiv] Lewis' phrase for the informing, hidden “tutelary but tacit” style of a work, is astrological symbolism, each of the Narnia chronicles representing one of the seven traditional planets. Ward argues that Lewis' subliminal artistry, the “inner weave” or style of his work in Nabokovian language, is the embedded mythological and astral metaphors to be found beneath the surface of each story. Twain is supposed to have said, “”If you would have your fiction live forever, you must neither overtly preach nor overtly teach, but you must covertly preach and covertly teach.” Lewis, believing as he did that “an influence which cannot evade our consciousness will not go very deep” (Lewis no date), wrote in astrological glyphs to reach covertly his reader's unconscious depths or noetic heights.* ‘The Eyes of Deathly Hallows' in The Deathly Hallows Lectures, John Granger, and, briefly, here, and 2010 lecture at New York Public Library; and* ‘The Cross Symbolism of Troubled Blood,' John Granger2. You list those eyes and crosses and I confess it didn't strike me on my first and repeated readings that there were so many of those. What made you notice all the ‘G's in Strike 8? * I confess that I didn't make anything of the letter ‘G's repeated appearances in Hallmarked Man until I saw that Rene Guenon, the most famous and profoundly metaphysical of the first 20th Century Perennialists, had written a brief essay in his youth, ‘The Letter G and the Swastika.' I made that discovery inadvertently when looking for something else in Fundamental Symbols, a posthumous collection of his writing (downloadable as pdf here).3. Let's play ‘Name a G passage;' I'll start with the G supposedly carved into William Wright's back and you name another until we're both out of examples... Robin's research into the death of ‘William Wright' in the Ramsey Silver shop vault begins with an online observer saying out of the blue that a ‘G' was carved into the victim's back and that this was tied to the Secret Word of Freemasonry and the legend of Hiram Abiff's martyrdom. Rowling-Galbraith has Robin mention this to Murphy at their first unofficial briefing on the case and Murphy all but explodes; he denies it was a ‘G' and says he heard it was a “hallmark” instead.The letter is associated with Freemasonry as their symbolic center (GAOTU) via a telephone message and in Strike's meeting with ‘Hiram' Hardacre.We learn after Robin's being attacked in Harrow's that she was ‘Witness G' in her rapist's trial, the letter being to her something like a secret identity.Strike not long thereafter finds a blood Red Letter ‘G' painted on the street level door to the Agency which he hopes is a Masonic terrorist marker rather than the pointed suggestion that the Angel of Death is coming for Witness G.I'd add that the Gorilla mask and doll of the Green jacket man that haunt Robin have some of their subliminal effect on her and the reader because of the initial guttoral sound of ‘Gorilla' and ‘Green.'4. The Freemason connection is the most interesting one even though the Masonic G isn't carved into Powell's back (it's a Salem Cross and the only other twice played symbol is the orb and cross pendant Strike buys for the charm bracelet Christmas present). Who knew that the capital ‘G' was such a big deal in Masonry? 5. At the end of Part One, I thought you'd pretty much covered the symbolism and were going to close in Part Two with what God and Geometry are about in Hallmarked Man, hence the coloration. Instead you wrote that the G being a one-letter acronym wasn't enough. Why not? * not Masonic -- no edges! * not ancient Greek, Hebrew, or Sanskrit, * not tied to craft symbolism, * not a symbol!, * the catechism answer “By letters four and science five, this G aright doth stand in due art and proportion'.”6. So was Guenon's essay the key to Rowling's use of the letter ‘G'? * Yes and no!* His Symbolism of the Cross, Lord of the World, and The Great Triad chapters help a lot but from ‘The Letter G and the Swastika' we learn that * yod is God is gamma, * catechism answer means four gammas or four yodhs which both yield swastikas (gammadion cross), * GAOTUmeans Christ the keystone/cornerstone, * the sequence of jumps from letter ‘G' to Murphy's Salem Cross...7. Who backed Guenon up on this connection so you weren't using the Perennialist hammer to drive in a screw or fasten a bolt? * Cockburn, Crypto Curry, Albert Pike (via Tamara/Tamspells!)8. If I accept the preponderance of ‘G's in Hallmarked Man as coloration/Donegality (I do) and the meaning of the symbolism per your readers (I'm withholding skeptical judgement), what effect was this supposed to have on me the reader so I can tell you if it worked or not? If it was supposed to confuse me, boffo job! * Nabokovian potustoronost, * numinous quality in the air, * Robin as ‘Witness G, ‘* Strike channeling Tyler Powell at finish in Ironbridge9. Will we see Freemasonry and its symbolism in Strikes 9 and 10? Maybe! [Rowling-Galbraith] certainly has made us long for a big pay-off with respect to ‘G;' see Sarah Keeler's idea that it may be a pointer to Gillespie reappearing in Strike 9. I love that possibility and it certainly is in keeping with the HogwartsProfessor working thesis that Hallmarked Man is what it is to set up the next two books. If we're going to see characters and themes bleed between the first book of the last three and its successors, why not its symbolism?If I had to bet money on it, though, I think we probably won't see more Freemasonry or Big ‘G' payoffs. It kills me to say that given the investment I've made in books about the Masons (they're on a shelf beneath the dust-collecting little library on Mormon history and scriptures I collected while writing about Stephenie Meyers' Twilight books). I just cannot see her weaving the Mason characters from Hallmarked Man into story lines that give us resolution with respect to Charlotte's and Leda's supposed suicides twenty some years apart, Shanker's family history, and the mysteries around Strike's time with the military police, especially the IED that nearly killed him.10. I thought you promised not to get into the Strike Series Shape Sweepstakes? You've already said you think it's a seven part ring with a triangle-trilogy addendum and in Part Two you give us a Harry Potter shape for the decalogy structure -- or is it Christmas Pig? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit hogwartsprofessor.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to Episode 266, featuring an Author Spotlight with Jennifer (Jenny) Putzi, a leading scholar of nineteenth-century American women's writing. She talks with us about her captivating new book, THE RECONSTRUCTION DIARY OF FRANCES ANNE ROLLIN: A Critical Edition, which is out now from UNC Press. Jenny is also co-director of the Black Women's Diaries Project, an exciting digital humanities initiative with a public website that will launch this November. In our “Just Read” segment, we talk about: “The History of Sound” short story in the collection THE HISTORY OF SOUND by Ben Shattuck THE SECRET OF SNOW by Tina Harnesk, translated by Alice Menzies “The Killers” by Ernest Hemingway In #BiblioAdventures, we recap Christopher Myers' wonderful presentation of his new family memoir, ROBERT SHAW: An Actor's Life on the Set of Jaws and Beyond, at Mystic Seaport Museum. We spill the tea on what actor Robert Shaw, a lifelong reader and an award-winning author, thought about the novel JAWS by Peter Benchley. We also talk about: Couch Biblio Adventures: Not Dead Yet/Confessions of a Forty-Something F**k Up and Margo's Got Money Troubles. Bookstore visits: The Curious Cat Bookshop, a new B&N, Ink Fish Books, and The Yellow House Public libraries: Southington Library, The George Hail Free Library, the Daniel Albert Piercy Library, and the main branch of the New York Public Library. As always, we talk about more books (and screen adaptations) than are listed here. Thanks for listening, and we wish you lots of Happy Reading! https://www.bookcougars.com/blog-1/2026/episode266

In this inspiring episode of the Reading With Your Kids Podcast, Jed welcomes two incredible creators whose stories celebrate history, heart, and big dreams. First, Jed chats with Emma Otheguy, author of the new middle grade novel Adventure in the City of Stories. Emma takes us to New York City in 1930, a moment when skyscrapers were racing into the sky, the subway was rapidly expanding, and Latino literary luminaries like Pura Belpré, Gabriela Mistral, and Arturo Schomburg were quietly changing history. Through time-traveling cousins Jorge, Segi, and Camila, Emma uses adventure and magic to help kids explore immigration, identity, and the power of stories—without the dry textbook feel. She also shares how reading memoirs and digging into old fire insurance maps at the New York Public Library helped her bring the past to vivid life. Then we travel (in the present!) to Chile to meet Fernanda Frick, creator of the middle grade graphic novel Raise the Bar. Fernanda introduces us to Sam Sánchez, a teen who dreams of becoming an Olympic weightlifter, even when the odds—and the adults—say it's nearly impossible. Fernanda talks about researching elite athletes, drawing thousands of panels, and turning a canceled animated series into a richer, more honest book that tackles burnout, pressure, and choosing your own path. This episode is a celebration of reading together, dreaming big, and truly seeing our kids—whether they're curled up with a novel or chasing an Olympic barbell.

David Voss (1938–1991) was one of the foundational figures in the development of contemporary dance in Minnesota. A composer, musician, dancer, choreographer, and beloved teacher, he helped shape generations of artists through his work with the University of Minnesota Dance Program and Minnesota Dance Theatre. His influence extended far beyond choreography; he was known for his extraordinary musicality, intellectual curiosity, and deep commitment to nurturing dancers as artists.Born and raised in south Minneapolis, Voss studied music at the University of Minnesota before beginning what became a lifelong relationship with dance. While accompanying classes for Loyce Houlton, he was encouraged to study modern dance himself, eventually becoming an integral artist with Houlton's Contemporary Dance Playhouse, which evolved into Minnesota Dance Theatre. Over the following decades, he composed music, danced, choreographed, and taught, becoming one of the defining artistic voices of Minnesota's dance community. Voss joined the University of Minnesota faculty in 1972, where his teaching profoundly influenced generations of dancers. As a choreographer, he created more than sixty works and was recognized for his ability to bridge music and movement with remarkable sensitivity. He was also an internationally respected guest artist, teaching and creating work in Australia and New Zealand. David Voss died of AIDS on June 22, 1991, at the age of 53. Even after his death, his legacy endured. The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts requested his choreographic films and had planned to include him in its Oral History Project documenting dancers affected by AIDS, recognizing the significance of his contributions to American dance. 

Claire Vaye Watkins was born in Bishop, California and raised in the Mojave Desert on the Amargosa River. A graduate of the University of Nevada Reno, she earned her MFA from the Ohio State University in 2010. Claire is the author of three novels—Gold Fame Citrus, I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness, and Yellow Pine—and the short story collection Battleborn. She has received the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame, as well as fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. Her fiction and essays have appeared in Alta, One Story, The Believer, The Paris Review, Tin House, McSweeny's, BOMB, The New Republic,Either/Or, Freeman's, New York Magazine, The Nevada Independent, The New York Times and elsewhere. She is was included in Granta's “Best Young American Novelists” and the National Book Foundation's “5 Under 35.” Claire is on the board of the Amargosa Conservancy and a professor in the Programs in Writing at the University of California, Irvine. She lives in Orange County and the Mojave Desert.  Claire joins Barbara DeMarco-Barrett to talk about voice, perfectionism, weaving in backstory, plotting, writing climate fiction, maintaining stamina, and much more. For more information on Writers on Writing and to become a supporter, visit our Patreon page. For a one-time donation, visit Ko-fi. You can help out the show and indie bookstores by buying books at our bookstore on bookshop.org. It's stocked with titles by our guests, as well as our personal favorites. And on Spotify, you'll find an album's worth of Travis Barrett's typewriter music like what you hear on the show. There's no lyrics, making It perfect for writing. Look for the artist, Just My Type. You can find hundreds of past interviews on our website. (Recorded on June 12, 2026) Host: Barbara DeMarco-Barrett Host: Marrie Stone Music: Travis Barrett (Stream his music on Spotify, Apple Music, Etc.)  

Claire Vaye Watkins is the author of the novel Yellow Pine, available from Riverhead Books. Her other books include the story collection Battleborn and the novels Gold Fame Citrus and I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness. She has received the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, and the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters. A National Book Foundation 5 Under 35 honoree, Watkins is a professor at the University of California, Irvine. *** Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rula.com/otherppl⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. *** ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Otherppl with Brad Listi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, etc. Get ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠How to Write a Novel,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors. Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brad's email newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the show on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠proud affiliate partner of Bookshop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Claire Vaye Watkins was born in Bishop, California and raised in the Mojave Desert on the Amargosa River. A graduate of the University of Nevada Reno, she earned her MFA from the Ohio State University in 2010. Claire is the author of three novels—Gold Fame Citrus, I Love You but I've Chosen Darkness, and Yellow Pine—and the short story collection Battleborn. She has received the Story Prize, the Dylan Thomas Prize, the New York Public Library's Young Lions Fiction Award, the Rosenthal Family Foundation Award from the American Academy of Arts and Letters, the Silver Pen Award from the Nevada Writers Hall of Fame, as well as fellowships from the Lannan Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation. Her fiction and essays have appeared in Alta, One Story, The Believer, The Paris Review, Tin House, McSweeny's, BOMB, The New Republic, Either/Or, Freeman's, New York Magazine, The Nevada Independent, The New York Times and elsewhere. She was included in Granta's “Best Young American Novelists” and the National Book Foundation's “5 Under 35.” Claire is on the board of the Amargosa Conservancy and a professor in the Programs in Writing at the University of California, Irvine. She lives in Orange County and the Mojave Desert.

When you've worked for a system quite as large and vast as New York Public Library, it can be difficult to ascertain scope. Was Library Lion the massive nationwide hit Betsy thought it was when it premiered in 2006, or did her workplace like it only because it featured a library and a lion (two very NYPL-ish things)? To get to the bottom of the matter she brings in Kate, and together they plumb the depths of this sweet tale of feline bibliographic appreciation. This marks our second Kevin Hawkes title on the podcast (the first being Weslandia) and our first Michelle Knudsen.

This week Kate and Betsy take a trip back in time to 1938. We were trepidatious, and can you blame us? Considering the era and the fact that James Daugherty created the first (and only? unclear) Newbery winner to be completely out-of-print due to shockingly overt racism, we entered into Andy and the Lion tentatively. Betsy remembered it as beloved of New York Public Library. Justifiably? This and other questions haunt us as we dive on in. A fascinating take on a book that has lasted far longer than most of its contemporaries to date. For the full Show Notes, please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/07/05/fuse-8-n-kate-andy-and-the-lion-by-james-daugherty/

Heated debate in Harrisburg Wednesday shows the two parties are far apart on a state tax credit that benefits private schools. And that's just one reason the state budget is overdue.A Pennsylvania State Police trooper was killed Tuesday after being hit by a tractor trailer as he inspected a stopped tractor trailer along I-81 in Schuylkill County.In Dauphin County... Lower Paxton Township Police are beginning an enforcement effort they're calling Operation Colonial Crush. Environmental advocates continue to fight against a proposed hydroelectric project in Cuffs Run, York County. As we head into the July 4th weekend, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission is raising awareness of boater safety and the dangers associated with Boating Under the Influence, or BUI. As America celebrates its 250th birthday, a Central Pennsylvania amusement park is marking its 100th anniversary.And now it's time for our weekly segment called The Bright Spot. Every Friday, I'll share a positive news story that may have gotten lost amid this week's news cycle.    Today's bright spot is this: Amid all the stories about America's 250th, here's one that could help you party like it's 1776. The New York Public Library asked a local brewery to make a beer concocted from a 250-year old recipe in their collection - George Washington's original recipe.If you're already a member of WITF's Sustaining Circle, you know how convenient it is to support programs like this. By increasing your monthly gift, you can help WITF close the budget gap left by the loss of federal funding. Visit us online at witf.org/increase or become a new Sustaining Circle member at witf.org/givenow to help build a sustainable future for WITF and public media. Thank you.

Jimmy travels down to Williamsburg, Brooklyn, to meet with Spencer Schnorbus, Lead Brewer at Talea Beer. In this episode, we learn about Spencer's start in Southern California, creating George Washington's original homebrew recipe in collaboration with the New York Public Library, the reason for heavy molasses usage in the 1700's, and Talea's other core beers. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

"The text placing is NOT conventional!" Fresh off the 2026 American Library Association we're happy to discuss our very first Peter Sis title. We're going to begin our Sisification with one of his (relatively) younger books. In its heyday, I recall that New York Public Library absolutely adored this book. They loved its multicultural take and feel. But if we've learned anything from Schoolhouse Rock and other early attempts at diversity, sometimes such things age less well than we'd like. Will Madlenka suffer the same fate? Only one way to find out! For the full Show Notes please visit: https://afuse8production.slj.com/2026/06/29/fuse-8-n-kate-madlenka-by-peter-sis/

Today on the program, a trip into the archive and a return to Episode 780, my conversation with Chantal V. Johnson, author of the debut novel Post-Traumatic (Little, Brown). Air date: July 6, 2022. Chantal V. Johnson is an attorney and writer whose fiction explores gender, personality, friendship, and all forms of art, but particularly music. Her debut novel, Post-Traumatic, was long-listed for the Center for Fiction First Novel Prize and selected as a New York Public Library book club pick. She has received fellowships and support from The Center for Fiction, the Djerassi Resident Artists Program, the Kimmel Harding Nelson Center for the Arts, and the Arizona Commission on the Arts. Chantal graduated from Stanford Law School and worked as a tenant lawyer for several years. *** Today's episode is brought to you by Rula. Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠www.rula.com/otherppl⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. *** ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Otherppl with Brad Listi⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ is a weekly podcast featuring in-depth interviews with today's leading writers. Available where podcasts are available: ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Apple Podcasts⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Spotify⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠YouTube⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, etc. Get ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠How to Write a Novel,⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ the debut audio course from DeepDive. 50+ hours of never-before-heard insight, inspiration, and instruction from dozens of today's most celebrated contemporary authors. Subscribe to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Brad's email newsletter⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Support the show on Patreon⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Merch⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠  ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠TikTok⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Bluesky⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Email the show: letters [at] otherppl [dot] com The podcast is a ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠proud affiliate partner of Bookshop⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠, working to support local, independent bookstores. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Hunter College professor and author of The War of Art, Lauren O'Neill-Butler talks about: Her 12 years at Artforum magazine, including its balance between advertising and hard-core art writing, and how her chapter on Fierce Pussy was written while at Artforum; the classes on Activism she's taught at Hunter College, which were not to get students to become activists but to make them aware of its history and context; how teaching activism and writing the book were both 'rage containers' but also ways to inspire difference; how activisms 'expire,' including in the case of her colleague Carrie Moyer, whose hardcore activism (including her campaigns for Dyke Action Machine) lasted two years and followed by going back to the studio and making abstract paintings; the difference between 'activists' and 'artists activists,' which culminated in a question at one of her book events at the New York Public Library: "why are you focusing on artists? What makes them so special? Why can't you talk about other activists too?" and how, in addition to bringing an aesthetic to their activism, as part of the answer, artists are beleaguered; the seminal moment in the artist Rick Lowe's career, when a student living in the 3rd Ward of Houston asked him why, as opposed to just showing them the problems in their neighborhood that they were already aware of, wasn't he being creative about coming up with solutions?; her contention that all art is political, but what does an artist's role look like in terms of their actions; how there's no purity in America and no purity in activism, and how Project Row Houses wouldn't have become as robust without the corporate effort; Sarah Schulman's recent writing on the importance of solidarity, and how the left keeps pointing the figure and keeps eating itself; what Project Row Houses looks like, including the mix of affordable and market rate housing, artists who live in them, and expensive condos recently going up in the neighborhood amidst preserved housing in the 3rd Ward of Houston. In the 2nd half of our conversation, available to paid Patreon Supporters of the podcast, Lauren talks about: Why she included (former guest) Ben Davis's critique of Project Row Houses, along with a contextual framework on the challenges of limiting the effects of gentrification, primarily as a way to point out that it isn't artists who are the problem fixers, it's our government representatives; for Rick Lowe and Project Row Houses, it was about trying to do better for the locals; the highly influential and impactful activist organization P.A.I.N. (Prescription Addiction Intervention Now), started by artist Nan Goldin, which was instigated by the terrific irony of the Tate Museum, with £4 million in donations from the Sackler Family Trust, purchased Goldin's "The Ballad of Sexual Dependency" at the same time as she was addicted to Oxycontin (the highly addictive pain medication that led to an epidemic, of which the Sacklers are known for); the successful objective of P.A.I.N. (which is a non-partisan group despite it being formed by a politically progressive artist) to eliminate the art-washing of the Sacklers by putting their names on so many museum wings, and in turn what it was like for PAIN members to attend the protests with fellow protesters who were in very different cultural spheres, including hard-core trumpers; how savvy PAIN was in cultivating and working with the press, which really got their actions thoroughly covered, and even their private meetings were recorded, which helped provide lots of content for Laura Poitras's documentary on Goldin; how Lauren uses YouTube video footage of the PAIN protests, which were so well thought out and dramatic, in her classes; why she didn't right about the Stop Oil! Activist actions in museums (because it's mainly taken place in the U.K.); how the effectiveness of a protest depends very much on the press coverage and the level of circulation of the images from a given action; how most activisms have a figurehead (Goldin), and how it matters, for better or worse, when there's a public-facing person in a group; how successful activism depends on bringing in new blood and new ideas, and how big a factor burnout is for activists; the state of agitprop, or postering, today vs. the 90s- Carrie Moyer and Sue () of Dyke Action Machine would say that the street postering they did wouldn't work today, because there's just too much visual noise, and Lauren's nostalgia for the 90s for those reasons; the 'Secret Handshake' sculptures of trump and Epstein that have been making the rounds on social media around the world, work which she hates but recognizes as effective nonetheless; the hostile takeover of the New College of Florida, Lauren's undergraduate alma mater, by governor Desantis, and how she's been part of the alumni response to the takeover including the forming of nonprofits, a project that is very close to her heart and how she's been involved in it for the past three years, and the struggle of the school was recently featured on "Last Week Tonight with John Oliver."

Today on the Conversations on Dance podcast we are joined by Jack Fever to discuss his curation of "Martha Graham: The Mother of Psychological Dance" on display now at the New York Public Library. Jack joins us again after about 10 years to share recent work and his move to full-time position as a member of the faculty at Bard Conservatory of Music. He traces his lifelong relationship to Graham technique, beginning at 13 in rural Wisconsin and continuing through training in New York. Jack details developing this centennial exhibition using only Jerome Robbins Dance Division materials, focusing on psychology, trauma, and embodiment, and highlights his unique discoveries along the way.Don't miss "Martha Graham: The Mother of Psychological Dance" on display now at The New York Public Library through November 7th, 2026. More information: https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/martha-graham-mother-psychological-danceListen to Conversations on Dance ad-free on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/conversationsondanceLINKS:Website: conversationsondancepod.comInstagram: @conversationsondanceCOD MerchListen to COD on YouTubeJoin our email listSponsorship information Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jason Blitman talks with Pulitzer Prize winer Andrew Sean Greer (Less) about his newest novel, Villa Coco. This conversation was recorded live in Los Angeles at the First Congressional Church sponsored by Book Soup. Conversation highlights include:

In August 1882, a brutal mass murder in a remote valley in the west of Ireland shocked the world. At Maamtrasna, a family, the Joyces, were attacked in their home. The victims ranged from a teenage girl to an 80-year-old woman. The police quickly suspected that the killers had been neighbours and even relatives of the Joyce family. However, a motive was elusive. As wider Irish society was shocked by the killings, injustice was followed by injustice.Indeed, the trials would soon overshadow the crime itself, unfolding into one of the most infamous miscarriages of justice in the legal history of Ireland or the UK. In this episode, Margaret Kelleher joins me to explore this intriguing case. We dig into the dark events that unfolded in Maamtrasna in the summer of 1882 and examine why an innocent man, Myles Joyce, was sent to the gallows after a trial conducted entirely in English, a language he could neither speak nor understand.The episode reveals what we know happened in Maamtrasna on that fateful night and how perjury and a rush to convict rather than find genuine justice lay at the heart of this intriguing case. This is the story of how a brutal murder in an isolated mountain community ended up having massive political implications, leaving a legacy that continues to reverberate today.Support the show: Patreon.com/irishpodcastMy guest is Margaret Kelleher, Professor and Chair of Anglo-Irish Literature and Drama at University College Dublin (research profile: https://people.ucd.ie/margaret.o.kelleher). She is a board member of the Museum of Literature Ireland (https://moli.ie/) and a member of the Royal Irish Academy. Her latest book, Mary and Padraic Colum: Lives and the Dream, is forthcoming from UCD Press in the Autumn of this year. Her monograph Maamtrasna Murders: Language, Life and Death in Nineteenth-Century Ireland (UCD Press, 2018) was awarded the Michael J. Durkan Prize for Books in Language and Culture by the American Conference for Irish Studies in 2019, and in 2020 was shortlisted for the Michel Déon Prize. She was Cullman Center Fellow at New York Public Library from 2022-2023 and Parnell Fellow in Irish Studies at Magdalene College, Cambridge from 2023-2024. Sound by Kate Dunlea Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Tony Awards often celebrate the names on a show poster, but every Broadway production is carried by countless artists whose work rarely fits neatly into a category. So in anticipation of this year's awards ceremony, we're spotlighting a few of the performers, collaborators, and creative forces behind nominated productions. Victor Vazquez has spent his career expanding the possibilities of who gets seen onstage and whose stories Broadway embraces. As the founder of X Casting and casting director for CATS: The Jellicle Ball, Victor has helped build one of the most joyful, original, and culturally electric productions of the season from the ground up.  In this conversation, Victor offers a rare look inside the audition room, reflects on what it means to bring Ballroom culture into the spotlight with care and authenticity, and discusses why he remains hopeful about the future of theater and the artists shaping it. —— LINKS CATS: The Jellicle Ball: https://catsthejellicleball.com/ X Casting: https://www.xcastingnyc.com/ The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: https://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa

The Tony Awards often celebrate the names on a show poster, but every Broadway production is carried by countless artists whose work rarely fits neatly into a category. So in anticipation of this year's awards ceremony, we're spotlighting a few of the performers, collaborators, and creative forces behind nominated productions. Allison Blackwell knows the power of ensemble storytelling firsthand. Currently appearing in Ragtime at Lincoln Center Theater as Sarah's Friend, Allison is part of the acclaimed company behind one of Broadway's most resonant productions this season. She has built a career defined by extraordinary versatility, emotional depth, and a deep commitment to collaboration onstage.  In this conversation, Allison reflects on the path that brought her back to theater after nearly pursuing law school; what it has meant to revisit Ragtime across multiple productions; and what recognition for ensemble artists means to her personally. ----- LINKS Allison Blackwell: https://www.allisonblackwell.com/ Ragtime at Lincoln Center Theater: https://www.lct.org/shows/ragtime/  The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: https://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa 

Creative work is often romanticized as spontaneous: a flash of inspiration, a breakthrough moment, a burst of talent. In reality, many artists discover that creativity is less about sudden genius and more about the systems, rituals, and relationships that help ideas grow over time. For Oliver Richman, creativity has been both an early spark and an evolving practice. As a child, his performances found an audience far beyond his years, from a widely shared rendition of "Defying Gravity" to performing alongside Stevie Wonder at just ten years old. Since then, he has continued exploring new creative paths: studying drama at NYU Tisch, writing and directing numerous projects, and building an online community through his ambitious song-a-day practice. In this episode, Oliver reflects on balancing spontaneity with structure, building meaningful connections with online audiences, and why creativity thrives when treated as a daily practice. ----- LINKS Oliver Richman: https://oliverrichman.com/  Oliver's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/oliverrichman11/  Oliver's TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@oliverrichman  The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: https://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa 

New York's Bryant Park was established in 1847, but by the 1970s, the 9.6 acres behind the New York Public Library just a block off Times Square had become an open air drug market, with muggings there cited as the reason companies were leaving Manhattan. Enter Dan Biederman, founder of the Bryant Park Restoration Corporation. Beginning in 1980, Biederman led a series of initiatives remaking the park into a destination for visitors and residents seeking respite and recreation. After a complete restoration and reimagining programing of the space in the early 1990s, Bryant Park had become a emblem of midtown Manhattan's rebirth. Today, with caf?s, a performance stage, ping pong tables, and ample tree canopy, it has become one of the most welcoming public parks in New York City.rnrnBiederman went on to launch a private consultancy, helping government agencies, private developers, sports teams, non-profit agencies, and communities reclaim and reimagine the public realm, with self-sustaining parks and urban spaces that contribute to community and economic development. He has worked in Green Bay, Dallas, San Francisco, Nashville, El Paso, and Seattle, among dozens of other cities.

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode!You've seen us cry many times, but this episode feels different. The world is truly complicated and problematic at times - especially now. But, what do we do about it? This is our cry for help.Photo by The New York Public Library on UnsplashSupport the showBe part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at madnesscafepodcast@gmail.com.Share the episode with a friend and have your own conversation. And don't forget to rate and review the show wherever you listen!Thanks!

This summer, The New York Public Library is partnering with The Public Theater for a special book club event, taking place on August 17 at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park. Today on All Of It, Brian Jones, senior director of NYPL's Reading and Engagement department, announces the book club selection: The City We Became, by NK Jemisin. Photo by John Dillenbeck via Wikimedia Commons Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Matty Dalrymple talks with Todd Fahnestock about THE ECONOMICS OF CON LIFE, including the real costs and revenue thresholds of selling books at cons, why five books is the minimum for a viable booth, how selling sets instead of singles and leaning into cover art and merch changed his income, the break-even math that determines whether a con is worth attending, how face-to-face interactions at cons became the foundation of a 4,000-person email list, and how that list became the launchpad for a Patreon that monetizes the work he's already doing.   Interview video at https://www.youtube.com/@TheIndyAuthorPodcast/podcasts Show notes, including extensive summary and transcript, at https://www.theindyauthor.com/episodes-all   If you find the information in this video useful, please consider supporting The Indy Author! https://www.patreon.com/theindyauthor https://www.buymeacoffee.com/mattydalrymple   Todd Fahnestock is an award-winning, #1 bestselling author of fantasy for all ages and winner of the New York Public Library's Books for the Teen Age Award. Threadweavers and The Whisper Prince Trilogy are two of his bestselling epic fantasy series. He is a founder of Eldros Legacy—a multi-author, shared-world mega-epic fantasy series—three-time winner of the Colorado Authors League Award for Writing Excellence, and two-time finalist for the Colorado Book Award for Tower of the Four: The Champions Academy (2021) and Khyven the Unkillable (2022). His passions are great stories and his quirky, fun-loving family. When he's not writing, he travels the country meeting fans, talks philosophy with his son, plays board games with his wife, dissects movies with his daughter, and plays to the point of bruises with Galahad the Weimaraner. Visit Todd at toddfahnestock.com   Matty Dalrymple is the author of the Lizzy Ballard Thrillers, beginning with ROCK PAPER SCISSORS; the Ann Kinnear Suspense Novels, beginning with THE SENSE OF DEATH; and the Ann Kinnear Suspense Shorts. She is a member of International Thriller Writers and Sisters in Crime. More at mattydalrymple.com. Matty also writes, speaks, and consults on the writing craft and the publishing voyage, and shares what she's learned on THE INDY AUTHOR PODCAST. She writes nonfiction books for authors; her articles have appeared in Writer's Digest magazine; and she is a Partner Member of the Alliance of Independent Authors. More at theindyauthor.com. She also guides professionals in building their presence through a sideline or second act through her platform From Expertise to Authority. More at theindyauthor.com/authority.

Rosebud has been on its first international road trip, to New York City. In this episode, Gyles and Harriet chat about their trip... about how they gossiped for 15 hours straight on the flight over, about being guests of the Queen at the New York Public Library and seeing Pooh Bear, Kanga, Eeyore, Tigger, Piglet and the new Roo, and about Anna Wintour giving Gyles an unexpected compliment. In the second half of the show, Gyles talks to Josh Ellis, one of Broadway's most distinguished Press Agents, who worked on productions such as 42nd Street, Into the Woods, The King and I, The Elephant Man and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. He tells Gyles insider tales about some of the stars he worked with during his long career, including Yul Brynner, Rex Harrison, Katharine Hepburn, Eartha Kitt, Cher, David Bowie and Ethel Merman. It's fascinating, and gives a real flavour of life at the heart New York's theatre land.Our thanks for Josh Ellis for this fun and fascinating conversation. Our thanks to New York City for being fabulous. And our thanks to you for listening. Enjoy this. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's the week in review on Palace Intrigue, and what a week it was. King Charles addressed Congress, made a submarine joke at a White House state dinner, delivered honey to a Harlem farmer, and left Washington having said nothing quotable, offended no one, and received approximately a dozen standing ovations — mission, by all accounts, accomplished. Queen Camilla delivered a replacement toy kangaroo to the New York Public Library and warned an audience her voice might not last the speech. The gifts included a Second World War bell, Resolute Desk plans, Tiffany teaspoons, and White House honey. Meanwhile, Meghan published a sixteen-designer fashion interview during the state visit, the OneOff platform controversy rumbled on, and a Heat World report claimed Harry privately winces at Meghan's money talk. Harry's forty-thousand air miles in sixty days attracted scrutiny. Tom Sykes suggested his Ukraine speech may have been AI-drafted. William and Catherine marked fifteen years of marriage with a Cornwall portrait. Eugenie resurfaced in Sicily. Sarah Ferguson was spotted in Austria. Andrew remains in Norfolk. And the British summer season is about to begin, right on schedule, as it always does.Get episodes of Palace Intrigue by becommming a paid subscriber on Apple Podcasts. Click the button that says uninterrupted listening.  Just $5 a month, and that includes many ofther shows on the Caloroga Shark network.A new season of King William is available now.Our royal newsletter written by Deep Crown is available for free.Royal Books:Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors by Tom BowerWilliam and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside StoryThe Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana

Jenna and Sheinelle weigh in on listeners' tricky social situations. Adam Scott joins to discuss his new horror film, ‘Hokum,' and reflect on his hit shows ‘Severance' and ‘Parks and Recreation.' Jenna sits down with Queen Camilla during a special event at the New York Public Library. And, chef Brooke Baevsky shares a delicious recipe for banana bread and French toast crepes. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

King Charles' U.S. trip enters a more complex phase as the New York leg delivers a mix of diplomacy, distance, and spectacle. According to reporting in The Guardian, the King moved from the high of his Washington reception to a cooler political tone in New York, where Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined a private meeting, saying he would instead attend a public wreath-laying ceremony. Mamdani also raised the long-running debate over the Koh-i-Noor diamond, noting, “If I was to speak to the king separately from that, I would probably encourage him to return the Koh-i-Noor diamond.”Despite the tension, the King continued his engagements, visiting the National September 11 Memorial & Museum alongside Michael Bloomberg, where he honoured victims of the 2001 attacks with a wreath and a handwritten message of solidarity.The tone shifted again at the King's Trust Global Gala, with Vanity Fair describing a room filled with high-profile figures including Anna Wintour, Edward Enninful, and Lionel Richie. The King praised the charity's mission, while Enninful reflected on its impact, saying, “I had cousins, friends in our neighborhood who were really told they couldn't amount to nothing. I watched the Kings Trust firsthand change their lives.”Elsewhere, the King visited Harlem Grown, where he was given a handwritten note by a student, responding, “That's fantastic,” before gifting honey from Highgrove House. He later attended a business reception at Rockefeller Center, bringing together senior industry figures.Queen Camilla's programme leaned into culture and literacy. At the New York Public Library, she delivered a symbolic gift marking 100 years of Winnie-the-Pooh, reuniting a recreated Roo with the original characters. In an interview with Jenna Bush Hager, she described the visit as “wonderful,” adding, “It's been wonderful, and everybody's been very kind and welcoming.”Earlier, following their farewell with Donald Trump, the King and Queen travelled to Arlington National Cemetery, where they took part in a formal ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, echoing Queen Elizabeth the Second's visit in 1957.The trip closes with a contrast that has defined it: ceremonial warmth, political distance, and a monarchy still capable of commanding attention—even in New York.Get episodes of Palace Intrigue by becommming a paid subscriber on Apple Podcasts. Click the button that says uninterrupted listening.  Just $5 a month, and that includes many ofther shows on the Caloroga Shark network.A new season of King William is available now.Our royal newsletter written by Deep Crown is available for free.Royal Books:Revenge: Meghan, Harry, and the War Between the Windsors by Tom BowerWilliam and Catherine: The Monarchy's New Era: The Inside StoryThe Royal Insider: My Life with the Queen, the King and Princess Diana

Nicholas King is a wealth advisor. However, he also founded “After Arts”, a community of professionals who share a passion for and background in music. He also founded the “Art of Giving Back”, a non-profit dedicated to supporting young musicians and giving back to the community. And he started out as a concert pianist who performed in various major venues. He serves on the Board of Governors of The Mannes School of Music, the Board of Directors of the National Opera Company and “Project Music Heals Us”, and the Advisory Board of The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.  My featured song is “Cakewalk For Debra”, from the album Miles Behind by the Robert Miller Group. Spotify link. —----------------------------------------------------------- The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries! Click here for All Episodes  Click here for Guest List  Click here for Guest Groupings  Click here for Guest Voices Click here to Subscribe  Click here to receive our Email Updates Click here to Rate and Review the podcast —---------------------------------------- CONNECT WITH NICHOLASwww.theafterartsgroup.com —--------------------------------------- ROBERT'S NEWEST RELEASE:“MI CACHIMBER ALL STARS” is the new, expanded version of Robert's single, “Mi Cachimber”, which he wrote for his father. Featuring Camila Cortina on Rhodes and Xito Lovell on trombone in addition to Benny Benack III and Dave Smith on flugelhorn, and Project Grand Slam's rhythm section. CLICK HERE FOR OFFICIAL VIDEO CLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS —-------------------------------------- ROBERT'S RECENT RELEASE: “MA PETITE FLEUR STRING QUARTET” is Robert's recent release. It transforms his jazz ballad into a lush classical string quartet piece. Praised by a host of classical music stars. CLICK HERE FOR YOUTUBE LINK CLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS —--------------------------------------- Audio production: Jimmy RavenscroftKymera Films   Connect with the Follow Your Dream Podcast: Website - www.followyourdreampodcast.comEmail Robert - robert@followyourdreampodcast.com   Follow Robert's band, Project Grand Slam, and his music: Website - www.projectgrandslam.comYouTubeSpotify MusicApple MusicEmail - pgs@projectgrandslam.com    

Libraries are often thought of as quiet repositories. But at their best, they are living, evolving spaces where culture is preserved, interpreted, and reimagined. Brent Reidy serves as the Andrew W. Mellon Director of the Research Libraries at The New York Public Library—one of the most expansive and dynamic cultural collections in the world. With a career that spans musicology, consulting with arts institutions, and nearly a decade at NYPL, Brent brings a unique perspective on how libraries function not just as archives, but as active participants in the cultural ecosystem. In this episode, Brent reflects on what it takes to engage new audiences; how digitization efforts intersect with access and institutional mission; and how preserving the past can help shape a more inclusive and imaginative future for the arts. ----- LINKS: The New York Public Library: https://www.nypl.org/  The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts: https://www.nypl.org/locations/lpa  StoryCorps Archive: https://archive.storycorps.org/ 

On April 15, The New York Public Library kicks off their annual World Literature & Arts Festival, with a series of events and author talks spotlighting excellent fiction from around the world. Plus, 12 translated titles will be available to borrow as e-copies immediately, in unlimited quantities. Erica Parker, the NYPL associate director of adult cultural programming, previews the festival, and the 12 novels available to borrow. Plus, listeners share their favorite translated works. Photo by Lindsey Nicholson/UCG/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The April "Get Lit with All Of It" book club selection is the novel Lake Effect by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney. It follows one woman's affair in 1970s Rochester... and the continued fallout years later as she lives in New York City and prepares to attend a family wedding. D'Aprix Sweeney discusses the novel ahead of the April 27th "Get Lit" event. Click here to grab your tickets and find out how to borrow your e-copy of the novel, courtesy of The New York Public Library.

Cleo de Lasa, an information assistant at The New York Public Library, highlights a thoughtful selection of books in recognition of both National Arab American Heritage Month and National Poetry Month. Her picks celebrate the richness and diversity of Arab American culture and contributions, while also showcasing the power of poetry to illuminate identity, history, and lived experience. *Tomorrow night, there will be an event to honor the rich poetic tradition of Arab American literature at Stavros Niarchos Foundation Library at 6:30pm EST. To read the library's full list of Best New Poetry Books, visit their website here. Graphic courtesy of NYPL

“Le Chat Noir” is one of the most famous pieces of late 19th century European art, but the artist behind it was also very active in France's anarchist and socialist political groups of the time. Research: Asimakis, Magdalyn. “War, Socialism, and Cats: Théophile-Alexandre Steinlen's Political Artistic Practice.” The Met. Nov. 2, 2017. https://www.metmuseum.org/perspectives/theophile-alexandre-steinlen-cats-socialism-world-war-i Budge, A. “Arts & Decoration Combined with the Spur.” Volumes 19-20. 1923. Accessed online: https://books.google.com/books?id=joAyAQAAIAAJ&vq=steinlen&source=gbs_navlinks_s “Charles Matlack Price letters 1917-1947 [bulk 1918-1923].” The New York Public Library – Archives and Manuscripts. https://archives.nypl.org/mss/18567#:~:text=His%20career%20trajectory%20was%20briefly,to%20friends%2C%20and%20his%20work “Declaration of the Rights of Man – 1789.” Yale Law School. https://avalon.law.yale.edu/18th_century/rightsof.asp Fau-Vincenti, Véronique. “STEINLEN Théophile, Alexandre.” Le Maitron. Nov. 4, 2009. https://maitron.fr/steinlen-theophile-alexandre/ Gegout, E. and Ch. Malato. “Prison fin de siècle : souvenirs de Pélagie.” Paris. G. Charpentier et E. Fasquelle. 1891. https://digital-research-books-beta.nypl.org/read/7581051 Glass, Chloe. “Printmaker Theophile Steinlen Used Art to Advocate for Social Change in 1900s France.” Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art. https://crystalbridges.org/blog/printmaker-theophile-steinlen-used-art-to-advocate-for-social-change-in-1900s-france/ Goldstein, Robert Justin. “Fighting French Censorship, 1815-1881.” The French Review, vol. 71, no. 5, 1998, pp. 785–96. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/398913 Guthrie, Christopher E. “History of Censorship in France.” EBSCO. 2023. https://www.ebsco.com/research-starters/politics-and-government/history-censorship-france Kagan, Étienne, et al. “GEGOUT Ernest.”Le Maitron. April 7, 2014. https://maitron.fr/gegout-ernest-charles-joseph-ernest-dit-dictionnaire-des-anarchistes Olsen, Annikka. “The Surprising Story of the Cat-Obsessed Artist Behind the Famed ‘Le Chat Noir’ Poster.” Artnet News. Oct. 28, 2024. https://news.artnet.com/art-world/theophile-alexandre-steinlen-tournee-du-chat-noir-2417712?amp=1 Stefiuk, Eleanor. 2022. “Villiers de L’Isle-Adam’s Anarchism: A Legacy of the Paris Commune.” Dix-Neuf26 (1): 1–17. doi:10.1080/14787318.2021.2010167 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.