U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature, and musical composition
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TITANIC OF AIRSHIPS: 1/4: His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine by S. C. Gwynne (Author) https://www.amazon.com/His-Majestys-Airship-Largest-Machine/dp/1982168277 From historian and bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Empire of the Summer Moon comes a “captivating, thoroughly researched” (The New York Times Book Review) tale of the rise and fall of the world's largest airship—and the doomed love story between an ambitious British officer and a married Romanian princess at its heart.
TITANIC OF AIRSHIPS: 4/4: His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine by S. C. Gwynne (Author) https://www.amazon.com/His-Majestys-Airship-Largest-Machine/dp/1982168277 From historian and bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Empire of the Summer Moon comes a “captivating, thoroughly researched” (The New York Times Book Review) tale of the rise and fall of the world's largest airship—and the doomed love story between an ambitious British officer and a married Romanian princess at its heart.
TITANIC OF AIRSHIPS: 2/4: His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine by S. C. Gwynne (Author) https://www.amazon.com/His-Majestys-Airship-Largest-Machine/dp/1982168277 From historian and bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Empire of the Summer Moon comes a “captivating, thoroughly researched” (The New York Times Book Review) tale of the rise and fall of the world's largest airship—and the doomed love story between an ambitious British officer and a married Romanian princess at its heart.
TITANIC OF AIRSHIPS: 3/4: His Majesty's Airship: The Life and Tragic Death of the World's Largest Flying Machine by S. C. Gwynne (Author) https://www.amazon.com/His-Majestys-Airship-Largest-Machine/dp/1982168277 From historian and bestselling author of the Pulitzer Prize finalist Empire of the Summer Moon comes a “captivating, thoroughly researched” (The New York Times Book Review) tale of the rise and fall of the world's largest airship—and the doomed love story between an ambitious British officer and a married Romanian princess at its heart.
President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown has led to a series of legal skirmishes with major constitutional implications. To unpack it all, Kara speaks to three experts: Caitlin Dickerson is a Pulitzer Prize-winning staff writer for The Atlantic who covers immigration. She is currently writing a book on the impact of deportation on American society. Maria Hinojosa is the host and executive producer of the Peabody Award-winning Latino USA and the founder of Futuro Media Group, which just released the second season of their Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast, Suave. She has won over a dozen awards in journalism, including four Emmys and the Edward R. Murrow Lifetime Achievement Award Deborah Pearlstein is the director of the Princeton Program in Law and Public Policy at the Center for the Study of Democratic Politics. She is an expert in constitutional law and her book, Losing the Law, will be published next year. This episode was recorded on Thursday, April 19th. While we were recording, the Supreme Court announced it will hear a case related to President Trump's executive order to undo birthright citizenship. And on Saturday, April 20th, the Supreme Court ordered the Trump administration to temporarily halt the removal of Venezuelan migrants from the country. Questions? Comments? Email us at on@voxmedia.com or find us on Instagram, TikTok and Bluesky @onwithkaraswisher. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The queens discuss and revise a recent list of "best poetry," adding other tops (& bottoms & verses & sides, you get the point, miss thing).Please Support Breaking Form!Review the show on Apple Podcasts here.Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series.James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books.NOTES:For a few lists of best 21st Century poetry: The Atlantic (which we read in the show). The New York TimesRead Mark Strand's titular poem "Man and Camel"Read Craig Morgan Teicher's review of Glück's Faithful and Virtuous NightWatch Tracy K. Smith's answer to "Does poetry matter" in this conversation with Tracey E. Hucks at the Harvard Radcliffe Institute. If you'd like to see Smith read from her Pulitzer-Prize-winning Life on Mars, here's a particularly good one.Read "Deception Story" by Solmaz Sharif from LookJames mediated a conversation and workshop with Diane Seuss on poetry and mental health, which can be viewed on YouTube hereRead a selection of poems from Patricia Smith's Blood DazzlerThe Brigit Pegeen Kelly poem James talked about in the show is "Closing Time; Iskandariya." Here it is, posted on Ilya Kaminsky's social media. Read a portfolio of writers on Kelly's book Song published recently in West Branch online (edited by Shara Lessley with short essays by David Baker, Amit Majmudar, Gabrielle Bates, and C. Dale Young).
Pulitzer Prize–winning author Viet Thanh Nguyen reflected on how society can build allegiances beyond racial identity & have more global solidarity. He's interviewed by author Ijeoma Oluo. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
My conversation with DCJ starts at 44 minutes Stand Up is a daily podcast that I book,host,edit, post and promote new episodes with brilliant guests every day. Please subscribe now for as little as 5$ and gain access to a community of over 700 awesome, curious, kind, funny, brilliant, generous souls Check out StandUpwithPete.com to learn more David Cay Johnston books are as important to my understanding on American Tax Policy, economics and how our system is rigged by rich elites for rich elites as anything else I have read David Cay Johnston is a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter and best-selling author. The Washington Monthly called him as “one of America's most important journalists.” The Portland Oregonian said his work equals the original muckrakers: Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair and Lincoln Steffens. Johnston met Donald Trump in 1988 and in April 1990 revealed that Trump's was no billionaire. When Trump announced his latest run for the White House in June 2015, Johnston was the only nationally-known journalist who immediately said Trump was serious this time and might get the GOP nomination. His reporting over the next year led to the Making of Donald Trump, published around the world in English and German on August 2, 2016, by Melville House. The San Jose Mercury recruited Johnston when he was just 18 years old because of his reporting for two small weekly newspapers in Santa Cruz, Calif. At age 19 The Mercury hired him as a staff writer. Within weeks his byline made the front page. Over the next four decades his award-winning investigations appeared in that paper, the Detroit Free Press, Los Angeles Times, The Philadelphia Inquirer and The New York Times. Since 2009 Johnston has taught the business regulation, property and tax law of the ancient world at Syracuse University College of Law. He previously taught writing, reporting and magazine writing at the University of Southern California and UCLA Extension. He has lectured on four continents about journalistic techniques, ethics, legal theory and tax policy. Join us Thursday's at 8EST for our Weekly Happy Hour Hangout! Pete on Blue Sky Pete on Threads Pete on Tik Tok Pete on YouTube Pete on Twitter Pete On Instagram Pete Personal FB page Stand Up with Pete FB page All things Jon Carroll Follow and Support Pete Coe Buy Ava's Art Hire DJ Monzyk to build your website or help you with Marketing
Paul Muldoon is a Pulitzer Prize winning Irish poet. He's won several other awards too including the Shakespeare Prize. He's the author of 15 collections of poetry. He's the Editor of the 2021 two-volume treatise called “The Lyrics: 1956 To The Present”, that he wrote together with Sir Paul McCartney. It covers 154 of Paul's songs with the Beatles, Wings and as a solo artist. For over 35 years Paul has been a Professor at Princeton University.My featured song is my reimagined version of the Beatles' “I Wanna Be Your Man” called “I Wanna Be Your Girl”, from the East Side Sessions album by my band Project Grand Slam . Spotify link.---------------------------------------------The Follow Your Dream Podcast:Top 1% of all podcasts with Listeners in 200 countries!For more information and other episodes of the podcast click here. To subscribe to the podcast click here.To subscribe to our weekly Follow Your Dream Podcast email click here.To Rate and Review the podcast click here.—----------------------------------------Connect with Paul:www.paulmuldoonpoetry.com—----------------------------------------ROBERT'S RECENT SINGLES:“MOON SHOT” is Robert's latest single, reflecting his Jazz Rock Fusion roots. The track features Special Guest Mark Lettieri, 5x Grammy winning guitarist who plays with Snarky Puppy and The Fearless Flyers. The track has been called “Firey, Passionate and Smokin!”CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS____________________“ROUGH RIDER” has got a Cool, ‘60s, “Spaghetti Western”, Guitar-driven, Tremolo sounding, Ventures/Link Wray kind of vibe!CLICK HERE FOR THE OFFICIAL VIDEOCLICK HERE FOR ALL LINKS—--------------------------------“LOVELY GIRLIE” is a fun, Old School, rock/pop tune with 3-part harmony. It's been called “Supremely excellent!”, “Another Homerun for Robert!”, and “Love that Lovely Girlie!”Click HERE for All Links—----------------------------------“THE RICH ONES ALL STARS” is Robert's single featuring the following 8 World Class musicians: Billy Cobham (Drums), Randy Brecker (Flugelhorn), John Helliwell (Sax), Pat Coil (Piano), Peter Tiehuis (Guitar), Antonio Farao (Keys), Elliott Randall (Guitar) and David Amram (Pennywhistle).Click HERE for the Official VideoClick HERE for All Links—----------------------------------------“SOSTICE” is Robert's single with a rockin' Old School vibe. Called “Stunning!”, “A Gem!”, “Magnificent!” and “5 Stars!”.Click HERE for all links.—---------------------------------“THE GIFT” is Robert's ballad arranged by Grammy winning arranger Michael Abene and turned into a horn-driven Samba. Praised by David Amram, John Helliwell, Joe La Barbera, Tony Carey, Fay Claassen, Antonio Farao, Danny Gottlieb and Leslie Mandoki.Click HERE for all links.—-------------------------------------“LOU'S BLUES”. Robert's Jazz Fusion “Tone Poem”. Called “Fantastic! Great playing and production!” (Mark Egan - Pat Metheny Group/Elements) and “Digging it!” (Peter Erskine - Weather Report)!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
Today we have the honor of speaking with Pulitzer Prize-winning author and the mastermind behind the podcast Bone Valley, Gilbert King. Known for his deep dives into the complexities of criminal justice, Gilbert has spent years unraveling the haunting story of Leo Schofield, a man wrongfully convicted for the murder of his wife. In this fascinating bonus episode, we discuss the emotional toll of telling such a gripping and complex story, the challenges of turning a multi-decade case into a podcast, and what it's like working with the very people involved in these crimes. From Leo's resilience in the face of a wrongful conviction to the unexpected twists in season two involving Jeremy Scott, Gilbert shares behind-the-scenes insights into the making of Bone Valley. We also explore the emotional journey of forgiveness and redemption, and the powerful relationships that have emerged from this case, like the bond between Leo and Jeremy. Through the raw interviews and complex storytelling, Gilbert reveals what it was like to uncover layers of truth that had been buried for years. You won't want to miss this heartfelt conversation about justice, the human side of crime stories, and the impact of storytelling in shedding light on the truth. Listen to Bone Valley now, wherever you get your podcasts. Thank you to this episode's sponsors: We've worked out a special deal with Hiya for their best selling children's vitamin. Receive 50% off your first order. To claim this deal you must go to hiyahealth.com/MOMS. This deal is not available on their regular website. Indoor cats and indoor humans agree - Pretty Litter helps my house smell fresh and clean. Go to PrettyLitter.com/MOMS to save 20% on your FIRST order and get a free cat toy. Terms and conditions apply. See site for details.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season! Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems to be thriving. His career has taken off, he's in a committed relationship and he's received public recognition after telling his story on the podcast. Suave always thought once he was out of prison and found stability in his new life, he would finally feel truly free. But freedom, it turns out, is more complicated than it seems. "Suave" is a deeply intimate portrait of a man battling the lingering trauma of incarceration and his search for happiness in the outside world after a near-lifetime in prison. In this season we explore the long shadow of prison.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-bullsh--3588169/support.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season!Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems tobe thriving. His career has taken off, he's in a committed relationship and he's received publicrecognition after telling his story on the podcast. Suave always thought once he was out ofprison and found stability in his new life, he would finally feel truly free. But freedom, it turns out,is more complicated than it seems. "Suave" is a deeply intimate portrait of a man battling thelingering trauma of incarceration and his search for happiness in the outside world after a near-lifetime in prison.In this season we explore the long shadow of prison.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/true-crime-campfire--4251960/support.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season! Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems to be thriving. His career has taken off, he's in a committed relationship and he's received public recognition after telling his story on the podcast. Suave always thought once he was out of prison and found stability in his new life, he would finally feel truly free. But freedom, it turns out, is more complicated than it seems. "Suave" is a deeply intimate portrait of a man battling the lingering trauma of incarceration and his search for happiness in the outside world after a near-lifetime in prison. In this season we explore the long shadow of prison.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/morbidology--3527306/support.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season!Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems to be thriving. His career has taken off, he's in a committed relationship and he's received public recognition after telling his story on the podcast. Suave always thought once he was out of prison and found stability in his new life, he would finally feel truly free. But freedom, it turns out, is more complicated than it seems. "Suave" is a deeply intimate portrait of a man battling the lingering trauma of incarceration and his search for happiness in the outside world after a near-lifetime in prison. In this season we explore the long shadow of prison.
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Gary Rivlin spent more than a year in the Bay Area shadowing the founders and venture capitalists vying to make big money off of generative AI. And in his new book “AI Valley,” Rivlin takes readers inside both the AI startups and the tech giants like Microsoft, Meta and Google trying to keep up. He chronicles the figures and breakthroughs of generative AI's recent history – in order to better predict and understand its future. Rivlin's new book is “AI Valley: Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion-Dollar Race to Cash In on Artificial Intelligence.” Guests: Gary Rivlin, Pulitzer prize-winning journalist and author, “AI Valley: Microsoft, Google, and the Trillion-Dollar Race to Cash In on Artificial Intelligence" Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Former Commissioner of the New York Police Department Bernie Kerik discusses the recent failure of law enforcement to protect a governor's mansion in Pennsylvania, highlighting systemic issues in security protocols and oversight. Kerik attributes the problem to reduced standards, lack of training, and the influence of political ideologies on law enforcement. He praises some red states for effective policing and criticizes blue states for hindering law enforcement efforts. Additional interview with Ashley Rindsberg discusses the decline of journalism integrity in the Trump era, highlighting the Washington Post's Pulitzer Prize-winning story on Russia collusion that was proven false by new FBI documents. They criticize the media's lack of self-reflection and accountability, citing the New York Times' recent admission of no proof for Russia collusion. Rindsberg notes the rise of independent news organizations and the shift towards evidence-based reporting. Finally, Andy Harris, House Freedom Caucus Chairman, stresses the importance of extending tax cuts and reducing government spending, including potential savings from banning sugary drinks in the SNAP program. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
FOLLOW RICHARD Website: https://www.strangeplanet.ca YouTube: @strangeplanetradio Instagram: @richardsyrettstrangeplanet TikTok: @syrettstrangeplanet SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS!!! HIMS - Making Healthy and Happy Easy to Achieve Sexual Health, Hair Loss, Mental Health, Weight Management START YOUR FREE ONLINE VISIT TODAY - HIMS dot com slash STRANGE https://www.HIMS.com/strange BECOME A PREMIUM SUBSCRIBER!!! https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm Three monthly subscriptions to choose from. Commercial Free Listening, Bonus Episodes and a Subscription to my monthly newsletter, InnerSanctum. Visit https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm Use the discount code "Planet" to receive one month off the first subscription. We and our partners use cookies to personalize your experience, to show you ads based on your interests, and for measurement and analytics purposes. By using our website and services, you agree to our use of cookies as described in our Cookie Policy. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices 1190 Bone Valley: The Confession No One Wanted to Hear Richard welcomes Pulitzer Prize-winning author Gilbert King, the creative force behind the true crime podcast Bone Valley. Season 1 of Bone Valley helped free an innocent man after 35 years in prison. Season 2 dives into a darker, more complex chapter. In this episode, we explore the chilling story of Jeremy Scott, who confessed to the brutal 1987 murder of 18-year-old Michelle Schofield—a crime that kept her husband, Leo Schofield, wrongfully imprisoned for decades. Through exclusive prison recordings and raw conversations, King uncovers Scott's violent past, a justice system that ignores undeniable truth, and the unsettling bond that forms between a journalist and a killer. Why does a confessed murderer remain free while an innocent man languishes? How does the system justify its failures? Join us as Gilbert King unpacks this haunting tale of guilt, redemption, and a fight for justice that's far from over. Available on all major podcast platforms, launching April 9, 2025. GUEST: Gilbert King is a Pulitzer Prize-winning author and investigative journalist whose work exposes flaws in America's justice system. His book Devil in the Grove won the 2013 Pulitzer Prize for Nonfiction for its searing look at racial injustice. Through his gripping podcast storytelling, King helped secure the release of a wrongfully convicted man after 35 years and now probes the mind of a confessed killer. His relentless research and human approach make him a leading voice in true crime and justice reform. WEBSITE: https://www.gilbertking.com BOOKS: Devil in the Grove Beneath a Ruthless Sun The Execution of Willie Francis Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://strangeplanet.supportingcast.fm/
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast returns for its second season!Seven years after his release from prison, former juvenile lifer Luis "Suave" Gonzalez seems tobe thriving. His career has taken off, he's in a committed relationship and he's received publicrecognition after telling his story on the podcast.Suave always thought once he was out of prison and found stability in his new life, he would finally feel truly free. But freedom, it turns out, is more complicated than it seems. "Suave" is a deeply intimate portrait of a man battling the lingering trauma of incarceration and his search for happiness in the outside world after a near lifetime in prison. In this season we explore the long shadow of prison.https://www.futuromediagroup.org/suave-new-podcast-follows-one-mans-journey-to-freedom-after-a-life-sentence-without-parole-at-17/Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/pretty-lies-and-alibis--4447192/support.
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Kelley Brown, a Massachusetts U.S. history and civics teacher, interview Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Prof. Gordon Wood. Prof. Wood explores the pivotal events and ideas that sparked the American Revolution. He discusses the political tensions of 1775, King George III's imperial policies, and the colonists' transformation from subjects to citizens. Wood highlights Benjamin […]
The U.S. District Court Judge overseeing the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, the man deported to a notorious prison in El Salvador by the Trump administration in what they claim was an administrative error, wants to know what Trump officials have done so far to facilitate his return to the United States. Judge Paula Xinis says the Supreme Court has spoken on the matter and she is now ordering the testimony of four Trump administration from ICE, Homeland Security and the State Department. We welcome Pulitzer Prize winning author and investigative journalist David Cay Johnston to the show. We are taking the pulse of our environment with eco-journalist Belinda Waymouth. She joins us for “It's the Planet, Stupid!”
In this episode of The Learning Curve, co-hosts Alisha Searcy and Kelley Brown, a Massachusetts U.S. history and civics teacher, interview Pulitzer Prize-winning historian Prof. Gordon Wood. Prof. Wood explores the pivotal events and ideas that sparked the American Revolution. He discusses the political tensions of 1775, King George III's imperial policies, and the colonists' transformation from subjects to citizens. Wood highlights Benjamin Franklin's rise, James Otis's speech against the writs of assistance, and George Washington's crucial military leadership. He also reflects on overlooked Revolutionary era patriots like Samuel Adams, Patrick Henry, and George Mason, the role of Minutemen, and how Lexington and Concord galvanized the colonies towards American Independence.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast from Futuro Studios returns for its second season.“Suave” Gonzalez was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. Season 2 is his story about life after incarceration—and the search for the true meaning of freedomSuave: Season 2 is out everywhere on 4/15. New episodes every Tuesday.
Today we're sharing with you the trailer for Season 2 of Suave, the Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast from Futuro Studios. “Suave” Gonzalez was released from prison after 31 years serving a life sentence without parole. He was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. Season 2 is his story about life after incarceration—and the search for the true meaning of freedom. Listen here or wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast from Futuro Studios returns for its second season.“Suave” Gonzalez was one of thousands of juvenile lifers granted a second chance at life. Season 2 is his story about life after incarceration—and the search for the true meaning of freedom. Suave: Season 2 is out everywhere on 4/15. New episodes every Tuesday. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Ukraine is still reeling from a massive Russian attack on civilians after two ballistic missiles struck the heart of the city of Sumy, killing almost three dozen people. Ukrainian MP and Chair of the Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee Oleksandr Merezhko joins the show to discuss how Ukraine can navigate a fraught relationship with the White House amidst ongoing Russian attacks. Also on today's show: Kholood Khair, Sudanese researcher and political analyst; director Alex Gibney and author Jane Mayer on "The Dark Money Game"; Pulitzer Prize-winning artist Art Spiegelman Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
In this heartfelt conversation, Lesley Logan sits down with Jose Acevedo of Finding Arizona to explore how he's spent the last ten years building a podcast rooted in storytelling, culture, and connection—without ever losing sight of the people who matter most. From learning to stay consistent through baby steps to collaborating with his wife and finding deeper meaning through fatherhood, Jose shares the real behind-the-scenes of growing a creative life that feels honest and whole.If you have any questions about this episode or want to get some of the resources we mentioned, head over to LesleyLogan.co/podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/. If you have any comments or questions about the Be It pod shoot us a message at beit@lesleylogan.co mailto:beit@lesleylogan.co. And as always, if you're enjoying the show please share it with someone who you think would enjoy it as well. It is your continued support that will help us continue to help others. Thank you so much! Never miss another show by subscribing at LesleyLogan.co/subscribe https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/#follow-subscribe-free.In this episode you will learn about:How to stay consistent by breaking goals into small steps.Ways to protect your passion project from burnout.How to balance creative work with parenting and partnership.Why storytelling connects us to purpose and builds legacy.When to wait—and why not rushing your creative dream can keep it joyful.Episode References/Links:Finding Arizona Website - https://findingarizonapodcast.comFinding Arizona Podcast - https://beitpod.com/findingarizonaFinding Arizona YouTube - https://beitpod.com/findingarizonayoutubeBig Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - https://a.co/d/1ze2Db3Guest Bio:Jose Acevedo is the host and creator of Finding Arizona, a podcast dedicated to spotlighting the people and businesses that make Arizona a vibrant, ever-evolving community. With over a decade of podcasting experience, Jose has interviewed hundreds of local entrepreneurs, creatives, and changemakers, capturing the heart of their stories through authentic, thoughtful conversation. His background in landscape architecture gives him a unique approach to storytelling—one rooted in structure, curiosity, and connection.What began as a solo passion project has since grown into a collaborative family endeavor. Alongside his wife and producer, Brittany Acevedo, Jose has transformed Finding Arizona into a full-fledged media brand. Together, they co-founded The Found House, a creative production studio offering podcast and video services to local businesses and aspiring creators. Whether behind the mic or in the community, Jose's mission is to amplify local voices, support meaningful work, and create a legacy of love and purpose for their son, Atlas. If you enjoyed this episode, make sure and give us a five star rating and leave us a review on iTunes, Podcast Addict, Podchaser or Castbox. https://lovethepodcast.com/BITYSIDEALS! DEALS! DEALS! DEALS! https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentCheck out all our Preferred Vendors & Special Deals from Clair Sparrow, Sensate, Lyfefuel BeeKeeper's Naturals, Sauna Space, HigherDose, AG1 and ToeSox https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/memberships/perks/#equipmentBe in the know with all the workshops at OPC https://workshops.onlinepilatesclasses.com/lp-workshop-waitlistBe It Till You See It Podcast Survey https://pod.lesleylogan.co/be-it-podcasts-surveyBe a part of Lesley's Pilates Mentorship https://lesleylogan.co/elevate/FREE Ditching Busy Webinar https://ditchingbusy.com/ Resources:· Watch the Be It Till You See It podcast on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-g· Lesley Logan website https://lesleylogan.co/· Be It Till You See It Podcast https://lesleylogan.co/podcast/· Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan https://onlinepilatesclasses.com/· Online Pilates Classes by Lesley Logan on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCjogqXLnfyhS5VlU4rdzlnQ· Profitable Pilates https://profitablepilates.com/about/ Follow Us on Social Media:· Instagram https://www.instagram.com/lesley.logan/· The Be It Till You See It Podcast YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCq08HES7xLMvVa3Fy5DR8-g· Facebook https://www.facebook.com/llogan.pilates· LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/lesley-logan/· The OPC YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/@OnlinePilatesClasses Episode Transcript:Jose Acevedo 0:00 My motivation was the podcast. It's like, I love this thing. It makes me feel good. I get passion from, I get creativity from it and that was my motivation. That was it. It's like having the next conversation.Lesley Logan 0:13 Welcome to the Be It Till You See It podcast where we talk about taking messy action, knowing that perfect is boring. I'm Lesley Logan, Pilates instructor and fitness business coach. I've trained thousands of people around the world and the number one thing I see stopping people from achieving anything is self-doubt. My friends, action brings clarity and it's the antidote to fear. Each week, my guest will bring bold, executable, intrinsic and targeted steps that you can use to put yourself first and Be It Till You See It. It's a practice, not a perfect. Let's get started.Lesley Logan 0:56 Hi, Be It babe. Okay, this was such a fun interview to do. I had the pleasure of meeting our guest and his wife when Brad and I were at this, we're invited to this thing that I'm gonna not, I'm not gonna lie, we're invited to this thing. You probably heard us talk about it back around the April, May time, and we're like, how do we get invited to do this? Like, what are we doing here? We're not even experts in this area, and we had to Be It Till We See It in that space in the moment, and that's when we met Jose and Britt and they're the podcast hosts of Finding Arizona. Brad and I had the pleasure of being on their podcast. Yes, Brad, that our Brad was on a podcast. You guys, he is a performer, and we hide him behind a camera, but we really shouldn't, because he's so amazing. So anyways, I am super excited for you to hear Jose and I talk about podcasting, about starting something new, so you don't have to, even you don't turn this off if you're like, I never run a podcast. I think it's really cool to hear how people come up with ideas and then see yourself in that story. So we talk about starting a podcast, what it's like to start something that we have no accountability around, we have to create it ourselves. So if you're someone who has a hard time with that, like, hearing the story, and then also, we talk a lot about goal setting and working with your partner and kiddos and what's next. So this is just a really, I feel like you probably are gonna feel like you're having coffee with Jose and I. So here is the host of Finding Arizona, Jose Acevedo. Lesley Logan 2:21 All right, Be It babe. This is fun. It's always fun for me when I get to talk to a fellow podcaster, but it's really fun when I really know that podcaster and we have a great story and we have a great vibe. Jose Acevedo, you are our guest today. You are the host of Finding Arizona. And, you guys, don't worry if you don't know where Arizona is, we're gonna talk more of than just Arizona today. But can you tell us who you are and what you rock at?Jose Acevedo 2:44 Yeah, my name is Jose Acevedo. I am a podcaster, and I'm also, like, a fan of you, Lesley. Thank you so much for having me, and I'm just again, I'm a true cheerleader for the locals here who are doing what they love to do their passion projects, everything in between, from nonprofit to high CEOs in the corporate areas. We want to get to know them, their story and how they come into the world, and how they journey across and make an effort to be a community member here in Arizona. Lesley Logan 3:14 So I feel like you are the greatest cheerleader, like you have curiosity. You're excited about what people are doing, and you want to share their stories, is that something that you went to school for, is that something you've always done? You don't even do in a podcast but everybody else's stuff, like, where did that come from? Jose Acevedo 3:29 Yeah, so I spent a bit of my life on the East Coast, and that's where my father and my mother took me to go really early on in my childhood to really kind of give me an opportunity. A. they wanted to get out of the heat of Arizona, but B. they wanted to move to other places where their children could learn and grow and kind of get a unique sense of the world. And then when I moved again for the second time, and this was a very significant point in my life, I was going away from being an adolescent to a kind of a teenager and into the kind of adulthood. And we moved back to my mom's Indian Reservation, and that is near the four corners here in Arizona. It's the Hopi Reservation, and I knew very little, to almost nothing, about my heritage and my Hopi culture. And so that was a very big, pivotal learning point about who I am as an individual, who I want to be as a man in the future. And the biggest kind of teacher in that was my grandfather, who was an elder in the community, who held a lot of stories, and who also really loved storytelling. And that was really kind of that moment of like, really crux of getting to understand what storytelling meant and what its importance was, what it can do for a society and a culture that has been on this earth for so long and has thrived just from hearing these stories and using that as a religion. And so for me, I had to very much dive deep into, you know, these different types of elements of storytelling, but how they also relate to my own life. And it was hard. It was definitely something very significant where I pushed back on it at points. I definitely had my moments of, like, teen angst and those types of things, but I also learned a lot about who I am and who my people are and what I want to give back into this world and give back into society and culture. So that was a really big point in my life, of like, learning about who I am and who my culture was. Then I came down to Phoenix and went to college, and really kind of stumbled upon podcasting as kind of this new wave of having a dialog and having conversation and actually storytelling to the masses, but also having these intimate conversations with individuals. So really, how it turned out to be what it is today is I was having conversations with business owners about their business through screen printing. I was screen printing T-shirts for these different owners, and I would just have a really fun time having these conversations and really getting to, like, go back and forth with them, getting to know them and what they're about and all these things. And they seem to really enjoy it. I'd get comments like, Oh, I really love this conversation. Thank you for having with me. Thank you for showing interest. Oh, you should be a news reporter, or you should be on the radio. All these types of compliments. And really, it dawned on me, when I was screen printing their shirts and listening to other podcasts that I'm like, really enjoying of like, oh, I should just do this. This has always been fun for me to listen to. I should at least attempt to do these conversations, to record them. So that that kind of snowballed into had to learn how to record, had to learn how to edit, had to learn how to do a website, how to like, upload them and just create this thing that I thought was cool that now has now become a big part of my life and a big part of my family's life. My wife got involved by meeting me, and I had to tell her, can't really go out on dates on weekends, because I'm doing this thing, recording and editing and all these things. And she was like, oh, I love podcasts. Let me listen to it. And so that has now turned into her becoming my producer. And now my son has just been born three years ago during the pandemic, and we were doing a lot of zoom calls, and now he knows that when Dada goes to work, it's like a lot of the times it's podcasting. So he's like, Dada, you go do podcasts? And it's just been really that thing that has affected me on a personal level, but me on a grander scale of legacy.Lesley Logan 7:45 I mean, and you've been doing this for 10 years, Finding Arizona, so like, y'all, we've been only podcasting for about three and a half years at this point. Podcasting has been around for a really long time, but so few people knew how to find the app on their phone and knew what it was and what I just, thank you for sharing the journey, because it's so cool you were already doing something, and then people were like, this is really cool you do this. And so you took it, and I, so many people are like, how did you come with this idea? How did you come with this idea? Y'all listen to what people are saying you're really great at, or complimenting you on, because that's what they think you're great at. And it becomes, it's so easy and natural for you, you don't see it as an opportunity or something that's unique, because it's natural to you. But what a cool gig. I love it. And also, the people are already coming to you. So you're like, what is this shirt for this automobile thing? How did they do it? I love that also, thank you for sharing your show about your grandfather. I think there's a book called Sapiens, and I didn't read the whole thing, you guys, it's really long. I kept it. I haven't given it away because I swear to pick it up. But what they say is that humans actually stayed in existence because of storytelling, and I do think that, you know, the Native Americans have really shown us that storytelling is really how we keep, we understand what happened in our past. We understand we're going to like, we understand things on a bigger level than just us as humans and I think it's so beautiful. So thank you for sharing all of that. Jose Acevedo 9:10 Of course.Lesley Logan 9:10 Okay, you had to learn all these things to be a podcaster. You all who are trying to make something new happen your life, whenever we say podcast and you can insert what you are doing, trying to be. What was it like having the first interview? Because you already were good at it, because you'd ask people question, but then you had to, like, hit record. Were you shaking in your boots? Did it feel easy? Did you re-record it? Tell us about it.Jose Acevedo 9:32 So I think you're absolutely right when it comes to these very, we had this conversation on my podcast and just off air, where I feel sometimes I'm like, I'm so nervous and flustered because I'm such a fan of people who come on our show, because we do research about these people, and we're like, oh, they're so cool. They're like, this and that. And so I get nervous just because I have this excitement about me. So yes, my very first episode where I said to myself, yes, I want to record. I want to do this. I want to make it a thing. I actually did it with my boss, like of the screen printing shop, because I felt like A. we had a great dynamic. We were just really fun and chit-chatty with each other. And B. I felt like all of his stories were so funny and so like, dynamic and filled with all of these intrigue and just the way he said things was just so funny to me. And it was, yeah, it was exciting to me to share what he was about. But again, it was like, so nerve wracking, because I didn't know if this was gonna work, or I didn't know if any of my equipment was done right, or if I was like, I'm just shooting myself in the foot. We might have to record and other things, and I was so nervous, and really I just wanted it to be a fun situation, which it was. It was so much fun, and I really look back on it, and was like, oh my gosh, so he was barely paying attention to he's working on other shirts. And I was like, having this conversation while we're interviewing. He was so great, though, because he could do that, and then still have the conversation and throw in the quits, throw in the bits, throw in the funny. Lesley Logan 11:05 It probably made him feel even more comfortable, because he wasn't like, sitting down and professionally recording.Jose Acevedo 11:10 Yeah, his thing. And it was just me saying, hey, can I record this? And then it turned into, I like the way that this felt. I like the feeling of it. I love, was it so great? That was like, did I think it was going to be this Pulitzer Prize winning interview thing? No, but I love the way it felt. I love the way it turned out. And I was like, maybe let's try it again, but let's sit down with someone who's not so busy. It's like someone who's like, a little bit more attentive and paying attention to me in my conversation with them, and it would just go from one client to the next, and I was like, oh, there's a way to like, then you start to pick out like, oh, there's a way to ask this question, or there's a way to steer them into this one area, or they draw their guard down when after the half hour mark. So I should get more personal questions towards the end there. And so if you really learn the dynamics of a conversation and through so much of doing it repetitively and doing the work over and over again.Lesley Logan 12:13 You, you know, that is true. It's also like you're never going to be 10 years version of you versus one year, like, you can't learn the 100 times experience until you've done it 100 times. Like, it's just got to happen. We have to have grace with ourselves. And also, it is true, the more you do it, the more you realize who are fun people to interview. What are the qualities? That person has a great story, but they're not a really good interview. So if we're having a hard time having a conversation, it's not going to go well. Versus, when do I ask the questions that are more personal, that do take more vulnerability? Some people, you know, when you podcast, a lot like we do, I can get vulnerable on an episode pretty early on, because I know what. I know that I can share. I know how it usually goes. But not everyone's like that. Some people are amazing experts, and they do a few podcasts. And so we have to kind of understand when the best time is to to bring things out. I want to know because you started this on your own, and you were also like, let me see how this goes. So how did you hold yourself accountable to releasing the episodes? Because the thing about anything is you have to be consistent, and especially at the time when podcasting wasn't really big, you know, how did you choose to be consistent with something you didn't know what it would be yet?Jose Acevedo 13:27 So, yeah, I, again, I think it goes back to, I think one of the early s tarts in my beginning was like goal setting, like, how do I want this to be a thing, or how do I want this to come out. And so one of the very first conversations that I had was, do I want this to be a weekly? Do I want this to be monthly? Do I want this to be a series? And, you know, how do I want to put out this series? And so I just really kind of more approached it from, uh, that kind of goal setting. Let's start off slow. Let's do it a monthly or let's, you know, I think it was monthly, in the very first beginning of, like, I'm going to have these deep conversations for more than an hour or an hour long, and really hone in on the individual and have those deep realm conversations. And then once I had a few underneath my belt, I really started to say, okay, I think I can push this even further. And, like, really, after the first year, I was like, okay, let's go to every two weeks, like a biweekly. Then it came to like, oh, I am really getting emails from a lot of places that wanted to be on the show or was showing interest. And I was like, okay, well, now I have a lot of interest. And I also, at that point, I started, you know, having someone follow, do the pictures and help me out a little bit. And so I was like, okay, I can do this. I can make this a weekly thing. And so I pushed myself even further to make it a weekly podcast and have these really fun conversations. And also, then we got to some really fun goal setting there, it was like, there was a month that was just filled with farmers, and when we started to really push the envelope on some of these ideas, and had some fun throughout the years that we've been doing it, what, how does this podcast work? Or how does it look like? What do people find interest in? Or what are some of the things that are really pushing the envelope of like how this community works here in Arizona or here in Phoenix particularly, so, it was really kind of listening to the audience, and also goal setting for myself is really what kept me going. And because I had such an intrigue on not only the people who were coming onto the podcast, but an intrigue in making this a business, I think it was kind of easier to say, okay, these are the goals. This is how I want to approach it. This is how I want it to come out. This is how I want it to be seen. And how do I make sure that I get these? Well, it's baby steps. Okay, first you get the yes from the person, then you schedule them, and then do the conversation, and then you set a date of, like, when they're going to come out. And then you make sure you edit in that time frame. It's those little baby steps that'll move you forward and move the the needle here and there. And so it was just, again, one part my my end of like, goal setting and listening to the audience. But two, make sure that you write down your goals and push yourself to reach those goals and make sure that it comes out. Lesley Logan 13:28 Yeah, I love that you mentioned the baby steps, because I think that's where people get a goal set. Then they don't break it down, the baby actions, and then it just feels overwhelming to do. And then they think they need motivation, which is the biggest lie, because that's inconsistent, so. Jose Acevedo 16:24 Yeah, my motivation was the podcast. I love this thing. It makes me feel good. I get passion from, I get creativity from it. And that was my motivation. That was it. It was like having the next conversation. Lesley Logan 16:55 So, do you podcast full time? This is your job now, or do you have other things to do? Jose Acevedo 16:59 I'll be honest. No, this isn't my full time gig, but it feels like a second job or more, but I'll be honest, I, when the pandemic hit, I was working with a landscape architecture firm, and that's what I went to school for, is landscape architecture, and I had a real choice, because we were getting a lot of intrigue in the podcast. But what happened was Brittany got pregnant, and it was the pandemic. She was actually coming out of a job in the healthcare system, and we were really worried, because she would hear horror stories from the healthcare about the pandemic and about people suffering through this thing. Lesley Logan 17:40 Or our healthcare workers were on the front line, and we didn't really have a lot of support for them. We still don't. That didn't change. Jose Acevedo 17:48 And so for me, I was like, oh man, I'm bringing this new life into the world. I need to figure out a way to make sure that he's healthy. And so I took a job at a bigger firm that would allow me to work from home and be with him, but also give me health insurance. And really, I like to say it's I'm not afraid to let go of that job right now to move into podcasting full time. But for the time being, my son is safe, my family's healthy, and we are still working consistently on this podcast, and I have, it hasn't worn on me. It hasn't made me feel tired. I just love what I do, and if I can do this continuously, the way that we have been, I'm okay with that. We're at that pivotal point too. It's like, which one of us is going to let go of their job to go full time with this podcast? And I don't know, we still have this conversation, and I'll be honest, like, all the time, like, who's going to do it? What are we going to do? And we just kind of look at each other and we're like, it's a good problem to have, yeah, but we're still at a standstill. We're still waiting. I think we have a goal set. I think that we have clientele, and once we reach that number of clientele that will allow us to let go of one of the jobs that we work, then we'll move into more full time. And I think that's a good, again, goal setting. Types of things where it's like baby steps, we have an actual number, and once we hit that, then that'll be the key to unlock the door of full time work. And working that podcast full time. Lesley Logan 19:22 Thank you. And also it's, here's the thing. These are all things we have to think about. It's really funny when people know that I'm on YouTube, they're like, oh, you must make so much on YouTube. I'm like, not everyone's it, a full time YouTuber. The amount of money I spend on the payroll to edit the YouTube is not how much I get paid from YouTube. I get paid. I get paid monthly. And I'm so grateful thank you for watching those views. Keep watching, but we glamorize things, and we think, oh, they're doing this. So it must be doing so. And yes, the ads you have, or content fees, or all the different appearances that could all bring an income, but you and I live currently in a place where healthcare isn't a given, and so unfortunately, someone has to have it. And, two, I'll just be really honest guys, someone has to have a W2 in a relationship, because if you both, like our, Brad and I, and you work for the company, no one wants to give you a loan. Like, the hoops. It took us 18 months to get our mortgage, 18 months we could to pay the bill we're already paying, you know. So I share that because it's frustrating. And if you're in that situation, we see you and we hear you, and it's the other thing that we talked about on your podcast, Finding Arizona, is putting pressure on something before it's ready can actually destroy it. Or Big Magic, have you read the book Big Magic? Jose Acevedo 20:36 No. I'm going to write this down. Lesley Logan 20:37 Oh, put it on your list, Elizabeth Gilbert, Eat, Pray, Love girl. So her book, Big Magic, I have read multiple times, and she says, ideas want to be born. So if you have an idea and you don't act on it, someone else will do it, which is why you're like, oh, I had that idea. Like, you didn't do anything about that, right? So there's that. But also, she says, if your idea is artistic, if it's creative and you try to live off of it before it is ready. You will filter, change, correct, make. You might even lower standards or make decisions based on the income you need at the time versus what the art was, the creativity, the vision, the goal was in the first place. So she shares she did not quit her job as a professor, even after she sold Eat, Pray, Love to movies. She really waited until she knew I can live off of me being Elizabeth Gilbert, the writer, and it's really awesome. And I really love that vulnerability, because there is a dream I have where I just get to interview people and go on retreats and, you know, teach my mentorship. But also got a mortgage to pay. I got retirement. Jose Acevedo 20:37 Yeah, you got to work towards it. Lesley Logan 20:37 Yeah. And we got retirement accounts we want to make sure, there's a lot going on. So you have to kind of balance like, am I playing small or am I playing it wise? It's a game of life. Am I making the right decision in this moment for where we want to go? Jose Acevedo 22:08 Yeah, and I feel the exact same way of you bring up this, this idea of baby steps, and I feel like that's where we kind of refocus a lot of the times on and not like we don't want it. It is about putting effort into everyday tasks or everyday things that allow us to move forward and move that needle to the point where we were like, yes, this is everything's pointing to. We can do this now, and we can transition and not feel like again the pressure is come solely on the creative part, the thing that we love doing, and now it has to hold us financially up. It's one of those things where it's like, and I brought this up on our party, it's like, that's what brings me most fears, because I've always loved doing this, and I don't want it to be like this martyr of like, it has to feed me, it has to, you know, pay my bills and all these things where that, when it was in the beginning, was just this fun conversation, this, this fun, light-hearted thing of like, tell me about yourself, tell me why, and to put pressure on it so much to the point where it's like the people ask us, why do you put yourself in a corner by just focusing on Arizona? Well, it's not putting yourself in a corner. It's actually this ever evolving thing that always changes, that always has newcomers, that always has someone. Lesley Logan 23:25 You are never gonna run out of content. Jose Acevedo 23:27 Yeah, never gonna run out of content. And so no, it's not that it's having passion for something that is ever evolving, and wanting to show light on that and give people a chance at the table and give them the mic to recruit for themselves, like advocate for themselves, and have joy for what they created, and all of these things. And I. Lesley Logan 23:45 I mean, you wouldn't run out of content if it was just finding Phoenix like you just wouldn't. And there's like, how many millions of people live in Arizona and then moving to Arizona and leave it like, there's always going to be new options for listeners. And I think don't ever let anyone tell you you niche down too much, because that's not even true. But I think what you guys could challenge yourself is like, what are the fears, and what would it look like if it did work? And then we'll set from there, because that's how, I like to work backwards. When the pandemic hit and we actually had to start from scratch-ish, we already had OPC. It was already in existence, but it wasn't paying our bills. What paid our bills was me touring the world and teaching in real life. So I was like, okay, if this has to pay our bills, how does that look like? What is it? What is it looking to put pressure on this, and how do we do it so we're not making compromises that are not, because what most people want is they want a Netflix option. They want to do Pilates whenever they want to do it. They want to have access to their old class whenever they want. But they don't, because they actually don't use it then. How long have you got whether you don't check one of your streaming accounts? And so there were values that I was like, no, this is hell. I'm going to die on this, because that's what makes us unique. Like you're like, no, we're Finding Arizona. We're not finding the US, like we're, or the southwest, or whatever the Sun Belt is, whatever they like to call us. You're not that. So, you know, I think there's things where like this is for sure never gonna change. We're never gonna do that. But what does that look like if it works? And what does working look like? And sometimes you're afraid to dream big because it is possible. It's so scary. So I don't wanna discount that. Brad and I, the only reason I can say that we lucked out is that we were forced in a pandemic to make it work, because it was like we had to pay our bills. We don't, we don't we work for ourselves. There is no one sending me any money for a paycheck to work from home. We have a great couple that we know, and seeing them thrive today is like really fun. We watched these two people doing the dream like they were performers. They both were headliners on The Strip. They had their dream home, and in the same week, both of their shows closed, and we were like, I'm so sorry, and they said this to us, and there was something that always sticks with me. They're like they were velvet handcuffs. And the idea of me going out and audition again, I just don't even want to do it. I'm most grateful that this happened, and he has, he went back to school. He changed his life. They're having a baby like they both have changed, transformed what their resume is and what they do on this planet. And it's cool how it can change, but it also, when you have a consistent paychecks coming in, it can, it's hard. It's hard. So. Jose Acevedo 24:00 I've heard this one individual. I can't even, I'm bad with names, but I'm always so invested in what people say and what their beliefs are. But it's like, I heard this saying, Do your life the nine to five, so that the five to nine is your, you know.Lesley Logan 26:32 Oh yeah. You work to live, not live to work. So you're like, your nine to five is only there to make sure that your five to nine is super cool.Jose Acevedo 26:39 Yeah and so that's where I'm at right now in life, and it's just really been great. And it's, I cannot tell you that it makes me feel good that A. I still have a passion for it, and B. it's building this legacy, not just for me, but for the little guy. In all honesty, fatherhood has changed a lot about how I see the world, how I perceive the world, and how I, you know, go about the world and it's joy when he says that I have fun doing a podcast is the best thing that I can say about what this means to me now, because it's just again, I want him to know that I'm a good dad, but I also want him to know that I'm a good person as well, because I care enough that I have these conversations with the people, because I don't want to feel like I don't love the world. I don't want to, I don't want him to think that you can't, you, you're, you need to be afraid of everyone. I want him to know that there are good people out there, and there's a community that will back him, and so hopefully down the road, he'll see a couple of the episodes and be like, my dad, I love him. He did a great job doing this.Lesley Logan 27:49 That's so beautiful. That's amazing, and it is interesting. We can see our life through the lens of someone else, because there's a lot of things that can weigh on us that actually have nothing to do with the big picture, but they feel very important. There are certain things that really make sure that they're like, I want to be heard and I want to be seen, that actually are not that big of a deal, and they're not part of the goals. But when the obstacle happens or the mess happens, they can feel like they're priority. And then you have this guy, his name's Atlas, right? Jose Acevedo 28:18 Yeah, his name's Atlas, yeah. Lesley Logan 28:19 Atlas go, did you have fun doing this thing that you love? And it's like, yeah, thank you for bringing me back down to earth and remind me what I do. That's so, it's so fun. It's so cute. Jose Acevedo 28:27 Yeah, it's just something about his joy of the world and life itself, it just brings me back to like, calm and steady. And again, it's like, fatherhood has changed me 100% from this, you know, I always felt like I was like, I'm so selfish. I'm like, I want so much for myself. Then he came into my world, and he's changed so much about me, and I want so much for him, and so much for him to see everything and give him a lot of the things that I didn't have as a child. But I understood, I understand now as an adult, my parents did the best that they could with everything that they had, and that is all I want to do for him. And if that means, you know, keep podcasting because it makes you happy, dad, then I'm going to keep doing that. And you know, there's a lot of things that it's just, again, they're not as important in hindsight right now, because I'm just really so glad that he's given me the opportunity to see the world and through his eyes and through his perspective, and want to just make it the happiest, joyous childhood ever. Lesley Logan 28:51 Oh, my goodness. And also, you're not sacrificing something you love because you think it will make that you're showing your son, you and Britt are both showing your child, like, you can do things that make you happy and you don't have to sacrifice the things you love to do that. I think it's really cool for them to grow up in a household where, like, yes, you have a nine to five, but also this other thing that makes you really happy, and you're dedicated to it, and you see it through. We had a guest on Episode Five, everyone. She said actions are caught, not taught. She's very aware that her kids are watching what she says about herself and what she does. I want to ask we don't have Britt here today, so unfortunately, we'll have to hang out with her another moment. But you work with your spouse on this podcast. Brad and I work together, and I'm sure you guys get all the time,. I don't know, I don't want to assume, but people are like, oh my God, tell me how you and Brad work together because I think I want to work with my partner. I find myself going, maybe don't do it. And I love working with my husband. But also, I'm particularly aware that it's not unicorn and glitter all the time. Jose Acevedo 30:38 Yeah, absolutely, yeah. Lesley Logan 30:39 So tell us how it came to be that Britt started working on the show and like, how do you two each share this incredible podcast together? How do you guys make it work?Jose Acevedo 30:50 Yeah, so we had this conversation too. It's like on my podcast, where it's I told you about how I met her through work and through working in a co-working office, and just again, being intimidated by someone of her stature at the time, she had her own business, and I was just working my first big boy job out of college, and really it was like I was interested in her, and she asked me for my WiFi password. We had these conversations. We were getting to know each other. And then I was like, I want to take you out on a date. I don't think I have the time during the weekend, and I'm kind of worried to tell you why. And she's like, why are you embarrassed? I'm like, I'm embarrassed because I have this podcast that keeps me very busy when I'm not working here on my job and she's like, oh, I love podcasts. So she binged the entirety of all my podcasts that weekend, and she was like, look, I love what you do. I think it's so interesting. Can I help you somehow? Is there some way I can help you take photos or something? I was like, that would be really great. That would be really awesome. And I would thank you so much. And if I pay you, like, let me. She's like, no, no, no. Just let me help you and you can teach me. And so I was like, she was interested in photography at the time. So she was like, okay, let's go do this first episode. And then actually turned into a date. It was really her way of showing interest in me and wanting to do this together. And she took photos the very first time as a date. And we, you know, had, it was luckily, at an ice cream shop, and it was this, like shaved ice. So she took photos. We ate and had dessert afterwards. And then it evolved into dating a lot. And she was being involved. She was helping me produce. She was helping me get clients, get people on the show. And then she came up with ideas on how to actually make this a business. And I took it to heart because she owned her own business. And we had these conversations before about like, how does Finding Arizona become more than just a podcast? How do we approach it in a business aspect? And I very much, I think, what is the best part about our relationship is I'm very open to her having a conversation with me. Communication, I think, is our best ability between the two of us. I think one, her vulnerability and empathetic nature to connect with me and wanting to share her ideas was the biggest part of how we grew together and how we emotionally stayed connected, but also really move forward in hard times, having being communicative and just communicating how we feel, how we think we should go about, you know, moving forward through a struggle or anything like that. I think that is the best way that we kind of came together and said, okay, this is how the business work. I showed her everything. I was like, this is how I do everything. Where do I go from here? Like, how do I go and move this forward? How do I make this a business? How do I, you know, do my taxes through this and all these things. And so she sat down with me. We've had this conversations on more than one occasion of these are the things that you need to have this business thrive. And so she was kind of teaching me and being my coach. And now we're, I'd like to say we're on the same page a lot of the times when it comes to what we should be providing. What we should be doing next. What are should be the next goal, baby step forward and communication. I think having those points in our relationship to A. talk about ourselves and talk about how we feel about each other, but B. talk about the business. So typically, we'll have, and this is kind of looking into the our relationship, at the end of the year, we'll have kind of this business conversation, but throughout the year we'll have personal conversations, go on dates, really try our best to talk about leave the business side and talk about A. our goals as parents and our goals as a couple, and really put that towards our date life, and then leave the business aspect for, you know, the quarterly stuff, the quarterly meetings and having those really hard conversations, like, how are we going to make money off of this? Or, how are we going to, you know, move forward into the next quarter of like business and how we, what events are we going to go to? Who are we connecting with? How are we even teaching ourselves new things so that we can add it to our repertoire of things that we provide for the podcast? So I think having a point of conversation with your significant other, and making sure you also separate some of those things, because it can get really murky if you bring in and she's trying to have a conversation about relationships, but you're trying to talk about the business. It's really separating those two entities, and I like to say Church and State sort of thing. But you know that sort of idea of like, we really try our best to have those date nights throughout the year and talk about our relationship, talk about who we are, talk about things that aren't, don't do anything with the podcast or business, and then leaving scheduled appointment dates of businessy talk and things like that. So it can be however you want to retrofit that, whether, if you want to talk more about the business, you know you want to have more dates, whatever it may be, but I think having those scheduled items is very vital to checking in, not only for yourself, but for your significant other, if you are working with them and making sure that you're what we say on the same page and moving forward together.Lesley Logan 36:46 Yeah, I think that's really, I love that you prioritize the relationship. Because I think if we prioritize the business goals, then it's really easy to forget why you're doing it and what it's for. And if you are someone who works for yourself, the business has to work for you, and otherwise you just created yourself a boss that's very demanding. So when we bought this house in Vegas, we sat down in April of 2020, we're like, well, what do we want for our lives? Forget the business. What do we want for our lives? Where do we want to live? Where do we want to work? What does our schedule look like? How much money do we make? How much does it cost to live the life we want to live? And then we went to the business and go, okay, the business has to support this life, as opposed to us supporting the business. And I think that that's really important. And so, yeah, you're right. However you want to retrofit that y'all is up to you, but make sure your personal goals are the priority. Because whether you work for yourself or you have a job, the job is there because it's helping. It gives you access to the things that you want. You know, there's this amazing book that I read so many years ago, and it's called, I want to say it's called sunny, it's like, not sunny side up, but it was like something like that. And it was not about whether you saw the glass half full or the glass half empty. You saw something in the glass. But one of the things that she said in there was about parking or driving away. The story was like, she's at brunch, and it was outdoors, and a car drove up, and the car was idling. It was pulled up to park, but it didn't turn off. It just idled, and over, she watched how, she stopped her conversation, and then how the whole area of the brunch stopped their conversation to look at like, what is this car doing? Because it makes everyone uneasy. What is this, what does this car do? Is it gonna go? Is it gonna stay? What's going on? And so the idea was, like, you need to park or drive away. And then she went into a story about a person who didn't love their job. It wasn't awesome when they actually looked for other jobs that they realized was, well, this job allows me to pay for the private school my kids are in. I get off work at a time that lets me spend time with them, lets me do this. And so she reframed the job that she had to this job may not be my dream job, but it provides me with the dream life I have. And we can get a little confused, and so I just want to go back to know what your goals are for your relationship or for your family or for yourself, if you're by yourself, and then the business goals have to reflect that.Jose Acevedo 39:05 I think I look back on the early part of our relationship, and I say to myself, I was embarrassed at the time because of the podcast just taking up so much time in my life. I look back at it now, I'm like, I was sort of embarrassed too, and I didn't address this personally because I didn't want it to take over her life as well, because I really wanted this thing to really be something, but I also didn't want it to take over her life and be, but she has shown me that it can provide us with an opportunity to, like, you, said, live the life that we want, and share so much of our own world of like she's made up these things of like the blog wouldn't be what it is today without her. The vlog is a combination of all of our videos, but it's like this way of sharing our family life with our fans, but also it's like this other thing, of like, it's home movies for our family who live far away from us that don't get a chance to see us a lot. So it's like this beautiful thing of sharing that with them, but also with our fans as well, and she's shown so much of how much she cares about this podcast and how much she cares about others that I'm still amazed by her. I'm still intimidated by her on so many of those factors. Because without her being in my corner, I don't think that I would be the person that I am today, but I also don't think the business would be where it's at today. And I thank her all the time, and I hope she knows this, but I think she is the cornerstone of what makes this podcast have a heart, and I think she's the best part of me. She's the best part of our family, and she's really, truly, this entity that I cannot describe any more than she is the heart of this business. Lesley Logan 41:07 Oh my gosh. Well, we have to let Britt, when she listens to this, have a moment to enjoy that lovely speech for her. So wanna take a brief break, and then we're gonna find out how people can find you and Finding Arizona, and all the things that you guys are doing together. Lesley Logan 41:19 Okay, Jose, you are like one of the most beautiful humans in the world. And I think everyone is hoping that their husband is telling someone that exact same speech that you just said about them, Finding Arizona, they can find it anywhere that they're listening to this podcast. But do they have to live in Arizona? Is this something they can enjoy if they're visiting Arizona? And also, what else do you and Britt have for our listeners?Jose Acevedo 41:41 Yeah. So this is available on all podcast platforms, of course, but we also have now video format to a lot of these episodes that we provide on YouTube. And on top of that, like I was discussing earlier in the podcast, we have a vlog that's a little bit of this family life. And what we do for the business, we go to events as well, meeting new people, networking, and we share that along with on the YouTube, we have a website that is available for a blog that gets a little bit more of what we've learned and found through the community and what we're passionate about, what we're intrigued by, that's a little bit more of the inside of our minds being put out into this, like, blog form, so that Britt puts that together. But it's, again, it's all of these things could be found at our website, findingarizonapodcast.com but also on our YouTube page, Finding Arizona podcast, you'll just search it, and you'll find us. You'll see us. We're big smiley people, and we always try our best to make sure that it's routinely updated and that you're constantly getting new items every week. And on top of that, I mean other events that we're going to on a very routine basis. You can catch us a lot of the community events throughout Phoenix. And we are also trying to do a little bit more of in-person 101 classes, teaching the kind of 101 of podcasting, Britt has done an event where she's speaking about it at a Phoenix Design Week. There are a couple of other events that I don't have it in front of me, but I wish I could give you some more information on, and I will actually send an email to you so you can provide that to the individuals. But there are a lot more events that we're going to be in-person for that you can catch us at, say hi and get a little bit more one-to-one action with us. And you will get to see Atlas, too. Atlas loves going on these little adventure excursions, and you'll see him in his little Finding Arizona shirt, and he's always down the clown, and he's a fun time.Lesley Logan 43:34 Oh my gosh, so fun. Yes, you guys should absolutely be teaching people about podcast and getting started, because you've been doing it for 10 years.Jose Acevedo 43:42 Yes and on top of all of those things that we do in person and all that, we actually just started this. And this is something of the service arm of what we provide in video production, audio production. We're calling it The Found House. And you can find it under our web page, The Found House over at findingarizonapodcast.com where you can actually, if you want to work with us, one-to-one and start your own podcast, we provide that option as well.Lesley Logan 44:08 Awesome. That is what we need. Thank you for doing that. Jose Acevedo 44:11 Yes, absolutely. Lesley Logan 44:12 Okay. You guys, all those links are, of course, in the show notes. And if you are wondering about how Finding Arizona podcast is, I was on it with Brad. Brad made an appearance. Holy moly, it's rare. So go listen. You get to hear the inside of his brain on all the things. Jose Acevedo 44:28 I love Brad, by the way. Lesley Logan 44:29 We love Brad. You know what? Here's the thing, everyone loves Brad. And whenever I go anywhere without Brad, they're just like, where's Brad? Where's Brad? So that's why he's not actually allowed to not be there. Because I'm like, am I chopped liver? So. Jose Acevedo 44:41 He's right over there. Go look. And that's sometimes how I feel about Britt and this is the crux of having parenthood be a part of what we do is should some of these events are late at night, and Atlas can't go to those. So one of us has to stay behind to do bedtime story time, and one of us has to go. And then it's if one of us goes, like, where's the other person? Lesley Logan 45:02 Yeah, where are they? What's going on? Well, I love that. It's like, okay, hi, but I'm right here. So you know, you have been such a gem already, but we love to end the episode with, Be It Action Items. Bold, executable, intrinsic or targeted steps people can take to be it till they see it. What do you have for us? Jose Acevedo 45:17 I think it goes back to what we were talking about those baby goal routines set for yourselves. I think you should always try your best to set a big goal, but also make sure that you're taking those routine steps, or those small steps forward to allow yourself and your what your goal is to move to approach that. Take those tiny steps that you know are digestible, edible that you can do and make sure that you're reaching closer and closer, because if you look back on those little steps, you will actually see that you were providing yourself the opportunity to move forward. And one of the big things that I keep going back to, or at least what in our conversations, like life responds to effort. That's something that I heard, is life responds to effort. And you're not making an effort, you're not moving anywhere, you're stagnant. You have to make an effort. And whatever, it's those little things that matter and those little things that count to your goals. Lesley Logan 45:18 Oh, my God. Mic drop on that. That is brilliant. That is, rewind everyone, listen to that last, that was freaking amazing. Jose, Finding Arizona. Thank you for being you. Thank you for sharing your story. Give Britt some love from us. We're hopefully gonna see you guys, when we're in person in Arizona soon. Y'all, how are you gonna use these tips in your life? Tag Finding Arizona. Tag the Be It Pod. Share this with a friend. Share this with an Arizonian but also share this with someone who needs to hear that 10 years ago, it was baby steps and just showing up and being consistent, like we all need these inspirations in our lives and until next time, Be It Till You See It. Lesley Logan 46:52 That's all I got for this episode of the Be It Till You See It Podcast. One thing that would help both myself and future listeners is for you to rate the show and leave a review and follow or subscribe for free wherever you listen to your podcast. Also, make sure to introduce yourself over at the Be It Pod on Instagram. I would love to know more about you. Share this episode with whoever you think needs to hear it. Help us and others Be It Till You See It. Have an awesome day. Be It Till You See It is a production of The Bloom Podcast Network. If you want to leave us a message or a question that we might read on another episode, you can text us at +1-310-905-5534 or send a DM on Instagram @BeItPod.Brad Crowell 47:35 It's written, filmed, and recorded by your host, Lesley Logan, and me, Brad Crowell.Lesley Logan 47:40 It is transcribed, produced and edited by the epic team at Disenyo.co.Brad Crowell 47:44 Our theme music is by Ali at Apex Production Music and our branding by designer and artist, Gianfranco Cioffi.Lesley Logan 47:51 Special thanks to Melissa Solomon for creating our visuals.Brad Crowell 47:55 Also to Angelina Herico for adding all of our content to our website. And finally to Meridith Root for keeping us all on point and on time.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/be-it-till-you-see-it/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy
The South Dakota Symphony Orchestra will debut a Pulitzer Prize-winning opera for the first time. We preview "Giants in the Earth" and revisit the story's legacy.
As the Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast Suave returns for its second season, we continue our conversation with journalist Maria Hinojosa and David Luis “Suave” Gonzalez, the subject of the series. Gonzalez was sentenced to life in prison at age 17, but got an unexpected second chance when he was paroled in 2017 following a Supreme Court ruling that found sentences like his unconstitutional. The first season of the podcast followed Gonzalez's case, his decadeslong friendship with Hinojosa and his eventual release from prison. The second season looks at his struggle to reintegrate into society.
As the Pulitzer Prize-winning podcast Suave returns for its second season, we continue our conversation with journalist Maria Hinojosa and David Luis “Suave” Gonzalez, the subject of the series. Gonzalez was sentenced to life in prison at age 17, but got an unexpected second chance when he was paroled in 2017 following a Supreme Court ruling that found sentences like his unconstitutional. The first season of the podcast followed Gonzalez's case, his decadeslong friendship with Hinojosa and his eventual release from prison. The second season looks at his struggle to reintegrate into society.
#340 In today's lesson, Charles Duhig, a Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative reporter, and the author of New York Times Best Seller 'The Power of Habit'., shares insights from his new book 'Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection', emphasizing the importance of connection and effective communication for personal and professional success. (Original Air Date - 2/22/24) What we discuss with Charles: + The Impact of Super Communicators + Understanding the Types of Conversations + The Power of Deep Questions in Communication + Looping for Understanding: A Powerful Communication Technique + Applying Communication Techniques in Parenting + The Power of Mindful Listening + Modeling Healthy Conversations for Children + Understanding and Acknowledging Differences + The Role of Identity in Conversations + The Power of Understanding in Difficult Conversations +The Impact of Communication on Business Success + The Importance of Constant Feedback + The Role of Conversations in Building Connections + The Game of Life: Building Relationships Links and resources from this episode: Supercommunicators: How to Unlock the Secret Language of Connection Thank you, Charles! If you enjoyed this episode with Charles, let him know by clicking HERE to send him a quick shout-out! For more information go to MillionaireUniversity.com To get access to our FREE Business Training course go to MillionaireUniversity.com/training. And follow us on: Instagram Facebook Tik Tok Youtube Twitter To get exclusive offers mentioned in this episode and to support the show, visit millionaireuniversity.com/sponsors. Want to hear from more incredible entrepreneurs? Check out all of our interviews here! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Andrew Lipke is a composer, producer, arranger, conductor, vocalist, multi-instrumentalist, and educator who has toured for more than a decade with the Led Zeppelin tribute band Get The Led Out and performed as a vocalist with Steve Hackman's Brahms V Radiohead symphonic synthesis; and he collaborates with World Café Live on music education programs for underserved youth in the Philadelphia area. Andrew has produced and released seven albums of original music spanning various genres; and he has collaborated with the Southwest Florida Symphony Orchestra four times, including conducting a "Rock Star Séance" concert and conducting and performing in the Valentine's Day-themed concert called "You've Got Mail!: Musical Love Letters". with the Southwest Florida Symphony. He is scheduled to conduct a concert titled "70s, 80s & 90s Unplugged" with the Southwest Florida Symphony on May 18, 2024. (Note: This date appears to be in the past, which might be an error in the source or my interpretation. It's worth noting.) He is scheduled to conduct a concert titled "Rock Star Séance" on October 24, 2025? praised for his songwriting and orchestration. Producer: Has produced numerous recordings for artists in the Philadelphia region in his studio, The Record Lounge. Arranger & Conductor: Extensively worked with Amos Lee, providing orchestrations for his albums and conducting orchestras for his performances, including major American symphony orchestras. Conducted various other prominent orchestras. Multi-instrumentalist & Vocalist: Toured for over a decade with the Led Zeppelin tribute band Get The Led Out and performed as a vocalist with Steve Hackman's Brahms V Radiohead symphonic synthesis. Concert Series Curator & Host: Created and hosted the innovative "Intersect" concert series with The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, exploring cross-genre musical connections. Music Educator: Collaborates with World Café Live on music education programs for underserved youth. Was an artist in residence for Julia Wolfe's Pulitzer Prize-winning composition and has an ongoing residency with Hill Freedman World Academy, resulting in multiple albums and an Emmy-winning documentary. Taught at The Hartt School of Music. Album Cycle & Current Projects: Created an album cycle based on Herman Hesse's "Siddhartha" and is currently working on a new concept album titled "IRIS" and other projects. SONG 1: Solfeggietto by C.P.E. Bach (Carl Philipp Emanuel) performed here by Frederic Bernachon. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6g-tWmOSsoAnnie’s SONG 2: Song by John Denver from his 1974 album Back Home Again. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RNOTF-znQyw SONG 3: Master of Puppets by Metallica from their 1986 album of the same name. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E0ozmU9cJDgSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Pulitzer Prize finalist and esteemed historian Max Boot joins Between the Covers to delve into his acclaimed biography "Reagan: His Life and Legend", named one of The New York Times' Top 10 Books of 2024. In this compelling conversation, Boot offers a deeply balanced portrait of Ronald Reagan—a president celebrated for restoring American optimism but also criticized for controversial decisions on civil rights and the AIDS crisis.Host Anne Bocock guides a thoughtful discussion on Reagan's biggest achievements, including ending the Cold War and revitalizing the American spirit, while also examining his political contradictions and complex personal legacy. Boot also reveals behind-the-scenes stories from his decade-long research journey, including interviews with Reagan's closest allies—many of whom are no longer with us.From Reagan's charisma and communication mastery to his policy missteps and long-lasting influence on today's polarized politics, this episode is essential listening for anyone seeking to understand one of America's most consequential presidents through a modern lens.
Laurie Sheck's novel A Monster's Notes, a reimagining of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, was long listed for the Dublin Impac International Fiction Prize. Her book of poems, The Willow Grove, was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. Her work has appeared widely in the Paris Review, the New Yorker and elsewhere. She has been a Guggenheim Fellow, a fellow at the Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard, and at the Cullman Center for Scholars and Writers at the New York Public Library. A member of the MFA Creative Writing faculty at the New School, she lives in New York City. This interview focuses on her new book, Cyborg Fever.
Host Marcia Franklin sits down with historian and law professor Annette Gordon-Reed about her book, The Hemingses of Monticello: An American Family. The book, which won both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize, explores the complex bonds between President Thomas Jefferson and one of his slave families, the Hemingses. Using primary source documents, as well as second-hand accounts, Gordon-Reed tries to piece together the relationship between Jefferson and Sally Hemings, with whom most historians now believe he had as many as seven children. Hemings, a slave at Monticello, was also the half-sister of Jefferson's wife, Martha, who died when Jefferson was 39. A professor at Rutgers University and the New York College of Law at the time of the interview, Gordon-Reed is currently the Charles Warren Professor of American Legal History at Harvard Law School and Professor of History in the Faculty of Arts and Sciences at Harvard. Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast and visit the Dialogue website for more conversations that matter! Originally Aired: 12/03/2009 The interview is part of Dialogue's series, "Conversations from the Sun Valley Writers' Conference," and was taped at the 2009 conference. Since 1995, the conference has been bringing together some of the world's most well-known and illuminating authors to discuss literature and life.
Hear from tour guides about Spain's robust high-speed rail network and all the places it can take you. Then hit the road vicariously with Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Nicholas Kristof for a taste of life as a foreign correspondent. And take a closer look at the surprising and fascinating ways in which borders have shaped our world. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.
All The Drama is hosted by Jan Simpson. It is a series of deep dives into the plays that have won The Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The Pulitzer Prize for Drama: “Long Day’s Journey into Night“1957 Pulitzer winner “Long Day’s Journey into Night”, by Eugene O’Neill Long Day's Journey Into read more The post All the Drama: Long Day’s Journey into Night, 1957 Winner, Pulitzer Prize for Drama appeared first on BroadwayRadio.
Franz Wright was born in Vienna, Austria and grew up in the Northwest, the Midwest, and California. He earned a BA from Oberlin College in 1977. His collections of poetry include The Beforelife (2001); God's Silence (2006); Walking to Martha's Vineyard, which won the Pulitzer Prize in 2004; Wheeling Motel (2009); Kindertotenwald (2011); and F (2013). In his precisely crafted, lyrical poems, Wright addresses the subjects of isolation, illness, spirituality, and gratitude. Of his work, he has commented, “I think ideally, I would like, in a poem, to operate by way of suggestion.”Critic Helen Vendler wrote in the New York Review of Books, “Wright's scale of experience, like Berryman's, runs from the homicidal to the ecstatic ... His best forms of or originality: deftness in patterning, startling metaphors, starkness of speech, compression of both pain and joy, and a stoic self-possession with the agonies and penalties of existence.” Langdon Hammer, in the New York Times Book Review, wrote of God's Silence: “In his best poems, Wright grasps at the ‘radiantly obvious thing' in short-lined short lyrics that turn and twist down the page. The urgency and calculated unsteadiness of the utterances, with their abrupt shifts of direction, jump-cuts and quips, mime the wounded openness of a speaker struggling to find faith.”Wright received a Whiting Fellowship, a Guggenheim Fellowship, and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts. He translated poetry by Rainer Maria Rilke and Rene Char; in 2008 he and his wife, Elizabeth Oehlkers Wright, co-translated a collection by the Belarusian poet Valzhyna Mort, Factory of Tears. He taught at Emerson College and other universities, worked in mental health clinics, and volunteered at a center for grieving children. His father was the Pulitzer Prize–winning poet James Wright. He died in 2015. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dailypoempod.substack.com/subscribe
James B. Steele is one of the nation's most honored journalists. He has received virtually every major national reporting award, including two Pulitzer Prizes and two National Magazine awards, six George Polk awards and many other honors. James is the author of "Howard Hughes: His Life and Madness" about the complexity of Howard Hughes Hollywood's most pursued, and elusive, bachelor, and partner of the United States government, he is back to discuss some of his findings of the mysterious billionaire playboy aviator.
In this episode of 92NY Talks, join Pulitzer Prize-winning New York Times columnist Maureen Dowd as she discusses a captivating assortment of her most compelling style features and profiles from new book Notorious, a sly and chatty collection of some of her most notorious celebrity profile. The conversation was recorded on March 10th, 2025, at The 92nd Street Y, New York.
In late February in DC, I attended the US premiere of the Bertelsmann Foundation of North America produced documentary “Lithium Rising”, a movie about the extraction of essential rare minerals like lithium, nickel and cobalt. Afterwards, I moderated a panel featuring the movie's director Samuel George, the Biden US Department of Energy Director Giulia Siccardo and Environmental Lawyer JingJing Zhang (the "Erin Brockovich of China"). In post Liberation Day America, of course, the issues addressed in both “Lithium Rising” and our panel discussion - particularly US-Chinese economic rivalry over these essential rare minerals - are even more relevant. Tariffs or not, George's important new movie uncovers the essential economic and moral rules of today's rechargeable battery age. FIVE TAKEAWAYS* China dominates the critical minerals supply chain, particularly in refining lithium, cobalt, and nickel - creating a significant vulnerability for the United States and Western countries who rely on these minerals for everything from consumer electronics to military equipment.* Resource extraction creates complex moral dilemmas in communities like those in Nevada, Bolivia, Congo, and Chile, where mining offers economic opportunities but also threatens environment and sacred lands, often dividing local populations.* History appears to be repeating itself with China's approach in Africa mirroring aspects of 19th century European colonialism, building infrastructure that primarily serves to extract resources while local communities remain impoverished.* Battery recycling offers a potential "silver lining" but faces two major challenges: making the process cost-effective compared to new mining, and accumulating enough recycled materials to create a closed-loop system, which could take decades.* The geopolitical competition for these minerals is intensifying, with tariffs and trade wars affecting global supply chains and the livelihoods of workers throughout the system, from miners to manufacturers. FULL TRANSCRIPTAndrew Keen: Hello, everybody. Last year, we did a show on a new book. It was a new book back then called Cobalt Red about the role of cobalt, the mineral in the Congo. We also did a show. The author of the Cobalt Red book is Siddharth Kara, and it won a number of awards. It's the finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. We also did a show with Ernest Scheyder, who authored a book, The War Below, Lithium, Copper, and the Global Battle to Power Our Lives. Lithium and cobalt are indeed becoming the critical minerals of our networked age. We've done two books on it, and a couple of months ago, I went to the premiere, a wonderful new film, a nonfiction documentary by my guest Samuel George. He has a new movie out called Lithium Rising and I moderated a panel in Washington DC and I'm thrilled that Samuel George is joining us now. He works with the Bertelsmann Foundation of North America and it's a Bertelsman funded enterprise. Sam, congratulations on the movie. It's quite an achievement. I know you traveled all over the world. You went to Europe, Latin America, a lot of remarkable footage also from Africa. How would you compare the business of writing a book like Cobalt read or the war below about lithium and cobalt and the challenges and opportunities of doing a movie like lithium rising what are the particular challenges for a movie director like yourself.Samuel George: Yeah, Andrew. Well, first of all, I just want to thank you for having me on the program. I appreciate that. And you're right. It is a very different skill set that's required. It's a different set of challenges and also a different set of opportunities. I mean, the beauty of writing, which is something I get a chance to do as well. And I should say we actually do have a long paper coming out of this process that I wrote that will probably be coming out in the next couple months. But the beauty of writing is you need to kind of understand your topic, and if you can really understand your topics, you have the opportunity to explain it. When it comes to filming, if the camera doesn't have it, you don't have it. You might have a sense of something, people might explain things to you in a certain way, but if you don't have it on your camera in a way that's digestible and easy for audience to grasp, it doesn't matter whether you personally understand it or not. So the challenge is really, okay, maybe you understand the issue, but how do you show it? How do you bring your audience to that front line? Because that's the opportunity that you have that you don't necessarily have when you write. And that's to take an audience literally to these remote locations that they've never been and plant their feet right in the ground, whether that be the Atacama in Northern Chile, whether that'd be the red earth of Colwaisy in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. And that's the beauty of it, but it takes more of making sure you get something not just whether you understand it is almost irrelevant. I mean I guess you do need to understand it but you need to be able to draw it out of a place. It's easier when you're writing to get to some of these difficult places because you don't have to bring 900 pounds of equipment and you can kind of move easier and you're much more discreet. You can get places much easier as you can imagine, where with this, you're carrying all this equipment down. You're obvious from miles away. So you really have to build relationships and get people to get comfortable with you and be willing to speak out. So it's different arts, but it's also different rewards. And the beauty of being able to combine analysis with these visuals is really the draw of what makes documentary so magic because you're really kind of hitting different senses at the same time, visual, audio, and combining it to hopefully make some sort of bigger story.Andrew Keen: Well, speaking, Sam, of audio and visuals, we've got a one minute clip or introduction to the movie. People just listening on this podcast won't get to see your excellent film work, but everybody else will. So let's just have a minute to see what lithium rising is all about. We'll be back in a minute.[Clip plays]Andrew Keen: Here's a saying that says that the natural resources are today's bread and tomorrow's hunger. Great stuff, Sam. That last quote was in Spanish. Maybe you want to translate that to English, because I think, in a sense, it summarizes what lithium rising is about.Samuel George: Right. Well, that's this idea that natural resources in a lot of these places, I mean, you have to take a step back that a lot of these resources, you mentioned the lithium, the cobalt, you can throw nickel into that conversation. And then some of the more traditional ones like copper and silver, a lot are in poor countries. And for centuries, the opportunity to access this has been like a mirage, dangled in front of many of these poor countries as an opportunity to become more wealthy. Yet what we continue to see is the wealth, the mineral wealth of these countries is sustaining growth around the world while places like Potosí and Bolivia remain remarkably poor. So the question on their minds is, is this time gonna be any different? We know that Bolivia has perhaps the largest lithium deposits in the world. They're struggling to get to it because they're fighting amongst each other politically about what's the best way to do it, and is there any way to it that, hey, for once, maybe some of this resource wealth can stay here so that we don't end up, as the quote said, starving. So that's where their perspective is. And then on the other side, you have the great powers of the world who are engaged in a massive competition for access to these minerals.Andrew Keen: And let's be specific, Sam, we're not talking about 19th century Europe and great powers where there were four or five, they're really only two great powers when it comes to these resources, aren't they?Samuel George: I mean, I think that's fair to say. I think some people might like to lump in Western Europe and the EU with the United States to the extent that we used to traditionally conceive of them as being on the same team. But certainly, yes, this is a competition between the United States and China. And it's one that, frankly, China is winning and winning handily. And we can debate what that means, but it's true. I showed this film in London. And a student, who I believe was Chinese, commented, is it really fair to even call this a race? Because it seems to be over.Andrew Keen: Yeah, it's over. You showed it at King's College in London. I heard it was an excellent event.Samuel George: Yeah, it really was. But the point here is, to the extent that it's a competition between the United States and China, which it is, China is winning. And that's of grave concern to Washington. So there's the sense that the United States needs to catch up and need to catch up quickly. So that's the perspective that these two great powers are going at it from. Whereas if you're the Democratic Republic of Congo, if you are Bolivia, if your Chile, you're saying, what can we do to try to make the most of this opportunity and not just get steamrolled?Andrew Keen: Right. And you talk about a grave concern. Of course, there is grave concern both in Washington, D.C. and Beijing in terms of who's winning this race for these natural resources that are driving our networked age, our battery powered age. Some people might think the race has ended. Some people may even argue that it hasn't even really begun. But of course, one of the biggest issues, and particularly when it comes to the Chinese, is this neocolonial element. This was certainly brought out in Cobalt Red, which is quite a controversial book about the way in which China has essentially colonized the Congo by mining Cobalt in Congo, using local labor and then shipping out these valuable resources back to China. And of course, it's part of a broader project in Africa of the Chinese, which for some critics actually not that different from European 19th century colonialism. That's why we entitled our show with Siddharth Kara, The New Heart of Darkness. Of course, the original Heart of darkness was Joseph Conrad's great novel that got turned into Apocalypse Now. Is history repeating itself, Sam, when it comes to these natural resources in terms of the 19th-century history of colonialism, particularly in Africa?Samuel George: Yeah, I mean, I think it's so one thing that's fair to say is you hear a lot of complaining from the West that says, well, look, standards are not being respected, labor is being taken advantage of, environment is not being taken care of, and this is unfair. And this is true, but your point is equally true that this should not be a foreign concept to the West because it's something that previously the West was clearly engaged in. And so yes, there is echoes of history repeating itself. I don't think there's any other way to look at it. I think it's a complicated dynamic because sometimes people say, well, why is the West not? Why is it not the United States that's in the DRC and getting the cobalt? And I think that's because it's been tough for the United states to find its footing. What China has done is increasingly, and then we did another documentary about this. It's online. It's called Tinder Box Belt and Road, China and the Balkans. And what we increasingly see is in these non-democracies or faulty democracies that has something that China's interested in. China's willing to show up and basically put a lot of money on the table and not ask a whole lot of questions. And if the West, doesn't wanna play that game, whatever they're offering isn't necessarily as attractive. And that's a complication that we see again and again around the world and one, the United States and Europe and the World Bank and Western institutions that often require a lot of background study and open tenders for contracts and democracy caveats and transparency. China's not asking for any of that, as David Dollar, a scholar, said in the prior film, if the World Bank says they're going to build you a road, it's going to be a 10-year process, and we'll see what happens. If China says they'll build you a road a year later, you'll have a road.Andrew Keen: But then the question sound becomes, who owns the road?Samuel George: So let's take the Democratic Republic of the Congo, another great option. China has been building a lot of roads there, and this is obviously beneficial to a country that has very limited infrastructure. It's not just to say everything that China is doing is bad. China is a very large and economically powerful country. It should be contributing to global infrastructure. If it has the ability to finance that, wonderful. We all know Africa, certain African countries can really benefit from improved infrastructure. But where do those roads go? Well, those roads just happen to conveniently connect to these key mineral deposits where China overwhelmingly owns the interest and the minerals.Andrew Keen: That's a bit of a coincidence, isn't it?Samuel George: Well, exactly. And I mean, that's the way it's going. So that's what they'll come to the table. They'll put money on the table, they'll say, we'll get you a road. And, you know, what a coincidence that roads going right by the cobalt mine run by China. That's debatable. If you're from the African perspective, you could say, look, we got a road, and we needed that road. And it could also be that there's a lot of money disappearing in other places. But, you know that that's a different question.Andrew Keen: One of the things I liked about Lithium Rising, the race for critical minerals, your new documentary, is it doesn't pull its punches. Certainly not when it comes to the Chinese. You have some remarkable footage from Africa, but also it doesn't pull its punches in Latin America, or indeed in the United States itself, where cobalt has been discovered and it's the indigenous peoples of some of the regions where cobalt, sorry, where lithium has been discovered, where the African versus Chinese scenario is being played out. So whether it's Bolivia or the western parts of the United States or Congo, the script is pretty similar, isn't it?Samuel George: Yeah, you certainly see themes in the film echoed repeatedly. You mentioned what was the Thacker Pass lithium mine that's being built in northern Nevada. So people say, look, we need lithium. The United States needs lithium. Here's the interesting thing about critical minerals. These are not rare earth minerals. They're actually not that rare. They're in a lot of places and it turns out there's a massive lithium deposit in Nevada. Unfortunately, it's right next to a Native American reservation. This is an area that this tribe has been kind of herded onto after years, centuries of oppression. But the way the documentary tries to investigate it, it is not a clear-cut story of good guy and bad guy, rather it's a very complicated situation, and in that specific case what you have is a tribe that's divided, because there's some people that say, look, this is our land, this is a sacred site, and this is going to be pollution, but then you have a whole other section of the tribe that says we are very poor and this is an opportunity for jobs such that we won't have to leave our area, that we can stay here and work. And these kind of entangled complications we see repeated over and over again. Cobalt is another great example. So there's some people out there that are saying, well, we can make a battery without cobalt. And that's not because they can make a better battery. It's because they want to avoid the Democratic Republic of the Congo. But that cobalt is providing a rare job opportunity. And we can debate the quality of the job, but for the people that are working it, as they say in my film, they say, look, if we could do something else, we would do it. But this is all there is. So if you deprive them of that, the situation gets even worse. And that something we see in Northern Chile. We see it in Nevada. We see in Africa. We see it in Indonesia. What the film does is it raises these moral questions that are incredibly important to talk about. And it sort of begs the question of, not only what's the answer, but who has the right to answer this? I mean, who has right to speak on behalf of the 10 communities that are being destroyed in Northern Chile?Andrew Keen: I have to admit, I thought you did a very good job in the film giving everybody a voice, but my sympathy when it came to the Nevada case was with the younger people who wanted to bring wealth and development into the community rather than some of the more elderly members who were somehow anti-development, anti-investment, anti mining in every sense. I don't see how that benefits, but certainly not their children or the children of their children.Samuel George: I guess the fundamental question there is how bad is that mine going to be for the local environment? And I think that's something that remains to be seen. And one of the major challenges with this broader idea of are we going to greener by transitioning to EVs? And please understand I don't have an opinion of that. I do think anywhere you're doing mining, you're going to have immediate consequences. The transition would have to get big enough that the external the externalities, the positive benefits outweigh that kind of local negativity. And we could get there, but it's also very difficult to imagine massive mining projects anywhere in the world that don't impact the local population. And again, when we pick up our iPhone or when we get in our electric vehicle, we're not necessarily thinking of those 10 villages in the Atacama Desert in Chile.Andrew Keen: Yeah, and I've been up to the Atacama's, perhaps the most beautiful part in the world I've ever seen. It's nice. I saw the tourist side of it, so I didn't see the mining. But I take your point. There is one, perhaps, the most positive section of the film. You went to France. I think it was Calais, you took your camera. And it seems as if the French are pioneering a more innovative development of batteries which benefit the local community but also protect them environmentally. What did you see in northern France?Samuel George: Point, and that gets back to this extractive cycle that we've seen before. Okay, so northern France, this is a story a lot of us will know well because it's similar to what we've see in the Rust Belt in the United States. This is an industrial zone, historically, that faced significant deindustrialization in recent decades and now has massive problems with unemployment and lack of job opportunities, as one of the guys says in the film. Nothing's open here anymore except for that cafe over there and that's just because it has gambling guy. I couldn't have said it any better. This EV transition is offering an opportunity to bring back industrial jobs to whether it's Northern France or the United States of America. So that is an opportunity for people to have these more advanced battery-oriented jobs. So that could be building the battery itself. That could be an auto manufacturing plant where you're making EV electric vehicles. So there is job creation that's happening. And that's further along the development stage and kind of higher level jobs. And we meet students in France that are saying, look, this is an opportunity for a career. We see a long-term opportunity for work here. So we're really studying batteries and that's for university students. That's for people maybe 10, 15 years older to kind of go back to school and learn some skills related to batteries. So there is job creation to that. And you might, you may be getting ready to get to this, but where the real silver lining I think comes after that, where we go back to Georgia in the United States and visit a battery recycling plant.Andrew Keen: Right, yeah, those two sections in the movie kind of go together in a sense.Samuel George: Right, they do. And that is, I think, the silver lining here is that these batteries that we use in all of these appliances and devices and gadgets can be recycled in such a way that the cobalt, the lithium, the nickel can be extracted. And it itself hasn't degraded. It's sort of funny for us to think about, because we buy a phone. And three years later, the battery is half as good as it used to be and we figure well, materials in it must be degrading. They're not. The battery is degrading, the materials are fine. So then the idea is if we can get enough of this in the United States, if we can get old phones and old car batteries and old laptops that we can pull those minerals out, maybe we can have a closed loop, which is sort of a way of saying we won't need those mines anymore. We won't have to dig it up. We don't need to compete with China for access to from Bolivia or Chile because we'll have that lithium here. And yes, that's a silver lining, but there's challenges there. The two key challenges your viewers should be aware of is one, it's all about costs and they've proven that they can recycle these materials, but can they do it in a way that's cheaper than importing new lithium? And that's what these different companies are racing to find a way to say, look, we can do this at a way that's cost effective. Then even if you get through that challenge, a second one is just to have the sheer amount of the materials to close that loop, to have enough in the United States already, they estimate we're decades away from that. So those are the two key challenges to the silver lining of recycling, but it is possible. It can be done and they're doing it.Andrew Keen: We haven't talked about the T word, Sam. It's on everyone's lips these days, tariffs. How does this play out? I mean, especially given this growing explicit, aggressive trade war between the United States and China, particularly when it comes to production of iPhones and other battery-driven products. Right. Is tariffs, I mean, you film this really before Trump 2-0, in which tariffs were less central, but is tariffs going to change everything?Samuel George: I mean, this is just like so many other things, an incredibly globalized ecosystem and tariffs. And who even knows by the time this comes out, whatever we think we understand about the new tariff scenario could be completely outdated.Andrew Keen: Guaranteed. I mean, we are talking on Wednesday, April the 9th. This will go out in a few days time. But no doubt by that time, tariffs will have changed dramatically. They already have as we speak.Samuel George: Here's the bottom line, and this is part of the reason the story is so important and so timely, and we haven't even talked about this yet, but it's so critical. Okay, just like oil, you can't just dig oil out of the ground and put it in the car. It's got to be refined. Lithium, nickel, cobalt, it's got be refined as well. And the overwhelming majority of that refining occurs in China. So even your success story like France, where they're building batteries, they still need to import the refined critical minerals from China. So that is a massive vulnerability. And that's part of where this real fear that you see in Washington or Brussels is coming from. You know, and they got their first little taste of it during the COVID supply chain meltdown, but say in the event where China decided that they weren't gonna export any more of this refined material it would be disastrous for people relying on lithium devices, which by the way, is also the military. Increasingly, the military is using lithium battery powered devices. So that's why there's this urgency that we need to get this on shore. We need to this supply chain here. The problem is that's not happening yet. And okay, so you can slap these tariffs on and that's going to make this stuff much more expensive, but that's not going to automatically create a critical mineral refining capacity in the United States of America. So that needs to be built. So you can understand the desire to get this back here. And by the way, the only reason we're not all driving Chinese made electric vehicles is because of tariffs. The Chinese have really, really caught up in terms of high quality electric vehicles at excellent prices. Now, the prices were always good. What's surprising people recently is the quality is there, but they've basically been tariffed out of the United States. And actually the Biden administration was in part behind that. And it was sort of this tension because on the one hand, they were saying, we want a green revolution, we want to green revolution. But on the other hand, they were seeing these quality Chinese electric vehicles. We're not gonna let you bring them in. But yeah, so I mean, I think the ultimate goal, you can understand why a country that's convinced that it's in a long term competition with China would say we can't rely on Chinese refined materials. Slapping a tariff on it isn't any sort of comprehensive strategy and to me it almost seems like you're putting the horse before the cart because we're not really in a place yet where we can say we no longer need China to power our iPhone.Andrew Keen: And one of the nice things about your movie is it features miners, ordinary people living on the land whose lives are dramatically impacted by this. So one would imagine that some of the people you interviewed in Bolivia or Atacama or in Africa or even in Georgia and certainly in Nevada, they're going to be dramatically impacted by the tariffs. These are not just abstract ideas that have a real impact on people's lives.Samuel George: Absolutely. I mean, for decades now, we've built an economic system that's based on globalization. And it's certainly true that that's cost a lot of jobs in the United States. It's also true that there's a lot jobs and companies that have been built around global trade. And this is one of them. And you're talking about significant disruption if your global supply chains, as we've seen before, again, in the COVID crisis when the supply chains fall apart or when the margins, which are already pretty slim to begin with, start to degrade, yeah, it's a major problem.Andrew Keen: Poorly paid in the first place, so...Samuel George: For the most part, yeah.Andrew Keen: Well, we're not talking about dinging Elon Musk. Tell us a little bit, Sam, about how you made this movie. You are a defiantly independent filmmaker, one of the more impressive that I know. You literally carry two large cameras around the world. You don't have a team, you don't have an audio guy, you don't ever sound guy. You do it all on your own. It's quite impressive. Been you shlep these cameras to Latin America, to Southeast Asia, obviously all around America. You commissioned work in Africa. How did you make this film? It's quite an impressive endeavor.Samuel George: Well, first of all, I really appreciate your kind words, but I can't completely accept this idea that I do it all alone. You know, I'm speaking to you now from the Bertelsmann Foundation. I'm the director of Bertelsman Foundation documentaries. And we've just had this fantastic support here and this idea that we can go to the front line and get these stories. And I would encourage people to check out Bertelsmen Foundation documentation.Andrew Keen: And we should have a special shout out to your boss, my friend, Irene Brahm, who runs the BuzzFeed Foundation of North America, who's been right from the beginning, a champion of video making.Samuel George: Oh, absolutely. I mean, Irene Brahm has been a visionary in terms of, you know, something I think that we align on is you take these incredibly interesting issues and somehow analysts manage to make them extraordinarily boring. And Irene had this vision that maybe it doesn't have to be that way.Andrew Keen: She's blushing now as she's watching this, but I don't mean to make you blush, Sam, but these are pretty independent movies. You went around the world, you've done it before, you did it in the Serbian movie too. You're carrying these cameras around, you're doing all your own work, it's quite an achievement.Samuel George: Well, again, I'm very, very thankful for the Bertelsmann Foundation. I think a lot of times, sometimes people, when they hear a foundation or something is behind something, they assume that somebody's got an ax to grind, and that's really not the case here. The Bertelsman Foundation is very supportive of just investigating these key issues, and let's have an honest conversation about it. And maybe it's a cop-out, but in my work, I often don't try to provide a solution.Andrew Keen: Have you had, when we did our event in D.C., you had a woman, a Chinese-born woman who's an expert on this. I don't think she's particularly welcome back on the mainland now. Has there been a Chinese response? Because I would say it's an anti-Chinese movie, but it's not particularly sympathetic or friendly towards China.Samuel George: And I can answer that question because it was the exact same issue we ran into when we filmed Tinder Box Belt and Road, which was again about Chinese investment in the Balkans. And your answer is has there been a Chinese reaction and no sort of official reaction. We always have people sort of from the embassy or various affiliated organizations that like to come to the events when we screen it. And they're very welcome to. But here's a point that I want to get across. Chinese officials and people related to China on these issues are generally uniformly unwilling to participate. And I think that's a poor decision on their part because I think there's a lot they could say to defend themselves. They could say, hey, you guys do this too. They could say, we're providing infrastructure to critical parts of the world. They could said, hey we're way ahead of you guys, but it's not because we did anything wrong. We just saw this was important before you did and built the network. There are many ways they could defend themselves. But rather than do that, they're extremely tight-lipped about what they're doing. And that can, if you're not, and we try our best, you know, we have certain experts from China that when they'll talk, we'll interview them. But that kind of tight-lip approach almost makes it seem like something even more suspicious is happening. Cause you just have to guess what the mindset must be cause they won't explain themselves. And I think Chinese representatives could do far more and it's not just about you know my documentary I understand they have bigger fish to fry but I feel like they fry the fish the same way when they're dealing with bigger entities I think it's to their detriment that they're not more open in engaging a global conversation because look China is gonna be an incredibly impactful part of world dynamics moving forward and they need to be, they need to engage on what they're doing. I think, and I do think they have a story they can tell to defend themselves, and it's unfortunate that they very much don't do it.Andrew Keen: In our DC event, you also had a woman who'd worked within the Biden administration. Has there been a big shift between Biden policy on recycling, recyclable energy and Trump 2.0? It's still the early days of the new administration.Samuel George: Right. And we're trying to get a grip on that of what the difference is going to be. I can tell you this, the Biden approach was very much the historic approach of the United States of America, which is to try to go to a country like Congo and say, look, we're not going to give you money without transparency. We're not gonna give you this big, you know, beautiful deal. We're going to the cheapest to build this or the cheapest build that. But what we can compete with you is on quality and sustainability and improved work conditions. This used to be the United States pitch. And as we've seen in places like Serbia, that's not always the greatest pitch in the world. Oftentimes these countries are more interested in the money without questions being asked. But the United states under the Biden administration tried to compete on quality. Now we will have to see if that continues with the Trump administration, if that continuous to be their pitch. What we've see in the early days is this sort of hardball tactic. I mean, what else can you refer to what's happening with Ukraine, where they say, look, if you want continued military support, we want those minerals. And other countries say, well, maybe that could work for us too. I mean that's sort of, as I understand it, the DRC, which is under, you know, there's new competition there for power that the existing government is saying, hey, United States, if you could please help us, we'll be sure to give you this heaping of minerals. We can say this, the new administration does seem to be taking the need for critical minerals seriously, which I think was an open question because we see so much of the kind of green environmentalism being rolled back. It does still seem to be a priority with the new administration and there does seem to be clarity that the United States is going to have to improve its position regarding these minerals.Andrew Keen: Yeah, I'm guessing Elon Musk sees this as well as anyone, and I'm sure he's quite influential. Finally, Sam, in contrast with a book, which gets distributed and put in bookstores, doing a movie is much more challenging. What's the goal with the movie? You've done a number of launches around the world, screenings in Berlin, Munich, London, Washington D.C. you did run in San Francisco last week. What's the business model, so to speak here? Are you trying to get distribution or do you wanna work with schools or other authorities to show the film?Samuel George: Right, I mean, I appreciate that question. The business model is simple. We just want you to watch. You know, our content is always free. Our films are always free, you can go to bfnadox.org for our catalog. This film is not online yet. You don't need a password, you don't a username, you can just watch our movies, that's what we want. And of course, we're always on the lookout for increased opportunities to spread these. And so we worked on a number of films. We've got PBS to syndicate them nationally. We got one you can check your local listings about a four-month steel workers strike in western Pennsylvania. It's called Local 1196. That just started its national syndication on PBS. So check out for that one. But look, our goal is for folks to watch these. We're looking for the most exposure as we can and we're giving it away for free.Andrew Keen: Just to repeat, if people are interested, that's bfna.docs.org to find more movies. And finally, Sam, for people who are interested perhaps in doing a showing of the film, I know you've worked with a number of universities and interest groups. What would be the best way to approach you.Samuel George: Well, like you say, we're a small team here. You can always feel free to reach out to me. And I don't know if I should pitch my email.Andrew Keen: Yeah, picture email. Give it out. The Chinese will be getting it too. You'll be getting lots of invitations from China probably to show the film.Samuel George: We'd love to come talk about it. That's all we want to do. And we try, but we'd love to talk about it. I think it's fundamental to have that conversation. So the email is just Samuel.George, just as you see it written there, at BFN as in boy, F as in Frank, N as in Nancy, A. Let's make it clearer - Samuel.George@bfna.org. We work with all sorts of organizations on screenings.Andrew Keen: And what about the aspiring filmmakers, as you're the head of documentaries there? Do you work with aspiring documentary filmmakers?Samuel George: Yes, yes, we do often on projects. So if I'm working on a project. So you mentioned that I work by myself, and that is how I learned this industry, you know, is doing it by myself. But increasingly, we're bringing in other skilled people on projects that we're working on. So we don't necessarily outsource entire projects. But we're always looking for opportunities to collaborate. We're looking to bring in talent. And we're looking to make the best products we can on issues that we think are fundamental importance to the Atlantic community. So we love being in touch with filmmakers. We have internship programs. We're open for nonprofit business, I guess you could say.Andrew Keen: Well, that's good stuff. The new movie is called Lithium Rising, The Race for Critical Minerals. I moderated a panel after the North American premiere at the end of February. It's a really interesting, beautifully made film, very compelling. It is only 60 minutes. I strongly advise anyone who has the opportunity to watch it and to contact Sam if they want to put it on their school, a university or other institution. Congratulations Sam on the movie. What's the next project?Samuel George: Next project, we've started working on a project about Southern Louisiana. And in there, we're really looking at the impact of land loss on the bayous and the local shrimpers and crabbers and Cajun community, as well as of course This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit keenon.substack.com/subscribe
In this episode, Ben Jackon and Brian Tate, the IPA's CEO, discuss the patterns beginning to emerge in the new administration's approach to financial regulation. They talk about how Congress is offering its suggestions on regulations to the agencies, the possibilities for future legislation, and why now might be the perfect time to open up some old rules for revision. This podcast was recorded on April 10, 2025. Things may have changed by the time you hear it. If you want to keep up with the rapidly changing payments environment, make sure that you register for the Innovative Payments Conference in Washington DC from April 29 through May 1. We will look at the future of regulation from both the federal and state perspectives as we hear from Acting Comptroller of the Currency Rodney Hood and Avy Mallick, the General Counsel of the California Department of Financial Protection & Innovation. We will also have sessions on fraud prevention, bank fintech relationships, and a special session on leadership in chaotic times with Pulitzer Prize winning author Jonathan Eig, author of King: A Life, and Ali: A Life, among others. Podcast listeners can get $25 off the price of registration when they use the code “Podcast” when they register here: Innovative Payments Conference.
In this week's mini-sode, we are shining the spotlight on Broadway's Pulitzer Prize winning musical, A Chorus Line! This one goes out to all the #DancerFirst folks out there, but it's still a classic that should be in everyone's Broadway knowledge!Support the showHost/ Production/ Editing: Brennan StefanikMusic: Dylan KaufmanGraphic Design: Jordan Vongsithi@batobroadway on Instagram, Threads, and TikTokPatreon.com/batobroadway
Edith Wharton was a woman ahead of her time when she was born into her upper-class New York family. In 1921, she became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Literature and is considered one of America's greatest writers. She inspired countless other authors and gave the world a glimpse into the rich of the Gilded Age. Wharton also wrote ghost stories. She believed in ghosts. The home that she built, that is known as The Mount, is said to be haunted. Join us as we explore this interesting woman's life and the history and hauntings of The Mount. The Moment in Oddity features Emma Gatewood and This Month in History features Susanna M. Salter elected as the first female mayor in the U.S. Our location was suggested by listener Mary Larkin. Check out the website: http://historygoesbump.com Show notes can be found here: https://historygoesbump.blogspot.com/2025/04/hgb-ep-582-mount.html Become an Executive Producer: http://patreon.com/historygoesbump Music used in this episode: Main Theme: Lurking in the Dark by Muse Music with Groove Studios (Moment in Oddity) "Vanishing" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ (This Month in History) "In Your Arms" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Outro Music: Happy Fun Punk by Muse Music with Groove Studios Other music used in this episode: Title: "Ballerinas Opus" Artist: Tim Kulig (timkulig.com) Licensed under Creative Commons By Attribution 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0997280/?ref_=fn_al_nm_1
Viet Thanh Nguyen came to the United States as a 4-year-old refugee after the end of the Vietnam War in 1975. His family eventually settled in San Jose. Nguyen went on to become a Pulitzer Prize-Winning novelist and memoirist whose books center the experience of Vietnamese people. As we approach the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, we'll reflect on the war's lasting impact and what we have – and have not – learned from it. And we'll talk about his new book of essays, “To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other,” which explores the role of artists in political discourse. Guests: Viet Thanh Nguyen, author and professor at USC. His latest book is a collection of essays, "To Save and to Destroy: Writing as an Other." His previous books include the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Sympathizer," "The Committed," and the memoir, “A Man of Two Faces." Bryan Vo, Forum intern Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
This episode's guest is actor, writer, voiceover artist, and unapologetic improv nerd, Roxana Ortega.Roxana is one of those rare artists whose vulnerability, honesty, and humor hit you all at once – and leave a lasting impression. If her voice sounds familiar, it might be because she's voiced everything from the passionate Frida Casagrande on The Casagrandes to characters in Call of Duty, Final Fantasy, and Monsters at Work. She's narrated Pulitzer Prize-winning novels, voiced countless animated characters, and is a master of voice matching (yes, she's dubbed for Penelope Cruz and Salma Hayek).In our conversation, Roxana takes us through the unexpected path that led her to acting – from growing up in an academic household where creativity wasn't considered a “real” career, to having a life-changing epiphany while teaching English in Spain. We talk about the internal battle between playing it safe and going after what you truly want—and what it really means to decide to be an artist.We go deep into the power of improv as both a performance tool and a life philosophy, how failure can be a gift, and why community-building and representation matter now more than ever. Roxana shares how she uses her voice – literally and figuratively – to make space for underrepresented stories, and how she's continued to evolve as a writer, performer, and director.Whether you're someone who thrives on stage or someone working up the courage to take the leap, Roxana's journey will remind you that embracing risk, staying curious, and being fiercely yourself is always worth it.Episode Chapters 00:00 – Welcome + Introduction02:00 – Names, Language, and Laughter04:00 – Academic Roots & Artistic Restlessness07:55 – The Epiphany in Spain13:49 – “I Decided to Be an Actor”16:00 – Improv, Joy, and Redefining Failure21:45 – Performing, Directing, and Creating Her Own Work32:00 – Representation, Identity, and Making Space40:00 – The Tapestry of Humanity49:30 – Amazing Race Nerd Out50:50 – Blissful Spinster & Making Art on Your Own Terms54:35 – Final Words of Wisdom55:14 – What's Next for Roxana58:00 – Wrap-Up & Thank YouRoxana's Bio:Roxana Ortega is an American actor, writer, and voiceover artist who is known for voicing the ever-emotional Frida Casagrande on Nickelodeon's Emmy award-winning and Imagen award-winning cartoon The Casagrandes, a spinoff of the acclaimed series The Loud House.On-camera, she recently starred opposite Danny Trejo, Reno Wilson, and a cast of legends including Garrett Morris, Barry Bostwick, and James Hong in the Universal feature Grand-Daddy Day Care. Other film credits include The Flight Before Christmas opposite Mayim Bialik, Miss Congeniality 2 opposite Sandra Bullock, and Larry Crowne opposite Tom Hanks. Her TV guest-star credits include New Girl, Shonda Rhimes' For The People, The League, Rules of Engagement, NCIS, and the Peabody award-winning satire American Vandal.Behind the mic, she has voiced countless characters in TV, films, trailers, commercials, and some of the biggest video game franchises around, including Call of Duty: Modern Warfare, Final Fantasy, Halo, and Ghost Recon: Wildlands. A two-time AudioFile Earphones Award winner, she has narrated the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel A Visit from the Goon Squad, the National Book Award finalist Sabrina & Corina, and the New York Times's non-fiction best seller Random Family to name just a few. In addition, her mimicking skills have led her to voice-match the likes of Penelope Cruz, Salma Hayek, and Jennifer Tilly.Born in Los Angeles and raised in Fullerton, CA, Roxana is of mixed Peruvian and Mexican descent. She graduated from U.C. Berkeley Phi Beta Kappa with a degree in Interdisciplinary Studies, then spent a year teaching English in Madrid, Spain. It was there, while she was elaborately acting out English vocabulary to her students, that she realized she wanted to pursue a career in acting. She returned to the Bay Area and immersed herself in theatre and improvisation, then made her way to Los Angeles where she continued her improv and acting training and began writing and performing sketch comedy.Roxana is an alumna of the CBS Diversity Sketch Comedy Showcase, Upright Citizen's Brigade, and the Groundlings Sunday Company. She has written and produced her own shorts and performed storytelling all over Los Angeles, including at The Moth GrandSLAM.She is also the creator and co-host of the live storytelling show Minority Retorts, which spotlights stories from the under-represented, and The Risking Space, a podcast about art and risk. Connect with Roxana on: InstagramLearn more about Latina's Act Up on: InstagramCheck out The Groundlings on: Instagram Links & LoveIf your ears like what they're snacking on, follow, rate, and drop a review—it helps others find the show too.Want to support the show or get access to extra content—like behind-the-scenes journals, guest deep dives, and updates on getting Alone Girl made? Check out my Substack: The Blissful Spinster. Just $5/month supports this DIY labor of love and gets you a peek behind the scenes (when I find the time to write, lol). Find me and the pod on Instagram, Pinterest, and at blissfulspinster.com—where you can also find some pretty cool merch, if you're into that sort of thing. Thanks for being on this journey with me—and until next time, go find your happy.
Colson Whitehead, author of Pulitzer Prize-winning novels “The Underground Railroad” and “The Nickel Boys,” began his career as a journalist writing about television, books, and music. Whitehead is in St. Louis to accept the 2025 St. Louis Literary Award, presented annually by the St. Louis University Libraries. He discusses his work, its lasting resonance, and its adaptability to the screen.
As if Trump's tariff fallout isn't bad enough, now he is threatening China and they are having none of it. China announced plans to retaliate against Trump's tariff with a matching 34% tariff against the U.S. Trump claims that if China retaliates, he will raise their tariff to 50%. China is calling Trumps posturing a mistake on top of a mistake as the trade war escalates, markets crash and investors panic. Pulitzer Prize winning author David Cay Johnston joins with a unique perspective about both Trump and the economy. Tech Tuesday brings Jefferson Graham by the show to talk about the latest in gadgets and gear.The Mark Thompson Show 4/8/25Patreon subscribers are the backbone of the show! If you'd like to help, here's our Patreon Link:https://www.patreon.com/themarkthompsonshowMaybe you're more into PayPal. https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=PVBS3R7KJXV24And you'll find everything on our website: https://www.themarkthompsonshow.com
Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Charles Duhigg shares insights from supercommunicators on how to improve conversations, listen better, and create real understanding in both personal and professional relationships. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
I'm skeptical of any claim of a “formula” regarding personal evolution. And you'll notice I say “a formula” and not “the formula.” But many things can be boiled down to some core ingredients. The difference in my opinion is this formula is less like a cooking recipe you just easily mix and bake and is more like an intense formulaic math equation you must diligently work out. I feel Steven Kotler does a masterful job of deducing peak performance down into its essence and from it you can see where you need to give focus and attention and work. Steven is a New York Times-bestselling author, an award-winning journalist and the Executive Director of the Flow Research Collective. He is one of the world's leading experts on human performance and has become very well known for his insight on flow state. Steven has authored multiple bestsellers, including The Future is Faster Than You Think, Stealing Fire, The Rise of Superman, and Bold and Abundance. His work has been nominated for two Pulitzer Prizes and translated into over 40 languages. The following conversation happened after he published The Art of Impossible and I bring it back to you again because it's worth revisiting. Sign up for your $1/month trial period at shopify.com/kevin Go to shipstation.com and use code KEVIN to start your free trial. Use my promo code WHATDRIVESYOU for 10% off on any CleanMyMac's subscription plans Join millions of Americans reaching their financial goals—starting at just $3/month! Get $25 towards your first stock purchase at get.stash.com/DRIVE. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
As a longtime staff writer at The New Yorker, Hilton Als's essays and profiles of figures like Toni Morrison, Joan Didion, and Richard Pryor have redefined cultural criticism, blending autobiography with literary and social commentary. Als is also a curator. His latest gallery exhibition is The Writing's on the Wall: Language and Silence in the Visual Arts, at the Hill Art Foundation in New York. The exhibit brings together the works of 32 artists across a range of media to examine how artists embrace silence. The show asked a powerful question: What do words — and their absence — look like? The Pulitzer Prize-winning writer spoke with Tonya Mosley. Also, Ken Tucker reviews new music from Lucy Dacus and Jeffrey Lewis.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy