Podcasts about us foreign service

Otho Eskin is the author of the fun thriller novel, Black Sun Rising, just published on Tuesday; Black Sun Rising (The Marko Zorn): Eskin, Otho: 9781959170235: Amazon.com: BooksPart of the reason I invited him on to the show his because his background outside of writing is so fascinating, including serving in the US Army and in the US Foreign Service. Read more about Otho here: Author Otho Eskin

Please read my thoughts here and subscribe (for free!) to my Substack:Send in the Marines (Well, Actually, Don't)Even though Trump is clearly winning the politics of immigration right now this would be a mistake: Hegseth Suggests LA-Style Troop Deployments Could Happen Anywhere in US 'if Necessary' | Military.comOtho Eskin is the author of the fun thriller novel, Black Sun Rising, just published on Tuesday; Black Sun Rising (The Marko Zorn): Eskin, Otho: 9781959170235: Amazon.com: BooksPart of the reason I invited him on to the show his because his background outside of writing is so fascinating, including serving in the US Army and in the US Foreign Service. Read more about Otho here: Author Otho Eskin.Rob Bhatt is a home insurance expert at Lending Tree. We'll discuss their new report that shows that over the past 6 years, no state in the country has had a bigger percentage increase in homeowner's insurance costs than Colorado has: State of Home Insurance: 2025 | LendingTree

John's guest this week is John Nay. He is a guest from a previous show where they talked over Nay's life journey, including 36 years in the US Foreign Service. In this show they talk over the wide range of experiences of such a career. Also, he talks over the murder of the American Ambassador to Libya in Benghazi, and the seizure of the American embassy in Tehran, Iran, leading to 444 days as hostages before being released.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In this episode of the Morning Report from Fightbackmedia.com, host Willie Lawson delves into two significant executive actions by President Trump that are causing a stir across the nation. With his usual incisive analysis, Lawson explains how these bold moves are set to dismantle the Status Quo that has long prevailed in the realms of foreign service hiring and federal education policy and why this shift signals a transformative moment in U.S. governance. Willie Lawson first discusses the executive order to eliminate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) protocols from the hiring processes within the U.S. Foreign Service. Emphasizing merit over politically-driven quotas, Lawson argues that this change prioritizes qualifications and capability, aiming to strengthen America's diplomatic efficacy on the global stage. By highlighting the inefficiencies of the DEI approach, he challenges the counter-narratives that maintain such policies benefit international relations. In the second segment, Lawson covers the executive action to begin the dismantling of the Department of Education, a move driven by a philosophy of decentralization. He advocates for returning educational control to local communities, critiquing the past inefficiencies and failures of federal oversight in education standards. Lawson emphasizes the potential benefits of localized governance, contending that such a shift could better address the unique needs of diverse regions and improve overall educational outcomes. Key Takeaways:President Trump's executive order aims to remove DEI practices from Foreign Service hiring, focusing instead on merit-based selections.The initiative to dismantle the Department of Education represents a significant shift towards decentralizing educational governance.Critics argue that these changes threaten diversity and inclusiveness, while supporters claim they will enhance efficiency and success.Willie Lawson presents evidence that federal control in education has not significantly improved academic standards.The podcast highlights the broader implications of these actions as a reversal of decades-long policies favoring federal oversight and identity politics.Notable Quotes:"President Trump has officially banned the use of race, gender, and identity politics in the hiring and promotion process for the US Foreign Service.""This executive action is just the beginning… it's taken real leadership to finally push back and win.""It's time to put parents back in charge and kick out the federal bureaucrats who think they know better than moms and dads.""The end of DEI in the Foreign Service means diplomats will be chosen based on their ability to represent America's interests.""Our education in America… has shown a great loss compared to other places."Resources:Fightbackmedia.com: Official WebsiteContact: fightbackmedia@gmail.comTune in for more insightful discussions and analyses from the Morning Report with Willie Lawson. Stay informed and engaged as these pivotal topics continue to unfold, offering a clearer perspective of America's evolving political landscape.Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/morning-report--3694168/support.

Following more than a year of turmoil and transformative changes reshaping the Middle East, the region witnessed another shock with the downfall of the Assad family's 54-year rule over Syria last weekend. The rapid collapse was triggered by a lightning rebel offensive led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, a former affiliate of al-Qaeda. This on-the-record briefing featured Amb. (ret.) Ryan Crocker, career diplomat with the US Foreign Service. His previous appointments included US Ambassador to Syria, Iraq, Pakistan, Kuwait, Afghanistan, and Lebanon; as well as Charles Lister, Senior Fellow and Director of MEI's Syria and Countering Terrorism & Extremism programs. Our experts discussed what the fall of Bashar al-Assad means for Syria and the region, the international community's assessment of the Syrian conflict, what this development portends for Iran's “Axis of Resistance” in the Levant, the influence of regional powers in Syria, and the future of US policy toward the region.   This is a special presentation of the latest installment of our Virtual Briefing Series.  This episode was recorded on December 10, 2024. 

Send us a textChase Amos, Public Information Officer with the Arvada Police Department, joins us to discuss trending topics in public safety. Chase shares his unique career path, from the US Foreign Service in Israel to local law enforcement in Arvada. In this episode:Which situations you should use the non-emergent line to contact Arvada PD, 303-980-7300, and when you should call 9-1-1 Staying safe around the holidays by avoiding scams and porch piratesArvada Police Department's Weekly Activity Report FBI's Crime Data Explorer Code EnforcementAuto Theft Reduction and Recovery Program Facial Recognition Technology Apply to work for the Arvada Police Department News and events: Trees Across Arvada orders are open until Feb. 1Apply for a City board or commission by Jan. 6 Councilmember at-large vacancy City Manager search Visit us at ArvadaCO.gov/Podcast or email us at podcast@arvada.org.

Laura Jennings has navigated her share of twists, turns, and transitions, from starting her career in publishing to successful stints in marketing and communications. She's a passionate and accomplished business developer, having built a portable Pilates business and taken it to five posts. Now as Chief Strategy Officer at LVL-Up Strategies, she continues to advocate for EFM career progression as co-founder of a business staffed entirely by partners of the US Foreign Service.In this interview, we learn that Paris isn't hard, but walking away from a career certainly is. We also discuss the mental component of identity and why Laura believes an important aspect of self-care involves embracing our potential to contribute to society. Listen in to learn more! .BIOLaura Jennings enjoys bringing folks with aligned objectives together and empowering all parties to achieve their vision. Her ability to guide clients and her team toward their purpose or vision while recognizing their own particular ecosystems creates a culture of trust and lasting relationships primed for growth. Laura's 20+ years in communications, strategic partnerships, project management, and planning combined with 7+ years launching and building her own business, both nationally and internationally, led her to her purpose—connecting others and lifting them to their next level.As part of a Foreign Service family, having a career in the traditional sense was not an option. Laura continued to maintain relevance whether as an entrepreneur, working in government, or serving the diplomat community and host country through programs that give back. Her ability to quickly evaluate situations, develop strategies, and implement initiatives with a positive impact ensured her success from country to country.Laura has lived in five countries and has a working knowledge of four languages. She received her Bachelor's degree in Language, Writing, and Rhetoric from the University of Maryland, College Park. She recently served on the Move2Learn Board of Directors and loves spending time with her husband and two girls as they adventure through this amazing life.https://www.lvlupstrategies.com/team-members/laura-jennings

Charting Her Own Course: Building the Right Skills to Thrive at PostMelissa Dokurno's career has taken quite a few twists and turns since her spouse joined the Foreign Service, and even before he was officially on board. While they've both made sacrifices for each other's careers, they've kept their family strong even when physically separated.In this interview, Melissa tells the story of their difficult decision to live in different countries to take advantage of career opportunities. She also shares her recipe for success: be open to what's available!.BIOMelissa Dokurno, Esq. is a career public servant and proud mom.  Over the past decade, she has strived to find the necessary work-life balance to both thrive as an EFM and build a career she is passionate about.Melissa began her career as a local prosecutor in Long Island, NY, serving for 3 years to help victims find their voice in an often daunting criminal justice system.Capitalizing on an opportunity to test-run EFM life, she and her 2-year-old daughter took a leap of faith to join her husband in El Salvador while he worked as a third-party contractor for U.S. Embassy San Salvador.In life's twists and turns, Melissa returned to Washington, D.C. to work as a Staff Attorney for Bread for the City Legal Clinic representing low-income and marginalized clients facing unlawful evictions; she served in that role until she departed Washington to officially begin her new life as an EFM.Melissa has also lived in Matamoros, Mexico, and Bangkok, Thailand, and used these opportunities to pivot her career to become an Investigative Analyst for Diplomatic Security. Building on that wealth of knowledge, Melissa finally joined the Civil Service in 2024 where she continues to serve as an Analyst while her family is posted in D.C. for the next two years.Melissa remains ready to discover new and enriching career opportunities while also enjoying where life takes her!..AW SponsorThis episode is sponsored by the Available Worldwide Network. AWN  is a community-led private social network – i.e. not on Facebook –  providing professional development, personal connection, and social support for the accompanying partners of the US Foreign Service.We all contribute a small fee to fund the platform, but right now in October 2024, you can check us out for free using coupon code FALL24. If you're a motivated EFM or MOH looking for connection in an empowering community, we invite you to join what we're building together!We know the challenges of trying to build and maintain careers both at home and abroad. But making friends in a safe and supportive community like AWN can make life a little easier and a lot more fun. Check out all the FAQs and find the coupon code FALL24 on our website: https://availableworldwide.net/awn/

Ambassador Robert Gosende served as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service from the early 1960s to the end of the 1990s.From his childhood in Massachusetts to the highest levels of diplomacy, his life story is filled with adventures and challenges - and historic moments. His career intersected with some of the most important places, people and events in the second half of the twentieth century, including Libya just before Qaddafi, Poland during the Cold War, Somalia during Blackhawk Down, South Africa during Apartheid, and Russia during Yeltsin's rule, plus positions in Washington and terms as diplomat-in-residence at Harvard and Georgetown.To mark the 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Gosende is in conversation in several episodes on The Roundtable with Jim Ketterer, regular Roundtable Panelist and Senior Fellow at the Bard Center for Civic Engagement.

Ambassador Robert Gosende served as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service from the early 1960s to the end of the 1990s.From his childhood in Massachusetts to the highest levels of diplomacy, his life story is filled with adventures and challenges - and historic moments. His career intersected with some of the most important places, people and events in the second half of the twentieth century, including Libya just before Qaddafi, Poland during the Cold War, Somalia during Blackhawk Down, South Africa during Apartheid, and Russia during Yeltsin's rule, plus positions in Washington and terms as diplomat-in-residence at Harvard and Georgetown.To mark the 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Gosende is in conversation in several episodes on The Roundtable with Jim Ketterer, regular Roundtable Panelist and Senior Fellow at the Bard Center for Civic Engagement.

Ambassador Robert Gosende served as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service from the early 1960s to the end of the 1990s.From his childhood in Massachusetts to the highest levels of diplomacy, his life story is filled with adventures and challenges - and historic moments. His career intersected with some of the most important places, people and events in the second half of the twentieth century, including Libya just before Qaddafi, Poland during the Cold War, Somalia during Blackhawk Down, South Africa during Apartheid, and Russia during Yeltsin's rule, plus positions in Washington and terms as diplomat-in-residence at Harvard and Georgetown.To mark the 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Gosende is in conversation in several episodes on The Roundtable with Jim Ketterer, regular Roundtable Panelist and Senior Fellow at the Bard Center for Civic Engagement.

Ambassador Robert Gosende served as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service from the early 1960s to the end of the 1990s.From his childhood in Massachusetts to the highest levels of diplomacy, his life story is filled with adventures and challenges - and historic moments. His career intersected with some of the most important places, people and events in the second half of the twentieth century, including Libya just before Qaddafi, Poland during the Cold War, Somalia during Blackhawk Down, South Africa during Apartheid, and Russia during Yeltsin's rule, plus positions in Washington and terms as diplomat-in-residence at Harvard and Georgetown.To mark the 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Gosende is in conversation in several episodes on The Roundtable with Jim Ketterer, regular Roundtable Panelist and Senior Fellow at the Bard Center for Civic Engagement.

Ambassador Robert Gosende served as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service from the early 1960s to the end of the 1990s.From his childhood in Massachusetts to the highest levels of diplomacy, his life story is filled with adventures and challenges - and historic moments. His career intersected with some of the most important places, people and events in the second half of the twentieth century, including Libya just before Qaddafi, Poland during the Cold War, Somalia during Blackhawk Down, South Africa during Apartheid, and Russia during Yeltsin's rule, plus positions in Washington and terms as diplomat-in-residence at Harvard and Georgetown.To mark the 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Gosende is in conversation in several episodes on The Roundtable with Jim Ketterer, regular Roundtable Panelist and Senior Fellow at the Bard Center for Civic Engagement.

Ambassador Robert Gosende served as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service from the early 1960s to the end of the 1990s.From his childhood in Massachusetts to the highest levels of diplomacy, his life story is filled with adventures and challenges - and historic moments. His career intersected with some of the most important places, people and events in the second half of the twentieth century, including Libya just before Qaddafi, Poland during the Cold War, Somalia during Blackhawk Down, South Africa during Apartheid, and Russia during Yeltsin's rule, plus positions in Washington and terms as diplomat-in-residence at Harvard and Georgetown.To mark the 100th anniversary of the Foreign Service, Ambassador Gosende is in conversation in several episodes on The Roundtable with Jim Ketterer, regular Roundtable Panelist and Senior Fellow at the Bard Center for Civic Engagement.

Tom Yazdgerdi, President of the American Foreign Service Association reaches back to illustrate how far the Foreign Service has come in the last 100 years and charts how it will meet the complex challenges of the next decades.

After 3 years of producing the Available Worldwide Podcast, we're celebrating by re-interviewing our first guests, each other. Lauren talks with Steph about what's changed with Global Nomad English and how podcasting changed her work with clients and pushed her into developing skills she never knew she'd need. Steph's Bio:Stephanie loves helping people tell their stories.In 2018, she started Global Nomad English, building on her English language teaching background, to offer global professionals online writing coaching, editing, and interview prep services. She now primarily works with hopeful Foreign Service applicants to help them write strong, concise personal narratives and practice telling compelling work experience stories in oral assessments and interviews.Stephanie is a passionate supporter of the accompanying partners of the US Foreign Service, from co-founding the Available Worldwide podcast to launching the Available Worldwide Network. She firmly believes that by sharing our stories we not only inspire each other but can build solidarity leading to lasting change for the EFM professional community.Stephanie recently secured a position as an Adjunct Faculty DETO (domestic employee teleworking overseas) for the Foreign Service Institute. As an LE Staff Training Instructor, she facilitates online and in-person classes on Communication Skills, Team Building, and Supervisory Skills. Her goal is for LE Staff to feel heard and to help them build skills to find greater fulfillment and success in the workplace.Stephanie enjoys bike touring and traveling with her IRM spouse. Together, they've served at Posts in Moscow, San Salvador, and Berlin. Since being posted to London, she's reentered the rowing world and trains/competes with a Thames women's rowing club.Learn about Steph's English and Writing Coaching Services at Global Nomad EnglishFind Steph on LinkedIn or Facebook

On the 3rd anniversary of the Available Worldwide Podcast, we chat with co-host Lauren Steed about her small business, Nomad Educational Services. Lauren shares how her students are changing, how she's adapting, and what she's learned more about the value she adds in the process. We also touch on the stress of PCSing while running a business, plus the AW Podcast and Network. .BIO Dr. Lauren Steed has over 20 years of experience in test prep, classroom and college teaching, and student mentorship at all levels of education.She started Nomad Educational Services in 2017, building on past work as a college prep consultant and executive functioning coach in Northern Virginia, and as a freelance writing and essay coach for expat undergraduate and graduate student applicants.Dr. Steed works with families looking for a low-stress, high-confidence mentoring approach for their college-bound students. Families can feel confident that their student:will be fully supported along their path to college,will apply to schools that match their academic history and interests and will help them succeed, andwill submit applications they are proud of.Nomad Educational students apply to all kinds of schools —  from the Ivy League to art school, from hands-on, career-focused schools to those specializing in the classics, from small and supportive to massive and athletic, and every type and size of school in between. All of Dr. Steed's students are excited about the schools where they end up. Find out more about Nomad Educational Services: nomad-ed.comhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/lauren-steed-phd/https://www.facebook.com/NomadEdServices/.This episode is sponsored by the Available Worldwide Network.Are you looking for a safe and supportive online community where you can connect with other Foreign Service spouses who just get it?The Available Worldwide Network is a community-led platform providing professional development, personal connection, and social support for the accompanying partners of the US Foreign Service.Our goal is to help EFMs and MOHs who are trying to maintain or build careers abroad or at home to feel connected, valued, and empowered; to share our challenges and celebrate our successes, and to work together to find solutions through solidarity. You can join the Available Worldwide Network today to participate in co-working sessions, LinkedIn and resume workshops, professional development book clubs, small business masterminds, and monthly member match-ups to expand your network.Find all you need to know at https://availableworldwide.net/available-worldwide-network/ 

Send me a messageToday's guest is Dr Abby Bloom, and talk about a woman with a remarkable attitude towards and record of delivering meaningful change. Abby is a powerhouse. Her life is incredible. She was born and grew up in New York City before gaining a scholarship to the prestigious Yale College in Connecticut where she was one of 200 who made up the first intake of women into that institution.Abby has gone on to lead a myriad of careers - US Foreign Service, epidemiologist, health system designer and creator, entrepreneur, investor, Board director.In this conversation we talk about the focus of Abby's latest venture - Prime Life Partners - an effort to build a coherent and powerful ecosystem of actors to support and provide dignity for Australians as they age. As you'll hear, our ageing population presents some fundamental challenges not only for governments but asks deeper questions about our own individual relationship to what aging means to us, to how we treat older people and the potential value in accessing the wisdom of what millions of Australians can offer on a daily basis across business and society. This problem reminds me a lot of the climate crisis - there is a real problem now, and we know it will only worsen over time, yet despite lots of rational drivers to inject new thinking and ways of acting that bring about reform, that seems too hard an ask.I've had the great joy of knowing Abby for many years now, and this conversation lit me up, I came away knowing her even more, amazed again at stories I hadn't heard about. I'm really grateful for Abby's time here, and my relationship to her more broadly - she is vital and inspiring and generous. I really hope you enjoy listening to this one.Thanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

Human resources specialist Kimberly Williams is extremely dedicated to building safe, inclusive cultures and she joins me to explore the challenges of dealing with toxic CEOs and workplaces, generously sharing her own experiences of speaking truth to power.  Kimberly arrived at HR via an unconventional route: first as a history professor and then a diplomat in the US Foreign Service before falling ‘head over heels in love' with HR and all the messy people stuff it brings.  We discuss the many ways a toxic workplace can show itself, the difficult power dynamics that impact managers, and the role of HR in shaping corporate culture. It's a remarkable, candid conversation full of practical actions we can take to protect ourselves, our teams and our company cultures.  Shownotes See more at:  http://www.zoerouth.com/podcast/toxic-corporate-culture-kim-williams   Key Moments  Planet Human: Marc Andreessen's Techno Optimist Manifesto and the advent of techno-topia city projects. Planet Zoe: Back from Canada and happy to complete the last edits of Olympus Bound, the sequel to the Olympus Project. Toxic Workplaces and How to Identify Them (00:07:18) Guest Kimberly Williams discusses how toxic workplaces can manifest through both overt and subtle behaviours. Causes of Toxic Workplaces (00:08:07) The lack of difficult conversations and fear of retribution prevent managers from addressing issues, leading to the deterioration of the organisational environment. Dealing with Toxic Workplaces as an Individual (00:11:05) Kim advises individuals to take detailed notes to document their experiences and protect themselves when navigating a toxic workplace. Document everything (00:12:14) Putting complaints in writing, citing company policies, can be a powerful way to address toxic behaviour and secure one's position. The toxic workplace and dealing with toxic CEOs (00:31:19) Discussion about toxic workplaces, the harm caused by toxic CEOs, and the approach to addressing the issue. Misconceptions about HR (00:32:26) Exploration of the types of issues HR deals with, including the majority being people struggling with lack of self-awareness, and common misconceptions about HR. The role of HR in managing culture (00:36:21) Discussion about HR's role in contributing to and influencing organisational culture, creating psychological safety, and providing insights to executives. HR's struggles and toxic workplaces (00:43:43) Conversation about the struggles HR professionals face and the reputation of HR, as well as the signs of a toxic workplace.

Sumali has been an accompanying partner of the US Foreign Service for 19 years. In this interview, she describes the challenges of returning to the US job market after so many years of living abroad.Sumali highlights the need for EFMs to reflect (and even wallow), but most importantly, to give themselves space and grace during the transition "back home." And, she gives us advice on how to take advantage of job opportunities and resources available while abroad—such as non-competitive eligibility and clearances—which will help secure better jobs in the US. Looking forward, Sumali wants to continue living her own purpose and sharing her wisdom and practices with other EFMs through her coaching to help them find opportunities that align with their purpose and bring them joy..BIOSumali Ray-Ross is Indian by birth, an American, and a citizen of the world. She is a Global Health and Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA) Expert, an Intercultural Coach and Speaker, Mother and Spouse.Over the past 20 years, she has lived in 7 countries in Asia, Africa and the US. Her work has taken her to Central and Latin America, South and Southeast Asia, and Africa.Sumali has navigated the highs and lows of constant transitions from one country to another, re-engineering herself, over and over again, while meeting the needs of her CCK/TCK/biracial children and family both home and abroad.After returning back to the US right before COVID, Sumali went back to school to get certified as a Life and Leadership & Health and Wellness Coach. She is also a certified Holding Space and a Deep Coaching Intensive Practitioner and combines these coaching practices with meditation, mindfulness, tapping, and reiki to holistically support her clients.Sumali's coaching motto is ‘Meeting you where you are in your life & wellness journey.' She has combined her professional and personal experiences to coach clients on life and leadership issues in the U.S. and overseas.She helps women identify strategic volunteering or work opportunities, upgrade their skills/expertise to re-enter the workforce, and create a work/life balance that includes self-care practices. In doing so, they can meet the challenges of their ever-evolving lives with determination, grit, resiliency, and courage..Connect with Sumali on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sumalirayross/

Join us on a journey of discovery and inspiration as we sit down with Judith Mudd-Krijgelmans, a trailblazing figure in the field of diplomacy and one of the first Black women in the US Foreign Service. Prepare to be moved by her personal narrative of resilience and ambition that took her from a Jim Crow-era Kentucky upbringing to the corridors of international diplomacy. Judith's journey is not just about breaking barriers; it's about her tireless work advocating for American values, her insightful writings, and her unyielding belief in the nation's potential to achieve its ideals of liberty and justice.In the second part of our illuminating discourse, we delve into topics that have shaped both Judith's career and the US diplomacy landscape. Learn how affirmative action played a pivotal role in her career trajectory and the establishment of the US Information Agency. We chronicle how jazz, America's soulful symphony, became the first cultural export to the Soviet Union. Explore the evolution of the Black middle class over the past half-century, and hear Judith's passionate argument for a merit-based system. Judith's reflections on her legacy, her insights on life, and her advice for personal fulfillment provide a fitting finale to our conversation. So, tune in to our podcast to witness an extraordinary life journey and garner profound insights from a stalwart of diplomacy. Support the showLooking for a way to Secure your mobile phone, and stop tech companies, network operators, and others from tracking your location, your identity, your personal communications, your identity, your internet activities, payments and more. Plans start at just $29.99 per month. Switch to 4Freedom Mobile and you won't ever have to worry about Big Tech or Big Brother tracking you through your mobile phone again. 4Freedom Mobile provides secure, unlimited talk, text, and high-speed data for just 29.99 a month, AND that includes free international roaming in over 200 countries. Sign-up for service now by visiting 4Freedom Mobile dot com and use code bridgebuilders to get your first month for only 9.99.

In this episode Jack Omer-Jackaman speaks to Ambassador Daniel Kurtzer about US-Israel relations and the prospects for an Israel-Saudi normalisation deal. They explore the range of possibilities for the Palestinian component of any deal, and potential opposition in the Democratic Party to the defence alliance demanded by Riyadh. Ambassador Kurtzer is the S. Daniel Abraham Professor in Middle Eastern policy studies at the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs at Princeton. He previously served as US. ambassador to Egypt from 1997 to 2001 and to Israel from 2001 until 2005 when he retired after a 29-year career in the US Foreign Service. He was a crafter of the 1988 peace initiative of Secretary of State George P. Shultz and was instrumental in bringing about the Madrid Peace Conference in 1991.

Briana Warner is the CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms, which creates innovative products from sustainably-farmed sea greens. In 2022, the brand received the Fast Company Brands That Matter award. As CEO, Briana has forged a path for seaweed aquaculture by working with fishermen to grow and create national demand for kelp as a climate change adaptation strategy. She has received various awards, including the Eating Well Food Hero and SFA Business Leadership awards. Before Atlantic Sea Farms, Briana served several tours as a diplomat in the US Foreign Service and created the first economic development programming suite at the Island Institute.  In this episode… Conventional CPG companies often structure their brands around their products, integrating a mission as the derivative instead of the driving force. Today's guest has pioneered kelp products by executing a mission to expand the fishing and farming industries for environmental health and sustainability. What can you observe from her efforts? Maine's fishing industry relies on consistent lobster harvesting. Yet the volatile nature of Maine's waters places family fishermen and the coastline at risk. Purpose-driven innovator Briana Warner has created a supplemental income source for fishermen by initiating a demand for regenerative kelp, helping offset climate change for future generations. Accordingly, she has restored a precarious industry while producing healthy kelp products for consumers.  In this episode of the Brand Alchemist Podcast, Taja Dockendorf welcomes Briana Warner, CEO of Atlantic Sea Farms, who shares her mission to offset climate change and transform the fishing industry. Briana explains how Atlantic Sea Farms supports independent farmers, how kelp farming has evolved, and her company's innovation pipeline.

My guest today is Mary Seals.Mary is a fellow spouse in the US Foreign Service and we connected because her husband found my podcast through the episode with Gavin McClurg (episode 35).  After listening, he reached out and said, “hey I'm a paraglider, and in the foreign service, and studying to become a coach!”  And that connection led to meeting Mary and ultimately, this episode!Mary joins me today to share the story of her transformation:  from adamantly NOT a dog person to owning and loving a very special dog named Pax.   Pax is a Giant Schnauzer and along with being a transformative influence in her own family, also extends her special canine presence to others through her work as a therapy dog.   As a dog lover and animal lover, in general, I'm so delighted to share this story with you.  You may want to keep a tissue on hand, for Pax touches the heart not just in person, but also through the sharing of her story.   Mary, thank you so much for coming on the podcast and sharing about your journey with Pax.  Thank you for all the work you have done and continue to do to create opportunities for so many people to be touched by interacting with Pax.  And thank you for your own willingness to be transformed, to become a dog trainer, to see the needs in your family and be willing to do something bold and audacious (get a dog!!) in order to create a space for healing and connection.   You and Pax are making the world a better and more joyful place!Follow Pax and Mary on InstaGram: @PaxtheGiantMake Life Less Difficult

Seeing people adversely affected by not planning for more resilient futures, both in the face of climate change and in the face of inevitable economic change, has shaped Briana Warner's entire career. From working with the US Foreign Service as an undergrad to now running Atlantic Sea Farms, Bri has sought out solutions today that will make for a better tomorrow. Right now she's throwing all of her energy into growing kelp with the lobstermen on the coast of Maine. "It is the best food you could possibly eat for people and planet, and I don't think that's hyperbole. There are ways to oversell the impacts of kelp. We're not sequestering carbon. We're not going to reverse climate change. We're not going to save the planet with kelp. But certainly anything that you put on the plate that is not kelp is more carbon intensive and worse for the planet."Want to stay up to date on the latest Speaking Broadly episodes? To hear more conversations with Dana Cowin and her fierce guests, subscribe to Speaking Broadly (it's free!) on iTunes or Stitcher. If you like what you hear, please take a moment to rate + review us on Apple's podcast store and follow Dana on Instagram @speakingbroadly and @fwscout. Thanks for tuning in!Heritage Radio Network is a listener supported nonprofit podcast network. Support Speaking Broadly by becoming a member!Speaking Broadly is Powered by Simplecast.

America's foreign policy has undergone significant evolution since its founding. After World War II, the country embraced a policy of containment towards the Soviet Union, leading to increased involvement in international affairs. The collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War marked a shift towards a more interventionist foreign policy, as seen in the Gulf War and post-9/11 conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The Russia-Ukraine War, which began in 2014 with Russia's annexation of Crimea, marked a new low in US-Russian relations, with the US imposing economic sanctions in response. China's growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region has also been a challenge for US foreign policy, with the US responding with a mix of engagement and competition, including trade tensions and efforts to strengthen partnerships in the region. In this episode, PEI's Anurag Acharya sits with Ryan Hass to discuss the US and its role as a global leader in a changing geopolitical landscape. Ryan Hass is a Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. and a member of the Board of Trustees of The Asia Foundation. From 2013 to 2017, he has served as the Director for China, Taiwan, and Mongolia at the U.S. National Security Council, advising President Obama and senior White House officials on all aspects of American policy towards these three countries. In this 15-year tenure in the US Foreign Service, Ryan served in various American embassies, from Beijing, and Seoul, to Ulaanbaatar. He has authored multiple books, including “Stronger: Adapting America's China Strategy in an Age of Competitive Interdependence.” Anurag and Ryan discuss the evolution of American foreign policy, especially in the last two tumultuous decades since 9/11, and how that has impacted its position as a global leader. They also examine contemporary world crises like the Russia-Ukraine War, as well as the potential conflict between US and China over Taiwan, and America's response to China's growing influence in the Asia-Pacific region. Ryan further elaborates his proposition that, instead of looking for a hostile contestation, the US and China both have to learn to live with each other, that the US must invest in itself and in its friends, and how the collaboration between these competing powers on collective-action problems like climate change can result in better outcomes for everyone. Click here to support us on Patreon!!

Kathleen Stephens, former ambassador to Korea, shares her perspective on how the culture of the US Foreign Service has changed, as have the cultures of Korea and the United States concurrently.  From cultures that favored workaholism to ones with greater gender equity, younger people have pushed for greater balance of priorities, in favor of the long view of what a life should be.

Join Lauren & Stephanie for a behind-the-scenes look at the Available Worldwide podcast. In this friendly chat, we reflect on the past year, including our popular Trailing Houses 10-year anniversary interview, and the honor of winning the Champions of Career Enhancement for Eligible Family Members Award.Everything you wanted to know about creating the only podcast by, for & about the accompanying partners of the US Foreign Service.

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We have another two part in depth conversation with a very dynamic Diasporan. Part 1 goes live the week of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. The genesis of the holiday has much to do with food--It was a harvest festival celebrated by America's first European immigrant settlers. So, my guest is our own celebration of food--food science and innovation. Born and raised in the US, now based in Accra, Dr. Wanida Lewis is the CEO and Co-founder of non-profit Crescendo Foods, Ghana's first shared commercial kitchen space and culinary hub. She has over ten years' experience leading programs, strategic partnerships, and economic evaluation initiatives throughout the African continent. Previously, she wasa Senior Economic Program Advisor in the US Department of State's Office of Global Women's Issues. During her first stint living in Accra in 2018, she founded Young, Gifted, & Brown, LLC, a pipeline program supporting young Ghanaian women and entrepreneurs in STEM. A Food Science Fellowship Award Endowment in her name was established in 2013 to provide fellowship funding for underrepresented graduate students in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. Another fun fact about Wanida is that she's a certified yoga instructor and can be found working with Glocal Citizens guest, Nana Amoako-Anin (https://glocalcitizens.fireside.fm/guests/nana-amoako-anin) at Bliss Yoga Accra training yogis in yin and restorative yoga. Where to find Wanida? Wanida's website (https://wanidalewis.wixsite.com/wanidalewisphd/wanidalewisphd) On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanidalewisphd/) cresendogh.com (https://crescendogh.com) On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/crescendofoodsgh/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/crescendo_foods/) On Twitter (https://mobile.twitter.com/Crescendo_Foods) What's Wanida reading? Terminal Romance: How to Find Love in Cyberspace (https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B0B7S5WNMX&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_15HH988F7J6SEWN0F765&tag=glocalciti07e-20) by Niki Aguirre The First Woman (https://a.co/dGQeegP) by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi What's Wanida watching? Abbot Elementary (https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary) Atlanta (https://www.hulu.com/series/atlanta-3529d0f1-acaf-476d-8be3-66cd6bf12530) From Scratch (https://www.netflix.com/title/81104486) What's Wanida listening to? J.ill Podcast (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSrBbJVzhTr2HExOKABUBQ) Africa Daily Podcast (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0925ydp/episodes/downloads) Other topics of interest: Theia Coffee House Accra (https://www.facebook.com/theiahousegh/) American Association for the Advancement of Science (https://www.aaas.org/) US Foreign Service (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Service) German Marshall Fund (https://www.gmfus.org/) About Historically Black Colleges and Universities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historically_black_colleges_and_universities) Delta Sigma theta Sorority, Inc. (https://www.deltasigmatheta.org/) Faith Hunter (https://www.faithhunter.com/) Arianna Elizabeth (https://www.youtube.com/c/AriannaElizabeth?app=desktop) The Pilates Studio Accra (https://www.pilatesaccra.com/) Online Dating Sites, A History (https://www.datingadvice.com/online-dating/history-of-online-dating) Special Guest: Wanida Lewis.

Greetings Glocal Citizens! We have another two part in-depth conversation with a very dynamic Diasporan. Part 1 goes live the week of the Thanksgiving holiday in the US. The genesis of the holiday has much to do with food; it was a harvest festival celebrated by America's first European immigrant settlers. So, my guest is our own celebration of food--food science and innovation. Born and raised in the US, now based in Accra, Dr. Wanida Lewis is the CEO and Co-founder of non-profit Crescendo Foods, Ghana's first shared commercial kitchen space and culinary hub. She has over ten years' experience leading programs, strategic partnerships, and economic evaluation initiatives throughout the African continent. Previously, she wasa Senior Economic Program Advisor in the US Department of State's Office of Global Women's Issues. During her first stint living in Accra in 2018, she founded Young, Gifted, & Brown, LLC, a pipeline program supporting young Ghanaian women and entrepreneurs in STEM. A Food Science Fellowship Award Endowment in her name was established in 2013 to provide fellowship funding for underrepresented graduate students in the Department of Food, Bioprocessing and Nutrition Sciences at North Carolina State University. Another fun fact about Wanida is that she's a certified yoga instructor and can be found working with Glocal Citizens guest, Nana Amoako-Anin (https://glocalcitizens.fireside.fm/guests/nana-amoako-anin) at Bliss Yoga Accra training yogis in yin and restorative yoga. Where to find Wanida? Wanida's website (https://wanidalewis.wixsite.com/wanidalewisphd/wanidalewisphd) On LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/wanidalewisphd/) crescendogh.com (https://crescendogh.com) On Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/crescendofoodsgh/) On Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/crescendo_foods/) On Twitter (https://mobile.twitter.com/Crescendo_Foods) What's Wanida reading? Terminal Romance: How to Find Love in Cyberspace (https://read.amazon.com/kp/embed?asin=B0B7S5WNMX&preview=newtab&linkCode=kpe&ref_=cm_sw_r_kb_dp_15HH988F7J6SEWN0F765&tag=glocalciti07e-20) by Niki Aguirre The First Woman (https://a.co/dGQeegP) by Jennifer Nansubuga Makumbi What's Wanida watching? Abbot Elementary (https://abc.com/shows/abbott-elementary) Atlanta (https://www.hulu.com/series/atlanta-3529d0f1-acaf-476d-8be3-66cd6bf12530) From Scratch (https://www.netflix.com/title/81104486) What's Wanida listening to? J.ill Podcast (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBSrBbJVzhTr2HExOKABUBQ) Africa Daily Podcast (https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0925ydp/episodes/downloads) Other topics of interest: Theia Coffee House Accra (https://www.facebook.com/theiahousegh/) American Association for the Advancement of Science (https://www.aaas.org/) US Foreign Service (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Foreign_Service) German Marshall Fund (https://www.gmfus.org/) About Historically Black Colleges and Universities (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Historically_black_colleges_and_universities) Delta Sigma theta Sorority, Inc. (https://www.deltasigmatheta.org/) Faith Hunter (https://www.faithhunter.com/) Arianna Elizabeth (https://www.youtube.com/c/AriannaElizabeth?app=desktop) The Pilates Studio Accra (https://www.pilatesaccra.com/) Online Dating Sites, A History (https://www.datingadvice.com/online-dating/history-of-online-dating) Special Guest: Wanida Lewis.

How true is this: You can take the Pinoy out of the Philippines but you can't take the Philippines out of the Pinoy? My guest moved to the US when he was two and always wanted to serve in the military since he was five. He served in the US Military and US Foreign Service, yet married a Filipina. Even though he doesn't speak Filipino, he didn't let it stop him from teaching in the PMA. For free. Why? So he can give back to the Philippines. How? By helping senior PMA cadets be the best versions of themselves using the West-Point way. Listen to this episode to learn from Sonny Busa how to take your own path and live life your own way without forgetting to look back. About the Guest: In 1976, Sonny Busa graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point. He was an Army officer before entering the State Department as a Diplomatic Officer, serving in Honduras, Korea, Hong Kong, the Philippines, Ethiopia, and Kuwait. He returned to the United States to work as a Professor of International Relations at West Point, and then he taught at the Philippine Military Academy in the Philippines. He is married to Ceres Kawagas from Samar, and they have three daughters and four grandchildren. Why you've got to check out today's episode: Discover the wonders and rewards of teaching as a profession Learn why the US Military prioritizes military families the same way as service members Learn how military members can get help for mental health issues within the service. Check out these episode highlights: (01:28) - From Latin America to Asia as a Consul General (02:56) - His humbling experience serving in the Philippines (04:31) - Getting called back to West Point to give presentations (04:55) - His West Point teaching career (08:54) - How he was "convinced" to teach in the Philippine Military Academy (PMA) (10:36) - The advantage of being the only one to teach both at West Point and PMA (13:37) - The benefits of entering the PMA and the culture within the campus (17:03) - Comparing the mental health issues of the past with today (19:03) - Struggles of the PMA cadets compared to West Point cadets (21:17) - The importance of having a family while doing overseas assignment (24:53) - His message to the military families (27:11) - His advice to members struggling with their mental health (28:31) - What the military means to him (29:22) - How the military helps him to be a better person Connect with Mami Redj: https://facebook.com/mamiredjpodcast/ Do you want to hear more stories about military families? This is the podcast for you. You can listen to it wherever you are, and it's completely free. Subscribe to our podcast on Spotify today. DISCLAIMER: The views and opinions expressed on this podcast are those of the host and guests, and do not reflect the views, positions, and opinions of the U.S. Military, its Foreign Counterparts, and/or other entities they represent.

Russia's war on Ukraine appears to be at a turning point as Putin's strategy has shifted with his partial mobilization announcement on September 20 in which he calls up 300,000 reservists with an explicit mention of nuclear options. So what lies ahead? We are pleased to feature Ambassador Daniel Fried, Weiser Family Distinguished Fellow and former US Ambassador to Poland, who is a 40-year US Foreign Service diplomat who crafted US sanctions against Russia and also helped craft the policy of NATO enlargement to Central European nations and is joined by Natasha Kaneva, Head of J.P. Morgan's Commodity Strategy, and Jan Loeys, Head of Long-term Strategy, who is part of our Strategic Research team. For background on these topics, see our earlier investor webinar, Back to School Essentials, September 17, 2022. Note that the guest expert views presented do not necessarily coincide with those of the J.P. Morgan's Global Research franchise. Speakers: Joyce Chang, Chair of Global Research Jan Loeys, Head of Long-term Strategy Natasha Kaneva, Head of Global Commodities Strategy This podcast was recorded on September 26, 2022. This communication is provided for information purposes only. Institutional clients can view the related report at www.jpmm.com/research/content/GPS-4206335-0 for more information; please visit www.jpmm.com/research/disclosures for important disclosures. © 2022 JPMorgan Chase & Co. All rights reserved.  

References Jeffrey Bale, The Darkest Sides of Politics: Postwar Fascism, Covert Operations, and Terrorism. London: Routledge 2018. Gianni Barbacetto, Il grande vecchio. Milano: Rizzoli, 2010. Umberto Berlenghini, "Amos Spiazzi, non era Papadòpulos," Spazio70, found at: https://spazio70.com/anni-70/msi-ordine-nuovo-e-avanguardia-nazionale/amos-spiazzi-non-era-papadopulos/?cn-reloaded=1 Anna Cento Bull, Italian neofascism: The strategy of tension and the politics of nonreconciliation. New York: Berghahn Books, 2008. Brendan Leonard Connors, "The US Foreign Service in Italy and the Byington Family Consular Dynasty in Naples (1897-1973)." Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 2018. Sara D'Agati. "The United States Information Agency and Italy during the Johnson Presidency 1963-1969." PhD diss., University of Cambridge, 2017. Mirco Dondi, L'eco del boato: Storia della strategia della tensione, 1965-1974, Roma: Editore Laterza, 2014. Gianni Flamini, Il partito del golpe: Le strategie della tensione e del terrore dal primo centrosinistra organico al sequestro Moro, 1964-1968, Vol. 1. Ferrara: Italo Bovelenta, 1981. Gianni Flamini, Il partito del golpe: Le strategie della tensione e del terrore dal primo centrosinistra organico al sequestro Moro, 1968-1970, Vol. 2. Ferrara: Italo Bovelenta, 1982. Gianni Flamini, Il partito del golpe: Le strategie della tensione e del terrore dal primo centrosinistra organico al sequestro Moro, 1971-1973, Vol. 3. Ferrara: Italo Bovelenta, 1983. Aldo Giannuli, Bombe a inchiostro. Milan: Rizzoli, 2008. Frédéric Laurent, L'orchestre noir: Enquête sur les réseaux néo-fascistes. Paris: Nouveau Monde, 2016. Stefania Limita, Doppio Livello: Come si organizza la destabilizzazione in Italia. Milan: Chiarelettere, 2014. Graham Martin, 210. Backchannel Message From the Ambassador to Italy (Martin) to the President's Assistant for National Security Affairs (Kissinger), April 5, 1971, Foreign Relations of the United States, 1969–1976, Vol XLI, Western Europe; NATO, 1969–1972. Found at https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1969-76v41/d210 Guido Salvini, "Procedimento penale nei confronti di AZZI Nico ed altri," Ufficio Istruzione sez. 20, N.2643/84A R.G.P.M. N.721/88F R.G.G.I. Tribunale Civile e Penale di Milano, 1995. Found at: https://diazilla.com/doc/860999/la-sentenza-1 Senato Della Repubblica, Commissione Parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi, "Audizione Dottor Salvini," 35th Seduta, Rome: November 15, 1995. Senato Della Repubblica, Commissione Parlamentare d'inchiesta sul terrorismo in Italia e sulle cause della mancata individuazione dei responsabili delle stragi, Decisioni adottate dalla Commissione nella seduta del 22 marzo 2001 in merito alla pubblicazione degli atti e dei documenti prodotti e acquisiti, Doc. 23, n. 64, Vol. 1, Tomo 2, Rome: 2001. Senti Le Rani Che Canto. https://sites.google.com/site/sentileranechecantano/cronologia Angelo Vetrone, La Strategia della Paura: Eversione e strabismo nell'Italia del Novecento. Milan: Mondadori, 2019. Tim Weiner, Legacy of Ashes: The History of the CIA. New York: Doubleday, 2006.

Southern Sense is conservative talk with Annie "The Radio Chick-A-Dee" Ubelis, and Curtis "CS" Bennett, co-host.  Informative, fun, irreverent and politically incorrect, you never know where we'll go, but you'll love the journey! Former Ambassador Stan Escudero is a retired American diplomat who served the US Foreign Service in multiple capacities. Harlan Ullman, author of the new book, The Fifth Horseman and the New MAD: How Massive Attacks of Disruption Became the Looming Existential Danger to a Divided Nation and the World at Large. Ullman is a Senior Adviser to the Atlantic Council. Stefano Gennarini, the Vice President for Legal Studies of the ‘Center for Family and Human Rights' Mark Tapscott, DC Correspondent, Epoch Times EJ Antoni, Heritage Foundation Research Fellow, Regional Economics, Center for Data Analysis Dedication: Navajo Code Talker Samuel Sandoval, passed away on July 29, 2022 at the age of 98 years.

In this episode, I talk with William Martin, the foreign-born spouse of a US Foreign Service member about balancing two careers by trading off whose career is prioritized at each post, the ups and downs of work as a US Personal Services Contractor, the perils of not writing your own story, and how he has unintentionally come to live the American Dream. William Martin is an experienced political-economist specialized in challenging humanitarian contexts, a career compatible with the foreign service life! The last 15 years, he has been part of organizations at different levels of responsibility in responding to crises : a Central African NGO, a French microfinance organization, the major American NGOs, and the world's largest humanitarian donor. William holds a Master's degree from the Sorbonne's Institute for Economic and Social Studies where he met his wife. Together, they have two children with who they love discovering the world with.

This episode of War News Radio investigates the Tigray war in Ethiopia. The civil war has been ongoing since 2020 and has had huge human costs, despite very little press coverage of the conflict.    We interviewed Professor Emily Paddon Rhoads, a political science professor at Swarthmore College who specializes in international relations, civilian agency, and international responses to conflict. We also spoke to David Shinn, a professor at George Washington University who served in the US Foreign Service, where he was an ambassador to Ethiopia. They discuss the roots of the conflict, the human impact of the war, and the misconceptions and implications of the war.    This episode was written and produced by Jace Flores, Ethan Pintar, Max Winig, and Sophia Becker.

References Jeffrey Bale, The Darkest Sides of Politics: Postwar Fascism, Covert Operations, and Terrorism (London: Routledge 2018). Anna Cento Bull, Italian neofascism: The strategy of tension and the politics of nonreconciliation (New York: Berghahn Books, 2008). Brendan Leonard Connors. The US Foreign Service in Italy and the Byington Family Consular Dynasty in Naples (1897-1973). DISSERTATION. (Università degli Studi di Cagliari, 2018). Jack Greene and Alessandro Massignani. The Black Prince and the Sea Devils: The story of Valerio Borghese and the elite units of the Decima Mas. Da Capo Press, 2004. Franco Ferraresi, Threats to Democracy (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2012). Vincent P. O'Hara, and Enrico Cernuschi. "Frogmen against a fleet: the Italian attack on Alexandria 18/19 December 1941." Naval War College Review 68, no. 3 (2015): 119-137. Senti le rani che cantano, https://sites.google.com/site/sentileranechecantano/cronologia Aaron A. Taylor. Strike from the Sea: SOF Underwater Operations in Great Power Competition. MASTER'S THESIS. (Naval Postgraduate School, 2020).

Overseas and at home, Foreign Service officers face danger to themselves and their careers, from Benghazi to McCarthyism to the Trump presidency. John Naland and Harry Kopp discuss these risks and why we take them in their book Career Diplomacy: Lfe and Work in the US Foreign Service.

Released 24 January, 2022. Critics of the Afghan war have claimed it was always unwinnable. This article argues the war was unwinnable the way it was fought and posits an alternative based on the Afghan way of war and the US approach to counterinsurgency in El Salvador during the final decade of the Cold War. Respecting the political and military dictates of strategy could have made America's longest foreign war unnecessary and is a warning for the wars we will fight in the future. Click here to read the article. Episode Transcript: Stephanie Crider (Host) Welcome to Decisive Point, a US Army War College Press production featuring distinguished authors and contributors who get to the heart of the matter in national security affairs. Decisive Point welcomes Dr. Todd Greentree, a former US Foreign Service officer who served as a political military officer in five conflicts, including El Salvador and Afghanistan. He's a member of the Changing Character of War Center at Oxford University and teaches in the Global and National Security Policy Institute at the University of New Mexico. Greentree is the author of "What Went Wrong in Afghanistan," featured in Parameters winter 2021-2022 issue. Welcome, Todd. I'm so glad you're here. Let's talk about your article. Some people would argue the Afghan war was unwinnable. You assert it was unwinnable the way it was fought. What do you mean by that? Dr. Todd Greentree Thank you, Stephanie. Great to be here. The idea that it was unwinnable the way it was fought is really tied to the purpose, sort of the reason why I was writing it, which is not just about what went wrong in Afghanistan, what lessons can be derived about counterinsurgency. This is really an article about US strategic behavior. Afghanistan was my fifth war. And I like to write what I know. So really, the origin of the article is from my own story. I   got the idea that we were maybe not doing this right, sort of when I stepped off the helicopter at Bagram in 2008. My first war had been El Salvador in the early 1980s. And so everything I learned were all from guys who had been in Vietnam. There's more about that in the article. For the next four years, though, I served with people who were…most of the people were from the 9/11 generation, and I was a political adviser to combat units out in the field and was super impressed with the astuteness that everybody was showing. So first, I was in Regional Command East, where General Mark Milley was the deputy commander for operations. But there was a problem with the entire effort in Afghanistan. We were on economy of force. But that economy of force was not being exercised for a strategic purpose, just to minimize the cost, because Iraq had sucked up all the attention and the bulk of the resources. Then I moved to Regional Command South into Taliban home country, and they had been raging there since 2006. It took three years for the US to adapt. I came back to Kandahar in 2010, at the height of the surge, with the 10th Mountain Division. They were in command of Regional Command South. And this was the main effort at the height of the surge. It was a strong coalition team. They knew what to do, how to partner with the Afghan army. They took it seriously. They were serious about aligning political and military strategies, which was my part of this. The overall strategy of the US, by 2009, was coming into focus, we'd had Stan McChrystal's math, the idea, here's our most experienced Special Operations commander who had come to the realization, as had many of the SOF guys, that attrition generates more insurgents. This led to a shift in the understanding of focus on the population rather than exercising firepower. General Petraeus, following McChrystal with Field Manual 3-24 and counterinsurgency doctrine and all of that. The problem was that when Obama announced the surge, he time-limited at the same time, which was a strategically incorrect thing to do ...

In this episode, I talk with noted anthropologist and educator Dr. Johnetta Betsch Cole and award-winning illustrator Nelda La Teef. We discuss their picture book, African Proverbs for All Ages, the first Oprah Book. It is a beautifully-illustrated, engaging picture book about the power of proverbs, how they evolve over time, and the wisdom of various cultures in Africa. A native of Jacksonville, Florida, Dr. Cole grew up during the days of racial segregation. She holds a B.A. in sociology from Oberlin College, and masters and doctorate degrees from Northwestern University. Dr. Cole has conducted anthropological fieldwork in Liberia, West Africa, and traveled to 17 African countries. She is the only person to have served as president for both Spelman and Bennet Colleges; she was also the Director of the Smithsonian National Museum of African Art from 2009 to 2016. Dr. Cole serves as the Chair of the Board and the President of the National Council of Negro Women, an organization with a membership of over two million women of African descent. Throughout her career, she has worked on issues of racial, gender, and other systems of inequality. Nelda LaTeef is the award-winning author and illustrator of The Hunter and The Ebony Tree, Animal Village, and The Talking Baobab Tree. She grew up in a US Foreign Service family and spent her childhood attending schools in Europe, Africa, and Asia. She has traveled throughout West Africa conducting field research and has even been to the fabled city of Timbuktu. She holds a degree in social anthropology from Harvard University. Nelda lives in Virginia with her family where she enjoys traveling, tennis, and cycling. Order a copy of African Proverbs of All Ages here. Visit Nelda Lateef at https://www.neldalateef.com/. Resources: National Council of Negro Women: https://ncnw.org/ https://www.spelman.edu/about-us/office-of-the-president/past-presidents/johnnetta-cole Transcription: You can read the transcription on The Children's Book Review (Coming Soon). Discussion Topics: A story summary of African Proverbs for All Ages. What is a proverb? Why are we drawn to proverbs? All about African Proverbs for All Ages. Favorite proverbs. Becoming readers. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/thechildrensbookreview/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thechildrensbookreview/support

When friends tell me I'm too old to be going up on ladders, I resist. When the storm windows have swelled over the summer with basement moisture, barely fitting in the window frames, I persist. Yet finally, when I reach the last two upstairs windows, and the 20 lb. storms get stuck sliding into place, and I begin feeling insecure jiggling them free and adjusting them atop the extension ladder, I desist. Resist, persist, desist. The progression of age. I must concede the limitations of my 70 years. If I were still in need of confirmation, it came when I realized that neither of the handymen I would immediately consider calling, both younger than me, were men I would feel comfortable asking to go up on an extension ladder to complete the task. I must now search out a younger, stronger, more agile person, the right man to take on the short but precarious project. I do not yet shy away from physical labor. I was pleased to keep up with the pace of two considerably younger men as two hay ricks worth of hay (over 300 bales in total) arrived to be stacked in the barn for winter. And of course the security of knowing that a sufficient supply is on hand to get through the next few snowy months is a great comfort. Yet with age comes more typical old man preoccupations, indoors. What has engaged me intensely the last couple of weeks, when being outside has not felt so enticing, has not been the farm, but a project of reconstructing the past. It started when I was reorganizing my library a couple of weeks ago, having worked through most of the books in the house. I pulled out a text in Hebrew, a Talmudic commentary it turns out, which I inherited from my paternal grandmother, Eva Scherzer. Out of the book fluttered two letters, both dated in 1942, both sent from Los Angeles. One, in English, authorized my grandmother to retrieve eight boxes of books from storage, and was signed by Heinrich and Nelly Mann. The other, in German, kindly translated by Éric's friend Francis, was dated several months later. It was also from Heinrich Mann, and it spoke of his frustration at the difficulties of trying to save the fragments of a lost library. Growing up, we had been told by our parents that our grandmother had been somehow instrumental in saving the papers of Thomas Mann. We never knew what that meant. As my sister, Jolie, said, she couldn't imagine that Grandma Eva, traveling as a refugee from Vienna across Russia with her baby daughter after the German Anschluss took over Austria, was somehow carrying Thomas Mann's letters under her coat. But what did it mean? Here, for the first time, was a clue. Heinrich Mann was Thomas Mann's older brother, not nearly as famous as his Nobel Prize winning junior but also a novelist and accomplished in his own right. He was also far more radical than Thomas, and it would make sense that my grandmother, herself a communist, would have some association with him. His letter informed her that he had no resources to help, and he appreciated her willingness to contribute $20 to obtaining the books. He suggested she talk to the “committee” about obtaining the remainder of the $70 required. But what committee? And what was this lost library? I've been on a quest the last couple of weeks to find out. I wrote to the Thomas Mann archive at Yale's Beineke Library, and called the Heinrich Mann archive at the University of Southern California to inquire about whether either had received books in 1942 or 1943 or could tell me anything about this. Yale has yet to reply, but the archivist at USC immediately located a file on my grandmother, containing three letters from her to Heinrich Mann, translations of which I await. The librarian there has promised me further correspondence from Heinrich regarding retrieving his books. From browsing the letters myself, I found reference to a meeting between my grandmother and two women, Evelyn Hersey and Jeanette Siebold. A little on line research revealed Evelyn Hersey to have been a prominent social worker who died in 1963. She was the first Social Welfare Attachée in the US Foreign Service after World War II. Prior to that, she was involved with an organization which was variously known as the American Committee for Christian Refugees, the American Christian Committee for Refugees, and the American Committee for Christian German Refugees. Aha, I thought, this must be the committee referred to in the Heinrich Mann letter. I have inquired of the Peace Library at Swarthmore College, where this committee's archives are largely stored, about reviewing their records in the next few weeks. Meanwhile, I am acutely aware of the need to move quickly to get the story right before sources of information disappear. Francis, who immediately became excited by this project because of his deep knowledge of the Mann family, had suggested that I interview Justus Rosenberg, a professor emeritus of literature at Bard residing near here in Rhinebeck. Himself a remarkable man, Professor Rosenberg was a resistance fighter in World War II and worked with Varian Fry (“the American Schindler”) and a group that rescued more than 2,000 at risk intellectuals from Vichy France. He personally shepherded Heinrich and Nelly Mann across the Pyrenees to the relative safety of Spain, sipping from a brandy flask provided by Nelly. Sadly, the New York Times informs us, Professor Rosenberg died this week at age 100. The ultimate details of my grandmother's role saving this lost library promise to be considerably less romantic. They intrigue me nonetheless. And I am very pleased to think that after years of a hearing a refracted view of history, our family association now seems to be with the right Mann. If I can only find the right man now for the storm windows. WHAT'S AVAILABLE THIS WEEK: There's much less after the frost, but I harvested some stuff in advance, so there are still: Daikon Radish, $2/each – large, great for radish salads, kimchee Poblano peppers — great for chiles rellenos $1 each Sweet frying peppers, also $1 each Collard greens $3/bag Sorrel, $3 a bag EGGS: $5/doz Production is dropping off dramatically, but there are still a few coming in, so ask FARM PICKUPS: Email us your order at farm@turkanafarms.com, and let us know when you'd like to pick up your order. It will be put out for you on the side screened porch of the farmhouse (110 Lasher Ave., Germantown) in a bag. You can leave cash or a check in the now famous pineapple on the porch table. Because I'm now here full time, we're abandoning regular pick-up times. Let us know when you want your order any day between 10 and 5, and unless there are unusual circumstances we'll be able to ready it to your convenience. If you have questions, don't hesitate to call or text at 917-544-6464 or email.

Ambassador Kate Canavan: Recounting the legacy of an iconic leader —  The United States and the world recently lost one of its preeminent leaders: Secretary Colin Powell. With an extensive and esteemed career, Secretary Powell devoted his life to serving America in multiple capacities: as a four-star general, National Security Advisor, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Secretary of the US Department of State. Join the conversation today as Ramona talks to Career Ambassador Kate Canavan, who had the honor of serving under the leadership of Secretary Powell. Ambassador Canavan shares her personal experiences and joys of working with Secretary Powell. Having served in the US Foreign Service under multiple secretaries beginning with Henry Kissinger, the Ambassador shares the unique impact and legacy of Secretary Powell on the US Department of State. Ambassador Kate Canavan is a distinguished foreign service officer with over thirty-five years of service. Originally from Southern California, Ambassador Canavan is now retired and lives in South Carolina.

In 1972, with Nixon's visit to Beijing, the world watched as the political and economic landscape between China and the US changed dramatically. Four decades later, new political heads of state redefined the relationship once again, as Xi Jinping and Donald Trump took power – and aim at each other's economies. This time, the world is watching ever more eagerly and apprehensively as the top two economic powerhouses vie for supremacy; whatever happens in the next five years will affect everyone in the world.Here to help explain the relationship between the US and China is Andy Rothman, an Investment Strategist at Matthews Asia and an expert on China. He spent 14 years as CLSA's China Macroeconomic Strategist and, prior to that, 17 years in the US Foreign Service, including his role as Head of the Macroeconomics and Domestic Policy Office of the US Embassy in Beijing. In total, Andy has lived and worked in China for more than 20 years. He now lives near San Francisco.Our sources for the show: FT resources, US State Department, Richard Nixon Foundation, C-SPAN, Nikkei Asia, Reuters, The Washington Post. The Biden soundbites were taken from C-SPAN open content, and the Nixon soundbite was used with permission from The Richard Nixon Foundation.This content is paid for by advertisers and is produced in partnership with the Financial Times' Commercial Department. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Welcome to the Accelerate podcast, hosted by the Daniels College of Business Executive Education division at the University of Denver in Colorado. In this episode, we welcome Executive Education faculty Ali Boyd. Ali is a long-time executive coach, working with clients such as Google, Dell, McKinsey, and the US Foreign Service. As a core member of the Executive Education faculty, Ali works with a wide range of clients to deliver customized leadership programs for their teams. Ali joined the Accelerate Webinar in February of 2021 to provide tips for leading in a VUCA world, and by that she means a world that is volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous. For more information visit daniels.du.edu/accelerate.

Welcome to the Accelerate podcast, hosted by the Daniels College of Business Executive Education division at the University of Denver in Colorado. In this episode, we welcome Executive Education faculty Ali Boyd. Ali is a long-time executive coach, working with clients such as Google, Dell, McKinsey, and the US Foreign Service. She is one of the core faculty of our Accelerated Leadership Experience and Denver Leadership Experience programs which provide transformational professional development and education. Ali joined the Accelerate Webinar in April of 2020 to share a framework for providing excellent coaching and feedback. For more information visit https://daniels.du.edu/accelerate.    

Anne Barela (@anne_engineer) spoke with us about working as an engineer in the US Foreign Service and writing tutorials for Adafruit. Anne has also written two books: Getting Started with Adafruit Trinket and Getting Started with Adafruit Circuit Playground Express. To see Anne’s writing on Adafruit, check out her page: learn.adafruit.com/users/AnneBarela We also looked at Adafruit’s Home Automation board.

Five years after her first episode on Tandem Nomads, Erin Long is back to share her incredible success story and how her company has developed into a business where she is not even needed anymore. That could be the end of the story, but the truth is that even the greatest successes come with challenges that no-one really talks about, even though so many entrepreneurs experience them. "Take care of your brain and well-being just like any other part of your body."In this episode, I want to shine the light on an important topic that is rarely spoken about - the mental health challenges that a lot of small business owners and solopreneurs experience. Erin and I have become friends over the years, and this episode is a heart-to-heart conversation between two friends and two business peers. In fact, we both experienced some tough times in the past year and are still working through it while growing our businesses. Erin shares so generously and with real authenticity the personal struggles she has faced despite her success, such as loss of motivation, purpose and direction, and how she managed to overcome her mental health challenges to continue to thrive in her journey. Erin Long is an American and a certified speech therapist. She quit her job to join her husband who works for the US Foreign Service and went to live with her family on a global nomadic life through Mexico, Brazil, Serbia and Bosnia so far. While moving from one country to another she had the brilliant idea to start online speech therapy services, http://www.worldwidespeech.com/ (Worldwide Speech), to help the English native speaking community around the world, particularly expat children. She created her company Worldwide Speech and became a certified practitioner by the American Telemedicine Association in telepractice. For the last decade, Erin has become a leader in teletherapy within the speech-pathology community influencing teletherapy policy and training programs. To discover Erin’s first episode on Tandem Nomads and learn about how she started this business, https://tandemnomads.com/podcast/tn46-from-therapist-to-nomad-entrepreneur-with-erin-long/ (click here.) What You Will LearnWhat has happened to Erin and her business since her first interview What challenges she has experienced along the way What lessons she has learned and the things she continues to work on Resources and inspiration:https://tandemnomads.com/podcast/tn46-from-therapist-to-nomad-entrepreneur-with-erin-long/ (From Therapist to Nomad Entrepreneur with Erin Long) https://www.amazon.com/Big-Leap-Conquer-Hidden-Level/dp/0061735361/ref=sxts_sxwds-bia-wc-rsf-ajax1_0?cv_ct_cx=the+big+leap&dchild=1&keywords=the+big+leap&pd_rd_i=0061735361&pd_rd_r=c46d99ca-9140-4a50-98f6-dbda06f405f9&pd_rd_w=cvhyY&pd_rd_wg=Qa3YC&pf_rd_p=5c711241-c674-4eef-b21c-fe6add670f33&pf_rd_r=KRBW2YRHFVVKETZYVFBP&psc=1&qid=1614383165&sr=1-1-e30f047d-8e3c-4340-8179-6a77ce88d756 (The Big Leap: Conquer Your Hidden Fear and Take Life to the Next Level by Gay Hendricks) https://tandemnomads.com/podcast/tn202-dealing-with-the-negative-emotions-that-stop-you-in-your-business-with-gabriela-encina/ (Dealing with the “negative” emotions that stop you in your business – With Gabriela Encina) https://tandemnomads.com/podcast/tn199-how-to-build-your-tribe-to-thrive-as-a-solopreneur/ (How to build your tribe to thrive as a solopreneur) Find Erin Onlinehttps://www.worldwidespeech.com/ (Website) https://www.facebook.com/worldwidespeech (Facebook) https://www.instagram.com/worldwidespeech/?hl=en (Instagram) https://twitter.com/worldwidespeech?lang=en (Twitter) Share Your Love! Do you enjoy listening to this podcast show? Leave on your review on your favorite app – https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/tandem-nomads-empowering-expat-partners-tips-inspiration/id1056812170?mt=2 (iTunes), http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/tandem-nomads...

Former UN Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Jeffrey Feltman, reveals behind-the-scenes moments from his missions to Iran and North Korea. He also reflects on a career in the US Foreign Service, which threw him into the limelight of Lebanese politics at the time of Syria's turbulent exit from the country, and recounts the dramatic episode when a talkative contact may have saved him from the huge car bomb that killed Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. We love to hear your feedback – take our https://bit.ly/3uSaLrH (1 minute listener survey).

A new report from the American Academy of Diplomacy examines the State Department’s approach to diplomatic security, and calls from current and former foreign service, USAID, and military personnel to accept more risk in order to better balance staff protection with the essential need for on-the-scene diplomacy. On February 19, Brookings and the American Academy of Diplomacy reviewed the report’s findings and recommendations, particularly that of new legislation governing the Accountability Review Board, and assessed how to shape a more resilient and flexible foreign service. https://www.brookings.edu/events/resilience-and-risk-in-the-us-foreign-service/ Subscribe to Brookings Events on iTunes, send feedback email to events@brookings.edu, and follow us and tweet us at @policypodcasts on Twitter. To learn more about upcoming events, visit our website. Brookings Events is part of the Brookings Podcast Network.

Simon's live report for Iain Dale's nightly "NewsHour" on LBC.

- Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I have no problem having everybody know that I had COVID. I don't I don't feel I don't feel that that is a reason for shame. After all, we are literally in the midst of a global pandemic and tens of millions of people have this and often through no fault of their own.   INTRO   Today, we talk about leadership and COVID, how the virus gives us a chance to model a different openness and acceptance-without-judgment and how throw-away comments can trigger cycles of shame and judgment.  My guest today is Arwen Widmer-Bobyk, She is Canadian, living in Los Angeles on assignment with the Canadian government as the Consul for Political, Economic, and Public Affairs at the Consulate General in Los Angeles.    I first met Arwen in that most 2020 of ways:  over a Zoom call.  I was kicking off a year of intentional trainings, teaching about empathy in relation to Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion for the North American Candian MIssions. Arwen was part of an organizing task-force.  She was a warm smile and lots of red hair on the other side of the screen.  A few weeks later, Arwen was diagnosed with COVID, the first person in her consulate to get the virus.    Her story is one of poor responses, missing email links, uncertainty, and ill-considered comfort.  Yet, through it all, Arwen has seen the diagnosis as a tremendous leadership opportunity, to model a different way of engaging the virus.  Her perspective has take-aways for leaders everywhere.   But first, a little bit more about Arwen.       - Liesel Mertes Tell me about the origins of your name and like the Arwen.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Oh, so my name has become legendary even within my organization in which I work, which is Global Affairs Canada. So my name are when comes from the book The Lord of the Rings. When my mom was pregnant back in the mid 70s, she was reading The Lord of the Rings and she kind of had this feeling that she wanted to name her daughter after an elven princess.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so she chose ah. When the story at work, though, goes that there's a very, very senior manager in my organization who is actually now an adviser to the prime minister. And we were on a work together a few years ago. And he asked me he asked me, ah, when you know such an interesting name, do you have any siblings?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And I said, Yeah, I have a younger sister. And he's like, Oh, does she have an interesting name, too? And I said, Well, no, I think my parents kind of gave it all to me because her name is Rebecca Sarah. And he just thought that that was the funniest thing I've ever heard. And so he often tells that story like on national stages about how he had this colleague who had this great name and who was just Rebecca.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And my my middle name actually has a very, very funny story, too. So my middle name is Ganessa and Ganessa is spelled G-A-N-E-S-S-A and my mom always said to me, well, you know, so we had an elven princess as your first date. And, you know, your middle name is is the name of a Greek goddess, the remover of obstacles and the goddess of wisdom. And I was like as a young child, I thought that this was just the greatest thing ever.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And when I got older and the Internet became a thing, I kind of tried to, you know, look that up on Ask Jeeves and didn't I didn't come up with anything else. I was like just kind of weird. And then when, when I was a brand new mother. So, I had just given birth to my eldest daughter.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And it was the first time I left the house without her kind of to go on my own after I think she was probably a month and a half old. I left her with my husband to go see a movie. And I saw Eat, Pray, Love. And I don't know if you remember in the movie, but it was really like quite an outsized role for the Hindu God, Ganesh and the remover of of the God of wisdom and the remover of obstacles.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And I just had this, like, crazy epiphany in the movie that my mom just misspelled my middle name and got three completely wrong.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so I was like, oh, my goodness, that is a huge mistake. - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But I'm really glad my middle name isn't Ganesh. I like I'm kind of attached to Ganessa.   - Liesel Mertes The the epiphany moment, and I like it because it's resonant with me, I remember using Ask Jeeves and you have to be of a certain age to remember what that was like a player before the ascendancy of Google.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Yeah, I remember asking do use all the answers.  Where do he go? Where did he know you?   - Liesel Mertes He was the little guy that got smashed by the hegemon and just, you know, wandered off.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk He's probably in reformism, but I'm sure he is.   - Liesel Mertes Well, he's in the hospitality industry, so maybe he's indefinitely furloughed.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Good point.   - Liesel Mertes Tell us a little bit. I think that you mentioned in your bio that you married your college sweetheart. Is that correct? Or did you meet in the in the consular affairs?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So my husband is also a foreign service officer.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But indeed, we did meet the first day of class in our master's program, and it was a tiny little program for total international affairs nerds. We were studying international political economy, which is like, if you know, that has its origins in Marx or something like and there were eight of us in the class. And so I had moved from Vancouver to Ottawa. He had moved from Chicago to Ottawa to do this very niche program.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And I looked across the seminar table at home and I was like, Harvard, you know, interesting guy. And then I saw him later in the tunnels. And Carleton University in Ottawa is famous for its underground tunnels because the the climate is just so inhospitable that they needed to connect all the all the classrooms and all of the buildings, underground tunnels. So I saw him in the tunnel and I was like, yep, that's the one.   - Liesel Mertes So I knew really I knew that knowing this or did it take him awhile?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk It took him about twenty-four hours, the longest twenty-four hours of my life.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But no it was, it was so interesting because we were together and that was so that was twenty, twenty two years ago almost.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And we were together within the first week and all of our classmates just assumed that we had like relocated from different sides of the continent to finally be together.   - Liesel Mertes Well, you would get settled with one another.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Yeah. So we have been ever since and we've been we've lived many different places in the world and and we continue to to be the ultimate partners.   Arwen has worked for Global Affairs Canada for almost 14 years.  Like the US Foreign Service, it is a very rotational job, with moves every few years.  She started out in the Privy Council, supporting the Prime Minister, and is now in Los Angeles.  She moved ahead of her family to the new posting, before COVID hit.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk For the first 10 months I was actually here on my own, given the kind of issues with travel in the pandemic and my daughter is finishing their their school year. And then we were separated for longer than we had planned. But finally, my family is here in Los Angeles with me.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk We've been working since March remotely. So I have a small team that manages some really key files, political relationship with our territory, which covers Southern California, Arizona and Nevada, economics, security, defense, climate change, environment.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And then a big one for my team is all of our. Full cooperation with Hollywood and the connections between our cultural industries in Canada and and this mega media entertainment epicenter, so that's that's what I do.   - Liesel Mertes That sounds fascinating. So are you. Is your office like being consulted as they are portraying Canadians in films? Are you fact checking or are you resourcing? I'm intrigued by this.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So our role when it comes to cultural, cultural connections between the two countries is really to celebrate Canada's achievements in in the cultural industries. So everything from fine art to film to music to television and to make the connections and be a platform for making sure that Canadian artists and creators are able to access who they need to access in in Hollywood in particular.   Arwen particularly looks at her role through the lens of diversity, equity, and inclusion.  She has developed curriculum to incorporate women’s voices more robustly.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And the cultural industries, of course, is a target rich environment for expanding access for diverse creators from Canada into Hollywood. And so we're really putting a huge emphasis on highlighting to American producers and buyers the kind of rich tapestry of talent in Canada, which is incredibly diverse and inclusive.   - Liesel Mertes So I hear when you talk about what this last year has been, I hear a number of disruptive life events that in the language that I use within my consulting, you had a move, you had time without your family. This was all in the midst of being in a new city and in a new pandemic for everyone.   - Liesel Mertes Tell me about how some of those stresses and upheavals were percolating leading up to what we're going to talk about a little bit later, which was your COVID diagnosis as well.   - Liesel Mertes But even preceding that, it seemed like there were a lot of ups and downs in your year.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Definitely. It's been it's been a year of of the sense that I've that I've had a lot of the time, both personally and professionally, is just pushing a big boulder up a hill.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And the weight of the responsibility for me to to kind of manage getting my family here, eventually working through my department's H.R. processes and relocation processes and, you know, determining when it was safe to have them come from Ottawa to to Los Angeles and and, you know, trying to maintain connection with my two daughters who were also experiencing the stress of not being in school and going through kind of the newness of what this pandemic meant.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And then, you know, also maintaining connection with my husband, who was single parenting for 10 months while I was here and managing the girls and their.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Their stress and their worry about me being here by myself and, you know, the pandemic situation in Los Angeles has been not great from the very beginning. And so, you know that it was definitely a challenging year.   - Liesel Mertes And I know you have a parent, two girls, who are know as the parent of my own children who are close to your ages. I have a 13 year old and an 11 year old. Yeah.   - Liesel Mertes It can be kind of an all hands on deck time. And to be doing that from a distance and managing, you know, their schedules and people in their own uncertainty. I hear how that could feel really complex in the midst of just a new job and a new city.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Absolutely. And also managing remotely a team for the first time and, you know, keeping their motivation up and transitioning from a very in person type of work that we do, which is creating relationships and networks to a fully virtual maintaining virtual relationships and networks and still having the the pressures to produce and perform and promote and protect Canadian interests, even amidst this pandemic.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So when you put it that way, Liesel. Yeah, it's it's been a year. It's been a year.   - Liesel Mertes Tell us a little bit about when you got your COVID diagnosis.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Sure. So just for background, I'm the first person in the consulate to have a positive COVID diagnosis. So I was the the vanguard and the groundbreaker in that it happened the week of the election.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And of course, you can imagine in my position, the election was kind of a big deal. So we had a lot of pressure to do reporting and analysis. And then there was also the the concern about the potential civil unrest, which has been going on really since George Floyd's murder here in Los Angeles on a major urban center.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So that even more top of mind.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Yeah, so it was that week and it was the Thursday. And I was having a meeting and, you know, typical Zoom meeting. I try to avoid looking at myself in those meetings because it's just so weird. I'm sure that, I'm sure the listeners can relate. It's just very strange to be having a meeting, but also seeing yourself talk. But I did notice out of the corner of my eye that I looked white as a sheet like I did not look well.   Arwen made is through the next important meeting with the Canadian Olympic Committee.  But when she shut her laptop, she was exhausted.    - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And I thought, I hope I don't like the way this feels, just feels very strange, so I immediately texted my boss, the consul general, and I said, you know, I am not feeling well.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I am going to schedule a COVID test. It's funny how my brain kind of seemed to just tell me that this was not, you know, just tiredness. This was not maybe I you know, I was like, I don't even think that this is like a cold or flu. I'm also a person who who almost never gets sick. So I hadn't taken a sick day before this in well over a year.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So I, I told my family, you know, I'm not feeling great. I'm going to put myself in in my bedroom and have a rest. And then I had a COVID test the next day.   She was feverish and nauseous through the night.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So the two of us went to to get a COVID test at Dodgers Stadium. And I have to say that L.A. County really, really knows by this time how to manage large volumes of people getting tested. So is quite, quite efficient.   - Liesel Mertes Can I interrupt for a second? Are you feeling anxious at this moment? Is there a sense of dread? Are you taking just taking the appropriate steps and kind of on autopilot or like what's what's the swirl for you? I think that. There was a, there was a sense of almost disbelief that this was happening to me at that time, you know, I had gone, what, nine months of the pandemic without getting sick? You know, we were starting to hear that the vaccine was going to be available relatively imminently. I had felt just maybe a few days prior to that, that, wow, we did it. Nobody in my family got sick. That's fantastic.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And then and then to start getting sick, I was like, wow. So there was a little disbelief that there was concern. And really, right from the beginning, my biggest concern was not myself, but the health of my husband and my girls, particularly my daughters, because.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk My youngest daughter has a lot of food allergies, so her immune system is is kind of wonky to begin with, and then my older daughter has juvenile arthritis. So, again, an autoimmune disorder. And so I was very much mostly concerned about them.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I'm relatively young, although I did refer to Ask Jeeves, but I'm quite healthy.   - Liesel Mertes And and so I, too, am relatively young. And I know about ask, do you say you are relatively young. Exactly. And so and then and then, you know, as a as a parent you start thinking about and your mind goes down these rabbit holes of OK, well if I'm sick and my husband's also sick, who's going to take care of the girls? Actually, I came to the realization very quickly that the girls would be taking care of us and they're very, very OK with that.   Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But, you know, you do start to to go down those kind of anxiety holes of, you know, what happens if I get really sick. Right.   - Liesel Mertes And so also the complexity of parents in the midst of a pandemic at whatever stage, I mean, you're both aware of your own health and how it affects your work. But there are these people that you're responsible for and it's it's it's it's own.   - Liesel Mertes It's not easier, but it's a it's a luxury that parents don't really have to just focus singularly on their own, on their own health parents or just people with partners, other people in the house.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Absolutely. So so that happened. I was pretty much kind of laid out physically and then so that was a Friday, Saturday morning. I get a text from L.A. County and it's actually my husband's results. And I click on the link and it says Negative. And I was like, wow, what an incredible relief. A few minutes later, I so so I guess I would talk to him and I said, you know, you're negative. This is really exciting.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I'm sure I am, too. You know, I went into that phase of kind of denial, you know, I guess this isn't COVID. I guess I was just kind of jumping to conclusions and, you know, I'm sure I'm fine, too. So, you know, dodged that bullet, so to speak. And then I get another text about five minutes later and the link doesn't work.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk It's it's a broken link. And and so that was just incredibly frustrating to me. So, you know, I emailed their tech support ways to deal with tech support.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Women's rights waited for hours. Finally, they sent me a new one and the result was positive. And at that moment, I remember like my stomach, my stomach just sank. It was when it was then when I was feeling sick and really tired and then realizing that this was not going to be a quick road to recovery, likely that, you know, it kind of just very much hit me. And so I kind of took a few minutes to to let it sink in a little bit.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And then I went into, OK, now I have a whole bunch of things to do.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Being of a foreign diplomat here, I had responsibilities that I had to execute in terms of informing my boss about my diagnosis, but also informing our mission security officer who who deals with all of the kind of emergency management stuff.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And at that point, I was thinking solely about any potential exposure to my colleagues that I may have inadvertently perpetuated.   Luckily, Arwen did most of her work remotely.  She would only pop into the office occasionally.  Colleagues were notified.    - Liesel Mertes What what kinds of things were people saying or doing that made you feel well supported in the midst of all of this?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So it's very interesting because we plan and we plan and we plan for emergency situations and we think we know how we're going to respond and we know how we should respond.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But the interesting thing for me was that when you have it all written down on paper, the first thing and no one is not kind of, my goodness, how are you feeling? You know, it is it is kind of going directly into the kind of duty of care. Mode, as I like to call it, and so it's the primary responsibility of duty of care is to make sure everybody is safe, so, so safe from a physical perspective rather than safe from an emotional perspective. For example.   - Liesel Mertes So step one in the. That makes total sense of just this, the first step is process, not necessarily guidance in how to interact in this potentially very freighted, uncertain person on the other side who are dealing with a really complex, unknown disease. You don't really script out how to meet that person in that moment necessarily.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Precisely, which I hope to change soon. But for me, it was very interesting. So. The first question is always, where do you think you got this, like that's the most important question ever, you know, and I think I read a statistic later on that I think somewhere north of 70 percent of people have no idea where they've actually contracted COVID. For me, I was extremely careful, have been for the previous 10 months all through wearing a mask at all times in public. And I still I still caught it probably in the elevator somewhere with somebody who wasn't wearing a mask, but.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk You know, for me, that question triggered and I and I received that question from almost every single person that I encountered and told the question, triggered shame, like the answer that that was expected was, oh, well, that that one time where I was just, you know, floating all of the rules and and, you know, in an indoor restaurant, breathing in as much virus as I could, you know.   - Liesel Mertes Some Friday night where I said, screw it, I'm doing whatever I want.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Exactly. You know, so so that was that was interesting. My work was excellent in in kind of putting together the steps that were needed to take to notify anyone who may have been in contact with me. Thankfully, everyone was negative.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But then I learned a little later on after I talked to the contact tracers in L.A. County that really they're most concerned and really exclusively concerned with only the people who you had been in contact with 48 hours prior to the onset of symptoms.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And for me, that was only my family. So it was kind of out of an abundance of caution that my workplace initially was told, but I very quickly realized that it was an incredible opportunity for leadership, for me to   - Liesel Mertes Tell me more here.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So to destigmatize this, I felt very, very severe stigma about this, this diagnosis, and I really wasn't expecting that.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so I asked my boss to...   - Liesel Mertes Can I ask you a little bit more about that, because it seems it seems really important. So there, I imagine there's the the shame and the stigma of that first question, that sense of suspicion of like your irresponsibility or what you've done.   - Liesel Mertes What are some other ways that that stigma was being expressed and perceived by you?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So on the personal level. My I. I soon found out that my daughter had my oldest daughter had told her friends at school that I was positive. So within the first 48 hours they all knew. And of course, as a mom of a teenager, we thought, you know, how quickly word can get can get around. So I received an email from the parent of one of one of the girls. And remember, these are very, very new relationships for our family.   We had just moved to L.A. The girls had just started virtual school in September. And so very much brand new relationships and still establishing, you know, trust and and familiarity, I guess.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so the the email I received was just a visceral reaction to potentially having exposed. The family of this girl to COVID now, I had not been in contact with them for over two weeks and Grace hadn't been in contact with them for 10 days. And so it never even occurred to me to notify all of the families that, you know, I had seen in the previous three months, you know, but I really quickly learned that the reaction was very much based in fear, in the unknown of this disease, but also the unknown of the timeline.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I mean, teenagers are not really precise when it comes to kind of delineating the exact timeline of, you know, when their parents get sick.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so I just remember feeling intense kind of sorrow and shame and regret for not having informed these families, even though I was very sick at the time, I felt. Regret for not having thought through all of the potential people who may be afraid of my diagnosis, which seems very strange to me to say now, but it was it was just kind of a gut punch, so to speak. The email had used words like betrayal of trust, of, you know, putting our lives in danger.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so it was quite dramatic email, to be totally honest. But but I knew that it was just all very much fear based. And so I put my my mind I put myself into her shoes. And I could very much imagine, you know, a mother's instinct to protect her family. And and so I repaired the relationship. I wrote back and I and I and I copied all of the parents of the the very small study pod of four girls.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But I just kind of explained and I and the first sentence of my email, so you'd be proud of me was I can imagine how scary this is for you. Let me walk you through the timeline to reassure you.   - Liesel Mertes I am proud of you, not my pride. You know, it is the delineating factor, but, you know, one of the reasons that I really wanted when I first heard your story and just the high level of it to have you as a guest, because I just want to step back.   - Liesel Mertes That takes so much choosing towards empathy and choosing towards and I want to circle back. You began to say, you know, a leadership opportunity because, I mean, how how complex and hard is that like you were you're very sick at that moment. Like you feel terrible.   - Liesel Mertes It's this new relationship like there you're you know, the parents of your daughter, you know, that's just complex of like it's not like things are well known relationships.   - Liesel Mertes And you could feel attacked, you could feel defensive. You could feel like lashing out and saying, hey, you're not caring for me at all.   - Liesel Mertes Like I'm feverish and in bed. But to be able to process those things and still respond in a way that sees another person's emotion. Yeah, there's a lot of steps to actually executing on that maturity. To get to that point.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk It was really valuable. And I kept thinking about it. And, you know, I'm I'm one of those cheer, Cheryl. So I guess you could say in that I always look for a silver lining and no one does that apply to more than the situations that I find myself in. So you'll never hear me saying, at least to anyone, except for maybe myself. And so I was looking for the silver linings to this. And personal growth has certainly been one of those intentionality as well in the relationships that I have professionally, personally.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Another excellent silver lining. And keep going. Sorry. No, no, it's OK. So, you know, through through that very open, authentic and essentially raw message to to the other parents, I think that I, I there was leapfrogging happening. I was able to establish more trust than, you know, just 10 months of, you know, banal dialogue, you know, normal parental dialogue. Could have could have possibly established.   MUSICAL TRANSITION   We’ll return to Arwen’s interview in a moment.  This episode is sponsored by Handle with Care Consulting, my company.  The world went sideways in 2020 and it is hard to know if your people are feeling supported and engaged amidst all the challenges.  Empathy is THE leadership skill for our times, and Handle with Care Consulting can help build this skill into your people and processes.  Contact Handle with Care Consulting for coaching, keynotes, and certificate programs to create cultures of care.  And now, back to Arwen…   MUSICAL TRANSITION   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I have no problem having everybody know that I had COVID. I don't I don't feel I don't feel that that is a reason for shame.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk After all, we are literally in the midst of a global pandemic and tens of millions of people have this and often through no fault of their own.   - Liesel Mertes Yeah, there's the shame and fear. Response cycles, though, are so powerful. You know, it just it puts us in such a defensive crouch. And you know what? What a true awareness that you're able to have of looking and seeing all these people are in their own fear cycle that is just causing them to act so defensively. And it's it's a good thing to tuck away to to be aware, like, oh, yes, I could suddenly be triggered to feel very concerned just about my own safety and things like that.   - Liesel Mertes But how will that actually inhibit my response? And and that comes through to someone you're talking to, like, oh, you, you know, are only thinking about yourself right now instead of having any care for me, which I imagine, as you said, is a tremendous opportunity, as you were the first within your organization to get this diagnosis.   - Liesel Mertes Tell me some about you mentioned using it as a leadership opportunity and wanting to cultivate and model something different. What things are you pulling forward that you're wanting to incorporate in kind of a different way of approaching people who get covered?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So I think like most large organizations, medical information, of course, is generally very confidential in a work setting. And so one of the initial first reactions of my organization was we must keep this super confidential. We have to keep your identity confidential. We can't tell anybody it was you.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk For me, that just felt totally wrong because I felt that that that lack of transparency, even if it was well-meaning and meant to protect me, would possibly lead to even more fear.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk For example, imagine I was one of the workers who who had been in the office and I was told that someone has COVID and that you may have been in contact with them and therefore you should get tested. I can imagine the amount of fear.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk That that would instill in someone, because you don't there's no certainty, right, you don't know if you don't know who this person was, maybe I actually only saw one person in the office when I went. And so the other 12 that or eight that would have been told to go get tested where I know we're at no risk whatsoever.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so I asked, I asked my my boss to include in his message to all staff that it was me that was diagnosed and that I felt provided an opportunity.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk To show that it is absolutely OK to disclose your diagnosis in the workplace in order to keep your colleagues safe in order, there's no reprisal. I wasn't sent home to Canada because I got COVID, which was something I was actually worried about.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And we can talk about that as well. But for me, it was an opportunity to destigmatize the diagnosis, to take away the shame, to not hide something that really, really didn't need to be hidden. Right.   - Liesel Mertes Yeah, I hear that that that's a powerful signaling in that way. You mentioned an apprehension that you had. Tell me a little bit more about that.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Sure. So, you know, on the back end of things, we have a giant organization of of 15,000 or so employees spread across the world. So the background is that about a thousand of them, I think, were repatriated home to Canada due to their own health risks or the particular health infrastructure of the countries to which they were accredited. So that happened in the spring.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And when, when I was diagnosed, I texted a very, very dear colleague of mine who is still based in Ottawa and told him about my diagnosis. And he said he was somebody who still works in the in my former team in the North America Advocacy Division. And he said, ah, what can I tell the rest of the team? And I said, absolutely, 100 percent. And so he did. And then I got an email from my former director, so my former boss.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And he said, OK, well, there are some official things we need to do now are when I need to inform officially the medical infrastructure of global affairs. And so he's very sweet. He said they're very well meaning are when they're there, they can be. I've heard that they can be a little intense, but they're extremely well meaning.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so I was I hadn't even really thought at that point. Of what the potential implications were for the duration of my posting, the duration of my assignment here is should I have gotten really sick? And so I kind of sat in that fear for. A little while, I would say about 15 minutes, talk to my husband, I was asking questions like, well, what if I recalled what if I get really, really sick? And, you know, health care here in the United States is very expensive.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk What if they'd rather treat me in Canada? What happens if I go home and you guys stay here? And so there are all of these questions in my mind as I waited for that official notification of of you have now been assigned a file, so to speak.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And that notification came. A lot of people were copied on it. And the wonderful thing was that employee assistance program was copied on it. They reached out to me separately after and said, if you need any support, if your family needs any support, if you have questions, if you have concerns, reach out.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But also the kind of the chief medical officer of global affairs was copied and he was the one who then continued to follow me and to be in dialogue with me on a daily basis for the for the next month and. That having that support and that expertise and that person who I could ask medical questions of was was very, very helpful. I'm kind of a medical nerd myself. So if it wasn't political science, I probably would have been a surgeon.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so I very quickly kind of got up to speed about what I needed to do to give him the information he needed to assess my condition. And so I ordered myself an oximeter the next day and started measuring my my my blood oxygen levels. And that's kind of key for COVID. And that was something that helped him monitor my situation. At one point, and COVID is, of course, different for everyone, and I know that some of your listeners are dealing with diagnoses themselves, perhaps, or those of their family or friends.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And it's very different for everyone.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk For me, it really went in waves. And so. I would feel terrible for a few days and then I would rest and I would start to feel better and then I would overexert myself and then I would feel terrible again.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And at one point, my my oxygen levels were really, really not good. And the chief medical officer said, you know, Arwen, if if you don't rest and if you don't really, really take this seriously, I'm going to be ordering a medevac for you and you're going to be coming home to Canada.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And that was really the thing that scared me into. Resting, taking it seriously, and the realization that if I didn't, this could be a condition that I would have to deal with for a lot longer than I would have liked.   - Liesel Mertes Yeah, I hear I hear so many threads in the midst of that that are important, I hear the communication and the cooperation, whether that was from the medical staff or the EAP, of being able to really reach out to you on a couple of different fronts, to put it to deal with some of the fears that might come up to have information going back and forth here, the importance of rest.   - Liesel Mertes I also hear just harkening back to as you're dealing with like emails from your daughter's friend group, I'm thinking there's always so much going on that we don't know, you know, behind the scenes. Like they don't know that you're not only sick, but you're dealing with apprehensions as to whether or not you're going to have to be taken back to a different country. And how is this going to affect the continuity of your posting and all of your family situation?   - Liesel Mertes And that's just your particular complexity. But everybody's story has their own complexity as to how the diagnosis is playing out with their financial situation or their health care plan or their partner or their aging parents. And I I hope that it gives people more of a sense of pause before they just rush into an interaction. So there could be like there's the stress I know, which is a sickness. And then there are probably a dozen ancillary stresses that are attached to this that I don't know about.   - Liesel Mertes And I want to tread graciously and carefully because there could be a lot going on that I have no idea about.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Exactly. And it's just kind of layer upon layer. And then I have so much empathy for. People who are going through this and who are also, you know, high functioning professionals or in fact even, you know, like a grocery store clerk, the people who who can't take the time they need to get better because of financial considerations or professional considerations or family considerations. And I mean, you know, I'm very lucky that I had plenty of sick leave thanked.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But at the same time, this is an incredibly busy time for my for my program. And so prioritizing my health over the hundreds of emails that were flooding my inbox on a daily basis was really, really, really hard. And I was my worst enemy. I mean, I had a lot of support from my boss to to to disconnect, but I you know, I don't have any backup at work either. So it's it is it is not easy.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And and if you see someone who's just kind of. Struggling with it know that there are many, many angles of pressure happening at any given time.   - Liesel Mertes You mentioned, you know, needing to quarantine within your house burns that loomed large about the health of your children or your husband.   - Liesel Mertes What what is that like, the isolation or the uncertainty within your home? Are you having to have people bring you food? Like what is the life of quarantining within your house look like?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So absolutely. I was kind of at the at the whim of my my family to bring me food. Thankfully, they're very good at that after having been doing that for 10 months on their own anyway in Canada. But I was kind of isolated in my bedroom with a bathroom attached. I didn't leave that room at all. My husband generally would be the one to put the plate by the door. We'd all have masks on. He'd leave, I'd go get the plate, I'd eat, put the plate back.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk It was kind of like a bit like being in prison, actually in your own house. Yeah.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Yes, a bit like a prison, but maybe friendlier people that come by your door each day and better bathrooms.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk But I definitely went through many series on Netflix and I am fully caught up on the Queen's Gambit and what I would recommend highly recommend to anyone. It's a great, great piece of television. But there were there were times when when I felt really, really ill that.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I just kind of felt miserable, and I think the isolation made it a bit worse. And then there were the times that I felt more energetic and that was also really frustrating to, I think, one of the most heartbreaking moments for me, though, of over those two weeks of being isolated was just seeing my youngest daughter's face 12 feet away from me and and just knowing how much she just wanted to hug me. I think in follow up conversations after, you know, we've all been cleared and healthy talking to my girls about.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Their feelings when I was sick has been very illuminating for me because they were very worried. They were worried that I would get sicker and sicker and they were probably even worried about my mortality at times because this is an unpredictable disease that attacks all sorts of different systems within our bodies.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And so and and honestly, I think this is the first time I've ever been confronted with my mortality from a kind of a sickness perspective. And so it's it's hard on it's hard on those who love us to. - Liesel Mertes Yeah. You you've mentioned it throughout the episode, but just to keep you up to make sure we didn't miss anything. What would you say to someone who's listening and perhaps over the next couple of weeks they are going to interact with someone, whether that's in their family or their friend group who had a COVID diagnosis? I always ask on this podcast,   - Liesel Mertes What are things that you would say, don't do this like this, don't do this. This will be bad.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk So the number one thing that I think I alluded to it before is don't let your first question be. Where do you think you got it? Because rarely is that actually a meaningful question, I would suggest instead that your first response be how are you feeling?   - Liesel Mertes And on the positive side, what were things that you experienced that you would say this was so meaningful, whether it was in support of you or people who supported your wider family in the midst of that, what would you recommend to people who want to show care?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Well, interestingly, I've never been a fan of sending or receiving flowers. I find them so temporal and yet so expensive at the same time that it's never been my go to. But I have to say, being stuck in a room by yourself, having a beautiful bouquet of flowers or forms of flowers was just this wonderful visual kind of place. I could rest my eyes and concentrate on some beauty. And so interestingly, I would suggest flowers. I totally lost my taste buds for four weeks, so food would have been completely wasted on me.   - Liesel Mertes So no chocolates does make you more accepting of anyone who has to cook for you, though. You can just be thankful for whatever you gave me. Absolutely.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Normally I love hot dogs, but this one didn't taste like anything but from an emotional standpoint.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk The daily check ins, I received text messages from dozens of people a day checking in on me, and even if I didn't respond back right away, I would get another one the next day checking in on me. And that was very, very impactful for me. It meant to me that people were thinking about me, that they were wishing me well. I took a lot of the energy and I I accepted the responsibility of finally resting enough to get better because a lot of people were really concerned across the whole world.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk And and that was very, very impactful and very special. So it only takes, what, 10 seconds to send a text to somebody, but it can really make a big difference. Yeah.   - Liesel Mertes Is there anything else that you would like to add that you didn't get a chance to say in the course of the interview?   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk I think that, ironically, I'm really, really, really happy that it was me that got COVID in my social and professional network because I. I wouldn't have wanted anyone who didn't have the kind of agency that I have to have faced the shame and stigma of being that first person, and for me, not only has it been an opportunity for leadership, but.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk An incredible opportunity for her personal growth for me, and I'm I'm just very, very thankful and well   - Liesel Mertes And I I hear that something that touches on a note that we discussed earlier in the podcast, especially as COVID, is disproportionately affecting, you know, black and brown communities. And, you know, as as so many people from those communities are frontline workers and, you know, are disproportionately at risk that, you know, things that are already unfortunately and baked into so many interactions of like shame or blame or judgment or feeling like there's a power dynamic, that things that were inadvertently doing just unthinkingly as we respond to people with COVID could really reinforce some pretty toxic interaction cycles of people who have who tend to have less agency within the dynamics, whether that's interpersonally or at work.   - Liesel Mertes So, yeah, I hear I hear that aspect of what you're saying.   - Arwen Widmer-Bobyk Yeah, it's very that's very important to to think before we talk. Always   - Liesel Mertes They tried that in kindergarten and it remains an important lesson decades later.   MUSICAL TRANSITION   Here are three key take-aways from my conversation with Arwen…   Leaders, consider the unintended consequences of your policy about confidentiality in COVID cases.There can be many good and important reasons to protect privacy, but what are you inadvertently communicating with the shroud of secrecy?  What are ways that you as a leader can be proactive in dismantling stigma around COVID?  For Arwen, this was sharing the news of her own diagnosis.  What steps will you take? Go gently with people who have gotten sick.Remember that you always know only a portion of someone’s story.  Arwen was coping with concerns about having to leave the country, worries about her daughter’s health conditions, and a number of large projects that needed her attention…all of this on top of her COVID diagnosis.  The moms who sent frantic, shaming emails had no idea of this cascade of pressures.  When you hear that someone has gotten COVID, do not let your first response be “Where did you get it?”Most of the time, people do not know.  But on a deeper level, this shows a self-interested posture that fails to truly pay attention to the person who is sick.  Instead, try something like, “I am so sorry.  Can I send you a DoorDash or GrubHub gift certificate?   OUTRO

With the Impact Makers Podcast, my goal is to inspire you to identify ways that you can make a difference at work and in life — either through providing education on a topic to increase your influence, clarify your message, or lead with greater impact, or to bring you conversations with interesting guests who are doing just that. In Episode 48, I’m chatting with someone who not only inspires me, but who often pushes me to think bigger, and to think differently, and to take action.   My friend Kate Bischoff is a mom, a former US Foreign Service worker, an employment lawyer, a social justice warrior, and an avid adventurer. Whether she’s working with clients, doing a free webinar on the latest rules and regulations affecting the workplace, or providing manager training, she brings an educated, experienced, and often witty perspective towards bringing about her goal of making both the workplace, and the world, better for all. Kate has an incredibly positive outlook about life, accompanied by a thirst for adventure. After listening to this episode, I hope that you’ll be inspired to think about your own life, and how you can find meaningful ways to do work that you love, while living life on your own terms.     Topics Discussed In This Episode:​​ How joining the foreign service on a whim resulted in Kate working as the Head of Human Resources for the Consulate General in Jerusalem and the US Embassy in Zambia. What inspired Kate to become a lawyer, and to ultimately focus on making workplaces and the world better places. Kate’s advice for how we can all add more adventure to our lives. How the #MeToo movement, the global pandemic, and recent social unrest has impacted the work that Kate does, as well as the workplace. What and why Kate is planning for her next travel adventure to Antarctica.   People & Resources Mentioned In This episode: Kate Bischoff LinkedIn Kate Bischoff Twitter tHRive Law & Consulting Hostile Work Environment Podcast Marc Alifanz Hostile Work EnvironmentPodcast S2E4 - The Poop Rails Come Off   Connect with Jennifer: Send her a message [https://jennifermcclure.net/contact/] On LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jennifermcclure On Twitter: https://twitter.com/JenniferMcClure On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jennifer_mcclure/ On Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/JenniferMcClureSpeaker   EPISODE CREDITS: If you like this podcast and are thinking of creating your own, consider talking to my producer, Danny Ozment. He helps thought leaders, influencers, executives, HR professionals, recruiters, lawyers, realtors, bloggers, coaches, and authors create, launch, and produce podcasts that grow their business and impact the world. Find out more at https://emeraldcitypro.com

Hugo Rodriguez, from the banana business in Latin America to the US Foreign Service. Machetes, scorpions, poisonous snakes, starting work at four am in the fruit fields...how does this prepare someone to help bring education to American-born children of Mexican citizens in Mexico? And why does the United States care about these kids anyway?

Check out this book here   https://amzn.to/392NdWN Patricia worked for many years in the US Foreign Service. Before this time, she was with a non-profit organization and met nine women who fought against the French and the Americans in the Vietnam War. Patricia kept in touch with these women and after retiring from the foreign service…

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Michele Greenstein, a correspondent with RT America.Today is Super Tuesday 2.0 with primary elections in Michigan, Washington state, Missouri, Mississippi, Idaho, and North Dakota. Michigan is a must-win state for Bernie Sanders, which he carried over Hillary Clinton in 2016. And all eyes are on Mississippi as pundits look to the numbers of African American voters who will go to the polls for Joe Biden. As the coronavirus spreads across the United States and around the world, Italy has literally closed. The entire country has put itself in quarantine. International flights and cruises are being canceled. People are hoarding toilet paper, canned food, and water. And we still don’t have enough test kits available to health professionals. Is the government response enough to keep Americans safe? Should we be doing more? Dr. Krutika Kuppalli, an infectious disease physician and vice chair of the Infectious Disease Society of America’s Global Health Committee, joins the show. There was no disguising the tension today at the European Commission during talks between Turkish President Erdogan and the two EU presidents on Turkey’s new policy of pushing Syrian and other refugees across the Greek border by force. The Europeans insisted that the Turks abide by an earlier agreement providing Ankara with funding to handle the refugee crisis inside Turkey. Erdogan skipped the post-meeting press conference and went straight to the airport. Brian and John speak with Ambassador Robert Pearson, a former US Ambassador to Turkey and former Director General of the US Foreign Service and a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, focusing on US-Turkish relations. Chinese President Xi Jinping made a surprise visit to Wuhan, the city where the coronavirus outbreak began. Xi announced that the virus had been contained as cases in Wuhan drop dramatically. As the number of coronavirus victims skyrocket around the world, the number has plummeted in China. KJ Noh, a peace activist and scholar on the geopolitics of Asia, and a frequent contributor to Counterpunch and Dissident Voice, joins the show. Julian Assange’s extradition hearings in London are on hiatus while US authorities regroup and hone their strategy to have the Wikileaks co-founder sent to the United States for trial on espionage charges. In the first round of hearings, the British judge exhibited disturbing bias in favor of US and British authorities. The next round will begin in a little more than a month. But what is the role of the European Court of Human Rights? Steve Poikonen, host of the Slow News Day podcast and cohost of the Free Assange online vigil series, joins Brian and John. Today is Loud & Clear’s weekly series about the biggest economic news of the week with special guest -- Prof. Richard Wolff. Professor Wolff, a professor of Economics Emeritus, University of Massachusetts, Amherst and founder of the organization Democracy at Work whose latest book is “Understanding Socialism,” joins the show.Tuesday’s regular segment is called Women & Society with Dr. Hannah Dickinson. This weekly segment is about the major issues, challenges, and struggles facing women in all aspects of society. Hannah Dickinson, an associate professor at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and an organizer with the Geneva Women’s Assembly; Nathalie Hrizi, an educator, a political activist, and the editor of Breaking the Chains, a women’s magazine, which you can find at patreon.com/BreakChainsMag; and Loud & Clear producer Nicole Roussell join the show.

Today I speak with Erick Danzer and Scott Wyden Kivowitz of Imagely, makers of the NextGEN Photography Plugin for WordPress. However, we focus heavily on Erick’s experience as a photographer in Indonesia and his brief stint at the US Foreign Service and how Imagely came about. It’s an interesting story of finding the right path and how to make it possible to support things that are important to you. Links Mentioned in today’s show: My interview with Scott Wyden Kivowitz and Jeff Harmon about the Imagely Plugin and the print fulfillment feature they just added: https://masterphotographypodcast.com/nextgen-gallery-with-scott-wyden/ . My Palouse Print-n-Shoot Workshop now has two dates, May and June 2020! Check it out!: https://brentbergherm.com/workshops/palouse-shoot-n-print-workshop/ . Use this link AND the code “latitude15” the next time you need to rent gear. I’ll get a small percentage and you’ll get 15% off. Lensrentals.com affiliate link: https://www.gopjn.com/t/SENJRktJT01DR09OS0lLQ0dLT0tGTg . Need to carry your gear in style? Treat yourself to a ThinkTank Photo bag with this link and get a free gift at checkout: http://bit.ly/2IMRhOT . Learn all about the print process and how to make stunning gallery-quality prints from your photography with my online course: https://brentbergherm.com/course-info/

What made America a great power? What is Trump doing to weaken America on the global stage, and what must the US do to revive its global leadership after the Trump presidency? Distinguished American diplomat Nicholas Burns, the Lowy Institute’s 2019 Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellow, gave a speech at the National Gallery of Victoria in Melbourne Nicholas Burns is a Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and served for 27 years in the US Foreign Service. Ambassador Burns was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, US Ambassador to NATO for President George W Bush and to Greece for President Bill Clinton, and State Department spokesman for Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright.

How should the US and Australia plan for a future of both strategic competition and cooperation with China? How do we get the balance between them right? The distinguished American diplomat Nicholas Burns, the Lowy Institute’s 2019 Rothschild & Co Distinguished International Fellow, addressed these questions in the 2019 Owen Harries Lecture. The annual Owen Harries Lecture honours the enormous contribution Mr Harries, a Nonresident Fellow at the Lowy Institute, has made to the international policy debate in Australia. Nicholas Burns is a Professor at the Harvard Kennedy School and served for 27 years in the US Foreign Service. Ambassador Burns was Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, US Ambassador to NATO for President George W Bush and to Greece for President Bill Clinton, and State Department spokesman for Secretaries Warren Christopher and Madeleine Albright. The Lowy Institute acknowledges the generous support of Rothschild & Co for the Fellowship.

Tina Tran Neville and her parents left Vietnam to come to the United States when she was a young girl. Learn how that experience shaped her journey from US Foreign Service Officer to high school teacher to founder of Transcend Academy, which provides test preparation and college advising services. Tina’s story is what the American Dream is all about.For more information about Side Hustle to Small Business visit www.hiscox.com/side-hustle-to-small-business 

What role can diplomacy play in an era of global authoritarianism, nationalism, and populism? Ambassador William Burns retired from the US Foreign Service in 2014, after a 33-year diplomatic career. He is only the second serving career diplomat in history to become Deputy Secretary of State. He joins World Affairs CEO Jane Wales in conversation about effective American leadership in a world of waning American influence abroad. We want to hear from you! Please take part in a quick survey to tell us how we can improve our podcast: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/PWZ7KMW

Often when we're recording, we end up asking questions that are very interesting, but don't make it into our final episode. Rather than letting this just sit as extra tape our hard drive, we want to turn these questions into outtakes. Here's our first one. Last week, we published an episode with Ambassador William Burns, a career diplomat who served for 33 years in the US Foreign Service. We asked him about the future of the Iran Nuclear Deal. But from 2005-2008 Bill Burns was the ambassador to Russia. Our host, Elmira Bayrasli, asked what he had to say about the relationship between the US and Russia.

Wine Country TableBy Janet Fletcher Intro: Welcome to the Cookery by the Book podcast with Suzy Chase. She's just a home cook in New York City, sitting at her dining room table, talking to cookbook authors.Janet Fletcher: I'm Janet Fletcher in Napa Valley California, and I'm the author of 'Wine Country Table.'Suzy Chase: California, a western US state, stretches from the Mexican border along the Pacific for nearly 900 miles. Its terrain includes cliff lined beaches, the Redwood Forest, Sierra Nevada Mountains, Central Valley farmland and the Mohave Desert. Talk a bit about the range of California's bounty.Janet Fletcher: Oh you know Suzy, I think a lot of people think of California as just warm and sunny all the time, and we have a lot of that. We have a lot of sunshine, but we have an incredible range of climates. Climate zones, and micro climates, within those zones. We have a lot of cool, foggy coastal areas that are great for certain wine grapes and great for certain crops like lettuces and artichokes and brussels sprouts, and broccoli. I feel like there's a sweet spot for every crop you might want to grow somewhere in this state.Suzy Chase: This book includes 23 stunning farms and wineries. How did these 23 make the cut?Janet Fletcher: We were looking to showcase a variety of crops and a variety of growing regions, and all of the farms and all of the wineries that are showcased in the book, are leaders in sustainability. Some are organic, not necessarily, but all of them are really known as models of sustainable farming or grape growing, and that's really what we wanted to showcase. That California is not only the U.S.'s number one agricultural state but we're really global leaders in sustainable practices.Janet Fletcher: Which is not just ... of course sustainability has a lot to do with how you treat the land. Whether you do dor don't use herbicides and pesticides, are you a good environmentalist? But also, are you conscientious about saving other resources like water, like energy. Are you good to your employees? Are you a good member of your community? It's a more holistic approach to farming then, say, biodynamics or organics.Suzy Chase: In addition to the stories, this book includes 50 recipes that cover all the bases from breakfast to desserts. Talk a little bit about that.Janet Fletcher: Well, breakfast, one of my favorite recipes in the book is, I call it Golden State Granola. California is known as the Golden State. And the Golden State Granola really showcases one of our major crops, which is almonds.Janet Fletcher: There's a lot of toasted almonds in it, and toasted oatmeal and coconut and raisins and dates, and just kind of a compilation of a lot of the things that we're known for, here in California. It makes a great topping for yogurt, or a great breakfast, with some milk on top. So, really love that recipe for breakfast.Janet Fletcher: And smoothies, I'm a big smoothie fan, and I love taking dates or prunes. Prunes, you know, are just dried plums, and putting them in a blender with a frozen banana and some buttermilk, which is very low in fat, and making a delicious breakfast smoothie.Suzy Chase: Now, would a vintner 60 years ago recognize what's going on today in California?Janet Fletcher: Interesting question, I think actually a lot of the old timers, or people from a generation or two ago, were really surprised by how grapes are being grown in California today. One thing that comes to mind is that if you drive around the vineyards, vineyards almost anywhere in this state. I'm talking about vineyards for wine, not just table grapes, you're going to see what looks like sometimes kind of messy vineyards. They look like they have weeds in them. In the old days, vineyards were always really carefully tilled, and so the ground was very bare under the grapes. And today, it's not.Janet Fletcher: And that's because people are growing cover crops to attract beneficial insects and in some cases, to add nutrients to the soil, or maybe, prevent erosion. There are all sorts of reasons to plant cover crops. But, almost every vineyard is doing it today, so vineyards can look kind of messy, because they have these grasses growing up under the vines, or between the rows.Suzy Chase: You mentioned table grapes. What's the difference between a table grape and a grape for wine?Janet Fletcher: Well, some table grapes are used in wine making, one of the biggest ones is Thompson's Seedless. That's probably our main table grape. And it's used, it's used in wine, I wouldn't say it's used in high quality wines too much, but it is a grape that you can vinify. You can vinify any grape. You can add yeast, and ferment it and make wine.Janet Fletcher: But over the centuries, wine makers have learned that certain grapes produce a better flavored wine. Wine grapes tend to have thicker skins, they're not ones you would necessarily enjoy as a table grape, because they have thick skins and they have seeds.Janet Fletcher: And today of course everybody, for the table, they want a seedless grape with a thin skin. So, there is that difference of eating quality, but, and also, wine grapes, to make wine, they let them get really, really sweet. They get up to about, oh, almost a quarter sugar before they pick them. To make wine. And I think very few table grapes are picked at that high a sugar.Suzy Chase: Immigration is a hot button issue right now. How essential is the immigrant population with helping California farming production.Janet Fletcher: Essential is the word. Our immigrant communities are essential. We couldn't, we could not have agriculture in California without the people who work year round, in our vineyards and on our farms. They prune, they cultivate, they harvest. They are the labor force, and most of the native born Americans are not willing to do that work. It's hard, physical work. And so, immigrant communities, in California, agriculture is primarily Hispanic people, mostly from Mexico, who do a lot of the work in our farms. And they are just essential. And I think one aspect of the sustainability programs that most wineries and farms are signing on to is the understanding that working conditions have to be proper, they have to be beyond proper.Janet Fletcher: I mean, California regulates all of this. Farmers and vintners have to follow certain regulations about employee welfare. But people who are advocates of sustainability sort of go beyond that. I'm thinking of one great, one vintner in California, and I'm sure he's going to kill me when I'm, but he's quite a well known character. Larry Turley, of Turley Wine Cellars, who has pledged to put any one of his, the kids of any one of his employees through a state college. He'll pay their state college tuition, and he has done that for four and he told me that there are 28 more people currently, young people who would qualify, and he stands ready to put them all through state college.Janet Fletcher: So there's just this understanding that, employees are key assets, and you have to treat them well. It's just the right thing to do.Suzy Chase: One story that caught my eye was the Resendiz Brothers, in the town of Rainbow, an hour north of San Diego. Can you talk a bit about their story?Janet Fletcher: Isn't that a great town name, Rainbow? Yeah, and it really doesn't look like Paradise as you're driving up to it, it's a desert landscape. It's very dry and rocky. And very steep hills that are just bare, it looks like nothing would grow there.Janet Fletcher: But to go to Resendiz Brothers, which is in northern San Diego County, not far from the town of San Diego, you pull off the road and you drive up into the mountains. And there is this farm there, that's a cut flower farm. And we included cut flowers in the book, even though they're not edible, because there's a big sustainability movement in California cut flowers. You know, you can grow apples sustainably, and berries sustainably, but you can also grow cut flowers sustainably, if you choose to. And the Resendiz Brothers do that.Janet Fletcher: It's an operation that was started by a man named Mel Resendiz, who came to California as an immigrant, as a teenager, with nothing. And he started working on a cut flower farm just to, as a low man on the totem pole, and he learned the business. And he became very accomplished at growing these flowers in the desert.Janet Fletcher: They are a type of flower called protea, which doesn't take a lot of water, it likes that sun and those difficult conditions. And he started his own business, growing proteas for the florist trade. And he now has a large business, lots of employees, and he ships these flowers all over the world. They are gorgeous, and they grow out of this landscape that just looks like nothing would come out of it. So, he's turning this marginal land into very productive land that's supporting a very good business.Suzy Chase: He started out at 17, making $20 a day, and now he gets $12 a flower. This is a real great American story.Janet Fletcher: It really is, I'd forgotten those numbers, but yeah. Some of these flowers are quite valuable, and when I was down there visiting him, he took me, near the end of our visit he took me into his packing shed. And he started kind of ordering his employees around in Spanish, and they were bringing him all sorts of, all these cut flowers to his table in the packing shed. And he starts making this bouquet. And I thought he was making it for some client, that it was going to go off to some bride, somewhere, for some society wedding. It was this gorgeous bouquet, and it was getting bigger and bigger.Janet Fletcher: And finally, it was about two feet across, and he handed it to me. And I said, "Mel, I can't take that. I'm getting on an airplane in two hours. What am I going to do?" And he said, "You're going to take it on the plane."Janet Fletcher: So, in fact, I marched onto the plane with that bouquet, they let me on with it. And I fortunately had an empty seat next to me, and so I just put that giant bouquet of proteas in the seat next to me, and I put a seat belt around it. And off we went.Suzy Chase: That's so funny. I love it.Janet Fletcher: Yeah, a very generous man. Growing a beautiful, you know, building a great business on this beautiful crop that he found a niche for.Suzy Chase: You wrote in the book Luther Burbank, the legendary plant breeder, called Sonoma County the chosen spot of all this earth as far as nature is concerned. Talk a little bit about his ground breaking work.Janet Fletcher: Well, Luther Burbank was, I don't know where he was from. I'm not sure if he was a Californian, but he did most of his work around the town of Santa Rosa, in Sonoma County. And he was a famous plant breeder of the early, I'm going to say, the early 20th Century. And a lot of the fruits, primarily, are what he worked with. And a lot of the fruits that he created through hybridizing are still among our favorites, today. One called the Santa Rosa plum. Santa Rosa plum is one of our table plums, you can find it all over markets. The Santa Rosa plum is a great eating plum, that he developed.Janet Fletcher: But the one that we dry is called the Improved French plum, and that's a Luther Burbank hybrid. And that's what's grown in all of our prune orchards. Which are, it's just an absolutely delicious piece of fruit, both fresh and dried.Suzy Chase: In Sonoma County is the Francis Ford Coppola Winery. How did a world famous film director get into the wine business?Janet Fletcher: Well, Francis Coppola is a wine lover. And, he and his wife bought a beautiful heritage estate in Napa Valley, I'm going to say, maybe 30 years ago. And really transformed that. And then he, I think he just enjoyed the wine business. There's a bit of a performance quality to the wine business as well, in some levels, and I think he just enjoyed being in agriculture. I think his wife, Eleanor Coppola's an amazing gardener, and they went on to buy this property in Sonoma County, another important heritage estate. And that's where they have Francis Ford Coppola Cellars now.Janet Fletcher: It's a wonderful place to visit, and the thing that he did that was pretty revolutionary for the wine industry, is that he created this winery that is very welcoming to children. I think wineries have sort of shied away from that, for fear of crossing a line, offending people that they're marketing to children. But Coppola just embraced kids, and he created a swimming pool. He used to, he noticed that at his Napa winery that kids were always wanting to go into the fountains, and parents were always admonishing the kids not to go into the fountain. So he said at his Sonoma winery, he was going to have this giant swimming pool that kids could enjoy. So, there's all sorts of fun, family oriented things to do at his winery in Sonoma. Including a beautiful garden, great restaurant and this enormous, oversized swimming pool.Suzy Chase: Among the fog, what is harvested on the north coast?Janet Fletcher: The foggy areas on the north coast are really best for certain wine grapes that like cool climates like Chardonnay, Pinot Noir. In the Anderson Valley, which is one of our coolest growing regions along the coast, wineries are just growing varieties that are more typically associated with Alsace, one of France's coolest growing regions. That would be the varieties, like Riesling and Gerwurztraminer, so that's one of the few places in California where those cool climate grapes are still grown, in the Anderson Valley.Janet Fletcher: But as far as produce, those cool climate areas are really great for all those beautiful baby lettuces that you see in fancy restaurants. There's one grower along the coast, in a little, you can't even call it a town. It's just a little speck of a burg called Bolinas. He grows an amazing array of lettuces, very tender lettuces, and he has really, the farmer who deserves a lot of the credit for introducing the Little Gem variety, he started growing it and taking it to a Farmer's Market in San Francisco.Janet Fletcher: It's a Romaine type, but very small, very crisp. People fell in love with the Little Gem lettuce that this farmer was growing. And it's now, I mean, it's the trendiest lettuce. It's on every menu, and people have Little Gem Caesar salads, and Little Gem this and that. But he really introduced the Little Gem, I would say, to California agriculture.Suzy Chase: You wrote, "The early Sierra Foothills grape growers got it right. Zinfandel belongs here." Why is that?Janet Fletcher: Well, Zinfandel likes mountain vineyards, it does really well on these higher elevation vineyards. It likes some heat. And it doesn't really get a lot of flavor until it gets very ripe. Riper than you would pick, say, a Pinot Noir or a Chardonnay. And, it also, you know, it needs good drainage, like most grapes so that's, but it really likes the drainage that you get on a steep hillside.Janet Fletcher: You know, it got established in some of these older California vineyards, like 19th Century vineyards, in the Sierra Foothills, shortly after the Gold Rush. That's where the Gold Rush happened, and of course a lot of these people who came to California to mine gold, they liked to drink. And they wanted their wines, and so people started planting vineyards there. So some of our oldest vineyards are in that sort of Gold Rush area, in the Sierra Foothills.Janet Fletcher: And today's wine makers are just overjoyed when they can get a parcel that has some of these older vines on it. Some of them might be 80, you know, 70, 80, 90 year old vines. And they are very prized, because they have shown that they can survive in that climate. You know, it's like survival of the fittest. They're the vines that have done well there, have survived for all these years, and have very deep roots and make beautiful wines. So that's where these old vine Zinfandels that you read about, a lot of them are coming out of that Sierra Foothills area.Suzy Chase: Speaking of old vines, the Lucas Winery in Lodi is owned by David and his wife Heather Pyle Lucas. So, David purchased the land in 1976 after doing a stint in the Peace Corps and US Foreign Service with expertise in Asian rice cultivation. And he just wanted to own land and grow something. They have old vine, world class Zinfandel, and David has named every grapevine. I love that.Janet Fletcher: I went into one, into their barrel area, and there was this vine mounted on the wall. A dead vine, with no leaves on it. It's just those gnarly arms. And it was mounted on this wooden board, it makes almost like a cross shape. It looks this religious icon on this barrel wall.Suzy Chase: I found it funny, because I kept reading it over and over, and I was thinking, "A tractor ran over Cindy?" And then I was like, "Oh, Cindy's a grape vine." It was so funny.Janet Fletcher: Exactly, yeah, that was, David Lucas gives all his grape vines names, all his old ones. They have names because he just treasures them. He sees them as, you know, almost members of the family. And they are prized, and you can injure one if you have a tractor or a weed eating device that goes, there are these kind of plows. And when they sense the vine trunk they go around it, they retract and they go around it. But if you're not handling it properly, you can do some damage to a vine. And that's what happened to poor Cindy, she got nicked and she didn't survive. So, he mounted her on a wall, like a shrine, and it's quite, it's a beautiful, it looks like a work of art. Very gnarly arms that kind of stretch across the wall of their barrel room. You can't miss Cindy.Suzy Chase: So, on your personal blog, you wrote, "I live, cook, garden and write on a quiet street in Napa Valley. My house is not large, but my kitchen is. And my sunny garden is bigger yet." That sounds dreamy. Describe how the two years you spent as a cook at Chez Panisse shaped your taste.Janet Fletcher: I worked at Chez Panisse, it was one of my first jobs out of cooking school and it, I was very impressionable, and it made a big impression. And it has really stayed with me in the years since. That was more 30 years ago, but working with Alice Waters is just, well, it was a dream for a young cook. And she has such a strong point of view, a strong aesthetic, and it really made a mark on me.Janet Fletcher: A lot of it had to do with supporting small farms, supporting local farms, being an absolute obsessive about quality and working with only the best. You can't make good food without great ingredients, and also, I think as a cook, I learned to keep it simple. That, if you buy great ingredients, that you just don't want to do too much to them, because you don't want to screw them up. Alice really shaped my approach to cooking and certainly that experience of being at Chez Panisse and seeing all that gorgeous produce that would come in the door, made me want to garden. So I've been an avid gardener ever since that time.Suzy Chase: Your husband has said, "Over the years, Janet's cooking and recipe development has affected how I view wine." Talk a bit about that.Janet Fletcher: Well, Doug makes wines that are, I hate to use this word because it sounds kind of trite, but they're very food friendly. They are not hugely tannic, they are fruit forward, and the alcohol is restrained. And the tannin is gentle. Doug recently retired, but he's most, but most of his career in the Stags Leap district of Napa Valley, which is renowned for that style of wine, anyway. But the wines are primarily Cabernet, that's what the area is known for, and Cabernets, depending on how you make them and where you grow them, can be very tannic and hard to like when they're young.Janet Fletcher: Doug's are more feminine, more soft, more ... not soft in terms of low acid, they have good acidity and approachable tannins. So they're very good food wines, we eat a lot of beans and grains and fruits and vegetables in this household, and not a lot of meat, and the wines, his red wines are very complimentary with that kind of produce first way of eating.Suzy Chase: Now to my segment called My Last Meal. What would you have for your last supper?Janet Fletcher: I, you know, every time I have an avocado, a beautiful, ripe avocado, and spread it on homemade bread or whole grain bread from a good bakery, and I put some coarse salt on top, and a little squeeze of lemon or lime, I think, "This is what I want, for my last meal." It just doesn't get any better than a great California avocado, buttery, nutty, and I, you know, I'm quite happy with something like that. It's, in fact, I have that for lunch a lot. Just a piece of avocado toast.Janet Fletcher: So it makes me laugh, that avocado toast has become so trendy, because I've been eating that for a long time. Even at Chez Panisse, when I was a cook there, and I had like all this amazing food around me. For my little break time lunch, I would just grab a piece of bread and an avocado. And I would be very happy with that for lunch.Suzy Chase: You were ahead of your time.Janet Fletcher: In terms of avocado toast, yes. I've been enjoying it for a long time. And will continue, even when other people move on to other things, I'll be eating my avocado toast.Suzy Chase: Until it comes back around.Janet Fletcher: Right. These things are cyclical. No, people will never give up on avocados. It's one of people's favorite fruits, they're so luscious.Janet Fletcher: And I did get to visit an avocado grower in the book, and profiled him. He's down in the Carpinteria area, near Santa Barbara. Family farm, he farms with his wife, and has two adorable children, or three. And they grow citrus and avocados, and they're very sustainable about it.Janet Fletcher: In fact, he gets a lot of the mulch that he puts around his trees from a local Starbucks factory where they make Frappuccino, so there are all these coffee grounds that he can get for next to nothing. And he puts those around the base of his tree, to provide nutrients and keep the weeds down. And it, other people do not do that. It's pretty progressive, a pretty new thing to think about mulching your grove.Suzy Chase: Where can we find you on the web, social media and your cheese class?Janet Fletcher: Well, I hope people will find me on janetfletcher.com, that's my website where I list all my classes. I teach a lot of cheese appreciation classes and cooking classes. I have a blog called Planet Cheese and people can sign up on my website, janetfletcher.com, it's a once a week read, something new that I've learned about cheese and want to share.Janet Fletcher: So, cheese is a great passion along with my love of writing about farms and farming and great produce. I do love the world of cheese, and I hope people will join me with Planet Cheese. Instagram, @janetfletcherNV, for Napa Valley. And Twitter, @janetfletcherNV.Suzy Chase: Awesome. Thanks Janet for coming on Cookery by the Book podcast.Janet Fletcher: It's been my pleasure, Suzy, thank you for having me.Outro: Follow Suzy Chase on Instagram, @cookerybythebook, and subscribe at cookerybythebook.com or in Apple Podcasts. Thanks for listening to Cookery by the Book podcast, the only podcast. The only podcast devoted to cookbooks, since 2015.

Harriet Shawcross is a film-maker whose first book Unspeakable reflects on how, as a teenager, she stopped speaking at school for almost a year, communicating only when absolutely necessary. It mixes personal experience with travel diaries and interviews. Ambassador William J. Burns is known as America’s ‘secret diplomatic weapon’. Having served five presidents and ten secretaries of state, he has been central to the past four decades’ most consequential foreign policy episodes. Now retired from the US Foreign Service, he is President of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace and has written The Back Channel: American Diplomacy in a Disordered World. Kathryn Tickell is widely acclaimed as the world’s foremost exponent of the Northumbrian pipes. Presenter for BBC Radio 3's "Music Planet" she has just released Hollowbone with her new band The Darkening. Thomas Dixon was the first director of Queen Mary University of London's Centre for the History of the Emotions. He is currently researching anger and has explored the histories of friendship, tears, and the British stiff upper lip in books Weeping Britannia: Portrait of a Nation in Tears and The Invention of Altruism: Making Moral Meanings in Victorian Britain. He gave the Free Thinking Lecture 2019 which you can also find as a BBC Arts&Ideas podcast.

In this episode I speak with US Diplomat Rachel Cooke about her life in the foreign service and explore her experience working in Middle Eastern war zones.

US - Russia Future Relations? Smithsonian Associates, Interview Series Welcome to the Not Old Better Show, I'm your host Paul Vogelzang, and this is episode number 271 As part of our Smithsonian Associates, Art of Living series, we're joined today by author and veteran US Foreign Service officer, Louis Sell who'll be discussing his upcoming Smithsonian Associates presentation, The Future of US Russia Relations. Louis Sell is author of the recent book, “From Washington to Moscow,” which traces the history of US–Soviet relations between 1972 and 1991 and explains why the Cold War came to an abrupt end. Drawing heavily on archival sources and memoirs—many in Russian—as well as his own experiences, Sell vividly describes events from the perspectives of American and Soviet participants. For ticket information and more details, please click here: https://smithsonianassociates.org/ticketing/subscriptions/series/?id=175414 Learn more about this episode of The Not Old Better Show at https://notold-better.com

My guest today is Robert Lapiner, Professor of Humanities and Dean Emeritus of the School for Professional Studies at New York University. From 2011-2013, Robert Lapiner served as the Associate Vice Chancellor for Global Continuing Education at New York University, which would eventually become the School of Professional Studies. Prior to that, Lapiner was the Dean of the New York University School of Continuing and Professional Studies, where he remains a member of the faculty. Lapiner joined NYU after serving as the Dean of Continuing Education and UCLA Extension, and faculty associate at the UCLA Center for International Development Education. Before his position at the University of California, Los Angeles, he was based in Paris and New York, as Deputy Executive Director/Director for Europe for the Council on International Educational Exchange. His international experience began with his appointment as a career diplomat in cultural and educational affairs with the US Foreign Service. Lapiner earned his B.A., summa cum laude, from the University of California, Los Angeles. He earned both his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard University. Lapiner is a member of the Phi Beta Kappa academic honor society and a Woodrow Wilson Fellow. While at Harvard he was named a Graduate Prize Fellow. While on assignment to the Democratic Republic of Congo with the U.S. Foreign Service, Lapiner earned the Meritorious Honor Award for special achievement. He has also earned commendations for exceptional educational public service, by the City and the County of Los Angeles. Additionally, Lapiner earned the Award of Excellence for Innovative Programming from UPCEA.

On today's episode of Loud & Clear, Brian Becker and John Kiriakou are joined by Jim Kavanagh, the editor of thepolemicist.net, Dan Kovalik, a human rights and labor lawyer who is the author of the book “The Plot to attack Iran,” and Joe Lauria, the editor-in-chief of Consortium News, founded by the late Robert Parry. Courts in New York and Alexandria, Virginia delivered bombshells for President Trump yesterday, as former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was convicted of eight felony counts of bank fraud, and Trump attorney Michael Cohen turned himself in to the FBI and pleaded guilty to eight counts of campaign finance fraud, bank fraud, and wire fraud. Manafort will now go on trial on additional fraud counts in Washington, DC, and Cohen will go to prison for between three and five years. Wednesday’s regular segment, Beyond Nuclear with Kevin Kamps, looks at nuclear issues, including weapons, energy, waste, and the future of nuclear technology in the United States. Today they focus on Trump’s plan to cut coal regulations, and the connections between the coal and nuclear industries. Kevin Kamps, the Radioactive Waste Watchdog at the organization Beyond Nuclear, joins the show. Facebook announced yesterday that it had taken down 652 fake accounts and pages with ties to Iranian and Russian propaganda organs. The company said there were four different campaigns, with three originating in Iran. Is Facebook jumping on the war hysteria bandwagon? Brian and John speak with Dave Lindorff, an investigative reporter and founder of This Can’t Be Happening!, as well as a columnist for CounterPunch, and a contributor to Businessweek, The Nation, Extra! and Salon.com. Saudi Arabia is preparing to execute five people, including a woman, for participating in peaceful demonstrations in support of rights for Shia Muslims. The public prosecutor, who reports directly to King Salman, has charged the five with a variety of so-called crimes, including, “participating in protests, incitement to protest, chanting slogans, attempting to inflame public opinion, filming protests, and providing moral support to rioters.” The five could be beheaded as soon as Friday. Ali al-Ahmed, the director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs, joins the show. Russia’s foreign minister said that the Taliban have accepted an invitation to attend talks on the future of Afghanistan to be held in Moscow on September 4. Sergei Lavrov said that the aim of the talks is to encourage the Taliban to abandon hostilities, to engage in a dialogue with the Afghan government, and to protect Russian citizens in Afghanistan. Meanwhile, hopes for a temporary halt in the fighting have broken down following a mass kidnapping and a rocket attack on the presidential palace as President Ashraf Ghani was giving a speech. Brian Terrell, a long time peace activist and a co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence, joins Brian and John. National Security Advisor John Bolton said yesterday that the United States would respond “very strongly” if forces loyal to Syrian president Bashar al-Assad use chemical weapons in an offensive to retake Idlib Province. But doesn’t that just open the door for US-allied forces to use chemical weapons and blame the Syrian government? Rick Sterling, an investigative journalist and member of the Syria Solidarity Movement, joins the show.Tensions between the United States and Turkey, along with the country’s economic instability, continue to heat up. National Security Advisor John Bolton told reporters yesterday that Turkey could end its lira-battering crisis with Washington “instantly” by freeing a detained American pastor. Bolton added that promises of cash from the Qatari government will not save Turkey’s economy. Brian and John speak with Ambassador Robert Pearson, a former US Ambassador to Turkey and former director general of the US Foreign Service.

Peter Eicher spent many decades working in the US Foreign Service. He’s always been interested in history and after he retired he began writing on the history of US diplomacy. I interviewed him about his latest book “Raising the Flag.” After our interview he wanted to make sure this story was mentioned: Of course, after…

Ambassador Barbara Stephenson, president of the American Foreign Service Association, joins Deep Dish to give voice to the members of the US Foreign Service. She talks State Department cuts, political appointees, military partners, and how members of the US Foreign Service cope with the challenge of forming and implementing US foreign policy.

John Marks '61, P'95, sits down for a discussion with Carmen Muñoz-Fernández, director of Learning in the World and instructor in Spanish, and Eric Roland, Precourt Director of Partnerships at the Tang Institute. Marks reflects upon his time as a student at Phillips Academy, recalled moments from his life’s work, and shared his views on the meaning of global citizenship and the state of the world today. As you scan the globe, what catches your attention the most? What are the highlights of a career dedicated to conflict resolution, peacebuilding, and social entrepreneurship? These are some of the questions that John Marks ‘61, P’95, explored with the Phillips Academy community during a recent visit to campus. Marks was, until 2014, president of Search for Common Ground, a peacebuilding NGO he founded in 1982 that now has 600 staff with offices in 36 countries. He also founded Common Ground Productions and is still a senior advisor to both organizations. He is a best-selling author, a former US Foreign Service member, a Skoll Awardee in Social Entrepreneurship, and an Ashoka Senior Fellow. The UN’s University of Peace awarded him an honorary PhD.

In this 15-20 minute episode of Who's On Bainbridge, Chris Snow shares anecdotes about what brought him to Bainbridge from his lifelong career in the US Foreign Service, what has kept him here for so long, and his leading role in community life since he and his wife Cameron settled here in the late 1990s. Chris speaks with BCB host Jack Armstrong about: what attracted him and Cameron to the island; how he became engaged in community organizations; his leading role on the board of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) during the years of building and starting up the museum; his service with the Bainbridge Community Foundation (BCF) and the importance of philanthropy to our community's many nonprofits; his 2006 to 2009 term on the Bainbridge Island City Council memories of speaking engagements at the "Oatmeal Breakfast Club"; and his thoughts about what makes Bainbridge special. Chris was interviewed in the BCB studio in late March 2015. Credits: BCB host: Jack Armstrong; BCB editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

In this 15-20 minute episode of Who's On Bainbridge, Chris Snow shares anecdotes about what brought him to Bainbridge from his lifelong career in the US Foreign Service, what has kept him here for so long, and his leading role in community life since he and his wife Cameron settled here in the late 1990s. Chris speaks with BCB host Jack Armstrong about: what attracted him and Cameron to the island; how he became engaged in community organizations; his leading role on the board of the Bainbridge Island Museum of Art (BIMA) during the years of building and starting up the museum; his service with the Bainbridge Community Foundation (BCF) and the importance of philanthropy to our community's many nonprofits; his 2006 to 2009 term on the Bainbridge Island City Council memories of speaking engagements at the "Oatmeal Breakfast Club"; and his thoughts about what makes Bainbridge special. Chris was interviewed in the BCB studio in late March 2015. Credits: BCB host: Jack Armstrong; BCB editor and social media publisher: Barry Peters.

Nicholas Burns is Professor of the Practice of Diplomacy and International Politics at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is Faculty Chair of the school’s Middle East Initiative, India & South Asia Program, and is director of the Future of Diplomacy Project. He writes a bi-weekly foreign affairs column for the Boston Globe and is a senior foreign affairs columnist for GlobalPost. He is also Director of the Aspen Strategy Group and a Senior Counselor at the Cohen Group. He served in the US Foreign Service for twenty-seven years, during which time he was appointed Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, Ambassador to NATO, Ambassador to Greece, and State Department Spokesman. He worked on the National Security Council staff as Senior Director for Russia, Ukraine and Eurasia Affairs and Special Assistant to President Clinton and Director for Soviet Affairs for President George H.W. Bush.