John Poole from BYU-Idaho joins Johanna this week to talk about how he became an advocate of social justice in the classroom and how teaching about the Holocaust has inspired him. 

John Poole is a professor of English education at BYU-Idaho. Prior to that, he was a teacher and a principal at an alternative high school. He started his career as a high school English teacher. He has been interested in social justice issues since he encountered a white supremacist student in his high school English class. He is a lifetime resident of Idaho.

Johanna is joined by European historian Dr. Alexandria Ruble from the University of Idaho to learn about the surprising history of women’s rights in Germany after World War II.

Dr. Alexandria N. Ruble is an assistant professor of European history at the University of Idaho. She earned her Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 2017. Her research focuses on central Europe, Germany, Nazi Germany and the Holocaust, the Cold War, and women’s and gender history. Her first book, Entangled Emancipation: Women’s Rights in Cold War Germany, was published in December 2023 by University of Toronto Press.

In this episode Johanna is joined by Dr. Matthew Levay from Idaho State University to discuss the history and value of comics and recommends some must-read favorites!

In this episode, our guest is Kári Tulinius, an Icelandic poet and novelist. Join Johanna to learn about the unique literary culture of Iceland that culminates in a book flood every year at Christmas time. 

Blake Lingle, founder and owner of Boise Fry Company and author of Fries!, An Illustrated Guide to the World’s Favorite Food teaches us everything we ever wanted to know about French fries!  Including, why they are not really French! 

Watch the video here.

Johanna and Dr. Rebecca Schwartz talk about a little-known area of World War II history in Idaho that significantly impacted Idaho families.

* The Long Afterlife of Nikkei Wartime Incarceration by Karen Inouye is the correct title of a book referenced in this episode.

Watch the video here.

Johanna is joined by Dr. Russell P. Johnson from the University of Chicago Divinity School to talk about our favorite holiday films.

Watch the video here.

Sir Alfred Hitchcock is arguably the most celebrated and admired film director in history.  Dr. Douglas Cunningham joins Johanna to talk about the essential Hitchcock films everyone needs to watch and what we learn about ourselves through his work.

Join us for this episode to learn about the remarkable project co-directed by our guests that is working to preserve wartime stories, experiences, and objects to help communities connect with the history of war.

In this episode, Dr. Sara Dant explains the history of how we use public lands in the West and how federal land management agencies have stewarded those lands for the public.  Dr. Dant’s presentation can best be viewed on YouTube and is geared toward students and teachers. 

Watch on YouTube here.