Karen Painter is a professor of music who has spent her academic career studying classical music.  Her work concerning the use of music as a tool of political propaganda in Nazi Germany is interesting and relevant today, as is her more recent study of the poetry of German women.  Take a listen!

Karen is on the faculty at the University of Minnesota, as an associate professor in the School of Music and a faculty associate in Jewish Studies and at the Center for European Studies. She writes on the history of musical listening, especially in the context of German ideology and social history. The framework for her research has involved early bourgeois musical culture, fin-de-siècle cultural debates, World War I, Austro-German socialism, and Nazism, addressing reactions to Mahler and Mozart, but also Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler, Schoenberg, Richard Strauss, Hindemith and Orff.

Painter holds a BA in music and philosophy (Yale University, 1987) and PhD in music (Columbia University, 1996). Her previous faculty appointments were at Dartmouth College (1995-1997) and Harvard University (1997-2007), and she was Director of the Office of Research and Analysis for the National Endowment for the Arts in 2005-2006. She served as Maître de conférences invitée, at the École des Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, Paris, in 2010. Author of Symphonic Aspirations: German Music and Politics, 1900-1945, Painter has also edited Late Thoughts: Reflections on Artists and Composers at Work (with Thomas Crow) and Mahler and His World.

In 1999-2000 she was recipient of Humboldt fellowship as well as the Berlin Prize of the American Academy.

For more about Karen, visit: https://cla.umn.edu/about/directory/profile/kpainter

Listen in as Steve Harper takes along his journey from actor to writer to innovator.  He talks about life and his web series, Send Me, a series that explores characters who ask to be sent back to the time of slavery.  Along the way, we talk about race, the evolution of media and a whole lot more.  For more about Steve, visit his webpage here:  https://harpercreates.com/

Rob Long has had a varied career in entertainment, branching out to political discourse via Ricochet.  Listen in to Rob's discussion of the changes in TV writers' rooms and how we might be able to have more meaningful conversations on issues of the day.  Rob is always entertaining, so listen in.  If you'd like to hear more from Rob, you can listen to his Martini Shot podcast:  https://martinishotpodcast.com/.

Morgan Grove has always seen the world differently.  An architecture major who saw that buildings could and should be in harmony with nature, Morgan ultimately earned a Ph.D. and has spent much of his career working for the U.S. Forestry Service.  Listen in as Morgan describes urban forestry, tells us about "urban wood," and scares the hell out of us by describing climate change and its impact on cities.

Classmate Minter Dial is a man of many talents -- author, movie producer, speaker.  Minter Dial is an itinerant bohemian in search of experiences and interesting people.  Above all, he is a searcher: searching for meaning.  Listen in to our discussion, and following Minter on his blog, via his podcast, or by reading his books.  https://www.minterdial.com/

Paul Doiron is a novelist who writes mystery novels set in the woods of Maine.  It hasn't always been like that.  Listen to Paul's story, about how his life evolved and he never gave up his dream.

You can read more about Paul at http://www.pauldoiron.com/.

Join our classmates Yuka Manabe, Val Norton and Carl Zimmer as they discuss COVID.  Yuka is a Professor at Johns Hopkins Medical School, specializing in infectious diseases.  Val Norton is an Emergency Room doctor and hospital administrator in San Diego.  Carl Zimmer is a science writer for the New York Times and 14 books, including A Planet of Viruses.  (https://carlzimmer.com/)

Our classmates have a fascinating conversation about COVID -- what scientists have learned, how COVID has impacted health care workers, and what the future may hold.  

Tune in for this blockbuster episode.

The tables are turned in the next episode of the podcast, with Tim Harkness being the interview subject.  Hear about how Tim's application to college started as a family joke during a 1976 road trip through New England and his thoughts on the importance of improving diversity and inclusion in the legal profession.

In this episode, classmate Emily Greenwald reflects on her journey from being pre-med at Yale to an academic historian living in the American heartland.  A self-professed late bloomer, Emily has learned over the years to open herself up to new experiences and appreciate more deeply the experiences of those who are different from her.  Tandem cycling with her husband has turned into a metaphor for Emily's life.  Take a listen a learn more about Emily's journey.

This podcast is brought to you by the 35th Reunion of the Yale College Class of 1987, which will take place June 2-5, 2022: In Person.  In Pierson.

Special thanks go to Gideon Brower for his podcasting advice and to our podcast engineer, Dave Visaya at podcastengineers.com, who is now editing and producing our podcasts.

In this episode, we will visit with Caprice Young, and educator mother and cancer survivor.  Caprice's inspirational views on education and her definition of success will give you a great deal to think about.  Caprice's story of how her college roommate spearheaded her cancer treatment and saved her life is very moving.  Caprice is one of the most upbeat people I have ever met, and I think you will find spending 30 minutes listening to her to be uplifting.

A special thanks to our new sound engineer, Dave Visaya from podcastengineers.com, who is now editing and producing our podcast.