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Welcome to Civics and Coffee. My name is Alicia and I am a self professed history nerd. Each week I'm going to chat about a topic on US History and give you both the highlights and occasionally break down some of the complexities in history and share stories you may not remember learning in high school. All in the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee. Foreign. Hey peeps. Welcome back. This is a super special episode. The very first show of Civics and Coffee was released one year ago tomorrow. What I thought was going to be a short term Covid project has turned into so much more. I have made tremendous friends. Yes, all of you interwebs people out there, I consider you friends. And I've had a chance to rededicate myself to something I am so passionate about chatting about history. Since launching a year ago, I have released 61 episodes. I think I went a little crazy on all those bonus episodes. Oops. I've had the honor and privilege of guest spotting on some amazing pods so such as Armchair Historians, the Presidencies of the United States Podcast and the Self Help Bookshelf. And of course, let's not forget the epic music and history crossover with the hilarious 2 songs 1 couple. I also got to geek out a bit and participate on a panel with other fabulous history storytellers thanks to the DC based A Tour of Her Own, whom I cannot wait to book when I get back to dc. I got to publish a few articles with the magazine Inside History and the fabulous blog the Herstory Club and interview presidential historian Dr. Jovinsky who was so wonderful and gracious with her time. I also fell in love with this whole thing and it's all because of each and every one of you. Each listen, share, review and comment truly makes my day and so I want to say thank you so so much. A while back I asked you all to help me celebrate this special milestone by asking questions for me to answer on the show. So that is exactly what this episode is all about. I hope you enjoy it. Grab your cup of coffee peeps. Let's do this. As you know, this is a solo operation, so while I don't have anyone in the podcast studio with me to ask the questions, so to speak, I figured I will share who asked what and then give my answer. So let's dive in. Kristen from the podcast broadly underestimated who I feel is one of the many history soul sisters I've made over this last year. Asked some really great questions. First was why did I start the podcast? This was also asked by Kaylin otherwise known as the Active Historian over on the Instagrams. So for me I have always, always always had a love of history and I think I was born to be a teacher in my non podcast life. I have a lot of experience with training and education and I've been told I have a knack for explaining super complicated topics in an easy to understand manner. However, what inspired me to start this podcast was actually kind of a weird fluke. Over the summer during COVID I was having a conversation with a friend and we got to talking about current affairs and the big scary word politics. As we were chatting I of course brought up the historic implications of the topic at hand and he made a comment about how he wasn't really a fan of history and it got me thinking. So much of what we see and experience today is directly tied to our history and while professional historians will cringe at the saying that those who fail to learn from history are bound to repeat it, I think there is at least some validity to that point. If we don't understand our past, truly assess its failings and triumphs, how can we ever move forward and how can we learn and develop and grow? We are not a perfect union. You would be hard pressed to find a country who is without flaws, but the beauty of the human experience is the ability to learn and to make change. And so after sitting and pondering the conversation I had with my friend for a while, I began to think, how can I make a difference? How can I change the opinion of my friend and make him and so many others realize that history is actually amazing and fascinating and thrilling, filled to the brim with really cool facts and individuals. Originally I was gonna do super short daily episodes, primarily focused on civics, but having a full time job and hoping Covid would only be temporary, I figured it might be a bit much to try to do something daily. But I did know that I wanted to keep my episodes short because I wanted to grab those who only had a few minutes to spare. And as I was drinking some coffee and writing ideas in a journal I I thought what about history and the time it takes to enjoy a cup of coffee? And so civics and coffee was born. Also super special shout out to my friend Kelly who helped me come up with the name. Kristen also asked what historical events or people sparked my love of history. And while he wasn't a member of History as we know and study it, I blame my 8th grade history teacher, Mr. Lamb for instilling the first inklings of curiosity about history. He was a Guy who showed up to school in track shorts. Yes, track shorts. And was unapologetic in his critique of American history. He was unabashedly sarcastic, and for the first time, I found myself truly fascinated with the events of the past. I also blame my fabulous US history teacher in high school, Mrs. Cain. She is responsible for introducing me to topics in history that left me feeling I had to know more. The first topic was the Vietnam War. She brought in a veteran, a man who was an airplane mechanic who spoke about his time and country. I remember hanging onto every single word he spoke and being on the verge of tears as he ended his talk about his experiences. It brought history home to me much more than any worksheet or textbook had ever done before. I also blame her for teaching me about the labor movement, where I fell utterly in love with the subject. It was my junior year in high school where I learned about the Triangle Shirtwaist fire for the first time, and though it is tragic, it remains my most favorite piece of history. If you've heard my guest spot on Armchair Historians, you know the story and why it resonates with me so well. But to recap, I find the fire to be provocative, moving and oddly inspirational. Those women fought so hard for the right to organize and were ignored. And it took a massive event which took the lives of 146 individuals for the country to snap to attention and luckily implement some major changes. And speaking of armchair Historians, Annemarie asked a good question about how I choose my topics. I am such a history squirrel, and I mean this in the most loving way possible, in that I jump from story to story and become infinitely fascinated in something until I see a reference about some other story I feel I need to explore even more. And so when I sat down to do this show, I knew I wanted to approach it in a linear fashion. Part of this was because I am such a super fan of 20th century US history that I knew if I was left to my own devices, I would never cover our founding. So having this path ensured I covered great topics in history. And honestly, I'm so glad I did. I have discovered such amazing historians, Dr. Freeman, Dr. Chervinsky and Dr. Kova, just to name a few, and great stories. So having said all of that, I try to pick a little bit of what I consider to be the known topics in history and then they try to search for something that's a little lesser known. For example, everyone knows Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr met for a duel, but not many people know that they were co counsel in a murder case, or that Washington not only held people in bondage, but that he was committed to tracking someone who ran away to the point where he skirted, if not violated, federal law. Millennialemma from Instagram and Twitter asked who I would have dinner with from who I've covered on the podcast. This one is really, really hard. I have grown attached to so many of the people covered. Shirley Chisholm and Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Rear Admiral Grace Cooper and Phillis Wheatley. And while it was very close, I'm gonna have to go with Frida Kahlo. I fell in love with Kahlo at a young age while in art class. She was such a fantastic artist and dealt with such pain. I and I would love to pick her brain and get her take not only on her legacy but also of the state of the world in general. I feel like she'd be trying to organize marches and protest and attempting to cultivate a revolution. Millennial Emma also asked what is something about me that people might be surprised to learn? I am obsessed with sharks and have a dream of one day swimming with great whites. I blame the movie Jaws, which I saw as a kid, for the obsession. And before Discovery made Shark Week this weird commercial gimmick, I would watch it non stop to learn as much as I possibly could about them. If I was any good at science, I may have turned into a marine biologist. The last question I have from Millennialemma is if I had unlimited time and money to write a book, which event or person would I write about? I think the obvious answer is the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire, but since I've published an article on that, I will dig a little deeper and say I think I'd love to write about women entrepreneurs throughout history and their overall impacts to their local economies. As women struggle to be represented in the boardroom, I think it's important to highlight how often and how many examples of shebosses we've had throughout our history. Or a study of the passing of Prohibition and how it impacted the rise of the Italian American Mafia. See, this is where the squirrel brain kicks in, so I'm going to stick with my original answer. Women Entrepreneurs My friends Peter and Sam from the podcast two Songs One couple asked how much time does it take for me to research a topic? And I would say this really will depend upon how familiar I am with the story to begin with. For example, working up my episode on Frida Kahlo did not take me as long as my episode on Save the World's Fairs, but as I try to read at least a book or two on any topic I cover. I'd say it probably takes me about 10 to 15 hours of research on average. I'm a slow reader, so if I'm tackling a specially large book, it's going to take me that much longer. They cheekily added, why am I so awesome? And I think the appropriate response to that is because I have amazing friends like you two. And again, a special shout out to Peter and Sam from two songs. One couple who have been so supportive of the pod since minute one. I really appreciate you guys. My original OG1 woman promoter, Val, asked, which era in history would I want to travel back to and what would I hope to observe and learn? This one is also really challenging because I'm so damn nosy and I want to be in all the places and know all the things. The rise of consumer culture in the 50s fascinates me, as does the presidency of FDR and JFK. If I had to choose, I'd say the 50s here in America. I'd want to observe the fight for civil rights and maybe track down a young John Lewis and give him a big old hug if I could. So much changed in the 50s on so many fronts that I think this would be where I'd want to hang out for just a little bit. Enzywaffles from Instagram and Twitter asks what obscure historical story would I love to see made into a film and who would I cast? I think I'm gonna go with the trial of Levi Weeks for the Murder of Elma Sands, and that was a lot harder than I thought it would be because I don't know exactly what's considered a strange or obscure historical story, but I feel like not too many people know about that, including myself, to be quite honest, before I did the episode. For the casting choices, oh gosh, I think I would go with Charlie Hunnam for Alexander Hamilton and Ian Somerhalder for Aaron Burr or a younger Andy Garcia since I feel like they had very similar features. We didn't really get a good physical description of Elma Sans, so I don't have a casting choice. And well, honestly, in the movie she wouldn't last very long because she passes away. And same goes for Levi Weeks. I. I don't know who I would. I don't know who I would pick for for Levi Weeks. So insert your own casting choice here. Another Instagram follower, Ninja Bacon, asked, what is something I've learned over the last year that has really impacted me? I would have to go with my bonus episode I did on Women in Tech. That really had a more profound impact on me than I originally thought. To learn about so many women and their roles and influence in the development of the technology that we use today was both exhilarating and infuriating all at the same time. Why aren't these stories shared more broadly in school? I hope we can someday get to a point where this is not the norm. And lastly, Athenahistory over on Instagram asked, how do we make history relevant? That was such a profound question and one I struggled with for a number of days, actually, because for me, history is relevant every day and happens all around us. I think tying events of the past to the stories of the present is the one way to make history relevant. For example, when Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and other women were running for president last year, how many stories came up about Geraldine Ferrero and Shirley Chisholm? Sharing history that someone can connect with is another way to make it relevant. History becomes more impactful to someone once they see themselves in the story. My family is from New York and like so many of us, we're immigrants. Hearing the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist fire hit home for me because I knew that that could have been my great grandmother who died in that fire. Whew. Okay, that was a lot of great questions. Thank you to everyone who submitted. You made me ponder for quite a while and I loved the challenge. And of course, thank you, dear listeners, for the last year. Your encouragement has been so wonderful and truly humbling. I I am so grateful for this community and of course, you know I gotta do my plugs. If you've been enjoying the show, please consider a rate and review on Podchaser or Apple Podcasts or GoodPods. It helps spread the word and I'm not lying when I say it brings me tremendous joy. You can also support the podcast through Buy Me a Coffee, where your donations go towards the books and caffeine required to keep this shop running. You can find out more about that and see show notes, source materials and publications on my website at www.civicsandcoffee.com. thanks for tuning in and I hope you enjoyed this episode of Civics and Coffee. If you want to hear more small snippets from American history, be sure to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. Thanks for joining me and I look forward to our next cup of coffee together. Sam.