Podcast
Essay Americana
Hosted by Stephen Ludwig: Writer, speaker, and podcaster · EN
Essay Americana provides insight into American life in the late 20th and early 21st centuries covering work, relationships, history, leadership, self-identity, philosophy, politics, and psychology.
10episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Silent Bronze
Feb 12, 202500:11:20Tap to summarizeWhat do we learn from our grandparents that we didn't get to know? This essay explores those questions of what we get when we ask if they would be proud of how we turned out.
Transcribe →Hero?
Nov 10, 202100:12:59Tap to summarizeThis essay is part of the series, "Asphalt Blackboard: Life Lessons from America's Highways." It examines how we are socially programed to respond to a crisis and what it means to be a hero.
Transcribe →Season 2, Ep. 1 Stranger Relief at Thanksgiving
Mar 22, 202000:29:09Tap to summarizeIn this time of COVID-19, social distancing, and sheltering in place, why not look at family dynamics in the form of a major holiday?
Transcribe →Comic Book Blues
Oct 1, 201900:29:09Tap to summarizeArt, pop culture, comic books, movies, tv, and compulsive behavior. This episode deals with all that, as well as taking a hard look at when we cut out parts of ourselves in order to "fit in" and what it means to reclaim parts of our personality we should have never let go.
Transcribe →What's a Life Worth?
Jul 26, 201900:17:25Tap to summarizeThis month's essay looks at the fundamental question--how we determine the value of a life.
Transcribe →Hallowed Ground
Jun 6, 201900:12:58Tap to summarizeWhat do we hold sacred? What is truly hallowed ground? A massive church that's been turned into a disco and two battlefields are the backdrop for this interesting essay about what we value and why.
Transcribe →Nurse Logs
May 5, 201900:13:10Tap to summarizeWhat do we owe the past? This essay, the third from "Asphalt Blackboard: Life Lessons form America's Highways" series, explores that question from the only temperate rain forest in the world.
Transcribe →Follow the Leader
Mar 23, 201900:14:55Tap to summarizeLeadership. It's the Holy Grail of the business world. It took a cold day in whitewater to teach how Americans' view leadership and a possible new approach.
Transcribe →Unplugged
Mar 5, 201900:12:36Tap to summarizeChanges to rural Montana, the Great American Road Trip, and becoming unmoored from you daily life all teach something about modern American life.
Transcribe →Memorial Service
Feb 21, 201900:12:39Tap to summarizeA memorial service serves as the backdrop for a reflection on church culture and who gets to stand behind the alter.
Transcribe →