On today’s show we’re talking with two enlisted veterans who rose to the top of their respective fields in civilian life: Navy veteran Chef Geoff Cole, and Army veteran and author Dr. Roy William Scranton.
Contributors: Roy Scranton and Chef Geoff Cole
Contributors: Brian Simpson and Dan Lopez
A lot of what happens on our show intentionally or otherwise takes aim at stereotypes that have been assigned to service members, and it is a stereotype indeed that people enlist in the military because there’s just nothing else they could be doing with their lives, that it is an act born of desperation. I know that’s a concept hanging out there for some, consciously or otherwise, because I’ve heard it said and seen it written too many times.
We have two of the most entertaining, self-made, grunt-ass Marines I know on today’s show for you, and they really couldn’t be more different from each other, except that both of their upbringings made them perfect candidates for the United States Marine Corp, the USMC, an acronym Marines will often repurpose when referring to themselves as Uncle Sam’s Misguided Children.
Marine Corp. veteran and stand-up comedian, Brian Simpson, talks about maintaining identity while serving in the armed forces; and Marine Corp. Veteran Dan Lopez tells the true story about Smoking Pot with the Taliban.
Contributor: James Seddon
We’re spending this hour with our friend, writer, performer, and veteran Navy officer, James Seddon. James is one of the founding members of So Say We All’s Veteran Writers Program, is published in the first Incoming anthology, and has performed his writing all over San Diego. Though he’s been working diligently on his memoir, he came by to share some of his incredible stories about the labels placed upon service members, enemies, and veterans.
Contributors: Vance Voyles and Natalie Lovejoy
“Everything Is A War,” focuses on stories about how serving in a war zone can stick to a person, so deeply that traces of it will magically appear months, years after a service member returns home. And it doesn’t just impact service members, but the friends, lovers, and family of those connected to them. We’ve drafted two voices to tell you stories on that front today. Musical theatre composer and performer Natalie Lovejoy joins us in the second half to talk about her experiences as a young military spouse, and how she was able to tell her story and connect with others through musical theatre. First up, Navy veteran and police officer Vance Voyles talks about how the war comes back for him, in some of the calls he’s responded to as a cop.
Contributor: Matt Young
We’re spending this episode with Iraq war veteran Matt Young. Matt’s debut novel Eat the Apple chronicles his journey as an aimless 18-year-old who enlists in the Marine Corps after driving drunk into a fire hydrant. It was a jolt that convinced him that he needed to find direction in his life, and, in his own words, “man up.” What follows is a brutal, self-aware story about being both the victim and perpetrator of hazing and abuse, feeling pressure to tell the lies he thought civilians wanted to hear, and the absurdist snapshots of war and training for it that most other accounts gloss over. Because they’re too ugly, too embarrassing, or just too honest.
We at So Say We All and Incoming are so honored and humbled to have our teaching artist and friend, Adam Stone, present on behalf of our organization and program on the floor of the State Capitol as part of the California Joint Committee on Arts Information Hearing this May 2018. Support for work such as we do here at So Say We All and through Incoming is highly dependent on the backing on individuals, private foundations, and state & federal entities, and this opportunity was huge. We’d like to thank Adam for representing us so brilliantly, and to the California Arts Council for inviting us.
Today’s show is titled, with our tongues lodged firmly in our cheeks, “The Undesirables,” because it features two wonderful veteran voices who speak on the subject of having to hide aspects of their personal identities which–at the time–could have been viewed as obstacles to their military careers.
Contributors: Lisbeth Prifogle and Anthony Moll.
Today’s episode takes its name after a quote by Lewis Carrol, “All That Is Really Worth Doing is Worth the Doing is What We do for Others,” and we chose it because our two contributors, Brian Turner and Mariah Smith of the US Army, have stories and poems that echo that sentiment. Mariah, because her story is about jumping through hurdles to be present for an important moment in the life of someone who was important to her, and Brian, because his poetry and stories consistently carry an element of sitting watch with someone in their darkest hours. We’re going to start off with Brian Turner.
Contributors: Brian Turner & Mariah Smith
Navigating the present, alongside past and future.
Today’s show, “Unstuck in Time,” is titled after the opening line in Kurt Vonnegut’s novel Slaughterhouse Five, one of our favorite descriptions about Post Traumatic Stress. Vonnegut uses it in reference to his main character, where he writes, “Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time.” Upon first reading the book, it’s natural to take it literally — the book is couched in a science-fiction veneer after all –but upon later reflection its remarkable how perfectly it explains the phenomenon of flashbacks.
Contributors: Benjamin Busch and Sierra Crane.
Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster… for when you gaze long into the abyss. The abyss gazes also into you. – Fredrick Nietzsche.
Friedrich Nietzsche’s quote reminds me that there are certain individuals who have unique insights about the process of staring into the abyss, as well as climbing back out of it again. We have four terrific veteran writers and artists speaking on the subject who come at it from very different angles:
Contributors: Andrew Szala, Rolf Yngve, Gill Sotu, Elizabeth Washburn and Dan Lopez of San Diego’s veteran visual arts non-profit, Combat Arts.
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