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A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarFighting Two WarsFor Black soldiers, the Vietnam War was not only a struggle to stay alive, but a battle against the persistent racism in the U.S. military. In this episode, we examine the resistance efforts by Black soldiers who were literally fighting two wars – one against Vietnam and the other against their own country. Four Black GIs tell their stories of fighting back and how PTSD affected the rest of their lives. Historian Sam Black gives context on how an integrated military and colonialism intersected with the GI experience. We uncover the origin of the DAP, discuss the rise of fr...
2025-12-0347 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarBONUS EPISODE: First person with Alan KleinAs part of A Matter of Conscience, we bring you bonus episodes featuring the first-person stories of the veterans we interviewed some 35 years ago. We begin with Air Force veteran Alan Klein, who was sent to the brig for going AWOL (Absent Without Leave) in protest of the war. Alan's story of foot-dragging within the military speaks to some of the more pervasive resistance that took place during the Vietnam War.Note: this episode contains profanity.
2025-11-1217 min
Save As: NextGen Heritage Conservation[Encore] Conserving L.A.'s Queer Eden(dale)"A city is composed of different types of men; similar people cannot bring the city into existence." This quote from Aristotle's Politics opens Gaining a Foothold: Conserving Los Angeles' Queer Eden(dale), the master's thesis of alumnus Rafael Fontes (MHC/MUP '20). With the ongoing erasure of LGBTQ history from federal archives and programs, we're spotlighting our Season One interview with Rafael, whose thesis examined the first efforts to landmark LGBTQ historic sites in the city of Los Angeles. Rafael talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about why sites of LGBTQ significance are relatively hard to find, research, a...
2025-10-1037 min
Think TwicePreserving GI resistance: 'A Matter of Conscience' creators interviewBill Short and Willa Seidenberg discuss their decades-long project documenting Vietnam War GI resistors, including rare interviews with Donald Duncan and Howard Levy.
2025-09-2313 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarJoin the GI MovementDemonstrations, labor organizing within the military, and a Hollywood show for GI resisters. Part two of our look at the GI anti-war movement. You may want to hear episode 5 first, to learn about GI newspapers and coffeehouses. In this episode, we dive into the stories of Susan Schnall, a Navy nurse who came up with an innovative way to get the word about a big anti-war march. We’ll also hear how Army soldier Andy Stapp took unionizing efforts to the military; and Jane Fonda headlines a show tailor-made for anti-war GIs. Check out...
2025-08-1542 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarWe Shall Overcome: The Presidio MutinyOn October 14, 1968, at San Francisco’s Presidio Stockade, 27 anti-war GIs staged a bold act of civil disobedience. Protesting brutal prison conditions and the moral wrong of the Vietnam War, they sat down on the stockade lawn, locked arms, and sang “We Shall Overcome.” For this nonviolent protest, the Army charged them with mutiny—a crime punishable by death—and sentenced them to more than a dozen years in prison. In this episode, we hear from members of the Presidio 27, their lawyer, and fellow GI resisters as they recount their defiance and expose the injustice of the war they opposed.
2025-07-3041 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarBONUS EPISODE: Free Speech TodayFree speech is under attack in the United States today, just as it was during the Vietnam War. As a companion to Episode 5, which looked at GI newspapers and coffeehouses of the Vietnam-era, we are delving into the ways that free speech is being stifled in the era of campus protests over the war in Gaza. We interviewed former UT Dallas newspaper editor-in-chief Gregorio Olivares Gutierrez about how the school shut down his university paper after it reported on a police sweep of student protesters. Additionally, Professor Sean O’Rourke discusses the free speech rights of journalists and Americans tod...
2025-07-2347 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarNine for PeaceIn this episode of A Matter of Conscience, you’ll hear how churches and chains made an anti-war splash in 1968. Nine young men announced their resignation from the military by chaining themselves to church clergy during a 48-hour service to protest the Vietnam War. In their words: "They could not be a part of or support the oppressive and dehumanizing activities of the American military machine." We'll hear from two of the Nine for Peace participants: Keith Mather and Oliver Hirsch. You'll also hear about two other collective actions taken around the same time: the Fort Hood 3 and the Fort...
2025-07-1630 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarMisunderstandings, Lies and WhiskeyIf you don’t know much about the U.S. war in Vietnam, we’ve got you covered! This episode delves into Vietnam’s struggle for independence and the political influence of figures like President Lyndon Johnson to decipher exactly how we got into the Vietnam War. Through personal accounts from Vietnamese citizens and U.S. veterans, you’ll learn about how the war was waged.
2025-07-1244 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarBy and For GIsWhat do newspapers and coffeehouses have to do with the Vietnam War? It turns out they were critical tools in the GI anti-war movement. You’ll hear the stories of GIs who got around military restrictions to publish 300 anti-war newspapers, often having to distribute them covertly. The episode also highlights the role of GI coffee houses as safe havens and organizing centers for soldiers. GIs, and their civilian supporters faced intimidation, legal challenges, and violence from military and local authorities. But despite the military’s attempts to suppress them, GIs and their civilian supporters went to great lengths to expr...
2025-06-2641 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarI Quit!The Green Berets, the special forces branch of the U.S. Army, figures into the stories of two early and well-known GI resisters: Dr. Howard Levy and Donald Duncan. Both men made strong public stands against the war, and both worked tirelessly for the GI anti-war movement after they were discharged from the Army. We’ll hear how Duncan gave up a promising lifelong military career because of the tactics used by the United States in the Vietnam War. And, Dr. Levy recounts his journey from an unsophisticated medical student to a fierce warrior against the war. For sh...
2025-06-1242 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarBONUS EPISODE: Extended Interview with Historian Chris AppyEpisode 3 gives listeners a brief overview of the history of the war in Vietnam. If you want to get more detailed information, listen to this extended interview with Chris Appy, a professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, and director of the Daniel Ellsberg Initiative for Peace and Democracy. Chris gives his thoughts on the history of Vietnam's occupation by foreign powers, the re-education camps run by the communist government after 1975, and the more details on the student and GI anti-war movement.
2025-05-281h 17Save As: NextGen Heritage ConservationUsing AI to Reclaim and Preserve APIA HeritageAs artificial intelligence (AI) transforms modern life, we’re understanding more about the benefits and tradeoffs of its use in generating content. New alum Paul Kim wrote his master’s thesis about how generative AI (genAI) perpetuates false narratives about Asian and Pacific Islander Americans (APIA), and how communities can use genAI to reclaim those narratives.In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with Paul about his thesis, Encoding Counter Memories: Artificial Intelligence as a Tool for APIA Community Empowerment. He completed it for his dual master’s degree in heritage conservation and landscape architecture and urbanism.T...
2025-05-2236 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarIt Was All A LieThis episode explores how men of the Vietnam generation were primed for war based on the experiences of their fathers and uncles in World War II, and how that patriotism turned to disillusionment when soldiers were confronted with the realities of Vietnam.Hosts Bill Short and Willa Seidenberg take listeners on a tour through Bill’s red bag of personal war mementos and introduce us to Marine veterans Paul Atwood and Steve Spund. They were two working-class kids who acted on instinct during the brutality of basic training, and in the absence of any knowledge of the gro...
2025-05-1443 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarThe War Against the WarA Matter of Conscience uncovers a story of the Vietnam War the U.S. government and the military would like to bury. Hosts Bill Short and Willa Seidenberg draw from firsthand experience to reveal a hidden chapter of the war—one shaped by resistance from within. In this opening episode, we set the stage for the rise of the GI anti-war movement, spotlighting acts of courage and defiance by soldiers who faced internal conflicts between their duty and their conscience. Historian Chris Appy unpacks the war’s moral and political consequences, while veterans share powerful personal stories of the stru...
2025-05-0133 min
Nostalgia TrapEp 410 - Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam, We've All Been ThereApril 30, 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, so I'm marking the occasion by reflecting on the war's meaning all these decades later. I share my own experiences as a historian of the war, along with some clips from books and documentaries that I think capture the impossible decisions the war forced upon millions of people. Check out the podcast series created by Willa Seidenberg and Bill Short, A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War Listen to NAM-TV, my documentary series on Vietnam Buy my book...
2025-04-3040 minNostalgia TrapEp 410 - Vietnam Vietnam Vietnam, We've All Been ThereApril 30, 2025 is the 50th anniversary of the end of the Vietnam War, so I'm marking the occasion by reflecting on the war's meaning all these decades later. I share my own experiences as a historian of the war, along with some clips from books and documentaries that I think capture the impossible decisions the war forced upon millions of people. Check out the podcast series created by Willa Seidenberg and Bill Short, A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War Listen to NAM-TV, my documentary series on Vietnam Buy my book...
2025-04-3040 minSave As: NextGen Heritage Conservation[Encore] Architecture + Advocacy in L.A.'s Sugar HillAn Encore episode with a new update!A group of architecture students at the University of Southern California wants to do more than just design buildings. They want to work with communities to “un-design'' spatial injustice and leverage the power of residents in shaping their neighborhoods.In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with students Reily Gibson and Kianna Armstrong about L.A.'s Sugar Hill, an important neighborhood cut in half by construction of the I-10 Freeway. A nonprofit they co-founded, Architecture + Advocacy, worked with neighborhood partners on a community celebration and a design-build pr...
2025-04-2436 min2025-04-1533 minA Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam WarA Matter of Conscience TrailerComing at the end of April 2025! A Matter of Conscience: GI Resistance During the Vietnam War. Listen to our trailer!
2025-04-0302 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationFraming History through PhotographyPhotographer Sally Mann once said, “Photographs open doors to the past, but also allow a look into the future.” Photography is a key component of the historic documentation process. New graduate Sam Malnati (MHC/MUP ’25) delved into photography’s role in the field for her thesis, Contemporary Vision: Photography's Influence on Perception of Places in the Past. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with Sam about the history of photography and its use in the Historic American Buildings Survey, the differences between film and digital photography for historic documentation, and how researching the thesis helped Sam slow down...
2025-04-0331 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationAfter the Fires: What RemainsA month after the disastrous fires in the Los Angeles area, this special episode features a conversation among Save As co-hosts Trudi Sandmeier and Cindy Olnick, and producer Willa Seidenberg. Trudi reflects on the loss of her historic family home, her close-knit neighborhood, and the Will Rogers ranch, an integral part of her and her family’s lives. We discuss the city’s current state of grief and bewilderment, the understandable rush to rebuild along with the need to plan thoughtfully, and how we must focus not just on what we’ve lost, but what remains.See episod...
2025-02-1336 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationHow Lesbian Bars Built Community in San Francisco’s North BeachAs a young architectural historian in San Francisco, Shayne Watson would take lunchtime walks near her office, pondering how and where the city’s lesbian history took shape. She discovered that one of the earliest lesbian bars once stood right up the street in North Beach, a neighborhood that served as the birthplace of the city’s lesbian community—though you’d never know it just by looking. After earning her USC master’s degree in 2009, Shayne decided to do something about underrecognized LGBTQ history in San Francisco. She never looked back and is now a national leader in LGBTQ pres...
2024-11-2137 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationDeath Valley Ghost Town: Conservation of the Ryan Mining DistrictBefore Death Valley became a desert tourism mecca, it was a mining hot spot. The homelands of the Timbisha Shoshone tribe were opened to industry during the California Gold Rush. In this “Where Are They Now?” episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with alumna Mary Ringhoff about her thesis on the early-twentieth-century mining town of Ryan, an unusually well-preserved site just outside the boundaries of Death Valley National Park. The company town housed workers at the Pacific Coast Borax Company, which produced the famous “20 Mule Team” cleaning agent used in millions of households.Mary, an archaeologist by training, describe...
2024-10-1031 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationBeyond the Stage: Uncovering Drag Culture in Los AngelesDrag performances have long been a draw for audiences in L.A., though often held “underground” because of threats of persecution. In addition to its entertainment history, drag has had a role in affirming and protecting gender identity. Architect and recent graduate Jesús (Chuy) Barba Bonilla researched this history for his master’s thesis, Drag Culture of Los Angeles: Intangible Heritage through Ephemeral Places. In this episode, Willa Seidenberg chats with Chuy about how he chose this topic and why it matters within and beyond the LGBTQ+ community. He delves into the challenges of researching drag’s hidden and erased...
2024-05-0937 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationDocumenting Black Women’s History at the Wilfandel ClubhouseDedicated students at the University of Southern California have pulled out the laser scanners and measuring tapes to document the Wilfandel Clubhouse in the West Adams neighborhood of Los Angeles. The Wilfandel Club, the oldest Black women’s club in Los Angeles, was founded in 1945 by Della Williams (wife of architect Paul R. Williams) and Fannie Williams as a safe place for social, civic, and community events. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg visits the clubhouse to see the students in action, hear what they’re doing and why, and talk with longtime member Jan Morrow Bell.Conn...
2024-03-2828 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationThe Midcentury Spa-Tels of Desert Hot SpringsNew alumna (and Save As producer) Willa Seidenberg has enjoyed the mineral-water spas of Desert Hot Springs for decades. In the 1950s, the Coachella Valley town became a destination for middle- and working-class families who frequented the simple spa motels, or "spa-tels." Willa and co-host Cindy Olnick took a road trip to Desert Hot Springs to see the remaining spa-tels and talk about Willa's thesis, Spa City: The Midcentury Spa-Tels of Desert Hot Springs. You’ll hear about Willa's research journey down rabbit holes that led to valuable discoveries. You'll also learn about tools the town could use to bo...
2024-03-0736 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationThe Hidden Heritage of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s WharfA San Francisco native, alumna Emi Takahara always wondered why so many locals dismiss the historic Fisherman’s Wharf as a tourist trap. Sure, it has overpriced food, but it also has a culinary history that might surprise you—as well as longtime businesses trying to weather the changing times. In this episode, Emi talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about her thesis, The Restaurant That Started It All: The Hidden Heritage of San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, how Italian immigrants shaped Fisherman’s Wharf in the nineteenth century, and how it’s evolving in the twenty-first.See episode...
2024-02-1536 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationArchitecture + Advocacy in L.A.'s Sugar HillA group of architecture students at the University of Southern California wants to do more than just design buildings. They want to work with communities to “un-design'' spatial injustice and leverage the power of residents in shaping their neighborhoods. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with students Reily Gibson and Kianna Armstrong about L.A.'s Sugar Hill, a very important neighborhood cut in half by construction of the I-10 Freeway. A nonprofit they co-founded, Architecture + Advocacy, worked with neighborhood partners on a community celebration and a design-build project. Reily and Willa walk and ta...
2023-09-2135 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationLegacy Businesses in Immigrant NeighborhoodsSmall businesses provide much more than goods and services. Over time, they become neighborhood anchors and a key source of culture and community—especially for new Americans. Heritage conservationists are increasingly turning to legacy business programs as economic development strategies to combat rising rents, gentrification, and the erosion of community character, particularly in ethnic and immigrant neighborhoods. In this episode, producer Willa Seidenberg talks with recent USC graduate Xiaoling Fang about her thesis, Legacy Business Program Implementation in American Urban Immigrant Neighborhoods. Xiaoling explored some of the longstanding small businesses in L.A.’s Chinatown and...
2023-03-0934 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationBearing Witness: World War II "Comfort Women" StationsWarning: This episode features the difficult topic of sexual slavery during World War II. Producer Willa Seidenberg talks with recent graduate Hanyu Chen about her thesis, Our Bodies, Their Battlegrounds: The Conservation of Comfort Stations in China. Before and during World War II, the Japanese Imperial Army forced women and girls into sexual slavery for the military in its occupied territories. Their captors called them "comfort women" and their prisons "comfort stations." Two of the few remaining former comfort stations are in Hanyu's hometown.In this episode, Hanyu discusses how the "comfort women"...
2023-01-2633 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationFeng Shui as Cultural HeritageThis episode delves into global heritage conservation, as producer Willa Seidenberg talks with recent grad Haowen Yu about his thesis, Examining Feng Shui as Tangible and Intangible Cultural Heritage. Many Americans consider Feng Shui primarily an approach to arranging space. Yet it’s a far more complex system of knowledge, practice, and tradition that has spanned more than a millennium. Feng Shui underlies virtually the entire built environment of China, but it hasn’t (yet) been designated as a form of cultural heritage. Haowen discusses why he’s not so sure it should be, and how Fe...
2022-10-2028 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationBoots on the Ground: Archaeology and Community at ManzanarLast month, about ninety volunteers spent a weekend excavating the former hospital site at Manzanar, a World War II incarceration camp about 225 miles north of Los Angeles. Some of those volunteers were students in Mary Ringhoff’s Cultural Resource Management class. One of those students was Save As producer Willa Seidenberg, who interviewed people on site about why they travel from near and far to care for this site of tragic memory. In this episode, we dig into the study of archaeology with Mary, hear Willa’s great reporting, and talk with student Dani Velazco about what she got out...
2022-05-0531 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationFrom Boom to Bust – L.A.’s Public Housing LegacyIn mid-century Los Angeles, public housing was designed to house the many workers flooding to the city seeking jobs in the booming industrial economy. Taking advantage of the climate, the various developments used the popular garden apartment model and employed some of the area’s most prominent architects. A lack of maintenance and serial disinvestment led to decline, and now these civic resources are deteriorated and under threat. With a strong background in affordable housing development, alumna Leslie-Anne Palaroan talks with Willa Seidenberg about the challenges and opportunities of considering public housing historic and the nexus between affordable housing an...
2021-03-1833 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationThe Rancho Roots of Mission ViejoHow did a 1960s master-planned suburb use its century-old rancho heritage to form a new vernacular? The story of Mission Viejo spans so many issues--the founding families of modern Southern California, the transformation of our built environment, historical romanticism and cultural appropriation, the overlooked heritage of Orange County, and the need to preserve it. Recent alum Krista Nicholds shares with producer Willa Seidenberg tales from her thesis, The Enduring Romance of the Rancho: Mission Viejo, 1964 to 1967.Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!
2021-02-0432 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationConserving L.A.'s Queer Eden(dale)Los Angeles has a rich LGBTQ heritage that's been largely hidden. Recent graduate Rafael Fontes talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about why sites of LGBTQ significance are relatively hard to find, research, and designate. He discusses three case studies from his master's thesis, Gaining a Foothold: Conserving Los Angeles's Queer Eden(dale): the Harry Hay Residence, The Black Cat, and the Tom of Finland House. Each site reflects a different aspect of the city's LGBTQ history, as well as the complexities in its conservation.Connect with us on Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn!
2020-12-1036 minSave As: NextGen Heritage ConservationTraces of Violence in the City of AngelsIn this year of racial reckoning, our first Save As interview explores sites of violence against people of color."Lurking beneath empty lots, nondescript intersections, and even this city’s most stately landmarks are stories of strife and oppression, largely invisible," wrote recent graduate Jackson Loop in his master's thesis about preserving sites of racial conflict in Los Angeles.Jackson talks with producer Willa Seidenberg about the 1943 Zoot Suit Riots, the 1969 police raid on the Black Panthers' L.A. headquarters, and the 1992 uprising surrounding the vicious beating of Rodney King.Examining sites associated wi...
2020-11-1235 min
Match VolumeMind Reading & Dating AppsIn this two-segment episode, we feature USC student work from Willa Seidenberg's Spring 2020 podcasting course. The first conversation includes mentalist, or "mind reader" Jonathan Pritchard interviewed by Seline Shenoy about his work, and how others can employ his tactics. Our second segment features Danny Newman, founder of Dandy, a new dating app that is changing the online dating space and his interview is conducted by Molly Hersh.
2020-05-2915 minMatch VolumeAmerica's New Landscape: How Everyday Americans are Walking a TightropeIn this episode, we feature a power couple of award-winning journalists and authors of Tightrope, Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn. Listen in as the first married couple to win a Pulitzer Prize together discusses the issues facing everyday Americans in the current economic landscape. They also unpack the challenges facing journalists covering modern America.
This episode was made possible by many hands and minds, including Sarah Brengman, Joyce Yuan, Anastasia Budiman, Nayib Alveranga, and Emma Dessau. A special thanks to Traci Lee, Willa Seidenberg, and to Dan Toomey, who conducted this interview.
2020-03-0624 min