This piece examines the social, cultural, and scientific forces behind speech at Yale. It focuses on two particular groups of students—southern Yalies and queer men—to examine how the forces of history manifest in our vocal cords.

This piece has major blind spots with regard to race especially. These will be addressed in a second episode.

***
For the purposes of this piece, I use the word queer as a catch-all for sexual orientation and expression that is essentially not heterosexual. The politics of its reclamation from being a slur are complicated, but it is the word used by all of my interviewees and commonly within campus discussions of sexuality, and thus I have chosen to use it.

*** Featured in The Yale Herald's Spring 2019 Audio Issue

The Way We Speak

"You only realized later on that that all had something to do with the persecution of the Jews." This episode explores my grandfather's boyhood understandings of the Jewish Holocaust as a mirror and prelude to the violence he would soon fall victim to.

***
This is a story about survival. I wanted to interview my grandfather about his boyhood, about his experience in Yugoslavian concentration camps, about what it means to move on. It's about war and peace, memory & hope.

Chapter 2: Preludes & mirrors

"My earliest memory? I would say I remember when they tore the old house down, where I was born..."

Transcript available: https://medium.com/@eric.krebs/chapter-1-boyhood-a-world-ago-f7c469faa5a
***

This is a story about survival. I wanted to interview my grandfather about his boyhood, about his experience in Yugoslavian concentration camps, about how he moved on. It's about war and peace, love and hate, memory & hope. 

It's history, and it's personal. As is all history.
***
Music Credits:
"Gymnopedie 1 -- Erik Satie"
"Faster does it -- Kevin Macleod"
"Intermezzo Piano Solo -- Johann Brahms"
"Richard Wagner -- Lohengrin, Prelude"

Chapter 1: Boyhood, a world ago

"And that was it. No explanation. No nothing."

***

This is a story about survival. I wanted to interview my grandfather about his boyhood, about his experience in Yugoslavian concentration camps, about how he moved on. It's about war and peace, love and hate, memory & hope.

Chapter 3: There, my troubles began

This is a portfolio of excerpts from previous audio projects.

Sample 4 — Excerpt from "Memory & Hope: Ep. 1"

Sample 1 — Excerpt from "Memory & Hope: Ep. 2"

Sample 2 — Excerpt from "Behind the Ears — Silence"

Sample 3 — Excerpt from "Memory & Hope: Ep. 2"

I decided to lay back in this episode and let Papa tell his story. Just warning, this episode is hard to listen to.

Chapter 4: Gakovo

Yale '21, econ & anthro. Harnessing the power of childlike curiosity one audio journalism piece at a time.

Email me: ericjohnkrebs@gmail.com

Eric Krebs

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