Episode 2.1: Tbilisi, Georgia: Bathhouses & the Melting Pot

Episode 2.3 Drake's Well and ... Climate Change?

Author Mark W Sasse recalls a childhood trip to the world's first commercial oil well - Drake's Well - built in 1859. This remarkable achievement by Edwin Drake started an oil boom in Western Pennsylvania. This experience allows him to ruminate about the oil industry, the innovators of modern society, and whether the climate change pushers in this day and age should be trusted or not. The Crossing Ideas Podcast seeks to understand the world of today through a lifetime of international travels.

Episode 2.2 Stalin's Printing Press & Putin's Face

Author Mark W Sasse recalls getting caught up in the anti-Russian protests of March 2022 in Tbilisi Georgia, just after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. He talks about visiting Stalin's underground printing press in Tbilisi and theorizes how activism hasn't really changed much at all through the years. Learn more about Stalin and his roots in Georgia, and then see how that relates to the Georgian take on the Ukranian War. Oh, and there's a statue of Reagan to explore in Tbilisi as well. Can't leave that out.

Episode 2.1: Tbilisi, Georgia: Bathhouses & the Melting Pot

Tbilisi, Georgia. I've visited there four times. There's something unique in the air. A place steeped in culture, the Georgian Orthodox Church, their claim to being the birthplace of wine, their precarious setting south of Russia, with the mighty Caucasus Mountains standing guard. In this episode, I delve into the wonderful sights and sounds of Tbilisi, and check out its heart and soul: its bathhouse culture. In doing so, I begin to ponder about the culture of my own country. Is America still a melting pot? What can I learn about my home through experiencing the rough and tumble culture of this proud eastern European country? Let's find out.

Episode 1.12: You Never Leave Vietnam, nor America

In the season 1 finale of the Crossing Ideas Podcast, author Mark W Sasse delves deeply into those characteristics of both Vietnam and American, which have permanently bored themselves into his mind. He realizes that no matter how long he has lived overseas - including long stints in Vietnam, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia - he will never shed his love for America. Likewise, even twenty years after leaving Vietnam, its imprint is still seen on his soul today. Season 2 will be coming later this summer with an ETA of August 2023. Check out my books here: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0058BFJHU [https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0058BFJHU]

Episode 1.11: My Child Sang Communist Songs (and other great ways to grow up)

In episode 11 of the Crossing Ideas Podcast from Author Mark W. Sasse, he relates what it was like for his kids to grow up in a rapidly changing Vietnam in the mid to late 1990s. He is able to see some parallels, as unlikely as that may seem, in how he grew up in Pennsylvania. He also recalls an incident when his child realized that she was different from the other kids around her, which elicits some reflections about the reparations debate currently raging in the USA. Check out Sasse's blog and books at: https://www.mwsasse.com/ [https://www.mwsasse.com/] Amazon author page: https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0058BFJHU [https://www.amazon.com/stores/author/B0058BFJHU] Follow on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/markwsasse [https://www.facebook.com/markwsasse]