Episodios

  • Donors & Recipients: A Kidney Transplant Among Friends

    Donors & Recipients: A Kidney Transplant Among Friends
    Mar 10 2026
    In this episode of The Wisdom Project, host Doug Boyd explores the life-changing journey of kidney donation and transplantation through the stories of two childhood friends, Laura Ottaviani-Chacon and Dan Becker. Through intimate interviews with both donor and recipient—before and after the surgery—this episode reveals the emotional, medical, and human dimensions of organ transplantation. It examines the realities of life on transplant waiting lists, the growing role of social media and personal networks in finding donors, and the profound bond that forms when one person gives another the gift of life. Access oral history interviews online:

    Interview with Dan Becker, May 27, 2023

    Interview with Laura Ottaviani-Chacon, June 10, 202

    Interview with Dan Becker, Laura Ottaviani-Chacon, July 21, 2023

    For more information about kidney donation or about becoming an organ donor: The National Kidney Foundation

    Episode produced by Doug Boyd Assistant Producer: Megan Hubbard and Emma Haas Music by Doug Boyd. The Wisdom Project is a podcast produced by the Louie B Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky LIbraries.

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    31 m
  • No Longer Pretend: An Interview with Actor Steve Zahn

    No Longer Pretend: An Interview with Actor Steve Zahn
    Jan 9 2026
    In this episode of The Wisdom Project Podcast, host Doug Boyd interviews acclaimed actor Steve Zahn for a deeply personal and unexpected conversation that moves far beyond Hollywood. Recorded as part of the Nunn Center's From Combat to Kentucky oral history project, this episode explores Zahn's lifelong fascination with military history, his profound respect for veterans, and his transformative experience traveling to Iraq on a 2008 Ambassadors of Hollywood morale tour. Access oral history interviews online: Interview with Steve Zahn, May 29, 2013 From Combat to Kentucky Oral HIstory Project Episode produced by Doug Boyd Assistant Producer: Megan Hubbard Music by Doug Boyd. The Wisdom Project is a podcast produced by the Louie B Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky LIbraries.

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    30 m
  • Proof of Progress: The Women in Bourbon Oral History Project

    Proof of Progress: The Women in Bourbon Oral History Project
    Mar 18 2024

    In early 2021, the Nunn Center and Dr. Janice Fernheimer partnered to launch the Women in Bourbon Oral History Project. This oral history project, built in collaboration with students, documents women who have played important roles in Kentucky's bourbon industry. Doug Boyd and Janice Fernheimer reflect on this phase of the oral history project and some key themes expressed in the interviews.

    Access oral history interviews online: The Women in Bourbon Oral History Project.

    Episode produced by Doug Boyd and Janice Fernheimer

    Assistant Producers: Taylor Davis, Emily Fay, Qwenton Briggs

    Music by Doug Boyd
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    26 m
  • By the Power Vested in Me: Marriage Equality, Kentucky, and the US Supreme Court

    By the Power Vested in Me: Marriage Equality, Kentucky, and the US Supreme Court
    Feb 13 2024
    On June 26, 2015, the Supreme Court of the United States legalized same sex marriage. This episode explores the stories of two Kentucky couples and one lawyer who were part of the legal fight that led to the Supreme Court–and brought marriage equality to the country. The interviews are drawn from two Nunn Center projects, OutSouth: LGBTQ+ Oral History Project and the John G. Heyburn II Initiative for Excellence in the Federal Judiciary. Produced by Doug Boyd and Anu Kasarabada; Music by Doug Boyd.

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    28 m
  • His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Remembering Thomas Merton

    His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama Remembering Thomas Merton
    Jan 31 2022
    His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama was interviewed in Louisville, KY in 2013 for filmmaker Morgan C. Atkinson's documentary "The Many Storeys and Last Days of Thomas Merton" The Dalai Lama shared his memories of meeting Merton and the profound impact their friendship had on his life. Interview with His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, 2013. To learn more about Morgan Atkinson's documentaries: https://morganatkinson.com

    Music for this episode was composed by Doug Boyd

    Louie B. Nunn Center for Oral History, University of Kentucky Libraries
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    10 m
  • Dancing with Princesses: Englishman, Sailor, Priest, Kentuckian

    Dancing with Princesses: Englishman, Sailor, Priest, Kentuckian
    Nov 19 2021

    This episode features an interview with Mark Lyon Thornewill, interviewed on January 23, 2018. In addition to telling a story about dancing with Princess Elizabeth and Princess Margaret in 1947, this episode explores Thornewill's many adventures as a British naval officer during World War II, a priest, a husband, and a father. This episode features an interview with Thornewill's daughter, Joanna Hay.

    Interview with Mark Thornewill, January 23, 2018

    Music was composed by Doug Boyd, with the exception of a licensed version of "the Blue Danube" by Johann Strauss II.

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    32 m
  • Local Spirits: Ghosts at the Wild Turkey Distillery

    Local Spirits: Ghosts at the Wild Turkey Distillery
    Oct 25 2021

    This episode explores ghost stories about ghosts at the Wild Turkey Distillery. The ghost stories are from an oral history interview conducted in 2014 with Olivia J. Ripy for the Kentucky Bourbon Tales Oral History Project.

    This episode was produced by Doug Boyd and Maddy Williams.
    Music was composed and produced by Doug Boyd
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    11 m
  • Remembering 9/11, A Flight Attendant's Perspective

    Remembering 9/11, A Flight Attendant's Perspective
    Sep 10 2021

    In honor of the 20th anniversary of the 9/11 attacks, this episode features a powerful oral history interview conducted on September 11, 2002, with flight attendant Janet Foushee. Foushee recalls her memories of working on a flight that day.

    Produced by Doug Boyd; Music by Doug Boyd
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    26 m