Conversations from the Underground: A Podcasting Project
This Historical Underground Project consists of the two founders of the organization discussing a variety of topics. Neither of them knows beforehand what the theme of the episode will be before it begins. Instead, it starts off with a casual five-minute conversation between them about whatever is on their mind at the moment. Once that time is up, they transition to a broad topic or concept or theme that they both agree upon right then and there, based on how that five-minute conversation evolved. The intended audience for these episodes is the student members of the Historical Underground, but all are welcome to watch, listen, and learn.
We also have a YouTube Channel where you can catch our videos and other videos that have an underground flavor: Conversations from the Underground - YouTube
​Description: the inaugural episode of our podcast production from the underground. We hope that it inspires further conversation at our weekly meetings on campus. Note: there is a 30 second technological malfunction beginning at 7:26, but the rest plays fully through.
Description: this episode of Conversations from the Underground took off from the start with a discussion that stirred towards the concept of time. What is time, how it has changed over time, and how time affects our lives and the society we live in. Time can be your best friend or your worst enemy.
Description: is "sport" considered an art or a science? Is it possible for them to be both? If sport is a microcosm of nationalistic consciousness, can it be used to construct consent?
Description: In this episode, the founders of the Underground take a deep dive into the Kyrie and Kanye controversy, which expanded to include reference to a few other polarizing figures of the 20th century. Key discussion points that emerged over the course of the conversation are the culture of outrage, the building up and tearing down of so-called "Free Thinkers," the responsibility that such thinkers have to the societies in which they belong, and the levels of misinformation that exist today which make it hard to decipher what to invest our time in studying. Antisemitism surfaced throughout the conversation as well, but we ran out of time before we were able to really dive into that concept. Perhaps it will come up in another conversation in the future!
Description: the theme of this episode evolved out of the mentioning of Malcolm, Baldwin, and King, which led us to delve into a conversation about where African American history begins, how it should be framed, and how the narrative gets told, repackaged, and carried through time. Join us for a lively conversation in the 5th installment of Conversations from the Underground.
Description: In this episode of Conversations from the Underground we explore historical traditions in America that may be the result of cultural addictions.
Description: In the longest episode so far, we delve into a discussion that began with pandemics and ended with pontifications on the media and the mind. The key thread we see in this episode is the dire need to cultivate critical thinking skills and to open the floor for the battle of ideas to play out.
Description: In this episode we delve into the concept of veganism and the moral convictions that drive some people far more than others.
Description: Back at it ... speaking off the cuff ... no fact checking ... in this podcast we explore censorship, critical thinking, and the impact of understanding History. We conclude this episode with the elevation of an American founding principle over the idolization of America's founding fathers.
Description: In this episode, Conversations from the Underground takes you into some of the key elements on the value of history as a field of study and goes into depth about some of the reasons you should invest time and energy into your course work as a college student.
Description: Back at it ... speaking off the cuff ... no fact checking ... in this podcast we explore censorship, critical thinking, and the impact of understanding History. We conclude this episode with the elevation of an American founding principle over the idolization of America's founding fathers.
Description: In this episode, the conversation begins with a discussion of a presentation one of the sponsors gave at TCC Southeast on the history of cannabis, which continues into tapping into some important points about how culture and chemistry are a bit more related than most people think. Tune-in to figure out how this episode ended up bringing us to the following quote by Sidney Mintz: "The single most important truth about human beings is the existence of culture."
Description: The conversation quickly steered towards a discussion over Dr. Sam Haynes' recent talk at TCC, where he discussed his new book in front of an audience of mostly TCC students. We covered some of the perceptions of Texas in the world, dissecting something we called The Texas Narrative, and talked about the implications of inserting more historical voices into the story that go behind the Anglo-Mexican dichotomy that tends to dominate the discourse on Texas history. Tune in to work through the details with us and find out how we ended up with this James Baldwin quote to wrap things up with: “You cannot know what you will discover on the journey, what you will do with what you find, or what you find will do to you.”
Description: Welcome back to the podcast after Spring Break. We are back in the lab discussing how America might be going through another cultural transition from values formerly held by previous generations. Attached below will the link to the article and the video. All the best.
Description: This week we piggy-backed off a topic from last episode regarding the precarious nature of America's position in world economics.
Description: In this episode, we dive head first into the question over whether or not humanity is becoming too reliant on technology. What are the ramifications of this reliance? Are we progressive or digressing? Is what it means to human changing entirely with these new technology developments, and what impact will it have on us as a species in the future?
Description: In this episode, we explore a concept that has came up on several occasions in previous episodes. Namely, what is a revolutionary?
We are back with Conversations from the Underground, this time in our second season, which kicks off with a title reference we hope will become clear as you progress through the talk. As you do, remind yourself of the off-the-cuff format we use to organically dive into whatever comes up, the "Monday Midnight Drop" schedule of releasing episodes after the Monday evening comes to an end, and the unrehearsed way we get down by shooting from the hip until the end with just our thoughts and a document of historical quotes to pull from (and add to) by the episode's end to try and wrap it all up. Also remember that we are not fact checking in real time but welcome you to do so as you prepare your thoughts to present to us at the Underground or in The Lab if you ever want to stop by for more nuance over the history of the subjects we cover.
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Description: This episode evolved into an expression of this "destroy and rebuild" phase of our careers as historians that we find ourselves living in at the moment, which merged with our reflections on, and understanding of, the development and direction of Hip Hop as the influential genre enters its 50th anniversary.
Description: In this episode, the conversation dives into a discussion about the meaning, purpose, and value of college game, which has changed significantly over the past hundred years. Learning to adapt while juggling how to remain true to the profession can be a difficult task. We have some ideas on how its done.
Description: This episode delves into a discussion on pain, suffering, and cultural responses to it throughout history. All humans suffer, but how we invest meaning into it differs drastically from culture to culture.
Description: Another discussion that finds us bridging gaps between seemingly separate history that somehow comes together in the end. It starts off with a conversation about Russia, Putin, and the opposition to his power, and ends up with some commentary on stereotypes and their place in history, with a lot of references in between. James Baldwin sums it up for us at the end with his quote, "People are trapped in history, and history is trapped in them."
Description: After a few weeks of time, reflecting and building our new space for the Underground on campus, Conversations is back with with a new episode that finally takes us into a discussion on the latest flare up of violence between Jewish and Palestinian people in the Levant. Will there ever be "peace in the middle east" is not a question that gets addressed, but we do provide historical context to the problem and deliver insight on the value of time and reflection when searching for truth and justice.
Description: Back for the first time. After almost a year long hiatus we are back this week discussing the meaning of liberty with reference to the Statue of Liberty and the Berlin Wall. Both symbols of liberty were the topic of discussion this week at The Historical Underground meeting at the SE campus of TCC.
Description: This episode explores the multiple "meanings" of the U.S. Election 2024
Description: This episode we decided to discuss standardize testing. Many of our Early College High School (ECHS) students have expressed concerns with the U.S. History STAAR Test covering material that we have yet to discuss in our lectures so we decided to break down some of the questions from a practice test we found from 2023.