Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
I'm pleased to welcome to the fifty five Carscite Morning Show.
Book you can get on my blog page fifty five
krs dot com like Swans by our local author, Susie Cohn.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Susy, welcome to the program. It's great to have you
on this morning. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm honored to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, I'm honored to have you on.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And you know, you could be quite an inspiration to
some other folks in the listening audience. And I would
like to put a plug in for Peter Bronson because
his Chili Dog Press is a local publishing outfit and
he is an extraordinary author in his own right. But
let me first ask you what part of town are
you and since you are described as a local author.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Susie, I live in Sharonville.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay, great, And you got a bit of a Brady
Bunch situation going over at your place.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Well, our kids are all grown, so they actually never.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Grew up together.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Oh okay, but they get along great. So we have
I have twin boys and my husband has three daughters,
so we're one short of the perfect Brady Bunch.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I saw the description of your in your in the outline,
and I just was chuckling to myself about that. You're
also a flight attendant.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yes, doing that from Doha last night? Actually, oh wo.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
And I was so nervous because you know, the airport
in Philadelphia is a mess. There were so many delayed flights,
and I was like praying that I would get on
the six o'clock because otherwise it would be a very
late arrival and with the jet lag and all that,
I was like, I just want to feel good in
the morning, you.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Know, I understand that. And props to you and all
of the flight attendants I talked to iHeartMedia aviation expert
Jay Ratliffe every Thursday, and he is always reminding people
that you're not stewardess is you're highly trained folks who
are designed to deal with, you know, potentially terrible problems
that need to be treated with much greater respect. So
I can put in a word a positive word in
(01:52):
for you and other flight attendants for the work that
you do. All right, pivoting over your book like Swans,
what inspired you to write the book? We can dive
into the details of it. Tell my listeners all about it.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well. My parents always, especially my mom talked about how
they escaped and life over there, and I wrote a
short story about it in like nineteen eighty six, and
my professors like, oh, that, you know, that's pretty good.
You should expound on that. Well, you know, then I
had twins and got really busy and I was, you know,
(02:26):
flying full time.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
And my mother, though, was always like, no, Phisy, what
aren't going to write that book? And it was a
lifelong dream.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
And when COVID came about, the silver lining of COVID
for me was having an eighteen month leave where I
could sit down. Michael, my husband, said, Okay, you know,
you can write your book now, and I knew I
had no more excuses, so I sat down and worked,
you know, very hard.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It was really a labor of love.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
It was the hardest thing I've had to ever do
because when I was writing it, you know, we had
so much censorship going on, and it just reminded me
of what my parents talked about.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well, you said over there.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
The over there you were talking about is Czechoslovakia with
post communists when the people in the Communists were in charge.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yes, it was like in nineteen sixty six was one
day escaped.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So sorry, I forgot that small detail, but that's okay.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Yeah, So they you know, told me about how everything
was still controlled, and that's how I felt that everything
was controlled, you know, information about COVID and then how
we could live, what we could do, you know, we
had to wear masks.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Uh. It was just it was just really weird. I
can't even but see that's in the sea.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I've found a whole lot of positive about COVID, and
you're illustrating one of them. I think the people will
be less inclined to just sort of prostrate themselves before
whatever directed from some random governor says about where you
can be and what you can't do. In spite of
the fact that we have amendments of the Constitution which
project protect these liberties and freedoms, it's as if the
Constitution was eradicated. And it did feel a lot like say,
(04:15):
Czechoslovakia are under the under the Soviet Union, because I've
read a lot of Mulan Candera, and I believe that's
where he is from, and he's written about it one
of the one of the books of the note he
made or the joke I think was the name of it.
He made some sort of random joke about one of
the Soviet leaders and ended up getting unemployed and ostracized
just by merely uttering a joke.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Brian, my mother got called into the local police station
for wearing a sweater that was bright and colorful.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Oh my go. They accused her of you know, advertising
Western propaganda.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
And that was really.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
A blessing because my father had spoken for years about
you know, he'd you know, we need to leave. Things
are getting worse and they're they're not going to get better.
But she didn't want to leave her family. You know,
they waited two years to get an apartment, she had
to get an extra part time job to you know,
(05:23):
furnish it. Everything was difficult. I mean there was just
no easy path for food, for furniture. And so she's like,
you know, I don't want to leave. But that showed
her that someone in the neighborhood. There was every neighborhood like.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
A had a watch person. Yeah, so you never knew
who it was.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And so she got called in because of this sweater
and that's the turn that was the turning point for her.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
You know, she knew that they had to get out.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Wow, that's that's just frightening. Stuff is the book about
their story, in other words, a work of nonfiction about
their trials and tribulations and experiencing life under communist Czechoslovakian
then ultimately leaving.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yes, it's it's I really wanted people to see why
you would want to leave a place like that. I mean,
you know, waiting in line for food. People would get
in line if there was a line. They didn't even
know why, oh wow, but they got in it because
it might be something good that they could sell. I mean,
it was just like a weird sci fi they were
(06:34):
living in almost but it was if the book is
a love story and a thriller because of you know,
their escape. I mean, of course, you know they did
make it, but just the way it all happened, it
was really God's intervention, I believe, because just the way
everything I don't want to give too much away, no, no,
(06:57):
you know how it.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
All came about. That they were actually able to to
get out well.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Really amazing because many people weren't able to well in
an oppressive regime like Czechoslovakia during the Soviet days.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You mentioned the emotional struggle of deciding to leave because
in spite of how bad things are you have all
these emotional ties not just to the land, but also
to your community and your friends. But once they made
the decision to leave, was it was it difficult? Did
they have to you know, steal out of the country
under cover of darkness or be snuck out or could
they Did they work through some approval process.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
No, they tried to get approval.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
I mean my dad had approval you know, put in
for years, but they never got it because my father,
my mom's dad, was a capitalist. He had a trucking
company and so he was on their like blacklist, and
so my mother wasn't allowed to go to college. She
was she actually wanted to be the flight attendant. That
(07:55):
was her lifelong dream, which is so ironic because I
never that wasn't in my I, you know, a view
at all. And I got it by just sheer chance.
And so my I don't know where was I They
escaped because my mom got permission to take me out
of the country to Yugoslavia because I had a lot
(08:20):
of ear issues and the doctor was like, oh, you
need to go by the sea because the air is
much better. And then my dad, last like a last
minute thing, got the trip to Milan. He was an engineer,
and so he had a business trip to Milan because
one of the boss's sons was ill. I mean, you know,
(08:42):
usually only the people in the party were allowed to travel,
but this was some big job and my dad was
given permission to go normally because he would not sign
on the communist party line. He refused, and so he
knew that, you know, something was going to get I mean,
they weren't going to let him just get away with
that forever, and that's why he knew he had you know,
(09:05):
they had to get out of there.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Wow, So they were.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
They took the same train out of Prague, got to
Austria Vienna, and did not go on their separate trains
to their final destinations. They stayed there and my dad
had had family there that they actually didn't even know
if they were still alive, because they never got the letter,
(09:31):
a letter, you know, in response to their letter. But
you know, it just worked out for them that they were.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I'm so glad you wrote this because this may give
people something they truly need, is to pause and consider
the freedoms that we enjoy in the face of a
country that won't let you leave. I just can't imagine
being in that environment. And I've heard a lot of
stories like this over the years. Think of the people
who tried to get out of Berlin and had to,
you know, go through the wall or under the law
(09:58):
or or law I'm at risk getting machine gunned down
for even endeavoring to leave.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
This is a great story.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And I guess you're communism was so great? Why would
people go right?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I know I was gonna say earlier in your in
your breadline comments like whatever happened to from each according's ability,
each according to his need? How come it's so hard
to get an apartment in a communist country? This is
all summed up like Swan's my local author guest today, Sussy,
It's been a pleasure talking with is Susie Khan likes
Swann you. You can get it on my blog page
fifty five carose dot com. I encourage people to do
(10:32):
that and then pause and reflect on what we've got
here that so few countries in the world have. Susie,
thanks for doing this for everybody.
I'm pleased to welcome to the fifty five Carscite Morning Show.
Book you can get on my blog page fifty five
krs dot com like Swans by our local author, Susie Cohn.
Speaker 2 (00:09):
Susy, welcome to the program. It's great to have you
on this morning. Thank you.
Speaker 3 (00:13):
I'm honored to be here. Thank you.
Speaker 2 (00:15):
Well, I'm honored to have you on.
Speaker 1 (00:16):
And you know, you could be quite an inspiration to
some other folks in the listening audience. And I would
like to put a plug in for Peter Bronson because
his Chili Dog Press is a local publishing outfit and
he is an extraordinary author in his own right. But
let me first ask you what part of town are
you and since you are described as a local author.
Speaker 3 (00:34):
Susie, I live in Sharonville.
Speaker 1 (00:37):
Okay, great, And you got a bit of a Brady
Bunch situation going over at your place.
Speaker 4 (00:44):
Well, our kids are all grown, so they actually never.
Speaker 3 (00:47):
Grew up together.
Speaker 4 (00:49):
Oh okay, but they get along great. So we have
I have twin boys and my husband has three daughters,
so we're one short of the perfect Brady Bunch.
Speaker 2 (00:59):
That's great.
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I saw the description of your in your in the outline,
and I just was chuckling to myself about that. You're
also a flight attendant.
Speaker 3 (01:09):
Yes, doing that from Doha last night? Actually, oh wo.
Speaker 4 (01:13):
And I was so nervous because you know, the airport
in Philadelphia is a mess. There were so many delayed flights,
and I was like praying that I would get on
the six o'clock because otherwise it would be a very
late arrival and with the jet lag and all that,
I was like, I just want to feel good in
the morning, you.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Know, I understand that. And props to you and all
of the flight attendants I talked to iHeartMedia aviation expert
Jay Ratliffe every Thursday, and he is always reminding people
that you're not stewardess is you're highly trained folks who
are designed to deal with, you know, potentially terrible problems
that need to be treated with much greater respect. So
I can put in a word a positive word in
(01:52):
for you and other flight attendants for the work that
you do. All right, pivoting over your book like Swans,
what inspired you to write the book? We can dive
into the details of it. Tell my listeners all about it.
Speaker 4 (02:03):
Well. My parents always, especially my mom talked about how
they escaped and life over there, and I wrote a
short story about it in like nineteen eighty six, and
my professors like, oh, that, you know, that's pretty good.
You should expound on that. Well, you know, then I
had twins and got really busy and I was, you know,
(02:26):
flying full time.
Speaker 3 (02:27):
And my mother, though, was always like, no, Phisy, what
aren't going to write that book? And it was a
lifelong dream.
Speaker 4 (02:34):
And when COVID came about, the silver lining of COVID
for me was having an eighteen month leave where I
could sit down. Michael, my husband, said, Okay, you know,
you can write your book now, and I knew I
had no more excuses, so I sat down and worked,
you know, very hard.
Speaker 3 (02:51):
It was really a labor of love.
Speaker 4 (02:53):
It was the hardest thing I've had to ever do
because when I was writing it, you know, we had
so much censorship going on, and it just reminded me
of what my parents talked about.
Speaker 2 (03:07):
Well, you said over there.
Speaker 1 (03:08):
The over there you were talking about is Czechoslovakia with
post communists when the people in the Communists were in charge.
Speaker 4 (03:15):
Yes, it was like in nineteen sixty six was one
day escaped.
Speaker 3 (03:20):
So sorry, I forgot that small detail, but that's okay.
Speaker 4 (03:23):
Yeah, So they you know, told me about how everything
was still controlled, and that's how I felt that everything
was controlled, you know, information about COVID and then how
we could live, what we could do, you know, we
had to wear masks.
Speaker 3 (03:45):
Uh. It was just it was just really weird. I
can't even but see that's in the sea.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I've found a whole lot of positive about COVID, and
you're illustrating one of them. I think the people will
be less inclined to just sort of prostrate themselves before
whatever directed from some random governor says about where you
can be and what you can't do. In spite of
the fact that we have amendments of the Constitution which
project protect these liberties and freedoms, it's as if the
Constitution was eradicated. And it did feel a lot like say,
(04:15):
Czechoslovakia are under the under the Soviet Union, because I've
read a lot of Mulan Candera, and I believe that's
where he is from, and he's written about it one
of the one of the books of the note he
made or the joke I think was the name of it.
He made some sort of random joke about one of
the Soviet leaders and ended up getting unemployed and ostracized
just by merely uttering a joke.
Speaker 5 (04:39):
Brian, my mother got called into the local police station
for wearing a sweater that was bright and colorful.
Speaker 4 (04:51):
Oh my go. They accused her of you know, advertising
Western propaganda.
Speaker 5 (05:00):
Uh.
Speaker 3 (05:01):
And that was really.
Speaker 4 (05:02):
A blessing because my father had spoken for years about
you know, he'd you know, we need to leave. Things
are getting worse and they're they're not going to get better.
But she didn't want to leave her family. You know,
they waited two years to get an apartment, she had
to get an extra part time job to you know,
(05:23):
furnish it. Everything was difficult. I mean there was just
no easy path for food, for furniture. And so she's like,
you know, I don't want to leave. But that showed
her that someone in the neighborhood. There was every neighborhood like.
Speaker 3 (05:40):
A had a watch person. Yeah, so you never knew
who it was.
Speaker 4 (05:45):
And so she got called in because of this sweater
and that's the turn that was the turning point for her.
Speaker 3 (05:53):
You know, she knew that they had to get out.
Speaker 1 (05:55):
Wow, that's that's just frightening. Stuff is the book about
their story, in other words, a work of nonfiction about
their trials and tribulations and experiencing life under communist Czechoslovakian
then ultimately leaving.
Speaker 4 (06:12):
Yes, it's it's I really wanted people to see why
you would want to leave a place like that. I mean,
you know, waiting in line for food. People would get
in line if there was a line. They didn't even
know why, oh wow, but they got in it because
it might be something good that they could sell. I mean,
it was just like a weird sci fi they were
(06:34):
living in almost but it was if the book is
a love story and a thriller because of you know,
their escape. I mean, of course, you know they did
make it, but just the way it all happened, it
was really God's intervention, I believe, because just the way
everything I don't want to give too much away, no, no,
(06:57):
you know how it.
Speaker 3 (06:57):
All came about. That they were actually able to to
get out well.
Speaker 4 (07:01):
Really amazing because many people weren't able to well in
an oppressive regime like Czechoslovakia during the Soviet days.
Speaker 1 (07:10):
You mentioned the emotional struggle of deciding to leave because
in spite of how bad things are you have all
these emotional ties not just to the land, but also
to your community and your friends. But once they made
the decision to leave, was it was it difficult? Did
they have to you know, steal out of the country
under cover of darkness or be snuck out or could
they Did they work through some approval process.
Speaker 3 (07:32):
No, they tried to get approval.
Speaker 4 (07:34):
I mean my dad had approval you know, put in
for years, but they never got it because my father,
my mom's dad, was a capitalist. He had a trucking
company and so he was on their like blacklist, and
so my mother wasn't allowed to go to college. She
was she actually wanted to be the flight attendant. That
(07:55):
was her lifelong dream, which is so ironic because I
never that wasn't in my I, you know, a view
at all. And I got it by just sheer chance.
And so my I don't know where was I They
escaped because my mom got permission to take me out
of the country to Yugoslavia because I had a lot
(08:20):
of ear issues and the doctor was like, oh, you
need to go by the sea because the air is
much better. And then my dad, last like a last
minute thing, got the trip to Milan. He was an engineer,
and so he had a business trip to Milan because
one of the boss's sons was ill. I mean, you know,
(08:42):
usually only the people in the party were allowed to travel,
but this was some big job and my dad was
given permission to go normally because he would not sign
on the communist party line. He refused, and so he
knew that, you know, something was going to get I mean,
they weren't going to let him just get away with
that forever, and that's why he knew he had you know,
(09:05):
they had to get out of there.
Speaker 3 (09:06):
Wow, So they were.
Speaker 4 (09:07):
They took the same train out of Prague, got to
Austria Vienna, and did not go on their separate trains
to their final destinations. They stayed there and my dad
had had family there that they actually didn't even know
if they were still alive, because they never got the letter,
(09:31):
a letter, you know, in response to their letter. But
you know, it just worked out for them that they were.
Speaker 1 (09:37):
I'm so glad you wrote this because this may give
people something they truly need, is to pause and consider
the freedoms that we enjoy in the face of a
country that won't let you leave. I just can't imagine
being in that environment. And I've heard a lot of
stories like this over the years. Think of the people
who tried to get out of Berlin and had to,
you know, go through the wall or under the law
(09:58):
or or law I'm at risk getting machine gunned down
for even endeavoring to leave.
Speaker 2 (10:03):
This is a great story.
Speaker 3 (10:05):
And I guess you're communism was so great? Why would
people go right?
Speaker 1 (10:12):
I know I was gonna say earlier in your in
your breadline comments like whatever happened to from each according's ability,
each according to his need? How come it's so hard
to get an apartment in a communist country? This is
all summed up like Swan's my local author guest today, Sussy,
It's been a pleasure talking with is Susie Khan likes
Swann you. You can get it on my blog page
fifty five carose dot com. I encourage people to do
(10:32):
that and then pause and reflect on what we've got
here that so few countries in the world have. Susie,
thanks for doing this for everybody.
Brian Thomas News
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