Interview with Dianne Koehler.

Listen to Dianne, 2 Ns, and I reconnect after 20+ years. You won't believe how she's pivotal in my life and how we reconnected. TOTAL small world story! As they say in German: glücklicher Zufall!  We discuss her life and how everything just keeps falling into place for her. She's not on social media, so this is where you can find her online. Dianne is so down to earth sees things that others may not see. She's picked up a German accent after all this time, and brings another worldly outlook to our little pod. This is the second person I've had on who now lives overseas. She's extremely well-read on international lit so check out her recs below. Before I get to her bio etc. you'll definitely want to learn the history of the word serendipity (and I just learned it has an opposite and no, it isn't German! I thought the Germans had words for everything even if it is just 3 words put together. ;-) Anyway, I like this so much, I'm putting this link on the landing page for Revel Revel too. https://interestingliterature.com/2015/01/a-short-history-of-the-word-serendipity/

Dianne's bio: "Originally from MI and studied in TN – now living in Germany for more over 20 years. I met Lauren doing my second year of National Service in Americorps and the idea of service to your community is one I still value. I enjoy trying new recipes and I promote having a plant based diet and have been vegetarian/vegan since 1988. Do yourself and the planet a favour and simply eat less meat! I have a passion for travel and enjoy getting to know other cultures and histories of the people around the world. I love reading and getting book recommendations (which your pod cast is great for!) and only wish I had more time to read them all. I am married to a wonderful man and proud mom of a lovely 11 year old daughter."

Here is a short list of books that I have either influenced me or I have simply enjoyed reading:

The China Study by T.Colin Campbell, PD and Thomas M. Campbell II, MD. https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781941631560

My Year in Meats by Ruth Ozeki https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780140280463

The Sympathizer by Viet Thang Nguyen https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780802124944

Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra https://bookshop.org/books?keywords=sacred+games

The Sellout by Paul Beatty https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9781250083258

There There by Tommy Orange https://bookshop.org/books?keywords=there+there

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780451191151

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak. https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780143118527

The Luminaries by Eleanor Catton. https://bookshop.org/a/8901/9780316074292

Here are my German suggestions:Classic German authors these books all deal with the German consciousness Pre and post WWII :Günter Grass - The Tin DrumThomas Mann-  BuddenbrooksHerman Hesse - The Glass Bead GameModern German authors:Benedict Wells - The End of LonelinessCharlotte Roche - Wetlands (Warning! book was very controversial in Germany due to it's 'erotic' content)Gail Tufts - Miss America (she is an American comedian/actor in Berlin and  makes very astute and humorous observations between life in Germany and American)

Other topics that we covered:
Americorps, and YES, it is still around! (national) https://americorps.gov/

Though our focus on water quality has evolved to just environmental issues: (our team) https://cacamericorps.org/program-environmental/

Urban Waterways and why we worked on them/why they are important: https://www.epa.gov/urbanwaters/why-urban-waters

And, as always, my sponsor is BetterHelp.com

Left to right wedding photo:
My Dad, my mom, Simon's mom, Simon's dad, our son Josh, me, Simon, Sean Krause, Helen Krause, Paul Vachon(where are you dude?) and the guest Dianne Holbrook Kohler

Such a European photo

Red Rocks on the day it all happened...maybe Dianne is somewhere in the background. Maybe. It isn't often that we have pix of such fateful days. Maybe that will change as we all live with our phones and document everything. Why we didn't take a photo of the reunion I don't know!