A few weeks back, I posted Al Franken's podcast with Jason Kander, the former Missouri Secretary of State, whose uncle is a longtime friend from my Camp Nebagamon days (and whose great uncle wrote the musicals Cabaret and Chicago). Their conversation was absolutely fascinating -- dramatic, at times harrowing and often surprisingly very funny, as Kander discussed his book, Invisible Storm, about his career and challenges dealing with PTSD from his time in the Iraq War. He was a guest last week on C-SPAN's show BookTalk, along with his wife Diana who wrote first-person commentary throughout Invisible Storm to add family perspective to the book. And once again, the conversation was absolutely fascinating -- dramatic, at times harrowing and often surprisingly very funny. Kander is very open about it all, but he seems to have crossed a major hurdle in his life and is able to talk about it from a perspective that allows him to laugh -- sometimes sardonically, but sometimes at the absurdities and sometimes in a self-effacing way. (My favorite story that he Franken has him read from the book's introduction, though isn't told his, concerns when he decided to get help and walked into a V.A. clinic. Most of the people in the waiting room recognized him -- he was, after all, the state's former Secretary of State, ran for the U.S. Senate and barely lost to Todd Akin and was at the time running for mayor of Kansas City. But the therapist did not recognize him. So, when Kander was asked if he was under any stress lately, he honestly told him what he was doing and added that he'd been also thinking of running for president. "Of what?" the doctor asked. Of the United States, he answered. The therapist, of course, looked at him with great skepticism, and asked why he thought he could do that. To which Kander honestly replied, "Because Barack Obama told me I should consider it." It's at this point, he burst into laughter saying that he could tell that the therapist was sure he totally nuts and delusional.) I'm unable to embed the 50-minute video on these pages, but you can watch it here on the C-SPAN site. It's really wonderful -- for however bleak much of the realities are, this is not an hour of angst. It's actually very entertaining in a rich, meaningful and funny way, by someone able to tells stories extremely well. I am, though, able to post a one-minute clip from the event. It doesn't do the conversation justice at the breadth of the talk, but has him explaining how most people perceive PTSD and what he hopes the book shows in contrast to that.
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AuthorRobert J. Elisberg is a political commentator, screenwriter, novelist, tech writer and also some other things that I just tend to keep forgetting. Feedspot Badge of Honor
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