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Making Myth Podcast

Making Myth Podcast

By: Olivia Doman & Amanda Jordan
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We’ve all heard the phrase “reality is stranger than fiction” but does the same thing apply when we look at the past? The Making Myth podcast hopes to untangle fact from history, myth, legend and speak to how we assign meaning to our lives.

Join us on the journey as we transcend through the past and emerge with new understandings.

© 2026 Making Myth Podcast World
Episodes
  • Episode 21: Vitka Kempner: Forgotten Freedom Fighter

    Episode 21: Vitka Kempner: Forgotten Freedom Fighter
    May 30 2026
    Love what you hear? Send us fan mail!When the Nazis forcibly moved the Jewish population of Vilna, Lithuania to the ghetto, Vitka Kempner was ready. Born in Poland and always interested in education, Vitka fled her home town at 19 years old. In Vilna, she met two people who would accompany her through all the hard years ahead. Abba Kovner and Ruzka Korczack were more than just her partisans in arms, they were part of an inseparable trio.As part of the United Partisans Organization, she became a courier tasked with escorting Jews in and out of Vilna. To her, the greatest mission was getting everyone out of the ghetto before it was liquidated. Under enormous dangers posed by the Nazis, Vitka orchestrated sabotage missions resulting in blown up trains, power outages, and poisoned elite guards. She navigated immense risk with an ability to blend in like she naturally belonged there.Come along with us as we tell Vitka's story of resistance and bravery, life as a partisan, and life after World War II through history and astrology. Please practice self care when listening to this episode. SourcesArticles:Abba Kovner in Holocaust Encyclopedia (Holocaust Memorial Museum) (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/article/abba-kovner#:~:text=In%201961%2C%20Kovner%20testified%20at,Abba%20Kovner%20died%20in%201987) Atkion 1005 by Shoah Resource Center (https://wwv.yadvashem.org/odot_pdf/Microsoft%20Word%20-%205721.pdf) Kalish, Kosminek and the Camps by Wolf Lassman (https://www.jewishgen.org/yizkor/kalisz1/kal275.html) Ponary in Holocaust Encyclopedia (Holocaust Memorial Museum) (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/ponary) Vitka Kovner, partisan, passes away at the age of 92 by The World Holocaust Remembrance Center (https://www.yadvashem.org/press-release/15-february-2012-16-41.html) Books: The Avengers: A Jewish War Story by Rich Cohen "Heroic Young Women" in Partizaner geyen by Shmerke Kaczerginski, translated by Lillian Leavitt (https://www.yiddishbookcenter.org/language-literature-culture/pakn-treger/2022-pakn-treger-digital-translation-issue/heroic-young) Digital Media:The Beginnings of Jewish Civilization in Poland and Lithuania (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TdskbkLLdG4) Holocaust: The Revenge Plot (2018)The Rebel: Vitka Kempner (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-rebel-vitka-kempner/id1658561964?i=1000592001618) Primary Sources:Eichmann in Jerusalem by Hannah Arendt Nazis Complete Segregation of Jews in Vilna, October 12, 1941 (https://www.jta.org/archive/nazis-complete-segregation-of-jews-in-vilna) Oral History Interview with Vitka Kempner (https://collections.ushmm.org/search/catalog/irn50190) Websites:History | Color Psychotherapy (https://www.colorpsychotherapy.com/history) Joining the FPO (https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/joining-fpo) Ponary | Holocaust Encyclopedia (https://encyclopedia.ushmm.org/content/en/gallery/ponary) Ponary: Murder Site of the Jews of Vilna and the Surrounding Areas (https://www.yadvashem.org/vilna/during/german-occupation/ponary.html) Vitka Kempner’s Biography (https://www.facinghistory.org/resource-library/vitka-kempners-biography) Vitka Kempner | Jewish Partisans (https://www.jewishpartisans.org/partisans/vitka-kempner) Vitka Kempner-Kovner (https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/kempner-kovner-vitka) Support Us!Patreon: patreon.com/MakingMythPodcastKofi: https://ko-fi.com/makingmythpodcast
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    2 hrs and 42 mins
  • Episode 20: Yuri Kochiyama: Taking the Lead

    Episode 20: Yuri Kochiyama: Taking the Lead
    May 15 2026

    Love what you hear? Send us fan mail!

    Forcibly removed to the Jerome War Relocation Center following the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Yuri Kochiyama was deeply involved in her community. During high school she volunteered and taught skills, all while seeing America through "American Eyes." She was Nisei, the first generation born to Japanese immigrants, and had citizenship while her parents could never obtain it. While assembling in Santa Anita, California, she assisted Japanese junior high girls in writing letters to some 1,300 Nisei service members.

    After the war, she moved to New York City after her husband was released from the Army. In 1951, she and her husband founded the Nisei Service Organization, leading to weekly open houses in their home. There she launched into activism, attending demonstrations for integrated schools and against US imperialism. In 1963, she met Malcom X and learned about the parallels of Asian and Black issues.

    In the 1980s, she helped earn redress for forcibly interned Japanese Americans. In 1988 the Civil Liberties Act authorized $20,000 in reparations to each internment camp survivor. By the end of her life, Yuri was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and was granted an honorary doctorate.

    Come along with us as we explore Yuri's enduring spirit, widespread activism, and legacy through history and astrology.

    Sources

    Articles:

    • “The Passionate Harlem Activist Yuri Kochiyama, New York, 1921-2004”
    • “Yuri Kochiyama, Activist and Former World War II Internee, Dies at 93” by Hansi Lo Wang
    • “Yuri Kochiyama: Timeline”
    • “Yuri, Tupac, and a Harlem House” by Taiyo Na

    Books:

    • Heartbeat of Struggle: The Revolutionary Life of Yuri Kochiyama by Diane C. Fujino
    • Infamy: The Shocking Story of Japanese American Internment During World War II by Richard Reeves
    • Passing It On: A Memoir by Yuri Kochiyama
    • Strangers From a Different Shore by Ronald Takaki

    Digital Media:

    • "Japanese Internment Camp Survivors Speak Out"
    • "The Revolutionary Impact of Yuri Kochiyama"
    • "Yuri & Bill Kochiyama: on the road in Mississippi"

    Primary Sources:

    • “Civil Rights Activist Yuri Kochiyama on Her Internment in a WWII Japanese American Detention Camp” by Democracy Now
    • Executive Order 9066
    • Japanese Relocation government film (1943)

    Websites:

    • Jerome - Densho
    • Jerome - Exploring America's Concentration Camps
    • Rising Above in Arkansas

    Support Us!
    Patreon: patreon.com/MakingMythPodcast
    Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/makingmythpodcast

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    1 hr and 57 mins
  • Episode 19: Diane Crump, The First Lady of Jockeying

    Episode 19: Diane Crump, The First Lady of Jockeying
    May 1 2026

    Love what you hear? Send us fan mail!

    On February 7, 1969, Diane Crump became the first woman jockey to ride in a professional, pari-mutuel race in the United States at 20. This achievement built on a life long love of horses and years of hard work training racehorses. On May 2, 1970, Diane was the first woman to ride in the Kentucky Derby. Over her racing career, Diane broke open the field of racing for women jockeys on 1,682 rides. After her racing career ended, Diane started a business pairing riders with horses in multiple disciplines. Known for her gracious, and effervescent personality, Diane left an impact on everyone she met.

    We give a special thank you to Jessica Whitehead and Katrina Helmer at the Kentucky Derby Museum for their time meeting with us for an interview about Diane's impact on horse racing!

    Come along with us as we explore Diane's love of horses, legendary firsts, and first hand accounts through history and astrology ahead of the 152nd annual Run for the Roses!

    Sources

    Articles:

    • “An Uphill Battle for the First Female Jockey Diane Crump” (https://tinyurl.com/37u936hw)
    • “Diane Crump and the Jockeys Who Broke Down Barriers” (https://tinyurl.com/yc3vkb4h)
    • "Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr: Father of the Kentucky Derby" (https://tinyurl.com/mr2nchnf)
    • “Trailblazing Jockey Crump Dies at Age 77” (https://tinyurl.com/yf7fz7n5)
    • “When Women Took the Reins” (https://tinyurl.com/yc4sw6kk)

    Books:

    • Diane Crump: A Horse-Racing Pioneer’s Life in the Saddle by Mark Shrager
    • Gender in FEI Sport, July 2023, by Fédération Équestre Internationale

    Digital Media:

    • Diane Crump: The First Woman Jockey in the Kentucky Derby on Grit, Faith, and Perseverance (https://tinyurl.com/ysuy78vb)
    • Diane Crump Talks Making History, Perseverance in Boundless Podcast (https://tinyurl.com/5n6kw5yk)
    • Diane Crump on Thoroughbreds at RRTP (https://tinyurl.com/4szasntk)
    • Legacy Battle #107: Diane Crump (https://tinyurl.com/bda3sx7a)

    Websites:

    • A look back at the career of Diane Crump, the first woman to race in the Kentucky Derby (https://tinyurl.com/4hun3va4)
    • Diane Crump Equine Sales, Inc. (https://tinyurl.com/mwdm4vae)
    • Diane Crump Obituary (https://tinyurl.com/5btkv9k2)
    • Jockey Profile | Diane Crump (https://tinyurl.com/394f7kuw)
    • The History of Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby (https://tinyurl.com/bduwwha3)
    • Kentucky Derby (https://tinyurl.com/yc8jstk4)

    Support Us!
    Patreon: patreon.com/MakingMythPodcast
    Kofi: https://ko-fi.com/makingmythpodcast

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    2 hrs and 13 mins
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