Alex Plitsas's Cultural Life
War production, spies, Taylor Swift, Motown and the search for meaning crowd the Army veteran and Digital Dunkirk leader’s cultural delights.
If Now You Know—The Cultural Lives of Others publishes 1,000 editions (this is the sixth) no other guest is likely to be immersed in the archive of U.S. War Production Board as Alex Plitsas was when he shared his responses in September. You will end Alex’s survey of electric cultural treasures without any doubt that he is an intense original in the service of freedom.
The 38 year old veteran was and remains a leader in the spontaneously formed Digital Dunkirk that rescued thousands of Afghans from the horrors of the murderous Taliban beginning in the summer of 2021. Alex and his disparate colleagues arranged safe houses for trapped Afghans who had assisted Americans and others attempting to rid Afghanistan of terrorists and introduce freedom under the rule of law to the suffering nation.
With marauding Taliban fighters on the hunt, Alex helped American allies and citizens, and their families escape to safe houses where they would be guided to the Kabul airport. Chartered flights secured by Alex and others like him would take them to safety. Some of those refugees settled in Connecticut, assisted by more people of goodwill, including Alex. He reports our new neighbors are doing well.
In recognition of Alexis’s work and a reminder that it is not completed, Senator Richard Blumenthal invited Alex to be his guest at this year’s State of the Union address.
His fantasy dinner party is crowded with renown talkers. Golden Oldies his aunt and WCBS 101.1 FM introduced him to will provide the background music.
A Republican, Alex harbors no beef with Taylor Swift.
Favorite author or book.
My favorite author is astrophysicist Brian Greene. He has written several books on the creation of the universe (cosmology) and associated theories such “Super String Theory.” The greatest question man has ever sought to answer is how the universe came to be and who or what created it and us. For many that answer is faith in a deity but for scientists, it is the pursuit of a Unified Theory of Everything that explains why general Relativity and quantum mechanics are incompatible and what happened from the moment of creation to the plank era, 10-43 second after the point of creation, during which time the laws of physics break down. Greene’s works make these concepts digestible for the masses.
My favorite book is “History of the Peloponnesian War” by the ancient Greek Philosopher, Thucydides.
The book you are reading.
The history and minutes of the U.S. War Production Board, a WWII era federal institution that was created to mobilize the U.S. industrial base to rapidly scale production for the war effort. I run the Aerospace & Defense and Hi-Tech & Electronics Practice at a business consulting firm. The industry is being asked to rapidly scale production to address critical shortages brought about by the Russian War in Ukraine.
The book you couldn’t finish.
“Meditations” by Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius. I can’t finish because it is philosophy and I constantly derive new meaning from it every time I read it, which is often. So, I don’t know if one can ever truly finish it.
The book you’ve long intended to read but never get to.
“Memoirs of the Second World War” by Winston Churchill. I idolize Churchill but my involvement in one crisis or another from the Afghanistan Evacuation, arms and logistics for Ukraine, and most recently taking on a role in the Arab-Israeli Peace Process, has taken priority for time and at the expense of leisure reading.
Most memorable live performance.
Sonja Frisell’s production of “Aida” at the Metropolitan Opera in New York. You are greeted as you enter The Met by opulent hand cut crystal chandeliers donated by the Austrian Government in 1966 and before witnessing a production that includes horse drawn chariots and elephants on stage during the march of the soldiers with an elegant backdrop and opera music sung by the best in the world. The combination induces a sensory euphoria that I can only compare to witnessing sunset in Bali or Santorini, the Gardens of Versailles, the Grand Bazar in Istanbul, the Hindu Kush Mountains, or the serene Arabian Desert.
[For where to begin with opera, watch this brief introduction.]
Your best binge.
“Game of Thrones.” I began watching it in Afghanistan in 2012 and was hooked. It was a nice escape from the realities of war which sounds comical given that everyone in the show is fighting someone else.
Favorite TV series.
“The Americans” which aired on FX. It is a series written by a former CIA case officer about two “illegal” Russian spies who operate in the United States during the Cold War under non-official cover. As with all things on television, the series takes some liberties but it is an incredible show about the art and realities of espionage.
“Mad Men” and “Peaky Blinders” are also amongst my favorites.
Favorite piece of music.
“Nowhere To Run” by Martha Reeves & the Vandellas. While it’s a love song, I derive meaning from the lyrics in terms of not being able to shake your demons. You can’t run from them and have to deal with it.
The music that cheers you up.
Motown 60s & early 70s “Golden Oldies.” They take me back to a innocent, carefree time during my childhood in my aunt’s kitchen after school. She would blare
Golden Oldies on CBS 101.1 and COOL 96.7 from the radio. Those are among my happiest childhood memories.
If you could own one painting it would be…..
“Tower of the Koutoubia Mosque” is a landscape and the only painting by Churchill during WWII. Churchill gave to President Franklin Roosevelt as a gift.
The lyrics you wish you’d written.
“The Sound of Silence” by Simon & Garfunkel
The poem/song that makes you wonder.
“The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost
The instrument you wish you’d learned to play.
Acoustic Guitar. I love Flamenco music.
Your guiltiest cultural pleasure.
Food. I will not travel anywhere for leisure that has bad food – no exceptions. I love to grocery shop and cook. I find it to be mindless, peaceful, and relaxing
You wasted an evening…….
When it is not productive or fun. We only have one shot at this life and there are no do overs or sequels. Time is valuable and to waste it is tragic. In the end, everyone wishes they had more time.
Something that ought to be better known.
Happiness is found when you finally reach the point where you stop worrying about other people’s opinions and do what makes you happy.
A recent discovery.
Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero.” The lyrics speak to me.
Two podcasts you try not to miss.
I don’t listen to podcasts.
You’re having a fantasy dinner party, you’ll invite these guests…..
T.E. Lawrence, Winston Churchill, Einstein, Thomas Jefferson, Aristotle, Plato, Dante Alighieri, Abraham Lincoln, Eisenhower, Patton, Alexander the Great, Stephen Hawking, Bill Donovan, Ernest Hemingway, Rudyard Kipling, Benjamin Franklin, Sun Tzu, and Clausewitz.
The place you feel happiest.
I am happiest when immersed in a crisis or emergency. It is where I thrive and feel most alive. I call it organizing chaos. I have always been given difficult assignments and hard problems to solve. Otherwise life would be so boring.
In the literal sense, I feel happiest in the desert and cities of the Middle East where I spent much of my 20s and now through normalization efforts between Israel and her neighbors, though I am more Forrest Gump than Lawrence of Arabia.
Books and movies you would recommend to an aspiring soldier and friend of freedom.
“Diplomacy” by Henry Kissinger; “Seven Pillars of Wisdom” by T.E. Lawrence; “On War” by Carl Von Clausewitz; “The Art of War” by Sun Tzu;
Movies: “Blackhawk Down” and “Saving Private Ryan”
A speech that continues to inspire you.
“The Man in the Arena” by Teddy Rosevelt. It’s a reminder that you need to get involved and failing is still better than siting on the sidelines hurling criticism.
Thank you, Alex. Teddy Roosevelt was speaking through the ages to you.
Something unexpected from the popular Dean Martin variety show. Lee J. Cobb, who originated the role of Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman, feels the rhythm.
Next week: A former network investigative reporter shares his cultural essentials and explains when he knew someone was not telling the truth.