Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff

Cool Zone Media and iHeartPodcasts

As long as there’s been oppression, there’ve been people fighting it. This weekly podcast dives into history to drag up the wildest rebels, the most beautiful revolts, and all the people who long to be—and fight to be—free. It explores complex stories of resistance that offer lessons and inspiration for us today, focusing on the ensemble casts that make up each act of history. That is to say, this podcast focuses on Cool People Who Did Cool Stuff.

  • 50 minutes 58 seconds
    Part One: Priest Holes: How to Hide People From the Authorities (in Medieval England)

    Margaret talks to Chelsey Weber-Smith about the saint who built hidden compartments to hide priests during the persecution of Catholics in England.

    Sources:

    https://ewtn.co.uk/article-st-nicholas-owen-builder-of-secret-hiding-places-for-priests/

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/herefordandworcester/content/articles/2005/11/02/hindlip_gunpowder_plot_feature.shtml

    https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/harvington-hall

    https://www.ancientpages.com/2017/12/05/nicholas-owen-little-john-paid-highest-price-ingenious-camouflaged-places-hide/

    https://fellowshipandfairydust.com/2022/02/18/st-nicholas-owen/

    https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/year-8/mary-i-reading/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_monasteries

    https://www.theanneboleynfiles.com/why-was-anne-boleyn-executed/

    https://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/beyond-the-pale.html

    https://www.mdpi.com/2077-1444/15/9/1055

    https://www.jstor.org/stable/26845784?read-now=1&seq=4#page_scan_tab_contents

    https://www.advocate.com/history/king-james-bible-queer

    https://www.worldhistory.org/Gunpowder_Plot/

    https://www.catholicpamphlets.net/files/pamphlets/mary%20tudor%20and%20the%20protestants.pdf

    https://catholic.heritage-history.com/site/hclass/saints_heroes/reformation/php/martyrs.php

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/civil_war_revolution/gunpowder_hutton_01.shtml

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    22 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 22 minutes 17 seconds
    CZM Book Club: Everything that Isn't Winter, by Margaret Killjoy, Part One

    Margaret reads you part one (of two) of her own story about post-apocalyptic love and violence

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    21 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 58 minutes 5 seconds
    Part Two: Spartacus and the Thurii Commune: How a Slave Rebellion in Ancient Rome Reimagined Society

    Margaret continues her talk with Katy Stoll about the leaderless society that almost overthrew Rome.

    Sources:

    Radical Antiquity, Christopher B. Zeichmann

    https://www.worldhistory.org/Ostracism/

    https://web.archive.org/web/20170719062739/http://www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae091.html#95

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160326113007/http://www.livius.org/so-st/spartacus/spartacus.html

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160304220855/http://www.livius.org/so-st/spartacus/spartacus2.html

    https://web.archive.org/web/20110805121329/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0581.html

    https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/Civil_Wars/1*.html#116

    https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Crassus*.html#9

    http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch18.htm

    https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/roman-republic-guide-how-senate-plebeians-citizenship-women-democratic-fall-end/

    https://www.thecollector.com/first-servile-war-revolt-shook-rome/

    https://www.thecollector.com/second-servile-war-slave-rebellion/

    https://www.rfmwilliams.com/the-sicilian-slave-revolts-of-ancient-rome/

    https://warflute.org/armies/sicilian_slave_revolts_135-132_104-103_bc_polemicus_army_t3.html

    http://societasviaromana.net/Collegium_Religionis/human_sacrifice.php

    https://www.history.co.uk/articles/gladiatorial-games-in-ancient-rome

    https://pressbooks.claremont.edu/clas112pomonavalentine/chapter/why-are-we-so-uncomfortable-the-confusing-taboo-of-menstruation-in-ancient-rome-and-modern-america/

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    17 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 50 minutes 58 seconds
    Part One: Spartacus and the Thurii Commune: How a Slave Rebellion in Ancient Rome Reimagined Society

    Margaret talks to Katy Stoll about the leaderless society that almost overthrew Rome.

    Sources:

    Radical Antiquity, Christopher B. Zeichmann

    https://www.worldhistory.org/Ostracism/

    https://web.archive.org/web/20170719062739/http://www.livius.org/li-ln/livy/periochae/periochae091.html#95

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160326113007/http://www.livius.org/so-st/spartacus/spartacus.html

    https://web.archive.org/web/20160304220855/http://www.livius.org/so-st/spartacus/spartacus2.html

    https://web.archive.org/web/20110805121329/http://www.ancientlibrary.com/smith-dgra/0581.html

    https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Appian/Civil_Wars/1*.html#116

    https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Plutarch/Lives/Crassus*.html#9

    http://www.fsmitha.com/h1/ch18.htm

    https://www.historyextra.com/period/roman/roman-republic-guide-how-senate-plebeians-citizenship-women-democratic-fall-end/

    https://www.thecollector.com/first-servile-war-revolt-shook-rome/

    https://www.thecollector.com/second-servile-war-slave-rebellion/

    https://www.rfmwilliams.com/the-sicilian-slave-revolts-of-ancient-rome/

    https://warflute.org/armies/sicilian_slave_revolts_135-132_104-103_bc_polemicus_army_t3.html

    http://societasviaromana.net/Collegium_Religionis/human_sacrifice.php

    https://www.history.co.uk/articles/gladiatorial-games-in-ancient-rome

    https://pressbooks.claremont.edu/clas112pomonavalentine/chapter/why-are-we-so-uncomfortable-the-confusing-taboo-of-menstruation-in-ancient-rome-and-modern-america/

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    15 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 26 minutes 42 seconds
    CZM Book Club: Macramé Flames, by Eric Raglin

    Margaret tells you the tale of some nightmare queers off to bring about hell on earth.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    14 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 54 minutes 56 seconds
    Part Two: Diogenes: The Greek Philosopher Who Pissed on the Rich

    Margaret continues her dicussion with Dana El Kurd about Diogenes, the founder of the Cynics, who was kind of an edgelord and lived in a jar

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    10 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 50 minutes 7 seconds
    Part One: Diogenes: The Greek Philosopher Who Pissed on the Rich

    Margaret talks to Dana El Kurd about Diogenes, the founder of the Cynics, who was kind of an edgelord and lived in a jar.

    Sources:

    The Dangerous Life and Ideas of Diogenes the Cynic, Jean-Manuel Roubineau

    How to Say No: An Ancient Guide to the Cynicism, Diogenes (edited by MD Usher)

    https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16916263

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classical_Greece

    https://www.historyskills.com/classroom/ancient-history/ancient-greek-slavery/

    https://www.gutenberg.org/files/57342/57342-h/57342-h.htm

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    8 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 44 minutes
    CZM Book Club: Pathfinder: Dawn of the Frogs, Part Six

    Who says ecoterrorism is bad? In fantasy games?

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    7 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 49 minutes 20 seconds
    CZM Rewind: Part Two: All Hail King Ludd: How the Luddites Almost Saved Us

    In part two, Margaret talks with Robert Evans one more time about the English rebels who threw on dresses, declared a fake person their leader, and set about fighting the Industrial Revolution.

    Original Air Date: 3.20.2024

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    3 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 55 minutes 56 seconds
    CZM Rewind: Part One: All Hail King Ludd: How the Luddites Almost Saved Us

    Margaret talks with Robert Evans about the English rebels who threw on dresses, declared a fake person their leader, and set about fighting the Industrial Revolution.

    Original Air Date: 3.18.24

     

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    1 December 2025, 5:00 am
  • 1 hour 22 minutes
    CZM Book Club: Pathfinder: Dawn of the Frogs, Part Five

    There's nothing left to do but track these cultists to the source.

    See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

    30 November 2025, 5:00 am
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