Lyz Glick Best was married to Jeremy Glick, one of the passengers who fought back against the hijackers aboard United Flight 93 on September 11, 2001. That morning, from her parents' farmhouse in the Catskills, Lyz spent about 30 minutes on the phone with Jeremy. They stayed calm. They assessed the situation together. And he told her what he wanted if he didn't make it off the plane.

Twenty-five years later, Lyz joins us for a tribute episode — to Jeremy, to everyone aboard Flight 93, and to all the victims and families of September 11th. She told the first part of this story in the 2004 book Your Father's Voice. This conversation is about the man behind the title — and the life Lyz built for their daughter in the years since.

In this episode, we discuss:

[03:08] High School Sweethearts: The first day of ninth-grade biology, 1984 — and the girl Jeremy told his mom he was going to marry.

[05:45] "Who's Working the Chess Pieces": Falling out of touch, a chance collision in a New York City bar, and a national judo title won without a coach.

[14:10] A Father for 12 Weeks: The video of Jeremy narrating a diaper change — and the joy their daughter Emmy inherited from him.

[17:38] "Redemption of Sky": The remarkable poem Jeremy wrote at 16 or 17, published in his school's literary magazine – and which made its way to Lyz after 9/11.

[19:05] The Phone Call: About 30 minutes on the phone — staying calm, making a plan, and what Jeremy asked for if he didn't make it home.

[28:09] The Tuesday Group: The 9/11 widows who were pregnant or with young children — and how they learned that trauma and grief heal differently.

[35:30] Finding Joy After Loss: The life Lyz rebuilt, her husband Jim's quiet crazy good turn, and marking 25 years since the day honored at the Flight 93 National Memorial.

Image: Courtesy ACCESS

Stephen Macedo and Frances Lee are both professors of politics at Princeton. Together they wrote "In Covid's Wake: How Our Politics Failed Us" (Princeton University Press), named one of the best books of 2025 by The Wall Street Journal, The New Yorker, and The Economist, and featured on The New York Times' "The Daily" and PBS NewsHour.

The book asks a question few want to spend time with: how did we actually handle the pandemic — and what would we do differently next time?

We invited Stephen and Frances on Crazy Good Turns not to relitigate COVID or assign blame, but to look back honestly so that when the next crisis comes, we do a little better.

Macedo is a political theorist who has written widely on constitutional law, ethics, and public policy; Lee is a leading scholar of Congress and political polarization.

In this episode, we discuss:

[04:53] The Book Almost No One Asked For: Why Lee wasn't sure anyone would want to read In Covid's Wake — and why she felt it needed to exist anyway.

[07:34] Why We Look Away (This Wasn't The First Time): On the strange quiet that settled after the pandemic — and the echo of 1918, when the country did much the same thing following the Spanish flu.

[14:47] No Commission, No Reckoning: We studied 9/11 and the Challenger. We never launched that kind of honest look back at COVID — and Lee explores why.

[17:23] Who Suffered the Most: How a response framed as protecting the vulnerable, they argue, so often landed hardest on essential workers, small businesses, and our kids.

[26:57] The Case for a "Team B" in Every Crisis: Macedo on what he calls an "effortful pause" — room for dissent, and a wider table than just the experts who already agree.

[38:06] Reasons for Hope: Why Macedo thinks we will do better next time, and why he's bullish on students who were in junior high in 2020.

My Sincere Thanks

Because of listeners like you, our show now ranks among the top 5% of most-downloaded podcasts by volume per month. Your support has helped take our little idea to celebrate generosity and good deeds and turn it into one of the most-listened-to podcasts available. Thank you for being part of a community that celebrates people who do good things for others.

Please help us continue to grow by subscribing on your preferred podcast platform and sharing our show with friends.

Project D.R.E.W. brings together veterans and songwriters to turn their stories of service into songs.

The nonprofit was founded by Marilyn Zeidner, Mike Winnen and Brian Ferguson in honor of Captain Drew Ferguson, an Army Green Beret and Special Forces team leader who carried a guitar with him on deployment. Frank sits down with Marilyn, Mike and Brian to talk about what happens when a veteran hears his own story sung back to him for the first time.

In this episode, we discuss:

• The Story Untold: How a song can surface something a veteran has held in for 40 years or more.
• Hearing It Sung Back: What actually happens when a veteran hears his own song for the first time.
• The Lyric That Lands: The moving, powerful lines that come out of this work — including one that brings a Navy SEAL to tears.
• A Living Memorial: How Project D.R.E.W. is building what it calls "a registry of collective national memory."

Chapters:

[06:29] The Barn That Started It: How a few bands in a driveway became "Barnegie Hall" — and, eventually, a nonprofit.

[15:02] Delivering Restorative Energy: What Project D.R.E.W. actually does over one weekend — Saturday, they talk; Sunday, the song is played out loud for the first time.

[16:02] The Stories They've Never Told: How a stranger with a guitar reaches what decades of family never could.

[23:19] Why It Works: Brian Ferguson on why songwriters who never served are exactly the right people to draw a veteran's story out.

[35:15] A Crazy Good Turn: Our guests on who has done a crazy good turn for them.

[39:50] The Man in the Song: A veteran hears a song about a rescue mission — and realizes he'd been among those rescued.

[42:00] Captain Drew Ferguson's Song: The song Drew wrote as a young man, now sung by the whole room at the close of every workshop.

My Sincere Thanks

Because of listeners like you, our show now ranks among the top 5% of most-downloaded podcasts by volume per month. Your support has helped take our little idea to celebrate generosity and good deeds and turn it into one of the most-listened-to podcasts available. Thank you for being part of a community that celebrates people who do good things for others.

Please help us continue to grow by subscribing on your preferred podcast platform and sharing our show with friends.