Hamilton, Ohio – Somebody is always watching.
Just ask Erin Dietrick, co-producer of the SpyCast podcast for the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.
Dietrick serves as featured speaker for the Fitton Center for Creative Arts Celebrating Self luncheon Wednesday, October 2. She’ll talk about her journey into the shadows, as well as discuss the City of Hamilton’s One City One Book selection – A Woman of No Importance: The Untold Story of the American Spy Who Helped Win World War II.
“I loved Virginia Hall and her story for a couple of reasons,” Dietrick said. “A. She was a woman. B. She was a disabled woman. And C. Because she was so empowered to serve her country, she had a real impact on the outcome of the war. Americans owe her a debt of gratitude.
“I think the average person in Hamilton, Ohio, can really appreciate somebody so passionate. It’s a story about a woman of seemingly no importance – like the title says – and yet she was so instrumental to the cause despite so many people overlooking her.”
How does a girl from Twinsburg, Ohio, become an expert on international intrigue?
“I really had no interest in spies or espionage growing up,” Dietrick said. “I was interested in music and I worked in guest services at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum in Cleveland.”
When she took a similar job at the International Spy Museum while working toward her graduate degree in museum studies at George Washington University, she realized the two worlds weren’t as far apart as she might have thought.
“There are more than a couple of connections between music and spying,” Dietrick said. “There were secret codes written in classical music. The music of the Civil Rights Movement – Motown music – had government agencies looking into those artists. Music was a large part of the cultural Cold War.”
But back to SpyCast.
“We try to interview everyone we can find associated with spies and espionage,” Dietrick said. “High to low, near and far, the head of Kenyan Intelligence, former spies, Russian defectors. Pretty much everything under the sun we try to hit.
“This world, it’s called the shadow world for a reason, and we really try to shine a light on it for people.”
Dietrick enjoys all the new information she helps uncover in her job.
“There are a lot of things I learn that take me by surprise,” she said. “The thing that hits me most is just how similar people are across the centuries. We really don’t change that much. Spying is known as the second-oldest profession. People have been doing it since there have been people.”
The Fitton Center for Creative Arts is located at 101 S. Monument Avenue on the Riverfront in downtown Hamilton, Ohio.
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