These Are a Few of My Favorite Things: Podcasts - A Step Back in Time
I love podcasts and I love history, so I listen to a lot of history podcasts. Here you go, some of my favorites (and some include notes which are really like blogs). 1. The History Chicks "Any resemblance to a boring old history class is purely coincidental"
History about women! Yes! Women have been lost in history. Unless you were a Queen and either ruled for a very long time like Elizabeth I or got your head chopped off like Anne Boleyn, then you were pretty much forgotten. Sure there was Joan of Arc who was burned at the stake for wearing men's clothes after her woman's clothes were taken from her, and Amelia Earhart who flew away and never returned and could have been eaten by cannibals, and Elizabeth Bathory who tortured and murdered her maids and then drank their blood while bathing in it because she believed it kept her young and beautiful, but generally history has been about the man, and if he had a wife it was "oh yeah, and what's her name". The History Chicks is made up of two women, Becket Graham and Susan Vollenweider. Becket tells most of the story with comments from Susan. They focus on one woman for each podcast. They begin with her birth and go to her death (they only do the history of dead women). Then they give recommendations for books, movies, tv shows, websites, other podcasts, videos, museums, and other places of interest. Susan posts extensive show notes, and hosts the Facebook group. Becket does the editing and runs the pinterest page. They both do tons of research although I don't know how they manage to do all that while having careers and raising children. They have a lot of fun and usually can tie everything to a particular worlds fair or Harry Potter. I understand there's a Harry Potter drinking game. 2. You Must Remember This
"Exploring the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood's first century"
Love Hollywood? Karina Longworth does this one by herself with the occasional help of voice actors. Each season has a theme and she'll tell the story of a person, or an event that happened in Hollywood history. Unlike the Chicks she has no problem telling the stories of people who are currently living, however, much of her subjects are long gone. Although not my favorite, one season even focused in on the Charles Manson murders. Hollywood isn't all Good Ship Lollypop and Make 'Em Laugh. Another was the loves of Howard Hughes. Still another was about MGM stars. My only problem with Karina is because she's obviously a trained voice actor, she makes it obvious that she's a trained voice actor. Her diction and style is a little over the top. Now maybe that's the way she really speaks - and in that case - my bad. She too has show notes for further exploration.
"Just because it didn't happen doesn't mean it isn't real"
Sebastian Major is a Canadian history teacher that explores the stories of history and sifts through the hard evidence and the myths trying to figure out what's true and what just makes a good story. Sometimes he tackles well known subjects - like looking into whether the City of Atlantis really existed, and sometimes he speaks of things I never heard of before, like whether Elizabeth I was actually a man. Apparently that is a theory. I guess because it just isn't possible for a woman to rule so effectively. They had to explain it somehow. By the way - did you know that Napoleon wasn't really all that short? He was average sized.
From the wives of Joseph Smith to contemporary strains of the practice today
This one gets me in trouble. I used to be an active Mormon in the mainstream LDS church. Those in the mainstream church don't like to talk about polygamy and they certainly don't associate themselves with the current polygamous groups. However all these Mormon groups do come from the same tree. So whenever I mention this a Mormon - either one I know or one I don't - gets upset and denies that polygamy exists in the Mormon church. Or ever existed. And how horrible of me to say this and to bring it up and then they school me on how the church doesn't practice polygamy - and then they go off on a huff. Lindsey Hanson-Park grew up in the mainstream LDS church. She is currently an activist and writer. The podcast was intended to go for 100 episodes and focused on the early church, but after a break she came back and the next 100 focuses on current polygamous groups. Each episode in the first 100 focuses on a particular woman and with it the beginnings of an American born religion that has gone world wide and has seen the members reach high political positions. The Mormons were pioneers that settled Utah, Idaho, parts of California and were in Las Vegas before it became the Las Vegas that we all know. Lindsey tells each woman's story and there's a part of us that cries out for what these women had to endure. For many of these women, unlike most women who make history, they weren't the actors in their lives, they were acted upon. And that's sad. 5. Criminal Broads "Wild women who've ended up on the wrong side of the law"
Like crime mixed up with women's history? Well, that's the tales that Tori Tefler tells (now say that 5 times real fast). Each podcast focuses on a woman of crime and although most of them are heinous and diabolical (another Elizabeth Bathory podcast?), some can gather our sympathy a little more, and some might even be called heroes. Tori tells the stories of the living and the dead. Some you will have heard of, but for many it will be something new. Did you know that the wildly funny play and movie, "Arsenic and Old Lace" was based on a real woman?
*****
Today's Canadian Woman is...
Janet Lunn (1928-2017)
Janet Lunn wrote historical fiction for young people. Janet Swoboda was born and raised in the United States. She went to college at Queens University in Kingston, Ontario where she met a Canadian, Richard Lunn. They married and she eventually became a citizen in 1963.
