A mother/daughter podcast exploring history and culture through the lens of our family's letters from WWII. Each episode we read new letters and explore other stories related to our central theme. You can start from the beginning for our full family history, or jump into the episode that has a theme most appealing to you.
It’s time for episode 10 – and the season finale! – of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today we are going to bend time and cover letters from both Jack and Lily from January 29 – 31 which we wanted to present together to for the sake of our theme, duty. Listen to celebrate a milestone in our amazing journey, good news for A, and reflections fitting to air the week of an election and Veterans’ Day.
Sources:
Why Voting Is Important (https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/why-voting-important)
WHY SHOULD YOU VOTE? (https://aactnow.org/why-vote/)
Why Voting Matters? (https://www.vwu.edu/campus-life/wesleyan-engaged/why-voting-matters.php)
Is it irrational to vote? (https://www.economist.com/democracy-in-america/2012/10/23/is-it-irrational-to-vote?utm_medium=cpc.adword.pd&utm_source=google&ppccampaignID=17210591673&ppcadID=&utm_campaign=a.22brand_pmax&utm_content=conversion.direct-response.anonymous&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsrWZBhC4ARIsAGGUJurSR1ORcWQxo5m_m_rtVdZr8wFHbxxhk6kdA9OO7MXN1g5gPxGgPdEaAsVQEALw_wcB&gclsrc=aw.ds)
A New Solution to the Collective Action Problem: The Paradox of Voter Turnout (https://www.jstor.org/stable/2657465)
"10 Examples of Patriotism That Parents Should Teach Their Kids: What should American children know about our country, and how can parents instill patriotism for kids at their home?", Megan Krueger, Metro Parent, May 17, 2022
A challenge to all Americans, Opinion Piece, The Denver Post, January 20, 2009
8 Nov 2022
January 30-31, 1943: Family
It’s time for episode 9 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today is a double feature from Jack and we will talk about the theme of family. Listen for puns, the movie Keke never expected Mik to have seen, and to catch up on Jack’s military duties.
Sources:
Blended Family Statistics: A Deeper Look Into the Structure By Kristin McCarthy M.Ed. (https://family.lovetoknow.com/co-parenting/blended-family-statistics)
Seven Tips for Stepfamily Success (https://www.gottman.com/blog/seven-tips-for-stepfamily-success/)
Right to marry and found family: a most challenged human right in post modern era (https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40901-020-00119-8)
Found Family: Literature That Celebrates Families of Choice (https://www.nypl.org/blog/2020/12/09/found-family-literature-celebrates-families-choice)
Family of Choice (https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/FamilyOfChoice)
the importance of found families for lgbtq youth, especially in a crisis (https://www.glaad.org/amp/importance-of-found-families-lgbtq-youth)
1 Nov 2022
January 28-29, 1943: Gender Roles
It’s time for episode 8 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today is a treat – we get to hear from both Jack and Lily as we talk about the theme of gender roles. Listen for the best Twitter handle of all time, scathing vintage insults, and the start of an envelope mystery.
Sources:
@paulisci
25 Oct 2022
January 28, 1943: Education
It’s time for episode 7 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today we get to hear from Lily, and we talk about our theme, education. Listen for the last letter before Lily’s big graduation, find out a secret threat to Hitler, and more Pawtucket discourse.
Sources:
Over-education, under-education and credentialism (https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED535568.pdf)
Almost a third of graduates 'overeducated' for their job (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-48091971)
A college degree isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, and many US workers are ‘over-educated’ relative to their jobs: The Economist (https://www.cnbc.com/2018/02/03/many-us-workers-are-over-educated-relative-to-their-jobs-the-economist.html)
The Fate of the Overeducated and Underemployed (https://slate.com/business/2014/06/overeducated-americans-a-new-study-looks-at-the-fate-of-underemployed-graduates.html)
18 Oct 2022
January 27, 1943: Reputation
It’s time for episode 6 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today we get to hear from BOTH Jack and Lily and we talk about Reputation. Listen for an obvious Taylor Swift joke, brand management tips, and to find out what the other kids were saying about Lily.
Sources:
Trainwreck, Jude Doyle
Reputation Repair: 6 Tips to Fix a Bad Reputation, November 23, 2020 Blog (https://lisalarter.com/reputation-repair/)
How to you rebuild your reputation if you fall from grace, Alex Crimmins (https://www.thecorporategovernanceinstitute.com/insights/guides/how-can-i-get-my-good-reputation-back/)
11 Oct 2022
January 26, 1943, again: "Dating" on Bases
It’s time for episode 5 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today we read a letter from Jack and talk about our theme “dating” on military bases. Listen for a new perspective on the ways that war can hurt local women.
Sources:
WWI Victory Girls Poster (https://www.digitalcommonwealth.org/search/commonwealth-oai:w3763816q)
The Forgotten Generation: American Children and World War II, Chapter 7 Zoot Suits and Victory Girls, Lissa Ossain
Anderson, Karen. 1981. Wartime Women: Sex Roles, Family Relations, and the Status of Women during World War II. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
U.S. troops used Japanese brothels after WWII (https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna18355292)
During World War II, Sex Was a National-Security Threat (https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2015/10/during-world-war-ii-sexually-active-women-were-a-national-security-threat/409555/)
4 Oct 2022
January 26, 1943: Dating in the 1940s
It’s time for episode 4 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today we continue to make up for the lack of Lily in our early episodes with two more of her letters and talk about our theme, dating in the 1940s. Listen to hear the best dating advice the times had to offer, dandruff, and common threads in Keke’s love life.
Sources:
The Dos and Don'ts of 1940s Dating Etiquette (https://www.history.com/news/1949-dating-etiquette-school-health-film)
'Mental Hygiene' Films, Lost and Found Sound: School Movies Used for Social Education (https://www.npr.org/1999/11/12/3304078/mental-hygiene-films)
James Dougherty, 84; Was Married to Marilyn Monroe Before She Became a Star (https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-aug-18-me-dougherty18-story.html)
James Dougherty, Monroe's First Husband (https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4809027)
Marilyn and Her Monsters (https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2010/11/marilyn-monroe-201011)
27 Sept 2022
January 25, 1943: Young Love
It’s time for episode 3 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! Today we FINALLY hear from Lily and talk about our theme, young love. Listen to meet Lily, speculate on how her life might be different if she were born today, and get a glimpse into the Brava side of the family. Oh, and there’s drama spaghetti.
Sources:
Why Can Teens be Such Drama Queens? (https://www.leidenpsychologyblog.nl/articles/why-can-teens-be-such-drama-queens)
Experiencing Teen Drama Overload? Blame Biology (https://www.npr.org/2010/08/16/129150658/experiencing-teen-drama-overload-blame-biology)
Young Love Can Be A Confusing Emotion (https://www.betterhelp.com/advice/love/young-love-can-be-a-confusing-emotion/)
20 Sept 2022
January 22-23, 1943: Rhode Island
It’s episode 2 of your favorite program, Our Letters, Ourselves! We’ll read two more letters from Jack and talk about the best little state, Rhode Island. Listen to meet some of the extended family and learn more about Rhode Island than you thought you needed to know!
Sources:
http://ri.gov (http://ri.gov/)
13 Sept 2022
January 19, 1943: Quarantine
Welcome to the very first episode of Our Letters, Ourselves! In this episode you’ll meet at our hosts, Mik Cardoza and Keke Almeida and learn about how they came into possession of over 500 letters from World War II. Mik will read the first letter from Jack, and we’ll dive into this week’s related theme, quarantine. Listen to find out what Day 1 of training in the Coast Guard looks like, scratch the surface of public policy challenges, and find out Mik’s unlikely high school mascot.
Sources:
CDC History of Quarantine (https://www.cdc.gov/quarantine/historyquarantine.html)
A brief history of quarantines in the United States, Josh Hicks, The Washington Post, October 7, 2014 (https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/federal-eye/wp/2014/10/07/a-brief-history-of-quarantines-in-the-united-states/)
National Museum of American History Behring Center (https://americanhistory.si.edu/collections/search/object/nmah_1292351)
She remembers another quarantine in 1948: scarlet fever [I Know a Story column]
ANNE RHOADS BROCKLEY SPECIAL TO LNP May 31, 2020, LNP Lancaster Online (https://lancasteronline.com/she-remembers-another-quarantine-in-1948-scarlet-fever-i-know-a-story-column/article_25e2110c-a2fb-11ea-8fcc-135d306e820a.html)
The Frightening History of Typhoid Mary, Veronique Greenwood, March 2015 (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-frightening-legacy-of-typhoid-mary-180954324/)
How Typhoid Mary left a trail of scandal and death, Kevin Connolly, April 20, 2020 (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-52291327)
11 Sept 2022
Teaser: September 10, 2022
Announcing a new podcast from mother/daughter duo Mik Cardoza and Keke Almeida. Part family saga, part history, part cultural reflection, join us each week as we learn about Jack and Lily Cardoza's (Mik's parents and Keke's grandparents) lives during World War II and explore other stories related to the letters' theme.
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