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Eleanor Roosevelt Frances Podcast TTT Remembering Season 2 The Great Depression

Season 2.Episode 23: Frances on Embracing Change in the 1930’s

Welcome to Tea, Toast and Trivia.  

Thank you for listening in. 

A few weeks ago, Frances and I were discussing the Great Depression, the severe worldwide economic depression of the 1930’s, which started in 1929.  We still talk about with the market crash of October 29, 1929 known as Black Tuesday.  It was a decade that experienced the most extensive, deepest, and most widespread depression in the 20th century.  It gripped the entire world with devastating consequences.  Unemployment was as high as 25% in the United States and for some countries, unemployment rose as high as 33%.  Frances lived through the decade of the 1930’s and has talked about those years in a series of podcasts.  

This podcast is about the transition between the 1920’s, a decade of plenty and the 1930’s, the decade that would change the world.

Frances and my discussion occurred before we knew that our world would soon face a global challenge,  Frances’s memories remind us that by working together we can overcome this challenge.  So put the kettle on and add to the discussion. Frances and I look forward to your insights on TeaToastTrivia.com.

I am your host Rebecca Budd and I’m looking forward to sharing this moment with you.

Thank you for joining Frances and me on Tea Toast and Trivia. One last thought – comes from Eleanor Roosevelt:

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt, You Learn by Living: Eleven Keys for a More Fulfilling Life

By Rebecca Budd

Blogger, Visual Storyteller, Podcaster, Traveler and Life-long Learner

8 replies on “Season 2.Episode 23: Frances on Embracing Change in the 1930’s”

Such a relevant and inspiring conversation. Isn’t it sad now that people are mostly forbidden from gathering in order to benefit from that community spirit your mother’s generation embodied so well? Today, no one is addressing the emotional, mental and spiritual aspects of isolation which are so critical. I think that’s where our blogging community can really assist, by providing encouragement and support across this distance. Somewhat on topic, have you seen the film Interstellar? You’d enjoy it for so many reasons. Hugs to you and yours 🙂

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I am so glad you enjoyed this podcast, which was “taped” weeks before we knew that we would be facing another global challenge. In the 1930’s farmers were separated by distance of several miles, without the benefit of any technology to connect them. Telephones were just beginning to come to communities. Many relied on horses to go from point A to point B. So getting together was essential. My great-grandmother was so lonely when she first came to Nebraska that she talked with the cows. Our world has technology that connects us across the globe. The question then becomes, will technology be able to fulfill the “emotional, mental and spiritual aspects.” We are “herding” creatures that require companionship. I agree wholeheartedly – our blogging community has learned how to overcome the idea of location, which is a construct, and connect through art, photography, books, poetry, conversation. I’m off to find Interstellar. I do enjoy our conversations.

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Thank you Frances and Rebecca! That was entertaining and enlightening.
I have memories of the 30’s related to me by my family. They were farmers in the prairies.
Also, my latest Art Gown I’m working on is inspired by the 1920’s. In the main book I am using, there is constant reference to to the 20’s crashing into the 30’s. Really a crazy thing!
At least when we get through this Covid, there won’t be a drought, and we can grow food. However, I suppose I shouldn’t count carrots and onions, yet!

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Thank you for listening in, Resa. I have been following the UN Food and Agricultural Organization on Instagram for updates on the food supply and the impact of Covid 19. The Covid19 journey is in the beginning stages. At present, we have adequate food supply, but according to the FAO, policy makers must be very careful. This is the most recent info from the FOA:

“Currently, some 820 million people around the world are experiencing chronic hunger – not eating enough caloric energy to live normal lives. Of these, 113 million are coping with acute severe insecurity – hunger so severe that it poses an immediate threat to their lives or livelihoods and renders them reliant on external assistance to survive. These people can ill-afford any potential further disruptions to their livelihoods or access to food that COVID-19 might bring.

If COVID-19 cases, already present in most world regions, proliferate in the 44 countries that need external food assistance – or in the 53 countries home to 113 million people experiencing acute severe food insecurity, many of whose public health and social protection systems face capacity constraints – the consequences could be drastic.”

Frances remembers the steps that FD Roosevelt took during the 1930s – policies that helped a nation get back on track. I believe Canada will be leading with a stellar example of how to respond in these times. We are on a hero’s journey, together.

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Crazy!
When I was 7, I went to live with my grandparents. (why is Long story on its own)
I hadn’t been to school since early October, now it was February. The school I went to was the only school in Winnipeg that said if I could catch up with a B average (and they had already learned to write in grade 2) they wouldn’t count lost days, and I could pass.
So, I would stay up until midnight every night, teaching myself to write, and catching up on the readers and grammar and math workbooks.
My grandparents would watch the 11:00 news every night (CBC),and I could hear everything from the kitchen table.
I heard about children and moms and dads dying in war in India/Pakistan. I heard about droughts and starving children and people. Many times I cried.
Nothing has really changed, except that there are WAY more people now. Way more war, refugees, starvation.
Man, as a whole, in spite of all the good/generous/well meaning people, still has a long way to go. Crazy!
Of course… I never joined the Red Cross… or did anything more than have peaceful philosophies, a creative personal reality and give to charities.
On a happier note: I passed with a big old A and a gold star on my report card.
We have some fab conversations. History is important, as it teaches. This is part of why Frances is such a gem!
HUGS… and to Frances!

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Your narrative is a confirmation that we have the power to withstand injustice and social inequities because we embrace peaceful philosophies. Only a few will be remembered in history for their courage, altruism, or noble deeds. But if you look closely at how these people are remembered, we see they are remembered as the symbol for a courageous generation. We remember in symbols more than in facts. I will remember your story because I visualize a child at a kitchen table listening. That is a marvelous symbol for me. A child’s awareness of the world’s complexities and a nascent desire to seek positive outcomes for all. As Jane Goodall says so eloquently, “Every individual matters. Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.” Hugs and love coming your way.

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