Shownotes
Grace revisits her first encounter with her friend, Rosemarie, which led to her joining a group of New Yorker magazine readers who meet monthly. The women, varying in age and backgrounds, share their political beliefs, memorable experiences, and the influence of past events like JFK's assassination and the Vietnam War. They discuss topics like education, healthcare, and state politics, highlighting mutual respect and the value of multigenerational dialogue. Grace wraps up the episode with a collective agreement on political stances and the importance of diverse, respectful conversations.
00:00 Introduction to Frogmore Stew
00:35 Meeting Rosemarie and the New Yorker Group
01:39 Diverse Backgrounds and Shared Experiences
03:05 Memorable Political Events
07:13 Developing Political Beliefs
11:53 Political Beliefs and Marriage
15:44 Current Issues in South Carolina
19:03 Conversations Across Differences
26:13 Reflections on the Group's Impact
29:32 Conclusion and Credits
Copyright 2024 Grace Cowan
Transcripts
[00:00:04] Nancy: My name is Nancy and I'm 77.
[:[00:00:13] Lyn: And I'm Lynn also with one N. And I'm 76.
[:[00:00:22] Wynn: Wynn and I'm 54.
[:[00:00:27] Lucy: Lucy and I'm 69.
[:[00:00:38] Susan: The death of John F. Kennedy.
[:[00:00:44] Susan: It rocked my world. I thought assassinations were a thing of history, not present in the current day.
[:[00:00:57] Susan: Definitely.
[:[00:01:17] Nancy: So it was a horrible situation, but it was really painful for me to deal with that divide in perspective.
[:
[00:01:48] Lynn: And from then on, My eyes were opened in a completely different way.
[:[00:02:22] Lyn: You just couldn't believe that somebody with such gifts would be taken out so brutally.
[:[00:02:48] Gail: And I think that distrust has been, divisive and dangerous. And, it, it's brought some good in terms of accountability. But it's definitely, led to, distrust.
[:[00:03:11] Wynn: It was the year my son was born. And I remember cutting out the article and putting it in his baby book and seeing it as a monster win for, this country.
[:[00:03:42] Rebecca: And so anyway, it was, but it was, I remember just thinking, Oh my God, I'm gonna, I'm so screwed. I'm going to have a police record and stuff. Yeah.
[:[00:04:02] Lucy: We all were riveted at the TV for days as that was unfolding. I remember being on vacation in high school we were in Phoenix, Arizona and Nixon resigned. I remember that speech and those would probably be, the two most important. I, for me personally, when, there was the war in Iraq and Kuwait, my husband was directly sent over there, as a doctor to.
[:[00:04:34] Grace: And okay, the next question is, How did you develop your political beliefs? And how did your parents influence your political beliefs?
[:[00:05:08] Wynn: But, there was not a lot of discussion about it. I learned through, college probably is where I really started to get.
[:[00:05:29] Grace: Did that create anything between you and your parents?
[:[00:05:58] Rebecca: I was, brought up in a family that saw both sides, I think. And my father was a big labor union advocate because he was a sharecropper, only went to the third grade, and ended up getting a job that paid decently and had health insurance for his children through labor unions. So we've always been very big on labor unions in my family.
[:[00:06:34] Nancy: I guess, in thinking about that, my parents asked questions that made you think, and, wanted you to learn what was going on and make a reasoned, decision about anything, and in applied to politics, growing up in Arkansas, we had Governor Faubus, who you all know about Central High, but then we had Fulbright as our senator.
[:[00:07:25] Nancy: I think the only time they would have been concerned about my political action is when the Kent State happened, because I was in Cleveland going to grad school. And, classes stopped, the uproar, and several of us drove to D. C. for the march. And I don't think they would have been thrilled with that activity.
[:[00:07:52] Lucy: Because my husband was in the military, we lived in different states. We've lived in five or six different states, and you realize how unique a state can be in terms of their political, feelings. We lived in California, and we've lived in Georgia, we've lived in Texas, and each state informs, the people there have a certain attitude about things.
[:[00:08:51] Grace: So one two, three, four, five six seven out of the eight or nine of us have been married do you, or did you have the same beliefs as your husband?
[:[00:09:13] Grace: And did you know that about him before you married him?
[:[00:09:17] Grace: Okay. All right.
[:[00:09:28] Lynn: But at the time, my revelations about the civil rights and all that, had not occurred yet. And we really didn't discuss politics very much. He was a wonderful father to my children, our children. My second husband was Italian and he was, he made the mistake of telling me when we met that he wanted to be different.
[:[00:10:02] Lynn: Because he had been really conservative and he and his older son used to, fight a lot about the Vietnam war. That was before I knew him. But he began to change because we talked a lot about things and I'd read to him from magazine articles that I liked. And, so I would say that he became more liberal and it was very different for him because he had not grown up in that atmosphere.
[:[00:10:54] Grace: What if you believed similar things, but voted for different people?
[:[00:11:06] Lyn: And I had that situation, but it was only in the primary. And it was because I wanted a good Republican candidate to run against the Democrat because it was in the primary stage, and I was afraid that the person I didn't want was going to get it, and at least I wanted a good outcome.
[:[00:11:41] Grace: Yeah. Okay. Okay.
[:[00:11:54] Wynn: I do follow policy, and I do have strong opinions about certain issues. And my husband and I do not always agree on those. We talk immensely about them, but he is caring and kind, but we just don't always see eye to eye, and it does not seem to be a problem for the two of us.
[:[00:12:39] Lucy: My husband and myself are pretty much on the same page.
[:[00:12:52] Wynn: I think it'd be Roe v. Wade and the ramification that it's being overturned might be the single largest policy that I'm concerned with in the state of South Carolina.
[:[00:13:09] Wynn: Yes.
[:[00:13:11] Rebecca: Probably the only thing besides that and I don't know. And all of the obvious things is the nonstop development really bothers me. I'm seeing trees cut down all the time. I just spent a week at Edisto Island. I'm in love with the trees. Like, why are we cutting them down everywhere in Charleston?
[:[00:13:37] Lucy: I'm showing my bias, but, I really would love both parties to really address the state of education in South Carolina. Education. I think really looking at real issues and real solutions.
[:[00:14:12] Nancy: I'm stuck because I was going to talk about supporting education and not just books and, but teachers and salaries and the narrow mindedness and really not focusing on it and how short sighted that is because the state's operation depends on a thinking literate society and I don't think we're doing that.
[:[00:14:51] Lynn: I'm also very concerned about the state of education because one of my daughters was a teacher but could not bear the kinds of issues that came up and that she was subject to. And so she left the teaching profession because she just could not take it anymore. She still misses teaching and she has another good job where she has much better hours, more pay.
[:[00:15:29] Lyn: And for me it would be gerrymandering. I would like to see people like Nancy Mace not have, an advantage because of the boundaries that have been altered.
[:[00:15:42] Gail: I think education is number one, but number two for me is the healthcare. The fact that, for example, we have not expanded medicaid, so we have, really, locked, thousands of people out of care that they really need.
[:[00:16:11] Grace: And are you able to have conversations with them? people in your, age range that is my mother in law would say in your vintage that, think similarly to you, or are you even able to have a conversation with them about any sort of politics?
[:[00:16:36] Lynn: And, it, it points to me, That when I see a black person, for example, we have many black people living here. I make assumptions that simply aren't true. And, and other older people that I think are going to be more conservative or, not like me in the way I think. And I've been so surprised and delighted that they're
[:[00:17:15] Grace: do you feel like people are more moderate and so you can have conversations or so the extremism isn't there in what people are being made to believe?
[:[00:17:42] Lynn: So that's been nice.
[:[00:18:07] Nancy: And folks who I wasn't sure how they felt about politics comment. "Thank you for wearing it". And then we have these delightful political conversations. And it, I don't know if Gail's had a similar experience. And so that's been great And we have a large group of people that we know who do believe politically the same, but it's nice that we know how to have conversations when we don't always agree.
[:[00:18:46] Nancy: Or go to lectures or whatever. So it's very, refined and congenial.
[:[00:18:57] Rebecca: I'm very open to it because it's not me. It's them, so for example, I have a hair, a person who does my hair and she is for Trump and she actually goes to Trump rallies and I know when I go see her once every two months, I'm going to hear something that I'm like, Wow, and she goes and she's not stupid.
[:[00:19:36] Rebecca: So I like her. I, one of my friends said I wouldn't have hairstyles, I would not do that. And I said, I think it's fascinating. I agree.
[:[00:19:46] Rebecca: She does. Thank you. I'm still dying my hair at seven three and she does it.
[:[00:19:57] Wynn: My fiscal policy would be the most conservative edge for me.
[:[00:20:05] Wynn: No, but you have to pay for things. We can't just endlessly accrue debt. If there's a plan that makes sense, I'm all for social services on every level.
[:[00:20:53] Rebecca: Probably the most conservative for me is that my husband was in the intelligence committee for, I don't know, 15 years. And, So we've had a lot of people at our house from the intelligence community, and I'm glad that there's a lot of careful, work being done behind the scenes to make sure we're all safe.
[:[00:21:14] Lucy: I think at times, and it seems like in certain situations, the bureaucracy to get something done can be overwhelming. And I, do. Believe in regulations for things, obviously, but sometimes it seems like, okay, to get this done, you have to do this, and then this, and sometimes that's exhausting, but that's probably where I feel like we need to streamline this a little bit.
[:[00:22:14] Susan: In a big way, because I think there's plenty of money out there. We just need to figure out to look at it really open mindedly, not like, well, we've always done it this way, nothing barred from discussion. What would be the best if we were to revamp it?
[:[00:22:40] Lyn: Oh, bright women. And wonderful conversations that can spin off into various topics that you didn't even know existed. This has been fabulous.
[:[00:22:54] Lynn: I agree with what she said, I think we all come from very different backgrounds and it's so interesting to read an article and then hear what each of us brings to the article and the way we interpret it or understand it. I think it's a wonderful thing. I love being in this group.
[:[00:23:41] Wynn: And I would agree with all that's been said, but the lack of judgment, if somebody does have a difference of opinion, it has never, ever been a problem, never been a problem, like not even a hiccup. And I think that openness and perspective of all different ages is so enlightening and rewarding and I'm so optimistic about the way things go in this room and I think it could be duped elsewhere.
[:[00:24:22] Susan: I think it's incredible that we have so many educated people from different, Walks of life and there is no pecking order whatsoever. It is one of total respect for people's opinions and I try to do that when we were talking earlier about, Do talk to other people with different opinions, and I think respect is the key if they sense that you respect them Then they will start opening up to you, and you might even find that you have some things in common That if you stayed on the opposite edges, you would never know
[:[00:25:17] Nancy: The other thing is, I, it's interesting how people pick the articles that we read. And sometimes an article is suggested and I'm thinking, why did they pick that? And, Then I read it and I think about it, and then I come here and, oh, I never thought of it that way. . And so it's been, enlightening.
[:[00:25:39] Lyn: and in general, a spur to read to go to the articles and just
[:[00:25:49] Group: No.
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