1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:13,640 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello, and welcome to the podcast. 3 00:00:13,720 --> 00:00:14,520 Speaker 2: I'm Tracy V. 4 00:00:14,640 --> 00:00:18,360 Speaker 3: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. Before we start today's episode, 5 00:00:18,360 --> 00:00:19,279 Speaker 3: we have an announcement. 6 00:00:19,480 --> 00:00:20,000 Speaker 1: We sure do. 7 00:00:20,680 --> 00:00:27,280 Speaker 3: Yeah, we are going to Morocco in November. Very exciting. 8 00:00:27,600 --> 00:00:30,680 Speaker 3: This is our next trip that we'll be having through 9 00:00:30,760 --> 00:00:36,000 Speaker 3: Defined Destinations. You can find out more about this trip 10 00:00:36,080 --> 00:00:41,479 Speaker 3: at Defined Destinations dot Com. The trip is called a 11 00:00:41,520 --> 00:00:45,360 Speaker 3: Taste of Morocco. They have a different Morocco trip that's 12 00:00:45,400 --> 00:00:47,800 Speaker 3: coming up in the incredibly near future, like just in 13 00:00:47,840 --> 00:00:49,840 Speaker 3: a couple or three weeks. I think it's not that trip. 14 00:00:50,120 --> 00:00:53,320 Speaker 3: It's the one that's in November. We'll be talking more 15 00:00:53,360 --> 00:00:55,320 Speaker 3: about this at the end of the episode today, but 16 00:00:55,400 --> 00:00:57,040 Speaker 3: I wanted to go ahead and put it out there 17 00:00:57,080 --> 00:00:57,720 Speaker 3: at the beginning. 18 00:00:57,800 --> 00:00:58,920 Speaker 2: We're going to Morocco. 19 00:00:59,000 --> 00:01:01,360 Speaker 3: If you want to pause episode right now and go 20 00:01:01,440 --> 00:01:04,800 Speaker 3: to Defined Destinations dot Com to see about it, you 21 00:01:04,840 --> 00:01:05,400 Speaker 3: can do that. 22 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:08,880 Speaker 2: We're talking about it more at the end though. Yeah. 23 00:01:08,959 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 2: I'm very excited me too. 24 00:01:12,600 --> 00:01:16,399 Speaker 3: In terms of today's episode, I was looking for a 25 00:01:16,440 --> 00:01:20,319 Speaker 3: topic that had something to do with conservation or nature 26 00:01:20,720 --> 00:01:23,720 Speaker 3: or environmentalism. That was just what I felt like talking 27 00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:27,280 Speaker 3: about at the moment, and that ultimately led me to 28 00:01:27,440 --> 00:01:31,399 Speaker 3: Mary Hunter Austin. She published most of her work just 29 00:01:31,520 --> 00:01:34,600 Speaker 3: under the name Mary Austin, but since there are some 30 00:01:34,760 --> 00:01:38,160 Speaker 3: other historical Mary Austin's, I put the Hunter in there 31 00:01:38,560 --> 00:01:42,080 Speaker 3: for clarity in the title of the episode. I was 32 00:01:42,120 --> 00:01:44,960 Speaker 3: initially drawn to her story because one of the things 33 00:01:45,000 --> 00:01:47,440 Speaker 3: that she became known for was walking, and I do 34 00:01:47,520 --> 00:01:50,400 Speaker 3: love a walk. I usually walk in the woods, though, 35 00:01:50,720 --> 00:01:53,600 Speaker 3: and Austin's walks were mostly through the deserts of the 36 00:01:53,640 --> 00:01:57,760 Speaker 3: American Southwest, which she came to just deeply love. She's 37 00:01:57,800 --> 00:02:01,040 Speaker 3: been compared to people like John Muir, but she doesn't 38 00:02:01,080 --> 00:02:05,920 Speaker 3: have nearly that kind of name recognition today. Mary Austin 39 00:02:06,080 --> 00:02:08,640 Speaker 3: was a complicated person with a complicated life. 40 00:02:08,639 --> 00:02:10,800 Speaker 2: So it turns out there is not nearly as. 41 00:02:10,760 --> 00:02:13,640 Speaker 3: Much walking in the desert as I thought I was 42 00:02:13,680 --> 00:02:17,160 Speaker 3: going to get going into this episode. Also as a 43 00:02:17,200 --> 00:02:21,640 Speaker 3: heads up, this episode includes some pretty troubling stuff involving 44 00:02:21,680 --> 00:02:24,119 Speaker 3: her daughter, Ruth, who was disabled. 45 00:02:25,280 --> 00:02:30,320 Speaker 1: Mary Hunter was born September ninth, eighteen sixty eight, in Carlinville, Illinois. 46 00:02:30,960 --> 00:02:33,560 Speaker 1: She was the fourth of six children born to George 47 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,160 Speaker 1: and Susannah Graham Hunter. George was a lawyer who had 48 00:02:37,200 --> 00:02:40,400 Speaker 1: immigrated from England in eighteen fifty one, and he had 49 00:02:40,440 --> 00:02:43,840 Speaker 1: served in the US Army during the Civil War. The 50 00:02:43,919 --> 00:02:47,160 Speaker 1: family spent much of Mary's childhood living on a farm 51 00:02:47,240 --> 00:02:48,160 Speaker 1: outside of town. 52 00:02:49,280 --> 00:02:52,880 Speaker 3: Mary really idolized her father. He loved to read, and 53 00:02:52,919 --> 00:02:55,400 Speaker 3: she loved to spend time in his study, which was 54 00:02:55,480 --> 00:02:59,520 Speaker 3: just full of books. She never really connected to her mother. 55 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:02,600 Speaker 3: That she felt a need to have a relationship with 56 00:03:02,639 --> 00:03:07,239 Speaker 3: her mother, but that relationship could be very tumultuous. Susannah 57 00:03:07,280 --> 00:03:10,440 Speaker 3: was a strict Methodist who was very focused on religion 58 00:03:10,639 --> 00:03:14,919 Speaker 3: and respectability, and she later became involved in temperance organizations 59 00:03:15,040 --> 00:03:23,200 Speaker 3: like the Women's Christian Temperance Union. Meanwhile, Mary was simultaneously intelligent, sensitive, stubborn, 60 00:03:23,320 --> 00:03:27,800 Speaker 3: and rebellious. Punishment, for example, was just not really a 61 00:03:27,880 --> 00:03:30,640 Speaker 3: deterrent to her. She would sort of do whatever she 62 00:03:30,720 --> 00:03:34,320 Speaker 3: wanted and deal with the consequences later. She felt like 63 00:03:34,360 --> 00:03:37,640 Speaker 3: her family didn't really understand her, and she was also 64 00:03:37,840 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 3: awkward and didn't have a lot of friends except for 65 00:03:40,520 --> 00:03:43,680 Speaker 3: her younger sister Jenny, who she was very close to. 66 00:03:44,520 --> 00:03:48,800 Speaker 1: As an adult. Austin was known for her spirituality and mysticism, 67 00:03:49,200 --> 00:03:52,840 Speaker 1: and she claimed to be clairvoyant. This started at a 68 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:57,640 Speaker 1: very early age. She described herself as seeing things like 69 00:03:58,080 --> 00:04:01,160 Speaker 1: mystical images that she wasn't sure if anyone else saw, 70 00:04:01,280 --> 00:04:04,400 Speaker 1: and of having memories of things that had happened before 71 00:04:04,400 --> 00:04:08,080 Speaker 1: she was born. She would also announce what she thought 72 00:04:08,120 --> 00:04:11,800 Speaker 1: other people were thinking or feeling, leaving her mother to 73 00:04:11,840 --> 00:04:14,080 Speaker 1: say that she thought Mary was possessed. 74 00:04:15,400 --> 00:04:18,320 Speaker 3: By the age of four or five, Mary had started 75 00:04:18,360 --> 00:04:22,320 Speaker 3: to conceive of herself as two Mary's the regular Mary 76 00:04:22,400 --> 00:04:25,440 Speaker 3: who was sort of lonely and uncertain and always at 77 00:04:25,440 --> 00:04:29,279 Speaker 3: odds with her family, and then I Mary, who was 78 00:04:29,320 --> 00:04:31,320 Speaker 3: an inner self who was beyond and. 79 00:04:31,320 --> 00:04:32,120 Speaker 2: Above all of that. 80 00:04:32,880 --> 00:04:35,960 Speaker 3: Later on, she described this inner self as the source 81 00:04:36,000 --> 00:04:40,440 Speaker 3: of her writing. She also had a profound spiritual experience 82 00:04:40,480 --> 00:04:43,680 Speaker 3: at about that same age, sitting under a walnut tree, 83 00:04:43,880 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 3: in which she was just struck with a sudden awareness 84 00:04:46,839 --> 00:04:50,440 Speaker 3: of everything around her and a profound sense of wonder, 85 00:04:50,520 --> 00:04:52,280 Speaker 3: which she connected to God. 86 00:04:53,320 --> 00:04:57,159 Speaker 1: George Hunter had contracted malaria while serving in the Civil War, 87 00:04:57,720 --> 00:05:01,760 Speaker 1: and he was chronically ill throughout Mary's childchildhood. He died 88 00:05:01,839 --> 00:05:05,160 Speaker 1: in October of eighteen seventy eight when Mary was about ten. 89 00:05:06,160 --> 00:05:10,760 Speaker 1: Then a couple of months later, Mary contracted diphtheria as 90 00:05:10,760 --> 00:05:14,359 Speaker 1: she was recovering, her sister Jenny got it to and 91 00:05:14,440 --> 00:05:18,560 Speaker 1: Jenny did not survive. Mary blamed herself for having gotten 92 00:05:18,600 --> 00:05:22,080 Speaker 1: her sister sick, and her mother blamed her as well. 93 00:05:22,920 --> 00:05:26,560 Speaker 1: At Jenny's funeral, Mary overheard her mother ask someone why 94 00:05:26,640 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: it couldn't have been Mary who died rather than her sister. 95 00:05:31,760 --> 00:05:35,040 Speaker 3: After these deaths, the family left their farm and they 96 00:05:35,080 --> 00:05:38,520 Speaker 3: moved into Carlonville. Susannah got a job as a nurse 97 00:05:38,560 --> 00:05:42,000 Speaker 3: while she waited for approval on a widow's pension. With 98 00:05:42,080 --> 00:05:44,560 Speaker 3: her mother working, Mary took on a lot of the 99 00:05:44,640 --> 00:05:48,120 Speaker 3: household work, as well as the care of her baby brother, George. 100 00:05:48,680 --> 00:05:51,960 Speaker 3: She spent more and more time alone, reading and writing. 101 00:05:52,720 --> 00:05:56,039 Speaker 3: Susannah joined the Carlonville branch of the Chautauqua Literary and 102 00:05:56,120 --> 00:06:00,080 Speaker 3: Scientific Circle, and Mary started using their home study courses 103 00:06:00,120 --> 00:06:04,400 Speaker 3: to learn about literature and science. After reading a Chautauqua 104 00:06:04,520 --> 00:06:09,039 Speaker 3: course in geology, she became particularly fascinated with fossils and 105 00:06:09,120 --> 00:06:13,360 Speaker 3: started collecting them. Mary was bright and a good student 106 00:06:13,839 --> 00:06:16,320 Speaker 3: when she first started school. She was so far ahead 107 00:06:16,320 --> 00:06:19,039 Speaker 3: of her peers that she was placed in third grade. 108 00:06:19,800 --> 00:06:22,720 Speaker 3: In eighteen eighty four, at the age of sixteen, she 109 00:06:22,839 --> 00:06:27,520 Speaker 3: enrolled at Blackburn College in Carlonville, Illinois. She started out 110 00:06:27,600 --> 00:06:31,680 Speaker 3: studying art, but then changed to science. While she wanted 111 00:06:31,680 --> 00:06:34,080 Speaker 3: to be a writer, she thought she could master english 112 00:06:34,120 --> 00:06:37,440 Speaker 3: and writing on her own, and she wanted to dedicate 113 00:06:37,440 --> 00:06:42,000 Speaker 3: her college education to something else. Mary had a series 114 00:06:42,040 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 3: of illnesses, some of them pretty serious really, throughout her life, 115 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:49,400 Speaker 3: and her college education was interrupted after she got a 116 00:06:49,520 --> 00:06:52,880 Speaker 3: cold that she couldn't seem to recover from. She had 117 00:06:52,880 --> 00:06:55,719 Speaker 3: to withdraw from Blackburn, and then once she was better, 118 00:06:55,800 --> 00:06:59,120 Speaker 3: she enrolled at the State Normal School in Bloomington, Illinois. 119 00:07:00,160 --> 00:07:03,440 Speaker 3: Quickly realized that she did not like the curriculum there, 120 00:07:03,640 --> 00:07:06,200 Speaker 3: so she went back to Blackburn and she graduated in 121 00:07:06,240 --> 00:07:09,680 Speaker 3: eighteen eighty eight. She had to get extra tutoring to 122 00:07:09,760 --> 00:07:12,920 Speaker 3: make up for these interruptions in her coursework because her 123 00:07:12,960 --> 00:07:16,120 Speaker 3: mother had given her a deadline she was going to 124 00:07:16,200 --> 00:07:19,280 Speaker 3: cut off Mary's financial support for her education if she 125 00:07:19,400 --> 00:07:21,200 Speaker 3: missed that deadline. 126 00:07:21,280 --> 00:07:24,400 Speaker 1: By the time Mary graduated, her brother Jim had moved 127 00:07:24,440 --> 00:07:27,880 Speaker 1: to California's San Joaquin Valley and filed a claim on 128 00:07:27,960 --> 00:07:32,480 Speaker 1: a homestead there to recap. A series of homesteading laws 129 00:07:32,520 --> 00:07:36,239 Speaker 1: allowed people in the United States to claim purportedly public 130 00:07:36,320 --> 00:07:39,600 Speaker 1: lands for very little money under the condition that they 131 00:07:39,880 --> 00:07:42,760 Speaker 1: improve it, meaning that they had to settle on it 132 00:07:42,840 --> 00:07:46,160 Speaker 1: and cultivate it. But this was not vacant land that 133 00:07:46,280 --> 00:07:49,240 Speaker 1: was waiting to be occupied. It was the traditional and 134 00:07:49,320 --> 00:07:53,400 Speaker 1: ancestral homelands of indigenous nations and peoples who had been 135 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:57,640 Speaker 1: stripped of that land through wars, treaties, and forestry locations. 136 00:07:58,600 --> 00:08:01,400 Speaker 1: Jim asked his mother for permission to file a claim 137 00:08:01,440 --> 00:08:04,920 Speaker 1: on her behalf as well, and without really talking to 138 00:08:05,040 --> 00:08:08,800 Speaker 1: Mary about it, Susannah and Jim decided that Mary should 139 00:08:08,800 --> 00:08:11,480 Speaker 1: go to California too, with the hope that she would 140 00:08:11,480 --> 00:08:15,760 Speaker 1: claim land of her own. It might seem surprising that 141 00:08:15,840 --> 00:08:19,320 Speaker 1: Mary agreed to go. She didn't really even think that 142 00:08:19,360 --> 00:08:22,240 Speaker 1: her mother should go. She thought Jim should have the 143 00:08:22,280 --> 00:08:25,680 Speaker 1: opportunity to have his own life rather than going back 144 00:08:25,720 --> 00:08:28,480 Speaker 1: to being the head of his mother's household, which is 145 00:08:28,520 --> 00:08:32,959 Speaker 1: what he had done after their father's death. Mary's relationships 146 00:08:33,000 --> 00:08:36,439 Speaker 1: with both Susannah and Jim had also really gone downhill 147 00:08:36,520 --> 00:08:40,679 Speaker 1: after George's death, but Mary went and became both physically 148 00:08:40,760 --> 00:08:44,480 Speaker 1: and emotionally unwell during the trip west, to the point 149 00:08:44,520 --> 00:08:48,680 Speaker 1: that Susannah's letters to her friends described the trip as 150 00:08:48,880 --> 00:08:52,920 Speaker 1: almost killing her. Although Mary was struck by the beauty 151 00:08:53,000 --> 00:08:55,839 Speaker 1: of some of the landscapes that they traveled through, her 152 00:08:55,840 --> 00:09:00,640 Speaker 1: condition got worse after arriving in California. Living in a 153 00:09:00,679 --> 00:09:05,200 Speaker 1: barely furnished cabin without enough food to live on, Mary 154 00:09:05,480 --> 00:09:08,640 Speaker 1: was tasked with hunting rabbits and other small game, which 155 00:09:09,160 --> 00:09:12,760 Speaker 1: she did, but she hated killing animals, and she could 156 00:09:12,800 --> 00:09:14,680 Speaker 1: barely tolerate eating what she. 157 00:09:14,600 --> 00:09:15,280 Speaker 2: Had brought in. 158 00:09:16,160 --> 00:09:18,600 Speaker 1: She spent much of her time exploring the natural world 159 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:23,760 Speaker 1: around her, writing down her observations, and having strange visions 160 00:09:23,800 --> 00:09:28,000 Speaker 1: and premonitions. It's not totally clear whether these were spiritual 161 00:09:28,040 --> 00:09:32,959 Speaker 1: experiences or reflective of her mental state and persistent malnourishment. 162 00:09:34,120 --> 00:09:37,160 Speaker 1: They had arrived in California in the middle of a drought, 163 00:09:37,440 --> 00:09:42,160 Speaker 1: and Susannah and Jim really struggled with their homesteads. Mary 164 00:09:42,360 --> 00:09:45,040 Speaker 1: didn't wind up filing a homestead claim of her own, 165 00:09:45,320 --> 00:09:48,000 Speaker 1: although there was a timber claim in her name that 166 00:09:48,200 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: was eventually abandoned. A neighbor offered the family the chance 167 00:09:52,720 --> 00:09:55,680 Speaker 1: to run an inn out of an existing building on 168 00:09:55,760 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: his land, and that helped them all make ends meet 169 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,920 Speaker 1: enough for Jim and Susanna to keep their land claims. 170 00:10:02,920 --> 00:10:05,520 Speaker 1: As they started to have a little more money, Mary 171 00:10:05,600 --> 00:10:09,000 Speaker 1: started to physically recover, and she started to make connections 172 00:10:09,000 --> 00:10:13,040 Speaker 1: to the other people living in the area homesteaders, sheep herders, 173 00:10:13,160 --> 00:10:16,640 Speaker 1: and ranchers. The people she felt most at home with 174 00:10:16,880 --> 00:10:21,160 Speaker 1: were often Indigenous or Mexican, not the people her family 175 00:10:21,240 --> 00:10:24,720 Speaker 1: thought she should be associating with. She was interested in 176 00:10:24,720 --> 00:10:27,800 Speaker 1: the ways that people outside the world of white homesteaders 177 00:10:27,840 --> 00:10:31,120 Speaker 1: lived and in a landscape around her, and in how 178 00:10:31,160 --> 00:10:34,280 Speaker 1: they lived with it. In eighteen eighty nine, she tried 179 00:10:34,320 --> 00:10:37,320 Speaker 1: to get a job teaching, but failed the California Teaching 180 00:10:37,360 --> 00:10:41,480 Speaker 1: Exam twice. She finally got a job at a private school, 181 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:44,360 Speaker 1: and she found lodgings with a family that she felt 182 00:10:44,360 --> 00:10:46,720 Speaker 1: a deeper affinity for than she did. Her own. 183 00:10:47,880 --> 00:10:51,560 Speaker 3: Teaching wasn't really what she wanted to do, though. She 184 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 3: wanted to write, and the one way it seemed like 185 00:10:54,800 --> 00:10:57,280 Speaker 3: she could get the financial support she needed to do 186 00:10:57,360 --> 00:10:59,840 Speaker 3: that was to get married. So we'll have more on 187 00:10:59,880 --> 00:11:12,920 Speaker 3: that after a sponsor break. Mary Hunter lived in an 188 00:11:13,000 --> 00:11:16,839 Speaker 3: era when marriage and motherhood were the expected path for 189 00:11:17,160 --> 00:11:20,920 Speaker 3: white middle class women. We've talked about a number of 190 00:11:21,000 --> 00:11:25,880 Speaker 3: women in similar circumstances who supported themselves through writing without 191 00:11:25,920 --> 00:11:30,199 Speaker 3: getting married. But Mary really didn't have the family support 192 00:11:30,280 --> 00:11:33,440 Speaker 3: that she would need to get started with that. Her 193 00:11:33,480 --> 00:11:36,319 Speaker 3: mother and her brother had their own plans, and they 194 00:11:36,320 --> 00:11:40,360 Speaker 3: weren't really including Mary in their decisions or in things 195 00:11:40,440 --> 00:11:43,360 Speaker 3: like the proceeds from the sale of their house back 196 00:11:43,360 --> 00:11:48,160 Speaker 3: in Illinois. Getting married probably seemed like the only option 197 00:11:48,360 --> 00:11:51,000 Speaker 3: for her to have some financial stability. 198 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,480 Speaker 1: But there were obstacles throughout her life. People commented on 199 00:11:55,559 --> 00:11:59,960 Speaker 1: Austin's appearance, which was not thought to be conventionally pretty 200 00:12:00,120 --> 00:12:03,280 Speaker 1: or feminine. She was very thin, and she had a 201 00:12:03,280 --> 00:12:08,080 Speaker 1: square jaw and heavy eyebrows. People didn't typically smile in 202 00:12:08,200 --> 00:12:11,440 Speaker 1: photos from this era, but in most pictures of Mary Austin, 203 00:12:12,000 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: she is frowning. And in a part of North America 204 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:18,640 Speaker 1: that was considered the frontier, there were not that many 205 00:12:18,640 --> 00:12:20,720 Speaker 1: available men to choose from. 206 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:24,080 Speaker 3: I feel like everybody that had these opinions about Mary 207 00:12:24,120 --> 00:12:26,280 Speaker 3: Hunter's appearance just needed to shut up. 208 00:12:28,400 --> 00:12:30,040 Speaker 2: A lot of that talk, and it bothered me. 209 00:12:31,240 --> 00:12:36,120 Speaker 3: Stafford Wallace Austin, known as Wallace probably seemed like her 210 00:12:36,160 --> 00:12:39,880 Speaker 3: best possible choice for a husband. He was seven years 211 00:12:39,920 --> 00:12:43,240 Speaker 3: older than she was, but they were both intelligent and serious. 212 00:12:43,440 --> 00:12:47,280 Speaker 3: They could talk to each other as intellectual equals. He 213 00:12:47,440 --> 00:12:50,040 Speaker 3: was one of seven children born to a well off 214 00:12:50,080 --> 00:12:54,040 Speaker 3: sugar planter in Hawaii, and so it seemed like they 215 00:12:54,080 --> 00:12:58,680 Speaker 3: would be financially secure. Wallace was also supportive of Mary's 216 00:12:58,679 --> 00:13:03,440 Speaker 3: goals as a writer. They had direct conversations about these 217 00:13:03,480 --> 00:13:06,319 Speaker 3: goals before getting married, and his wedding present to her 218 00:13:06,480 --> 00:13:10,680 Speaker 3: was a gold pen with a pearl handle. Agreeing to 219 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:13,800 Speaker 3: marry him seemed like the only thing her family thought 220 00:13:13,840 --> 00:13:17,079 Speaker 3: she had ever done right. They got married on May eighteenth, 221 00:13:17,200 --> 00:13:21,480 Speaker 3: eighteen ninety one, when Mary was twenty one. 222 00:13:20,720 --> 00:13:24,880 Speaker 1: But this marriage did not go very well. One caveat 223 00:13:24,960 --> 00:13:27,840 Speaker 1: here is that almost everything we know about the marriage 224 00:13:27,920 --> 00:13:31,080 Speaker 1: comes from Mary's point of view, and her account is 225 00:13:31,160 --> 00:13:35,640 Speaker 1: really not kind to Wallace at all. But that financial 226 00:13:35,679 --> 00:13:39,839 Speaker 1: security did not really materialize, as Wallace kept investing in 227 00:13:39,960 --> 00:13:43,400 Speaker 1: ventures that did not work out. But Mary played a 228 00:13:43,440 --> 00:13:47,760 Speaker 1: role in their situation too. While they'd had candid conversations 229 00:13:47,800 --> 00:13:51,959 Speaker 1: about her ambitions as a writer, Wallace hadn't expected her 230 00:13:52,040 --> 00:13:54,960 Speaker 1: to just abandon most of the domestic tasks that a 231 00:13:54,960 --> 00:13:59,400 Speaker 1: wife typically handled, which is what she did. While they'd 232 00:13:59,400 --> 00:14:03,559 Speaker 1: had into actual conversations during their courtship as a married couple, 233 00:14:03,600 --> 00:14:05,839 Speaker 1: they really didn't seem to be able to talk through 234 00:14:05,960 --> 00:14:08,920 Speaker 1: what was going on in their lives. 235 00:14:08,640 --> 00:14:11,200 Speaker 3: And what was going on was a lot of hardship 236 00:14:11,360 --> 00:14:16,560 Speaker 3: and continually moving around. Wallace tried to start a vineyard, 237 00:14:16,760 --> 00:14:19,880 Speaker 3: which failed. Then they moved to the Owens Valley where 238 00:14:19,920 --> 00:14:23,000 Speaker 3: he had embarked on an irrigation project with his brothers, 239 00:14:23,560 --> 00:14:25,920 Speaker 3: and then he went to San Francisco to work on 240 00:14:25,960 --> 00:14:28,840 Speaker 3: a different project with a brother. They just they were 241 00:14:28,880 --> 00:14:32,480 Speaker 3: never really settled and their money was always tight. Mary 242 00:14:32,520 --> 00:14:35,800 Speaker 3: got pregnant and during the last months of her pregnancy, 243 00:14:36,200 --> 00:14:39,400 Speaker 3: they were living in a hotel in Lone Pine that's 244 00:14:39,560 --> 00:14:44,560 Speaker 3: roughly between Fresno, California and Las Vegas, Nevada. Mary went 245 00:14:44,560 --> 00:14:46,600 Speaker 3: out for a walk one day and came back to 246 00:14:46,680 --> 00:14:49,800 Speaker 3: find that they had been evicted for not paying the bills. 247 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:52,760 Speaker 3: On the advice of an acquaintance, she went to a 248 00:14:52,800 --> 00:14:56,360 Speaker 3: boarding house that was primarily being used by mine workers 249 00:14:56,520 --> 00:14:59,880 Speaker 3: who had developed lead poisoning, which wasn't on the job has. 250 00:15:00,960 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 3: She offered to do things there like cook, clean, and 251 00:15:03,840 --> 00:15:07,520 Speaker 3: mend in exchange for a place to stay. When Wallace 252 00:15:07,560 --> 00:15:10,840 Speaker 3: got back, she learned that the irrigation project had failed 253 00:15:11,160 --> 00:15:13,600 Speaker 3: and that Wallace was now in debt because of it. 254 00:15:14,480 --> 00:15:16,720 Speaker 3: On top of that, he had known they were going 255 00:15:16,760 --> 00:15:19,800 Speaker 3: to be evicted and he had not told her, and 256 00:15:19,880 --> 00:15:22,600 Speaker 3: she found out that he had also turned down paying 257 00:15:22,640 --> 00:15:26,880 Speaker 3: work as a school principal. Mary kept working at the 258 00:15:26,880 --> 00:15:30,680 Speaker 3: boarding house, and she started seriously trying to publish enough 259 00:15:30,760 --> 00:15:34,640 Speaker 3: work to make ends meet, like short pieces like essays 260 00:15:34,680 --> 00:15:38,840 Speaker 3: and short stories. As her pregnancy made it increasingly difficult 261 00:15:38,920 --> 00:15:41,080 Speaker 3: to do the more physical parts of her job at 262 00:15:41,080 --> 00:15:44,080 Speaker 3: the boarding house, she decided to go to Bakersfield, where 263 00:15:44,120 --> 00:15:47,920 Speaker 3: her mother lived, to have the baby. On October thirtieth 264 00:15:47,960 --> 00:15:50,360 Speaker 3: of that year, she gave birth to her daughter, Ruth, 265 00:15:50,480 --> 00:15:53,600 Speaker 3: after a very difficult labor that lasted for more than 266 00:15:53,640 --> 00:15:58,320 Speaker 3: forty eight hours. While Mary was still recovering from giving birth, 267 00:15:58,960 --> 00:16:02,920 Speaker 3: Wallace told her that his finances had totally collapsed and 268 00:16:02,960 --> 00:16:05,960 Speaker 3: that he was facing legal action and that she should 269 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:10,240 Speaker 3: handle his remaining property as she saw fit. She did 270 00:16:10,280 --> 00:16:13,760 Speaker 3: this by selling everything that could be sold and arranging 271 00:16:13,800 --> 00:16:16,880 Speaker 3: to pay off the rest of his debts in installments. 272 00:16:17,440 --> 00:16:21,240 Speaker 3: When Mary and Ruth joined Wallace back in the Owens Valley, 273 00:16:21,560 --> 00:16:26,480 Speaker 3: their relationship continued to be rocky. He had finally resigned 274 00:16:26,520 --> 00:16:30,280 Speaker 3: himself to teaching, so they had a small but steady income, 275 00:16:30,920 --> 00:16:33,720 Speaker 3: but he was angry that she had made arrangements to 276 00:16:33,880 --> 00:16:37,520 Speaker 3: pay off his debts rather than just filing for bankruptcy. 277 00:16:38,360 --> 00:16:41,040 Speaker 3: Mary and Ruth were also sick a lot of the time, 278 00:16:41,080 --> 00:16:44,040 Speaker 3: and sometimes Mary needed a wet nurse. Her nurse was 279 00:16:44,080 --> 00:16:48,840 Speaker 3: a Piute woman from a nearby settlement, as she was able. Though, 280 00:16:49,000 --> 00:16:52,480 Speaker 3: Mary kept writing and kept exploring the valley where they lived. 281 00:16:53,000 --> 00:16:55,360 Speaker 3: She really fell in love with the arid landscape, and 282 00:16:55,440 --> 00:16:58,200 Speaker 3: she formed relationships with many of the payute women who 283 00:16:58,280 --> 00:17:01,640 Speaker 3: were living in the area, voting one named Saab, whom 284 00:17:01,640 --> 00:17:06,520 Speaker 3: Mary became particularly close to. She started learning Pyute methods 285 00:17:06,520 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 3: for doing things like making baskets and identifying and gathering 286 00:17:10,119 --> 00:17:15,639 Speaker 3: local plants. Wallace eventually became the Inyo County school superintendent, 287 00:17:16,160 --> 00:17:18,960 Speaker 3: and Mary kept working on selling short pieces of writing 288 00:17:19,080 --> 00:17:22,720 Speaker 3: so they had a little more income, but they faced 289 00:17:22,760 --> 00:17:27,200 Speaker 3: some new struggles. Mary's lack of attention to typical homemaking 290 00:17:27,280 --> 00:17:31,359 Speaker 3: duties raised eyebrows as did her friendships outside of the 291 00:17:31,359 --> 00:17:35,320 Speaker 3: community of white homesteaders. As we said earlier, many of 292 00:17:35,359 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 3: her friends were Mexican or indigenous, and she frequently visited 293 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 3: mining camps and saloons and other places that were not 294 00:17:42,359 --> 00:17:44,600 Speaker 3: considered appropriate for a white woman to be. 295 00:17:46,000 --> 00:17:46,920 Speaker 1: She was also. 296 00:17:46,880 --> 00:17:50,600 Speaker 3: Worried about Ruth. As a baby, Ruth had been prone 297 00:17:50,600 --> 00:17:54,320 Speaker 3: to periods of inconsolable crying, and then as she moved 298 00:17:54,359 --> 00:17:57,720 Speaker 3: through toddlerhood, she didn't start learning to speak when most 299 00:17:57,760 --> 00:18:01,760 Speaker 3: other children did. She moved her hands strangely, and it 300 00:18:01,800 --> 00:18:05,480 Speaker 3: seemed like she couldn't coordinate her body. She would scream 301 00:18:05,720 --> 00:18:08,920 Speaker 3: without a clear reason, and she also made strange sounds. 302 00:18:09,720 --> 00:18:13,119 Speaker 3: Mary's friend, Helen McKnight doyle was a physician known as 303 00:18:13,200 --> 00:18:16,800 Speaker 3: Doctor Nelly, and she described Ruth as having quote passionate, 304 00:18:17,000 --> 00:18:22,120 Speaker 3: ungovernable spells. Another doctor who examined Ruth said that her 305 00:18:22,160 --> 00:18:27,680 Speaker 3: condition was incurable. Some more modern historians have concluded that 306 00:18:27,840 --> 00:18:30,800 Speaker 3: Ruth may have been injured during her birth, or that 307 00:18:30,880 --> 00:18:33,960 Speaker 3: she may have had a genetic disorder known as rhet syndrome, 308 00:18:34,480 --> 00:18:36,080 Speaker 3: or that she may have been autistic. 309 00:18:36,960 --> 00:18:40,280 Speaker 1: We are not suggesting that there is blame involved with 310 00:18:40,359 --> 00:18:44,880 Speaker 1: having a disabled child, but this was Mary's mindset. When 311 00:18:44,920 --> 00:18:47,760 Speaker 1: she learned she was pregnant. She had promised herself that 312 00:18:47,840 --> 00:18:50,800 Speaker 1: she was going to give birth to a brilliant child. 313 00:18:51,720 --> 00:18:55,520 Speaker 1: The disparity between that promise to herself and Ruth's reality 314 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:59,440 Speaker 1: was painful, and Mary grieved over it. She thought all 315 00:18:59,480 --> 00:19:01,639 Speaker 1: the physical work that she had done in the last 316 00:19:01,680 --> 00:19:04,800 Speaker 1: months of her pregnancy, or the long journey she had 317 00:19:04,800 --> 00:19:07,840 Speaker 1: taken to get to her mother's to give birth, might 318 00:19:07,880 --> 00:19:12,000 Speaker 1: have harmed Ruth somehow. When doctors and friends assured her 319 00:19:12,200 --> 00:19:15,800 Speaker 1: that she wasn't at fault, she turned her blame to Wallace. 320 00:19:16,720 --> 00:19:20,840 Speaker 1: At this point, the eugenics movement dominated conversations on things 321 00:19:20,920 --> 00:19:24,200 Speaker 1: like health and disability, and Mary held some of these 322 00:19:24,240 --> 00:19:29,359 Speaker 1: ideas herself. She concluded that Wallace must have had bad 323 00:19:29,480 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: blood that she had then passed on to her child. 324 00:19:33,240 --> 00:19:38,280 Speaker 1: Her family, unsurprisingly did not really help. By Mary's account, 325 00:19:38,359 --> 00:19:41,520 Speaker 1: Wallace was not very involved in raising their daughter, and 326 00:19:41,840 --> 00:19:46,240 Speaker 1: socially he really wouldn't have been expected to be. Mary's 327 00:19:46,320 --> 00:19:49,639 Speaker 1: mother was of the belief that hardships were a punishment 328 00:19:49,680 --> 00:19:53,919 Speaker 1: from God. After hosting Ruth for a visit, Susannah wrote 329 00:19:53,920 --> 00:19:56,639 Speaker 1: Mary a letter that said in part quote, I don't 330 00:19:56,680 --> 00:19:59,800 Speaker 1: know what you've done, daughter, to have such judgment upon 331 00:19:59,840 --> 00:20:03,960 Speaker 1: you you. Mary largely cut off contact with her mother 332 00:20:04,080 --> 00:20:08,240 Speaker 1: after that, and Susannah died in eighteen ninety six. Although 333 00:20:08,280 --> 00:20:12,160 Speaker 1: their relationship had always been difficult, Mary was really heartbroken 334 00:20:12,240 --> 00:20:16,200 Speaker 1: that they had not reconciled before her death. Beyond the 335 00:20:16,320 --> 00:20:20,040 Speaker 1: lack of family support, there were really no other support 336 00:20:20,160 --> 00:20:23,440 Speaker 1: systems in place for disabled children or their families at 337 00:20:23,440 --> 00:20:27,480 Speaker 1: this point. We don't know Ruth's own thoughts about herself, 338 00:20:27,560 --> 00:20:30,879 Speaker 1: but it is very clear that in today's terminology she 339 00:20:31,040 --> 00:20:35,199 Speaker 1: had high support needs. Mary didn't have much money for 340 00:20:35,280 --> 00:20:38,480 Speaker 1: doctors or to hire help, and while there were neighbors 341 00:20:38,520 --> 00:20:41,560 Speaker 1: who offered to watch Ruth from time to time, these 342 00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,679 Speaker 1: offers could be short lived when people couldn't figure out 343 00:20:44,760 --> 00:20:47,680 Speaker 1: how to interact with her. When she got a little 344 00:20:47,680 --> 00:20:50,720 Speaker 1: bit older, Ruth repeatedly tried to run away. 345 00:20:51,720 --> 00:20:54,560 Speaker 3: Mary thought the only way she could make this work 346 00:20:54,840 --> 00:20:57,560 Speaker 3: was to earn enough money to support them both and 347 00:20:57,640 --> 00:21:00,640 Speaker 3: to pay for care and help for her daughter. Her 348 00:21:00,680 --> 00:21:04,040 Speaker 3: options were really to write or to teach, but she 349 00:21:04,200 --> 00:21:06,720 Speaker 3: was trying to do that while also trying to raise 350 00:21:06,760 --> 00:21:10,240 Speaker 3: a child who needed a lot of care. When Mary 351 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:13,119 Speaker 3: kept Ruth at home with her while she tried to write. 352 00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,679 Speaker 3: At the same time, her parenting could be inattentive to 353 00:21:16,720 --> 00:21:20,920 Speaker 3: the point of neglect. When Mary later found a teaching 354 00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:23,760 Speaker 3: job and had nobody to look after Ruth while she 355 00:21:23,880 --> 00:21:28,320 Speaker 3: was gone, she would sometimes leave Ruth by herself. People 356 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:33,000 Speaker 3: understandably judged Mary for all of this, but then when 357 00:21:33,040 --> 00:21:36,600 Speaker 3: the Frager family offered to take Ruth in on their ranch, 358 00:21:36,720 --> 00:21:41,920 Speaker 3: those same people, including her husband, accused Mary of abandoning 359 00:21:41,960 --> 00:21:45,639 Speaker 3: her child, Even though the Fragger family was kind to 360 00:21:45,760 --> 00:21:49,240 Speaker 3: Ruth and really seemed to look after her well. A 361 00:21:49,280 --> 00:21:53,320 Speaker 3: lot of people were already really judgmental of Mary's defiance 362 00:21:53,359 --> 00:21:56,320 Speaker 3: of social norms and when she didn't seem like an 363 00:21:56,320 --> 00:21:59,119 Speaker 3: attentive mother. On top of all that, people thought she 364 00:21:59,200 --> 00:22:04,240 Speaker 3: was monstrous. Wallace did not face similar judgment. People were 365 00:22:04,240 --> 00:22:07,359 Speaker 3: more likely to feel sympathy for him for being married 366 00:22:07,359 --> 00:22:09,959 Speaker 3: to someone that they thought was such a terrible wife 367 00:22:10,000 --> 00:22:15,000 Speaker 3: and mother. Mary's critics initially included Helen McKnight doyle, who 368 00:22:15,080 --> 00:22:18,760 Speaker 3: later became her friend. At one point, while Ruth was 369 00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,000 Speaker 3: living with the Fraggers, doctor Nelly heard that she was ill, 370 00:22:22,080 --> 00:22:24,600 Speaker 3: and she went to get Mary, she assumed that she 371 00:22:24,600 --> 00:22:28,560 Speaker 3: would want to be with her daughter. Mary's response was quote, 372 00:22:28,680 --> 00:22:31,679 Speaker 3: Ruth makes me nervous and I make her nervous. It 373 00:22:31,760 --> 00:22:34,560 Speaker 3: is not good for us to be together, which doctor 374 00:22:34,640 --> 00:22:39,119 Speaker 3: Nelly described as an offense against all motherhood, But she 375 00:22:39,200 --> 00:22:42,159 Speaker 3: eventually came to the conclusion that Mary could provide the 376 00:22:42,200 --> 00:22:45,359 Speaker 3: best home for her child by earning enough to pay 377 00:22:45,480 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 3: for her care, rather than trying to abandon her work 378 00:22:49,160 --> 00:22:52,239 Speaker 3: and care for her daughter without any resources to do so. 379 00:22:53,240 --> 00:22:56,880 Speaker 3: In nineteen o three, when Ruth was eleven, Mary Austin 380 00:22:56,960 --> 00:23:00,199 Speaker 3: published her first and best known book, The Lamb of 381 00:23:00,240 --> 00:23:03,840 Speaker 3: Little Rain. It's a set of lyrical sketches about the 382 00:23:03,840 --> 00:23:07,320 Speaker 3: Owens Valley and the Mojave Desert and the indigenous people 383 00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:11,280 Speaker 3: living there. The pieces had appeared serially in the Atlantic 384 00:23:11,359 --> 00:23:15,399 Speaker 3: before being published by Houghton Mifflin Books. It's not a 385 00:23:15,440 --> 00:23:20,160 Speaker 3: straightforward nonfiction piece. Many of the places that Mary describes 386 00:23:20,200 --> 00:23:23,480 Speaker 3: in it are amalgamations or composites of places in the 387 00:23:23,520 --> 00:23:27,400 Speaker 3: real world. She started writing it after recovering from an 388 00:23:27,400 --> 00:23:31,080 Speaker 3: illness during which she had a vision of two angel 389 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:34,119 Speaker 3: like beings in the room with her. She said that 390 00:23:34,200 --> 00:23:37,600 Speaker 3: it had taken her twelve years to research, but only 391 00:23:37,640 --> 00:23:41,439 Speaker 3: a month to craft it. With the money she earned 392 00:23:41,480 --> 00:23:44,359 Speaker 3: from the Land of Little Rain, Mary was able to 393 00:23:44,400 --> 00:23:48,440 Speaker 3: place Ruth in a small private hospital in Santa Clara, California, 394 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:49,920 Speaker 3: run by doctor R. E. 395 00:23:50,000 --> 00:23:50,640 Speaker 2: Osborne. 396 00:23:51,560 --> 00:23:54,320 Speaker 3: She thought the hospital staff would be able to give 397 00:23:54,400 --> 00:23:57,360 Speaker 3: Ruth better care than she was able to do herself. 398 00:23:58,240 --> 00:24:00,159 Speaker 3: She also thought it would be better for Ruth to 399 00:24:00,200 --> 00:24:03,200 Speaker 3: be with other children who were like her. Ruth had 400 00:24:03,240 --> 00:24:06,600 Speaker 3: been the target of derision and cruelty from children and 401 00:24:06,640 --> 00:24:10,399 Speaker 3: adults alike, and she was definitely able to understand what 402 00:24:10,600 --> 00:24:15,680 Speaker 3: was happening when that happened. This was initially a trial placement, 403 00:24:15,840 --> 00:24:19,920 Speaker 3: and it became permanent in nineteen oh five. Austin worried 404 00:24:19,960 --> 00:24:22,399 Speaker 3: about her daughter for the rest of Ruth's life, but 405 00:24:22,760 --> 00:24:27,119 Speaker 3: she never visited after this. She found the whole idea devastating, 406 00:24:27,280 --> 00:24:30,080 Speaker 3: and the prevailing wisdom at the time was often that 407 00:24:30,200 --> 00:24:34,240 Speaker 3: family visits to hospitals and institutions would disrupt the care 408 00:24:34,280 --> 00:24:37,760 Speaker 3: that children were receiving there and would actually make things 409 00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:42,640 Speaker 3: worse for them. When people asked about Ruth, Mary would answer, quote, 410 00:24:42,880 --> 00:24:48,320 Speaker 3: we have lost her. Austin's life from this point combines travel, writing, 411 00:24:48,400 --> 00:24:51,800 Speaker 3: and activism, and we'll talk about that after a sponsor break. 412 00:25:01,280 --> 00:25:04,680 Speaker 3: Around the same time that Mary Austin published The Land 413 00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:08,720 Speaker 3: of Little Rain, she separated from her husband, although their 414 00:25:08,760 --> 00:25:13,560 Speaker 3: divorce was not finalized until nineteen fourteen. She does seem 415 00:25:13,600 --> 00:25:16,760 Speaker 3: to have had some other relationships, but she never remarried. 416 00:25:17,280 --> 00:25:20,960 Speaker 3: After their separation, Mary visited San Francisco and met writer 417 00:25:21,119 --> 00:25:24,959 Speaker 3: George Sterling and went to Carmel also called Carmel by 418 00:25:25,000 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 3: the Sea on the Monterey Peninsula, where there was an 419 00:25:27,520 --> 00:25:31,800 Speaker 3: artist colony. She started expanding her network of other writers, 420 00:25:31,880 --> 00:25:36,959 Speaker 3: including Jack London and past podcast subject Ambrose Bierce, and 421 00:25:37,000 --> 00:25:41,000 Speaker 3: she started writing and publishing a book roughly every year. 422 00:25:42,160 --> 00:25:45,520 Speaker 1: Austin had developed an affinity for the indigenous peoples of 423 00:25:45,560 --> 00:25:49,800 Speaker 1: the Desert Southwest, which is obvious through her writing. Her 424 00:25:49,840 --> 00:25:52,199 Speaker 1: next book after The Land of Little Rain was The 425 00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:56,120 Speaker 1: Basket Woman, a book of Pyute tales and legends for children, 426 00:25:56,440 --> 00:25:59,320 Speaker 1: and that came out in nineteen oh four. It's clear 427 00:25:59,359 --> 00:26:01,840 Speaker 1: that she was trying to be respectful and how she 428 00:26:01,920 --> 00:26:05,160 Speaker 1: discussed Indigenous people in the land that they lived on, 429 00:26:05,320 --> 00:26:08,600 Speaker 1: but this was definitely something that was filtered through her 430 00:26:08,640 --> 00:26:11,800 Speaker 1: own lens, and she wasn't really aware of how that 431 00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:16,080 Speaker 1: lens affected her impressions and interpretations of what was around her. 432 00:26:16,960 --> 00:26:20,040 Speaker 1: It's also not clear how much permission she had to 433 00:26:20,080 --> 00:26:24,800 Speaker 1: share these stories, if any. She also incorporated Indigenous art 434 00:26:24,920 --> 00:26:27,600 Speaker 1: and dress and language into her life in a way 435 00:26:27,840 --> 00:26:31,879 Speaker 1: that could be appropriative, and in her autobiography she described 436 00:26:31,920 --> 00:26:37,240 Speaker 1: herself as having a quote slightly mythical Indian ancestor, even 437 00:26:37,280 --> 00:26:41,439 Speaker 1: though she did not have indigenous ancestry. And while she 438 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:46,080 Speaker 1: advocated for Indigenous rights, white people started regarding her as 439 00:26:46,119 --> 00:26:49,239 Speaker 1: the expert in these issues rather than the people she 440 00:26:49,359 --> 00:26:50,480 Speaker 1: was advocating for. 441 00:26:51,760 --> 00:26:54,320 Speaker 3: While she was no longer really in a relationship with 442 00:26:54,400 --> 00:26:58,040 Speaker 3: her husband, their lives did overlap from time to time, 443 00:26:58,280 --> 00:27:02,520 Speaker 3: especially in the early years of their separation. The biggest 444 00:27:02,560 --> 00:27:05,879 Speaker 3: example is in a water rights dispute between the Owens 445 00:27:05,960 --> 00:27:08,240 Speaker 3: Valley and the City of Los Angeles in the early 446 00:27:08,320 --> 00:27:12,560 Speaker 3: to mid nineteen hundreds. Essentially, people acting on behalf of 447 00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,959 Speaker 3: Los Angeles had been buying up land in the Owens Valley. 448 00:27:16,760 --> 00:27:20,200 Speaker 3: Local people initially thought this was related to a federal 449 00:27:20,320 --> 00:27:23,720 Speaker 3: land reclamation project, and so that's the use of irrigation 450 00:27:23,960 --> 00:27:28,640 Speaker 3: to turn arid or semi arid land into farmland. When 451 00:27:28,640 --> 00:27:31,639 Speaker 3: an article in the La Times announced that the plan 452 00:27:31,800 --> 00:27:35,520 Speaker 3: was actually to build an aqueduct that would drain water 453 00:27:35,760 --> 00:27:38,560 Speaker 3: out of the valley and carry it to Los Angeles, 454 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:42,159 Speaker 3: more than two hundred miles away, people in Owens Valley 455 00:27:42,200 --> 00:27:46,720 Speaker 3: were outraged. Whileas Austin was a huge part of the 456 00:27:46,800 --> 00:27:50,360 Speaker 3: advocacy against this project, but a lot of Mary's writing 457 00:27:50,400 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 3: about it really leaves his workout. She kind of claims 458 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 3: most of the credit. 459 00:27:55,720 --> 00:27:59,760 Speaker 1: After this, Mary Austin left Owens Valley at first, returning 460 00:27:59,760 --> 00:28:03,480 Speaker 1: to Carmel. She had a craftsman style cottage built for 461 00:28:03,520 --> 00:28:06,560 Speaker 1: herself there and a treehouse that she used as a 462 00:28:06,560 --> 00:28:10,560 Speaker 1: writing studio that she called wikiup from the indigenous dwelling 463 00:28:10,600 --> 00:28:13,520 Speaker 1: style that is also referred to as a wigwam. 464 00:28:14,760 --> 00:28:17,160 Speaker 3: In April of nineteen oh six, she went to San 465 00:28:17,200 --> 00:28:20,560 Speaker 3: Francisco to meet with her publisher. While she was there, 466 00:28:20,600 --> 00:28:24,439 Speaker 3: she had a premonition of an impending disaster, and she 467 00:28:24,600 --> 00:28:27,080 Speaker 3: was frightened enough that she left her hotel to go 468 00:28:27,119 --> 00:28:31,200 Speaker 3: stay with a friend. The next morning, an earthquake struck, 469 00:28:31,359 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 3: followed by a fire. This was a huge disaster, and 470 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:37,480 Speaker 3: she later published her account of it in The argonaut 471 00:28:38,040 --> 00:28:40,560 Speaker 3: Our episode on this earthquake and fire ran as a 472 00:28:40,600 --> 00:28:44,680 Speaker 3: Saturday Classic in May of twenty twenty four. Austin's books 473 00:28:44,680 --> 00:28:48,000 Speaker 3: from these years include The Flock, which was a successor 474 00:28:48,040 --> 00:28:50,880 Speaker 3: to the Land of Little Rain about sheep herding, and 475 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,560 Speaker 3: Santa Lucia, which was focused on an unhappy marriage that 476 00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:58,120 Speaker 3: was similar to her own. Lost Borders was. 477 00:28:58,120 --> 00:29:00,280 Speaker 1: A collection of fiction that ends with the show short 478 00:29:00,320 --> 00:29:04,600 Speaker 1: story The Walking Woman. Most of Austin's work is at 479 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:09,040 Speaker 1: least somewhat autobiographical, and in The Walking Woman, a narrator 480 00:29:09,120 --> 00:29:12,800 Speaker 1: describes an encounter with the Walking Woman, who is well 481 00:29:12,840 --> 00:29:16,680 Speaker 1: known by reputation in the area where she lives. She 482 00:29:16,840 --> 00:29:20,640 Speaker 1: started by walking off in illness and ultimately quote she 483 00:29:20,960 --> 00:29:24,240 Speaker 1: was the Walking Woman. That was it. She had walked 484 00:29:24,280 --> 00:29:28,400 Speaker 1: off all sense of society, made values, and knowing the 485 00:29:28,440 --> 00:29:31,160 Speaker 1: best when the best came to her, was able to 486 00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:31,640 Speaker 1: take it. 487 00:29:32,680 --> 00:29:35,600 Speaker 3: These books came out in the years after Austin had 488 00:29:35,640 --> 00:29:39,400 Speaker 3: gone to the doctor about persistent arm pain and was 489 00:29:39,480 --> 00:29:43,880 Speaker 3: told she was dying of breast cancer. Doctors said surgery 490 00:29:43,960 --> 00:29:47,240 Speaker 3: might extend her life, but that her prognosis was terminal. 491 00:29:48,080 --> 00:29:50,760 Speaker 3: She decided not to have that surgery and instead to 492 00:29:50,800 --> 00:29:53,240 Speaker 3: live the best life she could in the time that 493 00:29:53,280 --> 00:29:57,080 Speaker 3: she had left. That diagnosis came in nineteen oh seven, 494 00:29:57,200 --> 00:29:59,640 Speaker 3: and when she was still alive in nineteen oh nine 495 00:30:00,320 --> 00:30:01,000 Speaker 3: to go to Italy. 496 00:30:01,920 --> 00:30:05,440 Speaker 1: She met another person we've covered on the show, Isadora Duncan. 497 00:30:05,600 --> 00:30:08,640 Speaker 1: While she was there, she also spent a lot of 498 00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:13,840 Speaker 1: time exploring Italy's museums and Catholic religious sites. Although Austin 499 00:30:13,920 --> 00:30:17,120 Speaker 1: no longer thought of herself as Christian, she was drawing 500 00:30:17,200 --> 00:30:22,400 Speaker 1: spiritual inspiration from multiple religions and traditions. She started treating 501 00:30:22,440 --> 00:30:25,520 Speaker 1: her pain with prayer based on advice she got while 502 00:30:25,640 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 1: visiting the Convent of the Blue Nuns. Soon after undertaking 503 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:32,640 Speaker 1: a retreat with the nuns, her pain was gone, and 504 00:30:32,720 --> 00:30:36,080 Speaker 1: she considered herself to be cured. The books that came 505 00:30:36,120 --> 00:30:39,200 Speaker 1: out of her time in Italy include Christ in Italy 506 00:30:39,400 --> 00:30:43,480 Speaker 1: being The Adventures of a Maverick among Masterpieces, and The 507 00:30:43,560 --> 00:30:46,520 Speaker 1: Man Jesus being a brief account of the life and 508 00:30:46,600 --> 00:30:51,000 Speaker 1: teachings of the Prophet of Nazareth. After leaving Italy, Austin 509 00:30:51,080 --> 00:30:54,080 Speaker 1: went to France, and before returning to the United States, 510 00:30:54,080 --> 00:30:56,800 Speaker 1: she visited London, where she met writers like H. G. 511 00:30:56,960 --> 00:30:57,920 Speaker 2: Wells and G. K. 512 00:30:58,160 --> 00:31:01,000 Speaker 3: Chesterton, who we covered on the show in March of 513 00:31:01,040 --> 00:31:05,240 Speaker 3: twenty twenty three. She also met Herbert and lou Henry Hoover, 514 00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,760 Speaker 3: the future President and first Lady of the United States. 515 00:31:09,200 --> 00:31:12,239 Speaker 3: She made multiple visits to the Lyceum Club, where she 516 00:31:12,320 --> 00:31:15,920 Speaker 3: met seemingly everyone who was famous in the worlds of 517 00:31:15,960 --> 00:31:19,400 Speaker 3: English language literature and art in the early twentieth century. 518 00:31:19,960 --> 00:31:23,280 Speaker 1: On the way home, Austin visited New York City, where 519 00:31:23,280 --> 00:31:27,240 Speaker 1: her play The Arrowmaker, about a paiute woman, was being staged. 520 00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:32,120 Speaker 1: She joined the National American Woman Suffrage Association and became 521 00:31:32,160 --> 00:31:36,160 Speaker 1: connected to birth control advocate Margaret Sanger. For the next 522 00:31:36,160 --> 00:31:38,800 Speaker 1: few years, she spent her time traveling back and forth 523 00:31:38,840 --> 00:31:43,640 Speaker 1: between California and New York while also advocating for women's suffrage, 524 00:31:43,960 --> 00:31:48,080 Speaker 1: birth control, the right to divorce, and indigenous rights. 525 00:31:48,720 --> 00:31:51,440 Speaker 3: A lot of her books during these years were connected 526 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:56,120 Speaker 3: to these issues. Her semi autobiographical novel, A Woman of Genius, 527 00:31:56,160 --> 00:31:58,680 Speaker 3: came out in nineteen twelve and is about a woman 528 00:31:58,680 --> 00:32:03,480 Speaker 3: whose aspirations as an actor ran against society's expectations of her. 529 00:32:04,480 --> 00:32:08,320 Speaker 3: The Ford, which came out in nineteen seventeen, fictionalized the 530 00:32:08,400 --> 00:32:12,800 Speaker 3: water dispute between Owens Valley and Los Angeles Number twenty six. 531 00:32:12,920 --> 00:32:16,040 Speaker 3: Jane Street was a feminist novel that was named after 532 00:32:16,120 --> 00:32:18,880 Speaker 3: the boarding house that was home to its central character, 533 00:32:19,080 --> 00:32:24,360 Speaker 3: Ruth Farwell. By the time this novel came out, Austin's daughter, Ruth, 534 00:32:24,440 --> 00:32:27,680 Speaker 3: had died at the age of twenty six. That happened 535 00:32:27,680 --> 00:32:32,920 Speaker 3: on October sixth, nineteen eighteen. Some sources attribute Ruth's death 536 00:32:33,040 --> 00:32:36,400 Speaker 3: to the pandemic flu, but her death certificate listed her 537 00:32:36,440 --> 00:32:41,040 Speaker 3: cause of death as acute asthma. In the nineteen teens, 538 00:32:41,160 --> 00:32:44,680 Speaker 3: Austin started visiting Santa Fe, New Mexico, and she moved 539 00:32:44,720 --> 00:32:48,520 Speaker 3: into a house there called Casakarita in nineteen twenty four. 540 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:54,080 Speaker 3: She continued to travel extensively, including lecture tours and book tours, 541 00:32:54,120 --> 00:32:56,800 Speaker 3: but this was her primary home for the rest of 542 00:32:56,840 --> 00:33:00,080 Speaker 3: her life. While living in New Mexico, she became a 543 00:32:59,880 --> 00:33:04,120 Speaker 3: more vocal proponent of indigenous rights, including advocating for the 544 00:33:04,160 --> 00:33:08,640 Speaker 3: preservation of indigenous traditions and arts. She also worked with 545 00:33:08,760 --> 00:33:11,840 Speaker 3: Arthur leon Kampa of the University of New Mexico to 546 00:33:11,920 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 3: collect Spanish language folklore, transcribing it from oral accounts. In 547 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:20,720 Speaker 3: nineteen twenty seven, Austin became involved in a second water 548 00:33:20,840 --> 00:33:25,080 Speaker 3: rights controversy. This one connected to the building of Hoover Dam, 549 00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,560 Speaker 3: which is sometimes called the Boulder Dam depending on when 550 00:33:28,720 --> 00:33:31,920 Speaker 3: things about it were written. The plan was to build 551 00:33:31,920 --> 00:33:34,920 Speaker 3: a dam across the Colorado River in the Black Canyon, 552 00:33:35,240 --> 00:33:39,160 Speaker 3: which would provide hydroelectric power, flood control, and a water 553 00:33:39,240 --> 00:33:44,160 Speaker 3: supply for irrigation and other uses. The Colorado River drains 554 00:33:44,200 --> 00:33:51,640 Speaker 3: water from seven states, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, 555 00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:56,080 Speaker 3: and California, so this project required agreement among all of 556 00:33:56,120 --> 00:33:59,760 Speaker 3: these states on how the water would be used and distributed. 557 00:34:00,840 --> 00:34:05,480 Speaker 3: Austin was against the building of Hoover Dam. She advocated 558 00:34:05,640 --> 00:34:08,680 Speaker 3: not for a project that would provide massive amounts of 559 00:34:08,760 --> 00:34:11,960 Speaker 3: water to big cities, but one that could bring irrigation 560 00:34:12,160 --> 00:34:15,879 Speaker 3: and flood control to small, self sufficient communities that could 561 00:34:15,920 --> 00:34:18,839 Speaker 3: live within the constraints of what the land around them 562 00:34:18,880 --> 00:34:23,880 Speaker 3: could support. She thought these communities might gradually industrialize, but 563 00:34:24,040 --> 00:34:25,719 Speaker 3: that they would do so in a way that would 564 00:34:25,760 --> 00:34:28,719 Speaker 3: allow them to maintain their traditions and their connections to 565 00:34:28,840 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 3: the past, rather than just becoming huge and homogenized. She 566 00:34:33,280 --> 00:34:37,640 Speaker 3: advocated for local control of water resources and preservation and 567 00:34:37,680 --> 00:34:40,759 Speaker 3: conservation of an area's land and heritage. 568 00:34:40,800 --> 00:34:44,040 Speaker 1: In nineteen twenty seven, Austin was appointed by the governor 569 00:34:44,080 --> 00:34:46,600 Speaker 1: of New Mexico to serve as one of the state's 570 00:34:46,640 --> 00:34:52,600 Speaker 1: representatives at the Seven States Conference on Water Resources. Another representative, 571 00:34:52,680 --> 00:34:56,520 Speaker 1: Francis Wilson, described the address Austin gave in an interview 572 00:34:56,600 --> 00:35:00,359 Speaker 1: later on quote, never in my life have I seen 573 00:35:00,440 --> 00:35:04,000 Speaker 1: anything so funny as that speech she made. There were 574 00:35:04,040 --> 00:35:06,600 Speaker 1: all these men armed to the teeth with facts, and 575 00:35:06,719 --> 00:35:09,839 Speaker 1: Mary Austin stood up and made a speech that, well, 576 00:35:09,920 --> 00:35:11,680 Speaker 1: the kind of speech Mary would make. 577 00:35:12,360 --> 00:35:12,520 Speaker 2: Oh. 578 00:35:12,560 --> 00:35:14,680 Speaker 1: I don't mean that they weren't interested and that it 579 00:35:14,760 --> 00:35:18,120 Speaker 1: wasn't a good speech. But those hard headed, hard boiled 580 00:35:18,120 --> 00:35:21,960 Speaker 1: men didn't care how beautiful Arizona is or what folklore 581 00:35:22,000 --> 00:35:23,120 Speaker 1: and Indians it has. 582 00:35:24,480 --> 00:35:28,640 Speaker 3: I did not find a transcript of the actual speech, uh, 583 00:35:29,000 --> 00:35:33,080 Speaker 3: but that felt to me like it probably accurately summed 584 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:38,120 Speaker 3: up the tone of it. Obviously, Hoover Dam was ultimately built, 585 00:35:38,239 --> 00:35:42,239 Speaker 3: but disputes among those seven states about water rights associated 586 00:35:42,280 --> 00:35:47,279 Speaker 3: with it continued for years. Arizona and California in particular, 587 00:35:47,400 --> 00:35:50,799 Speaker 3: remained at odds over it for decades. This was not 588 00:35:50,840 --> 00:35:54,680 Speaker 3: resolved until Arizona versus California was decided by the US 589 00:35:54,800 --> 00:35:58,400 Speaker 3: Supreme Court in nineteen sixty three, which was long after 590 00:35:58,520 --> 00:36:03,520 Speaker 3: Austin's death. In nineteen twenty nine, Austin met Ansel Adams, 591 00:36:03,560 --> 00:36:05,640 Speaker 3: who was at the very start of his career as 592 00:36:05,640 --> 00:36:10,520 Speaker 3: a photographer. They collaborated on his first book, Taos Pueblo, 593 00:36:10,840 --> 00:36:14,600 Speaker 3: which paired his photographs with her text. With the help 594 00:36:14,640 --> 00:36:17,799 Speaker 3: of Tony Luhan, who is from the pueblo, Adams got 595 00:36:17,840 --> 00:36:22,000 Speaker 3: permission from the Pueblo Council to take photographs there. This 596 00:36:22,040 --> 00:36:25,880 Speaker 3: book was a limited edition of one hundred signed, numbered, 597 00:36:25,920 --> 00:36:30,560 Speaker 3: and hand bound copies. Adams printed the photographs by hand. 598 00:36:31,239 --> 00:36:35,440 Speaker 3: Across those one hundred books, it totaled nearly thirteen hundred prints. 599 00:36:36,239 --> 00:36:39,240 Speaker 3: A facsimile edition of this book was published in nineteen 600 00:36:39,280 --> 00:36:43,120 Speaker 3: seventy seven, and both editions are very expensive and hard 601 00:36:43,160 --> 00:36:46,200 Speaker 3: to find today, but you can see the twelve prints 602 00:36:46,200 --> 00:36:51,000 Speaker 3: it includes online at the Two Red Roses Foundation. In 603 00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:55,320 Speaker 3: nineteen thirty two, Austin published her autobiography called Earth Horizon. 604 00:36:56,000 --> 00:36:59,560 Speaker 3: It's written primarily in the third person, although it occasionally 605 00:36:59,640 --> 00:37:02,839 Speaker 3: shifts into first. It sort of continues that idea of 606 00:37:03,000 --> 00:37:06,000 Speaker 3: Mary and I Mary that she had first come to 607 00:37:06,160 --> 00:37:10,440 Speaker 3: in her childhood. This book led H. G. Wells to 608 00:37:10,480 --> 00:37:13,799 Speaker 3: threaten to sue her over a brief mention of an 609 00:37:13,800 --> 00:37:16,480 Speaker 3: affair that he had in which he had fathered a 610 00:37:16,560 --> 00:37:21,360 Speaker 3: child out of wedlock. Austin rewrote the paragraph in question, 611 00:37:21,520 --> 00:37:25,120 Speaker 3: but during all of the stress surrounding all of this, 612 00:37:25,239 --> 00:37:26,280 Speaker 3: she had a heart attack. 613 00:37:27,239 --> 00:37:30,359 Speaker 1: Austin continued to have trouble with her heart after this. 614 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:33,920 Speaker 1: She'd struggled to earn enough money off and on throughout 615 00:37:33,920 --> 00:37:37,319 Speaker 1: her career, and her financial problems got worse in the 616 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:38,640 Speaker 1: wake of the Great Depression. 617 00:37:39,840 --> 00:37:43,160 Speaker 3: In nineteen thirty three, she was awarded an honorary Doctor 618 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:47,000 Speaker 3: of Letters from the University of New Mexico. She published 619 00:37:47,040 --> 00:37:50,520 Speaker 3: a collection of indigenous legends in folklore called One Smoke 620 00:37:50,640 --> 00:37:52,200 Speaker 3: Stories in nineteen thirty four. 621 00:37:53,239 --> 00:37:56,760 Speaker 1: Mary Hunter Austin died in her sleep on August thirteenth, 622 00:37:56,880 --> 00:38:00,160 Speaker 1: nineteen thirty four, at the age of sixty five, following 623 00:38:00,239 --> 00:38:03,520 Speaker 1: another heart attack. Over the course of her career, she 624 00:38:03,560 --> 00:38:06,640 Speaker 1: had published thirty two books and well over two hundred 625 00:38:06,760 --> 00:38:11,280 Speaker 1: articles and shorter works. Ansel Adams had said of her quote, 626 00:38:11,600 --> 00:38:14,919 Speaker 1: seldom have I met and known anyone of such intellectual 627 00:38:14,960 --> 00:38:19,040 Speaker 1: and spiritual power and discipline. She is a future person, 628 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,279 Speaker 1: one who will a century from now appear as a 629 00:38:22,320 --> 00:38:26,560 Speaker 1: writer of major stature in the complex matrix of American culture. 630 00:38:28,040 --> 00:38:31,080 Speaker 1: That turned out not to be true. Helen McKnight doyle 631 00:38:31,200 --> 00:38:34,480 Speaker 1: published a biography of her in nineteen thirty nine, but 632 00:38:35,120 --> 00:38:38,720 Speaker 1: Mary Austin was largely forgotten about after her death. Although 633 00:38:38,719 --> 00:38:41,520 Speaker 1: there was some rediscovery of her work starting in the 634 00:38:41,560 --> 00:38:45,960 Speaker 1: nineteen eighties, it is mostly taught today in the context 635 00:38:46,000 --> 00:38:51,120 Speaker 1: of environmental literature. She's sometimes described as an early ecofeminist, 636 00:38:51,200 --> 00:38:54,400 Speaker 1: although that term was not coined until the nineteen seventies. 637 00:38:55,120 --> 00:38:58,080 Speaker 1: She said of herself quote, I may not know how 638 00:38:58,120 --> 00:39:01,920 Speaker 1: to write, nor how to delineate character, nor even how 639 00:39:01,960 --> 00:39:04,560 Speaker 1: to tell a story. The one thing I am sure 640 00:39:04,600 --> 00:39:08,080 Speaker 1: about myself that I know the relation of letters and landscape, 641 00:39:08,239 --> 00:39:12,320 Speaker 1: of life and environment. Some of the land that Austin 642 00:39:12,360 --> 00:39:14,680 Speaker 1: wrote about in works like The Land of Little Rain 643 00:39:15,239 --> 00:39:17,640 Speaker 1: is now part of a number of parks and preserves, 644 00:39:18,000 --> 00:39:21,840 Speaker 1: including Death Valley National Park and the Mojave National Preserve. 645 00:39:22,840 --> 00:39:26,640 Speaker 1: Her home in Inno County is now California Historical Landmark 646 00:39:26,960 --> 00:39:30,520 Speaker 1: two twenty nine. This is where she wrote most of 647 00:39:30,560 --> 00:39:32,920 Speaker 1: the land of Little Rain, and the marker includes a 648 00:39:32,960 --> 00:39:35,600 Speaker 1: quote from it quote, but if you ever come beyond 649 00:39:35,640 --> 00:39:37,960 Speaker 1: the borders as far as the town that lies in 650 00:39:38,000 --> 00:39:41,480 Speaker 1: a hill temple at the foot of Kearsarge, never leave 651 00:39:41,520 --> 00:39:43,520 Speaker 1: it until you have knocked at the door of the 652 00:39:43,520 --> 00:39:46,080 Speaker 1: brown house under the willow tree at the end of 653 00:39:46,120 --> 00:39:49,359 Speaker 1: the village street. And there you shall have such news 654 00:39:49,440 --> 00:39:51,799 Speaker 1: of the land of its trails, and what is a 655 00:39:51,840 --> 00:39:54,480 Speaker 1: stir in them, as one lover of it can give 656 00:39:54,600 --> 00:39:55,480 Speaker 1: to another. 657 00:39:56,760 --> 00:39:58,360 Speaker 2: And that is Mary Hunter Austin. 658 00:40:00,480 --> 00:40:03,800 Speaker 3: I did not intend to pick an episode that was 659 00:40:03,840 --> 00:40:07,080 Speaker 3: about desert landscapes in which we were also going to 660 00:40:07,120 --> 00:40:08,520 Speaker 3: talk about going to Morocco. 661 00:40:09,320 --> 00:40:11,080 Speaker 1: That's a coincidence. It just worked out. 662 00:40:11,600 --> 00:40:14,160 Speaker 3: But in lieu of listener mail, let's talk about going 663 00:40:14,239 --> 00:40:19,200 Speaker 3: to Morocco. Okay again, we are going to go to Morocco. 664 00:40:19,840 --> 00:40:24,160 Speaker 3: This trip is from November fourth through fifteenth, twenty twenty five. 665 00:40:24,880 --> 00:40:28,080 Speaker 3: November fourth is really the travel day that people will 666 00:40:28,200 --> 00:40:32,719 Speaker 3: leave the United States to go to Morocco. We have 667 00:40:32,880 --> 00:40:35,160 Speaker 3: had folks join us on these trips who have been 668 00:40:35,200 --> 00:40:38,120 Speaker 3: flying from places other than the United States, but most 669 00:40:38,160 --> 00:40:40,640 Speaker 3: folks are from the US, so that's why we say 670 00:40:40,680 --> 00:40:45,359 Speaker 3: it that way. I am really excited about this trip. 671 00:40:45,400 --> 00:40:47,879 Speaker 3: It feels a little weird to be talking about going 672 00:40:47,920 --> 00:40:50,319 Speaker 3: on a trip in the kind of chaotic times that 673 00:40:50,360 --> 00:40:54,239 Speaker 3: we're living in currently, but still excited about It is 674 00:40:54,239 --> 00:41:00,000 Speaker 3: something that we started planning last year. Yeah, yeah, yeah, 675 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:02,319 Speaker 3: not able to announce until just now. 676 00:41:02,600 --> 00:41:05,120 Speaker 1: Yeah, I mean, I'm very excited. Listen. We're gonna go 677 00:41:05,160 --> 00:41:08,520 Speaker 1: to fees. There's gonna be some Indiana Jones filming locations 678 00:41:08,520 --> 00:41:11,239 Speaker 1: that I'm gonna make sure I check out. But we're 679 00:41:11,280 --> 00:41:14,239 Speaker 1: also doing a lot of really really beautiful stuff. I 680 00:41:14,400 --> 00:41:17,440 Speaker 1: actually met a woman from Morocco while I was on 681 00:41:17,560 --> 00:41:20,400 Speaker 1: vacation recently, and she was so excited that We're going 682 00:41:20,440 --> 00:41:23,480 Speaker 1: to spend a couple days in chef Showen, which is 683 00:41:23,520 --> 00:41:26,680 Speaker 1: an extraordinarily beautiful place. It's all just gonna be a 684 00:41:26,719 --> 00:41:27,959 Speaker 1: little mind blowing, I think. 685 00:41:28,600 --> 00:41:32,560 Speaker 3: Yeah. So we have some things that I'm particularly excited 686 00:41:32,600 --> 00:41:35,399 Speaker 3: about that are slightly different from what we have done 687 00:41:35,400 --> 00:41:37,719 Speaker 3: on our previous trips. One is we are going to 688 00:41:37,760 --> 00:41:42,279 Speaker 3: have a Moroccan cooking class. Yeah, very excited about that. 689 00:41:42,920 --> 00:41:46,920 Speaker 3: We were also going to have one night of glamping. 690 00:41:47,760 --> 00:41:52,920 Speaker 3: It's a luxury camping experience. I'm very excited about that. Also, 691 00:41:53,760 --> 00:41:56,279 Speaker 3: this is most of our trips. I guess all of 692 00:41:56,280 --> 00:41:58,640 Speaker 3: our trips really before this point that we've gone on 693 00:41:59,280 --> 00:42:03,000 Speaker 3: for the show have been to Europe. So I'm interested 694 00:42:03,320 --> 00:42:07,919 Speaker 3: in going to a place that is, you know, culturally 695 00:42:08,160 --> 00:42:12,960 Speaker 3: and in terms of the landscape, like quite different from 696 00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:16,920 Speaker 3: where we have traveled to before. The photos of some 697 00:42:17,000 --> 00:42:19,120 Speaker 3: of the places that we are going to be visiting 698 00:42:19,160 --> 00:42:23,279 Speaker 3: are just so beautiful. I don't know, I can't, I 699 00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:24,799 Speaker 3: don't know what else to say about it. I'm very 700 00:42:24,800 --> 00:42:27,280 Speaker 3: excited about it. I think on the spectrum of trips 701 00:42:27,280 --> 00:42:30,560 Speaker 3: that we have gone on, this is probably toward the 702 00:42:30,600 --> 00:42:33,040 Speaker 3: more active trip. 703 00:42:33,440 --> 00:42:37,880 Speaker 1: We are on the move throughout this trip, we're not Yes, listen, 704 00:42:38,160 --> 00:42:40,840 Speaker 1: is this a fear for me? Yes, because I like 705 00:42:40,920 --> 00:42:43,759 Speaker 1: to like nest up in a hotel for a week 706 00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:46,520 Speaker 1: and like have my base of operations. So I'm going 707 00:42:46,600 --> 00:42:49,080 Speaker 1: to have to pack in a manner that makes me 708 00:42:49,160 --> 00:42:51,080 Speaker 1: able to pick up every day and a half and go. 709 00:42:52,000 --> 00:42:54,440 Speaker 1: But I think that's also great and it's a good challenge. 710 00:42:54,760 --> 00:43:00,320 Speaker 3: Yes, Yes, So again we are both incredibly excited about 711 00:43:00,320 --> 00:43:04,240 Speaker 3: this trip. You can learn more about it at defined 712 00:43:04,600 --> 00:43:06,879 Speaker 3: destinations dot com. 713 00:43:07,080 --> 00:43:11,239 Speaker 2: That is all one word. The actual url. 714 00:43:11,040 --> 00:43:16,000 Speaker 3: At it of it as is Defined Destinations dot Com slash. 715 00:43:16,280 --> 00:43:19,040 Speaker 3: Then it's Taste of Morocco twenty twenty five. 716 00:43:19,160 --> 00:43:19,720 Speaker 2: That's all. 717 00:43:19,800 --> 00:43:22,279 Speaker 3: Each of those words is separated by a dash of 718 00:43:22,640 --> 00:43:24,879 Speaker 3: That feels a little complicated to me to read out 719 00:43:24,920 --> 00:43:28,000 Speaker 3: in a way. So the probably easier way to get 720 00:43:28,000 --> 00:43:32,839 Speaker 3: there is to go to Defined Destinations dot Com on 721 00:43:33,040 --> 00:43:36,840 Speaker 3: under tours, it is the one called a Taste of Morocco. 722 00:43:37,840 --> 00:43:40,239 Speaker 2: If you have questions. 723 00:43:39,560 --> 00:43:43,719 Speaker 3: About the travel arrangements, the trip itself, all of that, 724 00:43:43,840 --> 00:43:46,320 Speaker 3: the folks to ask are going to be the folks 725 00:43:46,360 --> 00:43:50,000 Speaker 3: at Defined Destinations. Because Holly and I will be on 726 00:43:50,040 --> 00:43:52,840 Speaker 3: this trip. We are both extremely excited about it and 727 00:43:52,880 --> 00:43:56,880 Speaker 3: looking forward to meeting everyone who joins us on the trip. 728 00:43:57,520 --> 00:44:01,120 Speaker 3: But when it comes to things like hotel and accommodations 729 00:44:01,160 --> 00:44:05,160 Speaker 3: and any dietary restrictions, anything like that, like, that's going 730 00:44:05,239 --> 00:44:09,920 Speaker 3: to be Defined Destinations making those arrangements and answering those questions. 731 00:44:12,480 --> 00:44:14,319 Speaker 3: I don't know if I have anything else to add 732 00:44:14,360 --> 00:44:18,319 Speaker 3: with that other than very excited for the twelfth time. 733 00:44:20,000 --> 00:44:23,560 Speaker 2: Yeah, it's going to be a blast and I can't wait. Yeah. 734 00:44:23,760 --> 00:44:27,000 Speaker 3: Yeah, So I'm sure we will be talking about this 735 00:44:27,200 --> 00:44:30,440 Speaker 3: some more. We will be putting links to it up 736 00:44:30,440 --> 00:44:35,400 Speaker 3: on our various social media and yeah, if you would 737 00:44:35,440 --> 00:44:38,080 Speaker 3: like to send us a note about this or any 738 00:44:38,120 --> 00:44:41,920 Speaker 3: other podcast or about travel, or about you know, signing 739 00:44:41,960 --> 00:44:44,200 Speaker 3: up for this trip and telling us how excited that 740 00:44:44,280 --> 00:44:45,839 Speaker 3: you are that you're going to be going on it. 741 00:44:45,840 --> 00:44:50,520 Speaker 3: We are at History Podcast at iHeartRadio dot com and 742 00:44:50,680 --> 00:44:53,960 Speaker 3: you can subscribe to our show on the iHeartRadio app 743 00:44:54,239 --> 00:44:58,080 Speaker 3: and anywhere else you'd like to get your podcasts. 744 00:45:01,880 --> 00:45:03,200 Speaker 2: Stuff you Missed in History. 745 00:45:02,960 --> 00:45:07,319 Speaker 3: Class is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, 746 00:45:07,520 --> 00:45:11,080 Speaker 3: visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen 747 00:45:11,120 --> 00:45:12,120 Speaker 3: to your favorite shows.