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Speaker 1: Welcome to stuff Mom never told you. From House to

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Speaker 1: works dot Com. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm

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Speaker 1: Kristen and I'm Caroline, and today we are devoting our

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Speaker 1: episode to Barbara Walters, legendary news anchor and soft news personality.

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Speaker 1: How do you describe Barbara Walters, host, current host of

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Speaker 1: The View. I guess she's a personality journalism extraordinaire. That

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Speaker 1: is a great title for her. I will I will

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Speaker 1: air brush her a T shirt im that on it

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Speaker 1: if you want nice and I hope that her face

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Speaker 1: on it would have that airbrushed soft look as it

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Speaker 1: does now. Yes. Um, yeah. Barbara Walters recently announced that

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Speaker 1: she is retiring not just from the View but from journalism,

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Speaker 1: from TV, etcetera. And she's eighty three years old, which

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Speaker 1: makes it even more awesome that she initially made the

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Speaker 1: announcement via Twitter, right yeah. And and she's no dummy,

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Speaker 1: that Barbara Walter. She's she's pretty media savvy, as one

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Speaker 1: would expect from somebody who's been in the industry for

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Speaker 1: as long as she has. But she made this Twitter

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Speaker 1: announcement uh the night before her a big official announcement

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Speaker 1: on the View on May thirteenth, and coincidentally or not,

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Speaker 1: it's during sweeps week, right, And so she says she's

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Speaker 1: gonna retire in And she's been on television continuously for

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Speaker 1: over fifty years in different capacities, mostly on ABC and NBC,

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Speaker 1: and we wanted to take an episode to talk about

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Speaker 1: her because she was such a groundbreaking woman in broadcast

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Speaker 1: television and now with her legacy, there's there's a little

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Speaker 1: bit of controversy, but we want to take a take

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Speaker 1: a moment to talk about her highlights and why Barbara

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Speaker 1: Walters really does matter. Yeah, she's had some pretty significant

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Speaker 1: firsts and two that go hand in hand are the

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Speaker 1: fact that she was the first female co host over

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Speaker 1: on ABC News. She co hosted with Harry Reasoner, who

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Speaker 1: really sounds like a jerk. And when she was offered

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Speaker 1: this co hosting position, she became the first female anchor

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Speaker 1: to make a million bucks. Yeah, and before that, she

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Speaker 1: had become the first female co host of The Today

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Speaker 1: Show as well, which was where she really got her start. Um.

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Speaker 1: And before that, when she went to work for NBC

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Speaker 1: in the early sixties, she started out as a secretary

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Speaker 1: and then quickly worked her way up the ranks. And

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Speaker 1: from nineteen sixty one to nineteen seventy four she was

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Speaker 1: a reporter, a writer, and a panel member for The

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Speaker 1: Today Show, and at that time that when she was

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Speaker 1: on the show, they had a token female on there

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Speaker 1: called the Today Girl, who was usually a model or

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Speaker 1: an actress. So when Walters was tapped to become a

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Speaker 1: new Today Girl, it was a big deal because she said,

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Speaker 1: I wasn't beautiful, and I had trouble pronouncing my rs,

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Speaker 1: and I had no idea that they would want me

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Speaker 1: for this, but of course she jumped on it, right,

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Speaker 1: And the Today Girl slot was usually filled by models

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Speaker 1: or actresses, women who basically covered light, fluffy lifestyle pieces

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Speaker 1: because at the time, she said, you know, nobody was

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Speaker 1: going to take a woman seriously reading the news, and

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Speaker 1: so they kind of were relegated to the background doing

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Speaker 1: fluffier pieces. Didn't she call it something like the tea

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Speaker 1: pouring stories, right, yeah? And this maker's video that that

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Speaker 1: was produced by PBS and a O L. She she

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Speaker 1: did call them tea pouring interviews. She said that for

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Speaker 1: years the Today Show had one female writer out of

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Speaker 1: something like seven and the only way basically that you

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Speaker 1: could get the job is of another female writer got

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Speaker 1: married or died, and then they would hire literally one

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Speaker 1: other female writer to do the quote unquote female pieces,

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Speaker 1: which she called, you know, the fashion shows, the celebrity interviews.

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Speaker 1: Uh So she ended up doing that because it was

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Speaker 1: all she could do. And I didn't realize this, but

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy Barbara Walters published her first book, which

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Speaker 1: was called How To Talk with Practically Anybody About Practically Anything.

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Speaker 1: Because she made a name for herself pretty much off

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Speaker 1: the bat with her interviewing style. She was always able

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Speaker 1: to get notable interviews, as we'll talk about a little

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Speaker 1: bit more, and kind of developed a signature style. And

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy two, as sings at NBC are really

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Speaker 1: starting to pick up for her. Just to give you

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Speaker 1: a snapshot, Barbara Walters told Time Magazine in nineteen quote,

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Speaker 1: the only woman with a daily network show is Dinah Shore,

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Speaker 1: and she sings, I'd like to do evening news specials

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Speaker 1: like the men do. A female anchor woman on the

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Speaker 1: nightly news hasn't happened yet either. It's like she knew

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Speaker 1: what was going to happen. And that proved to be

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Speaker 1: a very preseent quote because she broke those barriers. She

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Speaker 1: did that stuff. But first, in nineteen seventy four to

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Speaker 1: nineteen seventy six, she became the co host on the

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Speaker 1: Today Show. But it took the death of this guy

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Speaker 1: named Frank McGhee who was one of the host for

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Speaker 1: her to actually be named co host because when she

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Speaker 1: was on the Today Show, Frank McGee was so opposed

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Speaker 1: to a woman being at an equal level of him

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Speaker 1: because it just was unheard of at the time that

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Speaker 1: it wasn't until he died that she was able to

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Speaker 1: step in and tell her bosses, hey, you know what,

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Speaker 1: according to my contract, I am a co host and

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Speaker 1: you need to call me a co host. And then

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Speaker 1: in nineteen seventy five, she snagged her first Daytime Emmy,

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Speaker 1: which was not for the Today Show, but for this

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Speaker 1: show called Not for Women Only that she hosted that

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Speaker 1: I believe was based in New York. It might have

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Speaker 1: just been on New York channels, but it was kind

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Speaker 1: of thing where she would invite women on to talk

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Speaker 1: about what they were doing. It was a little bit feminist,

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Speaker 1: um and that's where she got her first semi well.

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Speaker 1: You know, she has known for her interviewing style and

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Speaker 1: she developed it out of sheer scrappiness. This woman was

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Speaker 1: pushed aside so often that she often had to go

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Speaker 1: outside of normal methods of interviewing people. If she wanted

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Speaker 1: an interview in those days that she was co hosting

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Speaker 1: and kind of relegated to just the woman's stories, if

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Speaker 1: she wanted one that was totally her, she had to

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Speaker 1: literally go outside of the studios so that she wouldn't

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Speaker 1: have to wait for the men to ask the interview questions.

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Speaker 1: Because when after she had become a staple on the

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Speaker 1: Today Show alongside people like Hugh Downs and Frank McGee, uh,

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Speaker 1: she was restricted from asking questions of the show's quote

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Speaker 1: unquote serious guests until the male co host had had

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Speaker 1: asked his. That was an actual rule that the dude

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Speaker 1: had come up with, and so she had to clear

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Speaker 1: her own paths. She said, Uh, they became mine, the

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Speaker 1: interviews that she did outside of the studio, which she said,

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Speaker 1: is how she got her reputation as an interviewer and

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Speaker 1: a pushy cookie. A pushy cookie indeed, But in April

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Speaker 1: twent nineteen seventy six, not only was she a pushy cookie,

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Speaker 1: but Barbara Walters was a self described lonely cookie because

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Speaker 1: when that was when she got that groundbreaking co anchor

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Speaker 1: job on ABC World News Tonight, and she was at

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Speaker 1: the top of her game at the time, but also

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Speaker 1: completely despairing and almost depressed about it because whenever she

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Speaker 1: would walk into the studio and this was from that

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Speaker 1: maker's interview on PBS, she talks about how no one

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Speaker 1: wanted to talk to her. The mostly male staff and

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Speaker 1: Harry reason her co host, wanted absolutely nothing to do

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Speaker 1: with her. They would make jokes about her because they

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Speaker 1: thought it was ludicrous that a woman was co anchoring,

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Speaker 1: can you believe it? But the funny thing is, though

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Speaker 1: she was making more than Harry Reasoner when she first

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Speaker 1: got in there. She snagged that record one million dollar contract,

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Speaker 1: and half a million was for the co anchoring job,

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Speaker 1: and half a million was for her interview specials, which

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Speaker 1: was really more so than that job at ABC World

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Speaker 1: News Tonight. It was her interview specials that became her hallmark, right.

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Speaker 1: But you know what, just like Harry Reasoner didn't accept her,

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Speaker 1: viewers didn't either, and journalists called her a flop. And

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Speaker 1: she even says that, you know, she was so hurt,

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Speaker 1: and she actually asked the journalist who wrote the story,

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Speaker 1: you know you called me a flop? What why, why

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Speaker 1: did you do that? And he said, well you are.

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Speaker 1: And within two years of becoming the co anchor with

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Speaker 1: Harry Reasoner, she was reassigned to do specials and Reasoner

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Speaker 1: was actually let out of his contract to go to

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Speaker 1: another network. And Barbara said, you know, they could have

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Speaker 1: kept him, but they bet on me. And she said

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Speaker 1: it was during this time that she worked the hardest

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Speaker 1: and did probably the best in views of her life,

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Speaker 1: which included people like Fidel Castro and the very famous

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Speaker 1: joint interview with Manock and Beagan and and Arsadad. And

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Speaker 1: quickly going back to that short stint that she had

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Speaker 1: at ABC World News tonight, when I was reading about

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Speaker 1: her struggle managing all of the criticism, it gave me

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Speaker 1: a little bit of perspective for if I have a

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Speaker 1: bad day, if someone sends us Carolina maybe not so

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Speaker 1: nice email, I need to remember Barbara Walters and all

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Speaker 1: of the flak that she was getting at the time.

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Speaker 1: For instance, Larry Flint offered her a million dollars to

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Speaker 1: pose for Hustler. Alright, whatever, But then in nineteen seventies

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Speaker 1: six time magazine called her the quote unquote most appalling

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Speaker 1: argument for feminism. Uh, there was Guilda Radner's famous Saturday

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Speaker 1: Night Live impression of her Baba wah wah, which she was.

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Speaker 1: She knew that it was a joke, but it was

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Speaker 1: also offensive because everyone was making fun of how she spoke, right.

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Speaker 1: She really did not like it. And she even said

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Speaker 1: in that video that she caught her daughter watching the

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Speaker 1: impression on TV and said, what are you doing? Why

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Speaker 1: are you watching that stuff? And her ten year old

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Speaker 1: turns around and says, how mom, have a sense of humor,

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Speaker 1: And she said, Okay, I get it. But even then

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Speaker 1: it was still so hard to accept, right, And and

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Speaker 1: even later on Barbara Walters ended up meeting Gilda Radner

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Speaker 1: and she was very friendly and all of that, But

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Speaker 1: can you imagine being a national punchline when at the

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Speaker 1: same time you're at the top of your game, right? Well,

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Speaker 1: what she said saved her during that really dark time

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Speaker 1: was letters from women that came pouring in. It's things

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Speaker 1: like if you can do it, we can do it.

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Speaker 1: Hang in there, We're having the same problems. And she said,

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Speaker 1: I really realized that women from all walks of life

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Speaker 1: understood what I was going through, and they were with me. Yeah.

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Speaker 1: And so even though today when we think about Barbara

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Speaker 1: Walters and we think about the view and it is

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Speaker 1: an exact the hard hitting news, it might not have

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Speaker 1: the brainiest reputation, but looking at this snapshot of her

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Speaker 1: early career, and not even that early. She was forty

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Speaker 1: five years old when she got that job at ABC

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Speaker 1: World News tonight, Um, it still speaks so much to

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Speaker 1: the ambition and tenacity that she had and when she

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Speaker 1: was struggling with these these networks, she said that a

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Speaker 1: lot of times she wasn't one to elbow her way

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Speaker 1: into a vice president's office and demand things. She said

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Speaker 1: that I just wanted to do the work. And that

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Speaker 1: was the way that she snagged all of those interviews,

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Speaker 1: those famous interviews like the ones that you mentioned, and

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Speaker 1: also the fact that she interviewed in Richard Nixon and

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Speaker 1: has interviewed every single sitting president since then. Uh, she

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Speaker 1: had that famous interview with Monica Lewinsky, which is still

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Speaker 1: the most watched interview in television history. And it's incredible

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Speaker 1: to think that she was still able to do all

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Speaker 1: this stuff, still able to keep all this momentum even

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Speaker 1: when you know, major media outlets are basically telling her

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Speaker 1: to go home already. Yeah, well, so what sparked this drive?

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Speaker 1: I mean, obviously she has incredible drive and like you said,

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Speaker 1: this tenacity to keep pressing on in the face of

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Speaker 1: oh everyone. And she credits not necessarily her parents supporting her,

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Speaker 1: but her parents not directly supporting her. She said, you know,

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Speaker 1: I didn't have parents who said you can do everything

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Speaker 1: you want. What I did have was a father who

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Speaker 1: was in show business and my fear that it could

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Speaker 1: all be gone tomorrow. And then I had to work.

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Speaker 1: If the job was grubby, I could not say I'm

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Speaker 1: going to leave it and get married because I wasn't

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Speaker 1: very good at that and I didn't want to have

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Speaker 1: that as my safety net. I had to work. And

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Speaker 1: Barbara Walters was married three times, four times if you

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Speaker 1: count the second time she remarried her third husband and

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Speaker 1: carry the one. But um, you know, as far as

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Speaker 1: like that tenacity and that that not giving up and

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Speaker 1: having to work being a woman in that era who

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Speaker 1: is like, no, I'm gonna work, screw you, I'm not

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Speaker 1: going to fall back marriage. I mean, it's interesting in

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Speaker 1: the perspective of is she a feminist, what did she

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Speaker 1: do for the women's movement? Because she did want to

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Speaker 1: help other women, and she did want to put a

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Speaker 1: focus in the news on the women's movement. But there

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Speaker 1: was a bit of a pushback she had sent when

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Speaker 1: she worked very early in her career at NBC. She

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Speaker 1: had sent a memo to the NBC president asking shouldn't

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Speaker 1: we do something on this whole this whole little trend

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Speaker 1: going on right now, the women's movement, and his response,

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Speaker 1: scrawled on the top of the memo, was not enough interest.

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Speaker 1: And nevertheless, so she you know, she still made such

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Speaker 1: a big impact. There was a blog post over at

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Speaker 1: A A r P by Laurie Lynch and she said

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Speaker 1: it was her ceiling shattering move to ABC in nineteen

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Speaker 1: seventies six to co host and nightly news that really

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Speaker 1: made young women sit up and take notice. Those of

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Speaker 1: us aspiring to big careers in journalism were being told

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Speaker 1: by mentors and mothers that we two could be another

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Speaker 1: Barbara Walters. And I mean, from that perspective of that's

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Speaker 1: pretty incredible. I think probably for you and I we

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Speaker 1: both went to journalism school, and I don't think that

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Speaker 1: Barbara Walters was ever mentioned really in any of the

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Speaker 1: classes we took, because by that time, you know, maybe

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Speaker 1: we just sort of take her for granted, as you know,

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Speaker 1: popping up on and having the view. I mean she

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Speaker 1: start I didn't realize this, but she launched her famous

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Speaker 1: ten Most Fascinating People special in n and the View

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Speaker 1: launched when she was seventy. Yeah. I just like that

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Speaker 1: kind of blew my mind because I guess I just

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Speaker 1: think of the View as having started when I was

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Speaker 1: much older. Apparently not. But I mean, as far as

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Speaker 1: you know, the women's movement, she might not have directly

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Speaker 1: associated with it or with feminism, but she certainly didn't

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Speaker 1: turn her back on it, which you know, is what

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Speaker 1: Patricia Bradley said in her book Mass Media and the

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Speaker 1: Shaping of American Feminism, where she actually talked to a

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Speaker 1: lot of other female journalists from this era who said,

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Speaker 1: I remember Barbara being like so friendly and always offering

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Speaker 1: a hand and wanting to help, which is something that

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Speaker 1: Barbara herself confirmed in that maker's video. You know, she said,

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Speaker 1: I tried to be very supportive of women because I

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Speaker 1: know what I went through and women do need that help,

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Speaker 1: and it is still a little difficult for men to

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Speaker 1: understand it. The fact that we still have the same

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Speaker 1: poll between the career and the child and the marriage. Yes,

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Speaker 1: she said, men do to a degree, but not the

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Speaker 1: same way that women do. Yeah. And in two thousand

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Speaker 1: and twelve, she definitely raised some hackles among feminists and

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Speaker 1: just viewers in general who were kind of confused when she,

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Speaker 1: on the View publicly sided with conservative Rick Santorum's comment

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Speaker 1: that quote unquote, radical feminism was ruining the traditional family

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Speaker 1: and let's not even waste the time like in diving

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Speaker 1: into that assertion. Um. But on the view she I mean,

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Speaker 1: she really made people a bit angry because she said,

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Speaker 1: quote there was a time when feminists made the woman

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Speaker 1: who stayed home and had children feel inferior. I think

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Speaker 1: we are finally changing so that we realized younger ones

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Speaker 1: you can make a choice. So I don't think that

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Speaker 1: what he said is so terribly off the point. And

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Speaker 1: that's a strong move to say, hey, you know what

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Speaker 1: I'm gonna I'm gonna side with you, Rick Santorum, especially

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Speaker 1: if you might be more associated with slightly more liberal politics.

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Speaker 1: But that really isn't different from what she was saying

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Speaker 1: during the height of Second Wave feminism um. For instance,

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Speaker 1: in there's a nineteen seventy four book I Found the

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Speaker 1: New Feminist Movement, and she was quoted as saying that

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Speaker 1: second way feminist quote have given women who want to

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Speaker 1: stay home a national inferiority complex. And thinking about that,

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Speaker 1: I understand what she's saying in terms of it shouldn't

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Speaker 1: be demonizing women who want to stay home. It should

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Speaker 1: be more about the choice. Perhaps into the was in

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Speaker 1: twelve with the way that she said it and the

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Speaker 1: person that she was supporting as she was saying that

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Speaker 1: was really more of the problem for people, right. But

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Speaker 1: I mean, I think it's interesting and I think it's

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Speaker 1: I don't know, just coming that statement coming from a

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Speaker 1: woman who obviously did make the choice and felt like

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Speaker 1: she had to make the choice, Like she said, I

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Speaker 1: had to work. I didn't want to fall back on

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Speaker 1: marriage or any kind of safety net, you know, because

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Speaker 1: her father had been in show business, he was a

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Speaker 1: nightclub owner. It all could be gone in a second,

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Speaker 1: and she knew that, and so she wanted to keep working,

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Speaker 1: you know, keep being as successful as possible, make her contribution.

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Speaker 1: And so the fact that she's the one coming forward

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Speaker 1: and saying you feminists are giving women who want to

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Speaker 1: stay at home and raise babies and inferiority complex. I mean,

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Speaker 1: I think that gives it maybe some extra weight. Yeah,

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Speaker 1: and I wonder if that speaks to pressure that she

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Speaker 1: had felt at points during her career that maybe she

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Speaker 1: should stay home with her adoptive daughter at least stepped

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Speaker 1: back a little bit. How um, you could keep Barbara

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Speaker 1: walters intense schedule and also, uh, you know, be a

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Speaker 1: full time mom that that just seems pretty impossible. Um,

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Speaker 1: But you know, Barbara certainly has not been without her controversy.

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Speaker 1: Once she announced her retirement in May, everybody came out with,

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Speaker 1: you know, a blog post or an article or something

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Speaker 1: on Barbara saying good riddance or oh Barbara. And Alex Perreen,

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Speaker 1: for instance, over at Salon was one of the people

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Speaker 1: who said good riddance because he said she's fine for

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Speaker 1: inf attainment, but she has no journalistic scruples whatsoever because

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Speaker 1: of her very close, he thinks too close relationships over

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Speaker 1: the years with sources, some of whom were just a

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Speaker 1: tad corrupt, such as most recently Syrian president Bashar al Assa,

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Speaker 1: who um she had on I had I can't remember

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Speaker 1: if it was twenty but she had one of the

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Speaker 1: first interviews with him, and Marine was talking about how well,

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Speaker 1: of course you got the interview because she's actually good

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Speaker 1: friends with him and his wife, and and talking about

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Speaker 1: other um usually actually men for the most part, that

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Speaker 1: she had been friends with but also would interview or

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Speaker 1: use as as sources. Yeah, And one thing I read

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Speaker 1: was talking about how maybe that that comfort with extremely

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Speaker 1: famous or infamous people, that that ease of of interviewing

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Speaker 1: all sorts of people from all different walks of life

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Speaker 1: comes from her upbringing because her father was in show business,

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Speaker 1: and because she had been in some form of journalism

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Speaker 1: for so long. And yeah, she has walked that infotainment

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Speaker 1: tightrope for decades. You know, she's able to jump between

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Speaker 1: interviews with heads of state and celebrities like the you know,

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Speaker 1: the Kardashians, or that infamous Ricky Martin interview where she

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Speaker 1: was basically like demanding that he come out of the

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Speaker 1: closet on her show and he's like, look, I don't

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Speaker 1: want to talk about it. I mean, she was pretty

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Speaker 1: vilified for for that at the time. Yeah, and also

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Speaker 1: on Salon's kind of on the flip side of the controversy.

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Speaker 1: TV critic Mary Elizabeth Williams said, you know what I

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Speaker 1: am all about some Barbara Walters. She says that, yeah, Okay,

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Speaker 1: she's got the soft focus, she's got the entertainment spin

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Speaker 1: and all of that quote. But what she leaves behind

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Speaker 1: is a ferociously powerful, maddening lye unduplicated example. She's a

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Speaker 1: woman who out earned many of her male counterparts and

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Speaker 1: has been unashamed and unapologetic about her aspirations. Yeah and uh.

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Speaker 1: Over at the cut from New York Magazine, they wrote

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Speaker 1: that Barbara has served as a bridge between an era

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Speaker 1: when the news was defined by a small, homogeneous group

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Speaker 1: of experts to a time when discussion and conversation rain.

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Speaker 1: And I think her career has totally mirrored that trajectory

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Speaker 1: as far as like starting out wanting to be in

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Speaker 1: hard news talking to heads of state, whereas now she's

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Speaker 1: hosting a talk show basically right. And that's not to

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Speaker 1: say that the view never touches on political stories, harder news,

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Speaker 1: bigger societal issues. Um, but you know it's still it's

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Speaker 1: definitely it's not c Span. Yeah sure, I mean yeah,

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Speaker 1: I mean she's not just sitting there talking like Brian

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Speaker 1: Williams delivering the news at night. You know it's it's

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Speaker 1: four four or five or however. Many people are on

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Speaker 1: the View, sitting around on a couch talking versus the

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Speaker 1: more serious like Walter Cronkite. Who do you think will

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Speaker 1: replace her? Anybody? Do you think they'll do? You think

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Speaker 1: they'll pull in a replacement. Who's somebody with some gravitas?

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Speaker 1: Martha Stewart. She's looking for a new gig right. All

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Speaker 1: she's doing is dating on match dot com right now,

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Speaker 1: and yeah, and getting into trouble for selling her spatuel

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Speaker 1: as at different stores Martha spatialists. Now, maybe, um, let's

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Speaker 1: make our prediction. The person who will take over for

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Speaker 1: Barbara Walters in two thousand fourteen won't be Katie currct

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Speaker 1: because after she got the shaft, she she has her

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Speaker 1: own talk show now and it's successful. And I don't

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Speaker 1: think that it would be Diane Sawyer maybe and Curry.

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Speaker 1: I don't think it would be and Curry. I don't

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Speaker 1: think it would be and Curry. But you know what

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Speaker 1: if it were and Curry, I might watch the View

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Speaker 1: because of her unceremonious exit from the Today Show. Uh so,

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Speaker 1: But just to sign off, though, should we toss out

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Speaker 1: some final accolades that Barbara Walters has received absolutely over

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Speaker 1: the years. Listen to this. Nominated for seven Daytime Emmy Awards,

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Speaker 1: she's won four times, nominated for twenty News and Documentary

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Speaker 1: Emmy Awards and won eight times, and then nominated for

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Speaker 1: twelve Prime Time Emmy's and one one time. So let

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Speaker 1: me look at this, maths only everything thirteen Emmy's not bad,

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Speaker 1: not bad, not bad. Babs. Wonder if she has a cabinet,

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Speaker 1: an Emmy cabinet, or maybe she just sprinkles them around.

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Speaker 1: You know, she puts one in each of her thirteen

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Speaker 1: bathrooms in her home. Yeah, one in each shower. Yes,

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Speaker 1: So that's it, Barbara Walters. Hats off for you to

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Speaker 1: um really never giving up and also still though I

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Speaker 1: want to say that lover her hater. What a great example, though,

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Speaker 1: of a woman who is well beyond retirement age, who

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Speaker 1: never stopped working now and and I do like what

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Speaker 1: she said when she retired, you know, I just I

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Speaker 1: just want to sit on a hill and watch everything happen,

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Speaker 1: you know, just watch it go by. I mean, after

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Speaker 1: after being on television for over fifty years, I think

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Speaker 1: she deserves a vacation. Yeah, you wonder if her attitude

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Speaker 1: is still the same today as it was then, as

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Speaker 1: far as I have to work, because obviously, I mean,

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Speaker 1: she's been pretty consistently successful for decades now, Like I

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Speaker 1: think she's set. Yeah, I mean, Barbara Walters is as

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Speaker 1: much of a celebrity and an a lister as most

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Speaker 1: of the people that talks to at this point. So

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Speaker 1: let's hear from folks. Barbara Walters, what do you think

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Speaker 1: any predictions for who will take over at the View?

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Speaker 1: I know it's kind of a silly question, but it's

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Speaker 1: a fun one. So right to us mom Stuff at

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Speaker 1: Discovery dot com, or you can tweet us step mom

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Speaker 1: Stuff podcast, or send us a little message on Facebook

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Speaker 1: and like us while you're at it. And we are

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Speaker 1: going to read a couple of letters that we have

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Speaker 1: from past episodes. But before we do, let's take a

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Speaker 1: quick break and then we'll get right back. And now

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Speaker 1: back to our letters. And we've got a couple here

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00:24:37,840 --> 00:24:41,000
Speaker 1: about our episode on Glass of Stereotypes, which we got

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00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:45,600
Speaker 1: a ton of letters from. And this one to kick

432
00:24:45,600 --> 00:24:48,680
Speaker 1: off from Carmen is a little bit sad. Her subject

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00:24:48,680 --> 00:24:52,200
Speaker 1: line is how I learned glasses are bad, she says.

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00:24:52,200 --> 00:24:54,680
Speaker 1: When I was in elementary school, I wore glasses because

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00:24:54,680 --> 00:24:56,879
Speaker 1: I was scared of putting things in my eyes. But

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00:24:56,960 --> 00:24:59,000
Speaker 1: in the sixth grade, I was at school one day

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Speaker 1: and two girls in the other side the classroom we're

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Speaker 1: talking about me. One of them said, that's Carmen over there,

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00:25:04,440 --> 00:25:07,520
Speaker 1: the ugly one with the glasses. I found out about

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00:25:07,560 --> 00:25:09,919
Speaker 1: this conversation because the girl who said that was one

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00:25:09,960 --> 00:25:13,080
Speaker 1: of my closest friends, and she simply told me what

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00:25:13,119 --> 00:25:15,280
Speaker 1: she had said, as if she saw no problem with

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00:25:15,320 --> 00:25:17,720
Speaker 1: calling me ugly. I told my mom I wanted context

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00:25:17,800 --> 00:25:19,840
Speaker 1: as soon as I got home that day. At the

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00:25:19,920 --> 00:25:22,440
Speaker 1: end of that school year, at my middle school, boyfriend

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00:25:22,640 --> 00:25:24,760
Speaker 1: saw my yearbook picture, which had been taken before I

447
00:25:24,800 --> 00:25:27,959
Speaker 1: got context, and he immediately told me, I like you

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00:25:28,000 --> 00:25:33,520
Speaker 1: better with contexts middle schools worst. I'm probably old enough

449
00:25:33,560 --> 00:25:35,119
Speaker 1: now that no one would ever call me ugly to

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00:25:35,160 --> 00:25:38,080
Speaker 1: my face, but I still hate the idea of wearing glasses.

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00:25:38,400 --> 00:25:40,680
Speaker 1: I'll soon be leaving to work in a developing country

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00:25:40,680 --> 00:25:42,199
Speaker 1: for two years, and did not want to deal with

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00:25:42,240 --> 00:25:44,879
Speaker 1: the hassle of bringing eight parents of daily contact with

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Speaker 1: me or being in a situation where I'm spending a

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Speaker 1: night in a village without a sink for me to

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00:25:48,640 --> 00:25:51,320
Speaker 1: change my contact. So in two days I'll beating lay

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00:25:51,359 --> 00:25:54,440
Speaker 1: six surgery after four years of wearing glasses and eleven

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00:25:54,480 --> 00:25:57,080
Speaker 1: years were in contact. It's possible that I would have

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00:25:57,080 --> 00:25:59,719
Speaker 1: gotten the surgery anyway, because both glasses and contacts can

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00:25:59,720 --> 00:26:03,879
Speaker 1: be in credibly inconvenient times. But certainly the negative stereotypes

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00:26:04,000 --> 00:26:07,600
Speaker 1: contributed a great deal to my enthusiasm for having lasers

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00:26:07,640 --> 00:26:10,359
Speaker 1: shot into my eyes and the name of eliminating my

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00:26:10,520 --> 00:26:14,280
Speaker 1: need for corrective lenses. Yeah, I have friends have done

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00:26:14,320 --> 00:26:18,120
Speaker 1: life second, they love it. I'm too scared. I'm too

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00:26:18,119 --> 00:26:21,800
Speaker 1: scared period. Okay, Well, I have a letter here from Chelsea.

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00:26:21,920 --> 00:26:24,640
Speaker 1: She says, I've been wearing glasses for twenty one years

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00:26:24,680 --> 00:26:27,399
Speaker 1: since i was six, and like you, I wear my

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00:26:27,440 --> 00:26:31,359
Speaker 1: contact of the time. I have exceptionally awful vision, and

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00:26:31,400 --> 00:26:34,120
Speaker 1: I've been legally blind since an early age. I definitely

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00:26:34,119 --> 00:26:37,000
Speaker 1: played into the stereotype of the dorky girl in school,

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00:26:37,000 --> 00:26:39,200
Speaker 1: which was reflected in my lack of a dating life

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00:26:39,240 --> 00:26:41,760
Speaker 1: into college. So I was not surprised to hear your

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00:26:41,760 --> 00:26:44,840
Speaker 1: finding from the podcast. I was surprised, however, that nothing

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00:26:44,880 --> 00:26:48,600
Speaker 1: was mentioned about being genetically inferior. I always assumed that

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00:26:48,600 --> 00:26:51,919
Speaker 1: people with glasses were subconsciously found less attractive because of

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00:26:51,960 --> 00:26:56,399
Speaker 1: some primeval knowledge that poor eyesight equates death. I always

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00:26:56,440 --> 00:26:58,439
Speaker 1: assumed I would have died early on if I was

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00:26:58,480 --> 00:27:02,320
Speaker 1: born before eye glasses were invented. Much like with my

479
00:27:02,400 --> 00:27:05,160
Speaker 1: lack of childbearing hips and bountiful breasts. I would also

480
00:27:05,200 --> 00:27:07,440
Speaker 1: assume that people would not want to breed with someone

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00:27:07,480 --> 00:27:09,600
Speaker 1: who is likely to pass on their poor eyesight to

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Speaker 1: their offspring. Did you find anything relating to that in

483
00:27:13,400 --> 00:27:18,160
Speaker 1: your research? We did not uncover anything like that, But

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00:27:20,040 --> 00:27:24,880
Speaker 1: I don't know. Yeah, I on a slightly related note

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00:27:24,920 --> 00:27:27,680
Speaker 1: that doesn't answer your question at all. So I recently

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00:27:27,760 --> 00:27:32,000
Speaker 1: found this book, Uh, that was a compilation of my

487
00:27:32,200 --> 00:27:35,280
Speaker 1: great great great great great great uncle's letters to his

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00:27:35,359 --> 00:27:38,560
Speaker 1: family because he went to Dartmouth, went to law school,

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00:27:38,600 --> 00:27:40,159
Speaker 1: and ended up dying in the Civil War. Like at

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00:27:40,160 --> 00:27:42,560
Speaker 1: the very end in anyway, his beloved sister compiled all

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00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,320
Speaker 1: his letters, and in so many of his letters when

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00:27:44,320 --> 00:27:46,159
Speaker 1: he's off at college, he's writing home, and he's like

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00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,399
Speaker 1: mother and father. I can barely see as I write

494
00:27:49,440 --> 00:27:51,720
Speaker 1: you this inleto my eyes and he's like always concerned

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00:27:51,720 --> 00:27:54,199
Speaker 1: about his eyes, and he's always looking forward to Christmas

496
00:27:54,240 --> 00:27:57,240
Speaker 1: break and summer breaks off so that he can rest

497
00:27:57,320 --> 00:27:59,360
Speaker 1: his eyes because he's like, I'm afraid I will need

498
00:27:59,440 --> 00:28:04,199
Speaker 1: glass oh mine. And he was also very skinny, so

499
00:28:05,240 --> 00:28:08,280
Speaker 1: that means nothing, but it's very interesting to read a

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Speaker 1: firsthand account of someone in the eighteen when was that college.

501
00:28:13,480 --> 00:28:15,720
Speaker 1: I don't know for him, but who was scared of

502
00:28:15,720 --> 00:28:20,240
Speaker 1: getting glasses? Man, if only if only Warby Parker existed

503
00:28:20,280 --> 00:28:23,080
Speaker 1: back then, he'd be the most stylish chap at dot

504
00:28:23,320 --> 00:28:26,000
Speaker 1: I mean he had to killer mustache there you go. Wow,

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00:28:26,119 --> 00:28:29,960
Speaker 1: he had everything he needed just right there. He just

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00:28:30,040 --> 00:28:34,040
Speaker 1: needed some some thick frames. Well. Thanks to everyone who

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00:28:34,040 --> 00:28:36,400
Speaker 1: has written into us. Mom Stuff at Discovery dot com

508
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,480
Speaker 1: is where you can send your letters. You can also

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00:28:38,920 --> 00:28:42,000
Speaker 1: follow us on Twitter at mom Stuff Podcasts, and we're

510
00:28:42,040 --> 00:28:44,320
Speaker 1: on Facebook as well. Don't forget to check us out

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00:28:44,320 --> 00:28:46,720
Speaker 1: there and see what we're doing, and follow us on

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00:28:46,840 --> 00:28:50,800
Speaker 1: Tumbler at stuff mom never told you dot tumbler dot com,

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00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:54,560
Speaker 1: and don't forget to watch us as well. Monday, Wednesday Friday,

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00:28:54,560 --> 00:28:56,160
Speaker 1: we come out with a new video for you on

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00:28:56,160 --> 00:28:59,760
Speaker 1: our YouTube channel. It's YouTube dot com slash stuff mom

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00:28:59,800 --> 00:29:05,000
Speaker 1: never told you. Head on over and subscribe for more

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00:29:05,040 --> 00:29:07,320
Speaker 1: on this and thousands of other topics. Is it how

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00:29:07,360 --> 00:29:16,760
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