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Speaker 1: Maybe we are back on Normally, the show with normalist

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Speaker 1: takes for when the news gets weird. I'm Mary Katherine

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Speaker 1: Ham and today we are heavy on takes and light

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Speaker 1: on news.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sprinkling of news. But this is a special edition

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Speaker 2: of AMA Normally.

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Speaker 3: And I'm Carol Markoitz. Merry Christmas, Mary, Catherine. How was

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Speaker 3: your Christmas?

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Speaker 2: Oh? I'm sure it was great. It's always good.

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Speaker 1: We have a you know, it's busy, and in the

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Speaker 1: run up to Christmas, I get very get a little frazzled.

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Speaker 2: I'm not gonna lie. And then I had to drive

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Speaker 2: in the snow, Carol.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I'm very Southern for those who had not noticed,

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Speaker 1: and I am not prepared for such things. I am

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Speaker 1: a good driver, yes, but snow driving is not my

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Speaker 1: element and it makes me very nervous. And then I

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Speaker 1: had two toddlers screaming at me from the back of

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Speaker 1: the car while I was snow driving. And there was

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Speaker 1: a hilarious scene where my three year old is just

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Speaker 1: you know, she's like reached her.

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Speaker 2: Limit and she's just screaming back there and.

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Speaker 1: I'm white knuckling it trying to get through the mountains,

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Speaker 1: and I just start telling her.

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Speaker 2: You're excited to see your grandparents and you sort of

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Speaker 2: like stop screaming for a second. Do you want to

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Speaker 2: build a snowman? And she's like ugh, And I was like,

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Speaker 2: we'll build a snowman. Do you want to build a

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Speaker 2: big snowman or a small snowman?

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Speaker 1: And I'm just like, like like a hostage negotiator, just

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Speaker 1: trying to get through the mountains with my giant load

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Speaker 1: of presence and my not so cheery toddlers. But once

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Speaker 1: they got here, they were very cheery, and I was

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Speaker 1: very cheery, and we're good.

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Speaker 2: You know.

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Speaker 3: I love to hear it.

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Speaker 4: I mean, driving in Stow.

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Speaker 3: I'm not a fan either, but it sounds like you

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Speaker 3: made the best of it.

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Speaker 2: I toughed it out. I was like, I'm gonna pretend

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Speaker 2: like I'm totally fine.

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Speaker 3: That's really the thing faked until you make it, especially

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Speaker 3: with children.

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Speaker 2: That's what I did.

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Speaker 3: So we're back with another ask Us Anything episode. We

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Speaker 3: got some such such good question some are serious summerre light.

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Speaker 3: We'll do a mix of them today.

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Speaker 4: Let's start with this one.

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Speaker 3: What is on your twenty twenty five reading list?

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Speaker 1: I am always looking to read more classics because I

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Speaker 1: feel like, there's always ones that I have missed.

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Speaker 2: Even though I was partly a double major in.

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Speaker 1: English lit, so I read a lot of classics, but

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Speaker 1: there are still ones that are like kind of a

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Speaker 1: slog that I haven't gotten to, you know that.

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Speaker 2: I'm always like, I.

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Speaker 1: Guess I should do crime in punishment at some point,

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Speaker 1: or I guess I should do ulysses and then people

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Speaker 1: are like, no, you don't need to do that.

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Speaker 2: So we'll see.

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Speaker 1: But I did want to recommend a fun book that

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Speaker 1: I read in the past year, The Great Beanie Baby Bubble,

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Speaker 1: which there's a movie based on it as well now,

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Speaker 1: but it just tells the story of the insanity of

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Speaker 1: beanie babies.

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Speaker 2: But it's very well researched. The characters are amazing.

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Speaker 1: The founder of that company, Tie is quite a character,

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Speaker 1: and it's very well written. Zach Bisonette is the author,

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Speaker 1: and I just thought it was I thought it was

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Speaker 1: tell him.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I was deep in the beanie baby game for you, really,

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Speaker 3: I was. Yeah. So one thing was I lived in

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Speaker 3: Scotland during that whole insanity and Scottish people didn't know

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Speaker 3: what was going on.

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Speaker 2: I would just like.

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Speaker 3: Walk into their you know, stores by a bunch of

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Speaker 3: beanie babies, ship them back to my brother, who would

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Speaker 3: post them on eBay and we'd make, you know, some money.

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Speaker 2: Always a hustler, care I really was.

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Speaker 4: I was a hustler.

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Speaker 3: My biggest sale was the Princess Diana beanie baby. I

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Speaker 3: sold it for over one hundred dollars, and all I

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Speaker 3: remember about it is I sold it to somebody who

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Speaker 3: worked at the New York Times because she came downstairs

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Speaker 3: from the New York Times building, and like, I gave

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Speaker 3: it the beanie baby and she gave me the cash.

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Speaker 3: And it was like a drug deal in the middle

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Speaker 3: of Manhattan, except with a little stuffed bear.

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Speaker 2: We need to know more about who that employer employee was.

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Speaker 2: Could be anyone, right, someone with a column. Now she

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Speaker 2: moved up.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, my reading list, I just so. I I'm big

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Speaker 3: on trying to read more fiction books. In our world

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Speaker 3: we just read. We read a lot of nonfiction, you

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Speaker 3: and I obviously, but I like to focus on reading fiction.

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Speaker 3: I just started this gigantic book which I still read

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Speaker 3: books in book form, which I get now reading this

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Speaker 3: seven hundred and fifty page book, I get why kindles exist.

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Speaker 3: It's like you just you know, read it and scroll

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Speaker 3: and carry your little kindle around because I could only

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Speaker 3: read this book at home. It's called The Covenant of Water.

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Speaker 3: It's by Abraham BERGESSI.

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Speaker 1: I have started this book and I need to finish

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Speaker 1: it well.

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Speaker 3: The tough thing is, it's so interesting and it's so

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Speaker 3: good and so well written. But you started and you

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Speaker 3: could only read it in like it's so heavy you

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Speaker 3: could only read it in your most comfy chair.

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Speaker 4: You can't even read it in bed. It's like too

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Speaker 4: heavy to hold.

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Speaker 2: She might asphyxiate under the book. Right.

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Speaker 3: Meanwhile, my fourteen year old daughter carries around these gigantic

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Speaker 3: books and like it has no problem with it. But

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Speaker 3: I am weak. I need to work out to read

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Speaker 3: this book.

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Speaker 1: You and I both have an eldest daughter who is

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Speaker 1: a voracious reader, and I have to say it's inspiring.

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Speaker 1: If I read as much as my daughters did, I'm nice.

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Speaker 2: I would be a much smarter lady.

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Speaker 4: I really would.

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Speaker 3: Oh man, these girls they're really it's impressive, smart, funny.

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Speaker 3: They get so much out of these books. I mean,

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Speaker 3: I used to read a lot also, So when she

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Speaker 3: kind of mocks.

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Speaker 4: Me for not reading that much, I'm like ma'am.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, someday you will have a career and a husband

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Speaker 3: and children and you won't be able to read your

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Speaker 3: six hundred paid books everywhere you go, and you know

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Speaker 3: people will expect your attention.

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Speaker 4: So enjoy this moment while it lasts.

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Speaker 1: Girls, I'm with you with fiction when I'm trying, when

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Speaker 1: I'm trying to read for fun, I really because I

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Speaker 1: read so much political news and a fair number of

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Speaker 1: political books and biographies that I want to branch out

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Speaker 1: into fiction.

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Speaker 2: But I got to say, sometimes the.

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Speaker 1: Things that end up recommended to you as a forty

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Speaker 1: something mom.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, people, there are so many.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they're not good. I need. I need good writing.

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Speaker 1: Covenant of Water is very well written, and I feel

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Speaker 1: like it's hard to stumble on those good fiction reads

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Speaker 1: that are well written, with good characters and write I

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Speaker 1: need to.

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Speaker 2: Look I need.

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Speaker 3: Not going to call out the bad books that I've

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Speaker 3: been recommended, but I've been recommended some books that people

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Speaker 3: are like this is the book that got me back

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Speaker 3: into reading, and I'm like, perfect, this is exactly what

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Speaker 3: I want. And I don't know. I'm reading one right now.

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Speaker 4: I'm not going to say the name, but it's about like.

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Speaker 3: A plucky young French girl who like fights the Nazis,

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Speaker 3: and honestly, I'm just like rooting for the Nazis at

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Speaker 3: this point.

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Speaker 1: There's a There's also a genre of fiction for women

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Speaker 1: our age that is like trauma soaked heroine solves murder

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Speaker 1: despite her trauma, but like, the amount of trauma that

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Speaker 1: the heroine must endure is so great and she's.

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Speaker 2: Not really rising above it. She's just kind of like

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Speaker 2: stuck in this situation. It's a little bit like rear

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Speaker 2: real what is.

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Speaker 1: It, rearview, rear window, what's the what's the Hitchcock movie?

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Speaker 3: I didn't I know which one you mean, but I

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Speaker 3: have not seen.

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Speaker 2: At any rate.

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Speaker 1: It's like a woman stuck in her home who witnesses

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Speaker 1: a murder, but she's stuck in her home because she's

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Speaker 1: an alcoholic or she lost a family member or.

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Speaker 2: Something, and I I just it's too much for me.

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Speaker 2: I'm like, ladies, bootstraps, I need you to I need

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Speaker 2: to leave the house.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, no, absolutely, I actually don't like either.

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Speaker 4: I don't like the trauma soak.

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Speaker 3: They also don't like the plucky heroine, who, you know,

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Speaker 3: against all odds, like just be realistic, just you know

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Speaker 3: she's got some issues, but she's making the best of it.

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Speaker 2: Real Window is the name of that movie. Sorry, anybody

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Speaker 2: check it out. I was close.

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Speaker 4: Two best books.

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Speaker 3: I've read in the last year, though, one was fiction

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Speaker 3: City of Thieves, the guy who wrote Game of Thrones

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Speaker 3: I forgot David Benioff.

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Speaker 2: I excellent, loved that, Yeah so good. You recommended that

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Speaker 2: to me?

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Speaker 3: Fantastic, Yeah, amazing, just want to read that went so well,

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Speaker 3: it was so funny, it was great, such good, such

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Speaker 3: good writing. And then the nonfiction I loved Abigail Schreyer's

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Speaker 3: Bad Therapy. I thought that was also fantastically written. Like

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Speaker 3: there's a lot of books where I'm like, I agree

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Speaker 3: with your premise, but can you write better? Yes, he

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Speaker 3: wrote a beautiful book with just fantastic stories and great

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Speaker 3: data and all of that that I enjoyed reading so much.

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Speaker 3: And she's just I mean, she's a great person anyway,

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Speaker 3: but I wouldn't just recommend it. She's a great person.

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Speaker 3: We know a lot of great people who write.

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Speaker 4: Books, but that book was excellent.

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Speaker 1: I will have I have similar recommendation Tim Carney's Family Unfriendly.

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Speaker 1: That was good, which hits on a lot of our

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Speaker 1: parenting philosophies and how society has built has been built

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Speaker 1: to sort of make it very hard to parent in

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Speaker 1: a more eighties nineties fashion, and how you can overcome

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Speaker 1: that and create community and independence for your kids. And

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Speaker 1: then I read a very this might not have been

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Speaker 1: in the past year, but an odd choice for a

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Speaker 1: fiction book that I really enjoyed was called West with

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Speaker 1: Giraffes by Linda Rutledge, and it is the true story

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Speaker 1: of nineteen thirty eight two giraffes arriving in the United

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Speaker 1: States of America and having to make a cross country

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Speaker 1: trek to the zoo that they were going to. And

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Speaker 1: it's fictionalized, but it's from a true event, and there's

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Speaker 1: all sorts of great characters and just the idea that like.

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Speaker 2: Giraffes were new to America and like they'd never been

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Speaker 2: here before in the obstacles of transporting giraffes and when

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Speaker 2: there was no interstate system. Like, it's a very interesting book.

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Speaker 3: That's I'll check that out.

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Speaker 4: That sounds really cool.

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Speaker 3: We'll be right back on normally. Okay, is k still

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Speaker 3: watching Hallmark movies? I feel like they've gone downhill without

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Speaker 3: the Folgers coffee product placement.

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Speaker 4: I'm a taste's choice girl.

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Speaker 1: Personally, I am with you that I feel like I've

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Speaker 1: fallen off.

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Speaker 2: Have they fallen off or have I fallen off? I

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Speaker 2: don't know. I used to have them.

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Speaker 1: Also, I have just more children now, so I'm probably

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Speaker 1: just have less time for watching children. Yes, so I

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Speaker 1: like Hallmark movies as a background to wrapping presents or

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Speaker 1: decorating the tree or whatever it is, because, like, you

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Speaker 1: don't have to be very invested in the plot, Like

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Speaker 1: it's pretty easy to work out what's happening. However, I

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Speaker 1: think because Hallmark movies did so well, everyone started copying

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Speaker 1: Hallwark Hallmark movies and they're on Netflix and some are

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Speaker 1: a little smuttier than others. Speaking of which, the genre

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Speaker 1: of books that you and I are recommended, how many

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Speaker 1: of them have you cracked? And you're like, oh, my goodness,

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Speaker 1: this is not just fiction.

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Speaker 3: Yes, what's up with that?

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Speaker 2: No, don't this around for your voracious reader daughter.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, that's a separate episode here.

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Speaker 4: What is going on with the smut?

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Speaker 1: What is happening with this is so much anyway, So,

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Speaker 1: like some of the Netflix Christmas movies are not as

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Speaker 1: safe to have on if you have kids in the house,

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Speaker 1: not that they're crazy, but so there was like a

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Speaker 1: guaranteed g rating on the Hallmark which was nice.

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Speaker 2: However, there are ones.

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Speaker 1: That I love in the new genre, like the Vanessa

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Speaker 1: Hudgens Christmas Prince Trilogy. I believe it was Vanessa Hudgens.

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Speaker 1: I'm never upset with her. I think she's so fun.

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Speaker 1: She just had a baby this year, got married and

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Speaker 1: had a baby.

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Speaker 2: Lovely.

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Speaker 1: So I like those, but I do not indulge as

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Speaker 1: much as I used to because I feel that there's

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Speaker 1: just less time And when there's less time, I got

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Speaker 1: my I got my kids cranking on those Christmas classics,

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Speaker 1: you know, like not the new ones.

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Speaker 3: Right. I don't watch TV. That's my actual dirty secret

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Speaker 3: is that the TV is not on. I don't really

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Speaker 3: know how to turn it on. It's just I want

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Speaker 3: my end's home. It's well to wall sports, that's all.

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Speaker 3: But I enjoy hearing about all the Hallmark movies, and

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Speaker 3: I enjoy like the reels about them and all the

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Speaker 3: different kind of memes and jokes about them online. They're

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Speaker 3: always a good time. I always root for the sitting

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Speaker 3: boy to win the girl back.

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Speaker 2: You're like, that's a good job.

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Speaker 3: Why would you leave that guy? He's a good guy.

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Speaker 4: Because that's the thing.

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Speaker 3: These Hallmark movies always keep that.

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Speaker 4: Guy a good guy.

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Speaker 3: And it's like, it makes no sense that she's like

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Speaker 3: running away to her small town to be with the

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Speaker 3: Christmas tree salesman. The lawyer is just as good.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Like, what's wrong with the lawyer?

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Speaker 3: Right?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't. It's true. They often don't dirty them

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Speaker 2: up enough.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, right, Because the movies are so good and so

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Speaker 1: so like pristine in general, there can be no real trauma.

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Speaker 2: The trauma's all in the past. We're vious, rests past

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Speaker 2: the good point.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, you're good.

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Speaker 3: You're in a better spot now now You're big trauma

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Speaker 3: is you've work too much.

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Speaker 2: You've lost the spirit of Christmas.

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Speaker 3: You've lost the spirit of Christmas and you have to

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Speaker 3: go back to your hometown to find it. I'm going

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Speaker 3: to come to your hometown and find the spirit of

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Speaker 3: Christmas myself.

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Speaker 4: You can.

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Speaker 3: Should we do a serious one or a more serious one?

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Speaker 2: Yes? What do we have here? You got one of

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Speaker 2: the it? Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Are you at all concerned about how far the pendulum

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Speaker 3: swings are getting in elections and what this may mean

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Speaker 3: in twenty twenty eight, Kamala Harris, the most liberal meaning

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Speaker 3: socialist leaning candidate, almost won the presidency. I'm worried that

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Speaker 3: a likable, smarter, AOC or younger Bernie will.

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Speaker 4: Run in twenty twenty eight and will win.

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Speaker 3: And once we swing into a socialist type government, I

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Speaker 3: worry it's much harder swing back out. Bigger government and

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Speaker 3: more people getting free money will keep people voting that way.

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Speaker 3: Does this worry you? Should I just focus on the

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Speaker 3: here and now and not worry about far off things.

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Speaker 3: Thanks John in Chicago. I'm super worried about this. I

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Speaker 3: worry about this all the time. I would love to

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Speaker 3: tell John and Chicago like, no, don't worry about it.

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Speaker 3: It's totally fine. No, this is a giant turns me.

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Speaker 3: When Bernie was getting close to winning the nomination in

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Speaker 3: twenty twenty, I was super worried, and a lot of

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Speaker 3: the rhetoric online from his supporters were like, oh, you're

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Speaker 3: afraid of Bernie Sanders. Like I was like, yeah, I

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Speaker 3: am afraid of Bernie Sanders. I really am. I think

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Speaker 3: that he would be disastrous for the country. I think

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Speaker 3: it would be what John in Chicago says is it

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Speaker 3: would be difficult to climb out of that.

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Speaker 4: That's the thing.

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Speaker 3: It's the changes that could be brought in four years

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Speaker 3: of socialist government. It would take far longer than four

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Speaker 3: years to recover from. I worry about this all the time.

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Speaker 4: Absolutely well.

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Speaker 1: I would say, we can look to the north and

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Speaker 1: watch Pierre Palev try to crawl out of Trudeau's predicament.

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Speaker 3: Right.

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Speaker 1: His self created bad situation in Canada, and it will

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Speaker 1: take a lot of work and places like Argentina, where

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Speaker 1: Javier Malay has done a great job, but it required very,

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Speaker 1: very dress stick change.

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Speaker 2: By the way, I hope someone at mar A Lago

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Speaker 2: is copying his notes.

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Speaker 1: Here's the thing is that I think both you and

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Speaker 1: I are ideologically conservative. We are not populist normies, which

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Speaker 1: is what a lot of voters are. For that reason,

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Speaker 1: I'm ideological because policy matters. I'm gonna steal a line

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Speaker 1: I believe from Ali Stecky says policy matters because people matter.

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Speaker 1: And I think that capitalism has been the greatest benefit

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Speaker 1: to the greatest number of people in the history of

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Speaker 1: the planet, for bringing people up out of poverty, for

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Speaker 1: giving people meaning in their jobs, for giving people an

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Speaker 1: opportunity to create new things that benefit all of us,

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Speaker 1: and I think it's just a miracle. And so you know,

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Speaker 1: when people tell me that Elon Musk is trash, I'm like,

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Speaker 1: have you seen.

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Speaker 2: What he's created?

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Speaker 1: Let's not lose sight of the things that people create

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Speaker 1: that make them big businessmen, right, Yeah, But I think

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Speaker 1: that those things truly benefit society, which is why I

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Speaker 1: am a conservative. However, actly not everyone has that same

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Speaker 1: sort of like these are my beliefs for these reasons,

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Speaker 1: or is interested in policy. So you do have to

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Speaker 1: use your policy mind to convince normies that your policies

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Speaker 1: are good for them.

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Speaker 2: So that's the work.

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Speaker 1: We have to be doing, because there is a danger

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Speaker 1: that the easy answer, which is free health care for

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Speaker 1: everyone given by the government, which is.

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Speaker 2: Not a real thing and not free and not.

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Speaker 1: Free, becomes the answer just because it sounds simple, right,

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Speaker 1: And if you don't fight against that with some facts

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Speaker 1: and with some good candidates, and with some charm and

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Speaker 1: with like convincing real life stories, you don't win that fight.

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Speaker 2: And I do worry about that.

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Speaker 1: And I think AOC, as I've said before, don't underestimate

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Speaker 1: her because she's made smaller moves and dumber moves at times.

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Speaker 2: It depends, but I think you know, so much can

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Speaker 2: be done.

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Speaker 1: As you see with Trump, frankly with a outside the box, interesting,

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Speaker 1: entertaining populist person who's pretty flexible in their principles on this.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, she is a concern for sure.

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Speaker 3: I worry about her because I think that her ideals

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Speaker 3: are very loose and she can adapt to anything, and

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Speaker 3: this far left will pay for things, everything will be free.

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Speaker 4: Fantasy really does work.

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Speaker 3: It works to get the votes. I mean it doesn't

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Speaker 3: actually work in practice.

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Speaker 2: In practice not so much practice fail.

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Speaker 3: Actually, Iowaha had this great list where he listed all

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Speaker 3: the European countries and compared them to US states GDP

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Speaker 3: or it wasn't it was a GDP or might I

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Speaker 3: might be getting this wrong, it might be a different metric,

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Speaker 3: but basically Germany is if it was a US state,

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Speaker 3: would be our forty ninth forest state. Mississippi unfortunately would

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Speaker 3: still be fifty. But Germany is like the richest European

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Speaker 3: country and the fact that it would still be a

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Speaker 3: poor state if it was an American state shows how

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Speaker 3: much richer and better off we are here. And a

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Speaker 3: lot of that has to do with rejecting socialist practices. Now,

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Speaker 3: of course, we still have a lot of social safety

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Speaker 3: net stuff, and it's a joke to say that we're

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Speaker 3: a pure capitalist system and all of that. But Europe

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Speaker 3: has really dug itself into a grave. And I see

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Speaker 3: this in when I meet Europeans, their hopes and dreams

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Speaker 3: are just not anything like in America. They have no

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Speaker 3: capacity to imagine their life changing or making a large.

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Speaker 4: Amount of money or any of that.

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Speaker 3: They just it's very settled and for better. I guess

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Speaker 3: some people enjoy that. Some people enjoy knowing that you know,

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Speaker 3: they'll get they'll be they'll be fed, and they'll have

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Speaker 3: you know, free quote unquote healthcare. But I love they

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Speaker 3: don't have the American dream over there. They don't have

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Speaker 3: the German dream, they don't have the French dream, they

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Speaker 3: don't have the Italian dream.

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Speaker 4: And I couldn't live like that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, we are an audacious people with us very large dreams,

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Speaker 1: including and I know I keep referencing Musk, but he's

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Speaker 1: such a good example of Like he comes to American

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Speaker 1: and he's like interplanetary travel, right, That's what I'm going

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Speaker 1: to work on, you know, Like that is a different mindset,

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Speaker 1: and the more people we have like that better, the

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Speaker 1: better for the country.

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Speaker 3: All right, let's end on a later one who was

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Speaker 3: married Catherine rooting for last weekend Army or Navy?

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Speaker 2: So yes, so I root for Navy.

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Speaker 1: I have a connection to the Naval Academy through the

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Speaker 1: Travis Mannon Foundation. Travis Manion, who is a Marine who

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Speaker 1: was killed in action in two thousand and seven, went

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Speaker 1: to the Naval Academy, graduated from the Annapolis in two

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Speaker 1: thousand and three, and went to Iraq where he lost

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Speaker 1: his life.

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Speaker 2: So I've had a connection since then to that school.

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Speaker 1: But I have many, many, many Army friends, and I

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Speaker 1: have many many of my mom friends whose husbands went

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Speaker 1: to West Point.

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Speaker 2: So there is rivalry.

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Speaker 1: But the great thing about the Army Navy game is

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Speaker 1: that even though there's rivalry, we're all winning because we're

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Speaker 1: all America, and so it's always fun to watch, even

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Speaker 1: with those who are rivals. And if you ever get

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Speaker 1: a chance to go to that game, go it's just fantastic.

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Speaker 3: I'm gonna definitely try to go at some point.

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Speaker 2: I gotta get you.

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Speaker 1: And I'm used to saying he'd never met either, so

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Speaker 1: I got to get both of you guys involved.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, that would be a good crew.

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Speaker 3: I like that. We'll do it. I'll root for whoever

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Speaker 3: you want me to root for.

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Speaker 1: I'm very malleable, you're flexible, and your principles on this

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Speaker 1: I am she's a populist.

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Speaker 3: Well, thank you for joining us on this very special

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Speaker 3: episode of Normally. We'll be back with one more Ask

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Speaker 3: Us Anything episode next week. Normally airs Tuesdays and Thursdays,

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Speaker 3: and you can subscribe anywhere you get your podcasts. Thanks

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00:21:13,119 --> 00:21:16,080
Speaker 3: for listening, and when things get weird, act Normally