On a personal note- this award was made for her- ER is a hero of hers.

On an even more personal note- As I approached Hillary to thank her for the personal phone call regarding my 2 daughters- she immediately asked me first how they were.

When I told her Denise ahd passed – she listened to a short story regarding a message from Denise to Hillary regarding the call.

She then asked about Louisa by name and said she would contine to Pray for her.

With all that is on her mind – she remembers me and my two girls.

What more csan I say about Hillary- that says it all!

She spoke for women’s issues, but excercised much restraint. She had to often direct such talk around the expected role of women at the time and try to address things like education, health care, job opportunity, as greater items for all to have and not narrow the subject down.

At the time America needed more of that for everyone (still does).

One of the WPA major items here had a family earn its living that way in a nearby town, helping develop drainaige and levees. A young man from that family went on to be a celebrated voice for the common American experience, The Man in Black, Johnny Cash.

I wasn’t aware that the Writers Project was digitized and available on the internet until I did the research for that piece. Though I had read actual bound copies of WPA Writers Project interviews at a local library many, many years ago. I too was fascinated and educated. And spent hours and days pouring over everything they had.

It is heart breaking to read about what the women and children endured. How the unrelenting poverty broke spirits and hearts. And yet so many managed to continually overcome the hardships. Now being online and compiled as a national collection, it really gives a richer understanding of the depth and breath of the Depression.

One of the other interesting reads I found were actual personal journals of ordinary people (they are usually a part of university’s state history collection). I was amazed at the number of people – especially ranchers and farmers (many of them wives) who kept journals and that they were donated to libraries and universities.

To read about indian attacks by the people who experienced them and at the time they happened, or the brutal daily existence they endured when life meant constantly fighting the elements and nature with barely the basics. It really does give a bit of perspective on life.

Thanks for posting a link to the WPA series – shep. You inspire me to go back and read more.

o/t to Linda Anselmi: some time back, maybe a couple of months ago, you posted a link to the Library of Congress collection of the WPA Writers’ Project. I just want you to know that I have given most of the intervening time I spend online to reading this collection, sometimes staying up long past my usual bedtime in the way you sometimes can’t put down a really great book.

This reading has increased my understanding of the Roosevelt years immeasurably – and the 60+ years leading up to them – through the memories of ordinary Americans who lived them; and of the hardships endured by my parents’ (and even their parents’) generations. I cannot thank you enough, Linda, for sharing this gift which I did not know existed online. It has been a fascinating, educational, enriching, and yes, sometimes frightening, journey through those many pages.

I have only a few states remaining to be read, so am catching up on my favorite blogs this weekend in order to conserve them. I’m glad to see a new post by you tonight so that I can offer my gratitude.

For those who missed Linda’s original post and link, and who would welcome an opportunity to read of that chapter in American history in the words of the ones who lived it, here is a link to the homepage: http://lcweb2.loc.gov/wpaintro/wpahome.html Be warned, some of it is “hard” reading in our politically correct world: but as you plow through them, I think you will gain insights and a kind of understanding that perhaps you did not have, before.

Again, Linda, thank you.

Thanks for the story!

World leaders basically respect someone for working their way through the ranks, paying their dues and serving their time in the trenches. That’s how they got to be leaders. They can read a naive phony a mile away and don’t respect Obama waltzing onto the scene on a load of B.S. Any apology, action or negotiation from him is going to feed into the same image of flimsy incompetence that just tells our Enemies we’re weak.

If they have a perception of SoS as a strong, capable and forceful leader with the caliber and intellectual gravitas that Obama lacks, the same words of “concession” and “apology” are viewed in a very different light. They are seen as the prophecies of an “honest broker” and “forthright partner” who understands the world, nations, and leaders as well as Washington. A practically miraculous reversal from Bush unilateralism.

But it really is too soon to judge. I’m going to have to consider it more deeply as the situation progresses. A very good question !