Two In The Think Tank - 55 - Helen Keller (and FIRST BIRTHDAY!)

Episode Date: November 9, 2016

Happy Birthday to Do Go On! We celebrate our one year with a special announcement. AND we look at the life of an incredible woman, Helen Keller. There's broken marriages galore! AND announcing our Patreon! Find out how you can support the show and get heaps of rewards including exclusive bonus episodes... Twitter: @DoGoOnPodInstagram: @DoGoOnPodFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/DoGoOnPod/Email us: [e-mail] the show and get rewards like bonus episodes:www.patreon.com/DoGoOnPod  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Hey everybody, Jess and Dave, just jumping in really quickly at the top here to make sure that you are across all the details for our upcoming Christmas show. That's right, we are doing a live show in Melbourne Saturday December the 2nd, 2023, our final podcast of the year, our Christmas special. It's downstairs at Morris House, which usually be called the European beer cafe. On Saturday December the 2nd, 2023 at 4.30pm, come along, come one, come all, and get tickets at dogoonpod.com. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now.

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You could start your new career in months, not years. Take classes online or on campus, and financial aid is available to qualified students, including the GI Bill. Now is the time, mycomputercareer.edu. Hello and welcome to another episode of DoGo on My Name is Dave Wanuki and as always I'm joined by two of my best pals in the whole wide world, Matt Stewart and Jess Bop Perkins. Jess Bop Perkins. Thank you for trying to make that happen. I'm trying. I'm really hard.

I love it. I love it. Does anyone start calling that in your real life? I'm just trying to plug in the last week. Yeah. Not really. Not catching on. No catching on. Your mum did not get the memo. No, but in the last week. Yeah, not really. Not catching on. No catching on.

Your mum did not get the memo. No, but she's probably a bit behind. Your mum's the first example. Exactly. She's probably a bit behind on the pod, or again. So she might be a couple of episodes back. If we see your mum. Not often enough.

If I offered to pay for it, would you legally change your name to Bob Perkins? No. What if I paid for it? You don't, like. Just doesn't get any further. Then I get nothing out of it. I paid for it? You know, like... Jess doesn't get any of that. Then I get nothing out of it. I see how it is.

Is he paid? Not a team player. Okay, Matt, if I change your name, would you change your name to Bob Perkins? Yeah. Do you pay Perf? Like, do you, if it's his surname? A Perleta. Okay.

So Bob, if you want to change your name to Jess Parkins, that would be a lot cheaper. It's only $5.00, but yeah. Yeah sure. Okay, well that's interesting, I didn't know that. Would you like to be Jess Parkins? No. What about? What about... Mess. Jerkens? Oh, Mess Jerkens is good. Mess Jerkens is pretty good.

And I think that suits you. Yeah, I'm a mess and a jerk. Yeah. Ins. Yeah. Yeah, I'm a mess and a jerk. Yeah, it's me mess jerk. Messy. See my friend, Lini is quite a thin person. So I always call this skinny Lini. She would call me messy Jesse. Oh, I have mess works. But where you wear a mess? No, I'm not a messy person. But you've cleaned up, but has she remained thin? Yes, she has. Because it's hard to keep calling her skinny linear,

if she got quite big and then it's just like, it's a big fit. It still gets really fat, then it's ironic. And probably still mean. Still offensive. Still offensive. Unless you're like a like like a jail guy or like a like like like tiny is always a big dude.

Yeah. Junior is always massive. Yeah. And I'm called big doll. You'd be big dude. Yeah. Junior is always massive. Yeah. And I'm called big doll. You'd be big Dave obviously. Yeah, even though you're a little man. Yes. See how comedy works people?

Do you understand? Sometimes we show you. But guys, I don't have you're aware of this Jess and Matt, but today is actually our first birthday episode. Yeah, you weren't sure what you were about to say there. I was gonna say anniversary birthday. They're both good. I mean, they're both appropriate, aren't they? It is our first anniversary birthday.

It is our first anniversary birthday. This week since we released our first three episodes onto iTunes. And today we're gonna listen to our favorite bits. I wish we were doing a best start. So today we're gonna listen to our favorite bits. I wish we were doing a best start. So today we're gonna play all episodes back to back. I do go on clip show. We're gonna do a commentary on them. So that's talking over us talking. Yes. So that would be great. That was a great joke by Matt. I laughed at it at the time and now once again. It's just slightly less funny as time goes by. Because I've heard it before.

I remember editing this podcast. It was up all. Yeah, this one took me plenty of this one crashed halfway through it to start again That did happen one time. Oh, I don't remember which episode it was but I tried I wanted to cry I had a horrible time with Birken Willow I was about to share our worst moment So I worked full time on that for a week trying to turn it into a like a cohesive episode Had to get I had to get a voice actor in to play Dave. Yeah. Yeah. Because I was unavailable. I will not re-record my own voice. I find it... well, patronizing. Now, I wasn't that genuine. I was getting the hang of the editing as well, but it was just...

yeah. I told the story out of sync So I'd like chop it up and put it back. Yeah, that's hard. Which I haven't haven't had to do since now My editing is like pretty minimal and bacon wheels was that was one of the first three-way release Yeah, that was that was my first episode My first one was I fell no, I don't know. I think it in wills first. Oh, I know I don't remember No, I'm sure it was is a fail fest. Oh look this is we don't even know Talk about bloody inside baseball. I mean it is our birthday though if we can't Celebrate on a birthday. I mean when can we celebrate by vaguely remembering the past on our birthday when can we do you have a favorite joke?

Remembering the past on our birthday when can we do you have a favorite joke? I couldn't tell you a single joke. Yeah, cuz Very serious. I was so wrong, man. I've just looked it up. I've gone to the archives of which there is a growing number of episodes As it happens. Yes Australian rules football was your first Yeah, no you're right. Sorry pardon me pardon me. I don't wash my mouth. Pardon That was my my favorite Bob oh no yeah Bob oh yeah and then it's closely followed by Dave's character of a rat catcher that was that was H.H.A. Choms I think no yeah yeah the rat catcher I recall that they know the rules

and I lost it. Thank you You're very funny you boys very funny. I've had a lot of fun doing the show guys. It's been one year we are gonna get on with an episode this week, but um We are last week our teeth. We have an announcement We have an announcement that we're not quitting while we're on top We have a baby No, we're gonna keep we're gonna keep going until we've lost every listener. No, we've pledged to go through the hat, which they are now legitimately hundreds of suggestions. We're going to be going for a long time.

But because it's our first birthday, we've been thinking about this for a while. We have decided to launch a Patreon account, a Patreon account. If you're not familiar, Patreon, it's just a crowdfunding platform where if you enjoy something like a podcast or YouTube videos or it's mostly online content creators, you can pledge a certain amount of money per month to contribute to the show and then return, you get different rewards, the more you pledge,

the more you get back. So we'd like to say that it is still gonna be a completely free show. Yeah. It's just that if you would like to. We're not selling out, man. We're not selling out. We've never had an ad on the show before.

So, you know, we've gone a year and we haven't missed a week either, which I think is actually amazing. Look, I'm up for sale. And also, if anyone wants to, I'll personally sponsor me. I will say your friendship. You'll do the friendship. I'll for sale. And what's the, if anyone wants to, I'll personally sponsor me. I will say your friendship. You'll do the friendship.

No, I'll, I'll brand say it. I will shave it into my head. Yeah. I'll tattoo it on my nuts. I don't know. I don't know. It's a very niche marketing strategy, admittedly, but how much?

How much? How much will it cost to get your nuts back tattooed? I mean, just to do it. Jesus Christ. It would have to be, that would have to be a fair sum. That would be enough to set you up for life right? I reckon it set me up for life amount. Because it would be very painful. Like those needles go into the skin. We did an episode of our tattoos.

You have a tattoo. You know how painful it is. It's not even on your nuts. I was about to say you already have your nuts already tattooed so you'll have to get painfully have it removed to have yeah Bunnings warehouse tatted over a top of it Bunnings might be out of afforded at last. I think so it have to be a big thing and but well before I go on with this Patreon announcement, I would just like to congratulate So one first birthday. Yeah, I actually have an announcement and that is an award will be given out

The MVP the most valuable player of the podcast is in fact you match yes have not missed an episode jess is miss one I miss two but you to be fair we were traveling and you have no life but but still the most valuable player most valuable podcasters what MVP you're a MVP a so if it was me, if I obviously didn't get a vote in that, but if I did, I would have given it to Jess's laugh. Yeah, well, not me, but the laugh. The laugh. I can't.

Well, we're doing another year, Jess, maybe. You're laughing, going, maybe. But back to this Patreon account. So we're going to be launching this week. We'll be tweeting out links and all that kind of stuff. But some of you might already be involved in Patreon, but if not, yeah, what you do is you just it was actually I was actually suggested by a listener like everything on this

show as a topic as a topic like Dan from Lonsess and was the one who gave us the idea I had said he said he might actually pay us to do the show yeah he said he said that he'd love to he said put together a Patreon so I can put some money towards it. Which is really lovely. That is so nice. And all pay for things like keeping the show going, the time we put into the staff, we can start doing some advertising, not to you guys specifically, but for other people

that don't know the show so that we can get more people involved. Pay for uploads, keeping equipment going, the studio where we go. It all will help. It may not sound like we put much work in. And in the case of Matt and I, you're probably right. Look, I spend, it doesn't seem like a lot, but it's still half a day or something. Not that I'm winging about. No, but it's still half a day to do the part.

It's like when I realize I've got a duel and coming up that day sucks. Yeah. It's fun. I find it very day to do the report. When I realize I've got to do it and come up, that day sucks. It's fun, I find it very interesting to learn. But that pressure to do something that's going to be good enough for Dave Warnocky. And then you've got to edit and get it up on time. That's fun too. You're not doing it for the fans. You're not doing it for the listeners, you're doing it for me. Yeah, thanks Matt, appreciate it. That's why you're the most valuable podcast to me.

And also, to be honest, I don't want to get an answer off side. No, you're right. You're not wrong. Long story short. You could now be himself just to give you an insight as well. So this is how a recording session would normally go down. So the episodes, let's say, you know, maybe an hour and a half would say we'd be here for three hours. By the time we get here, we talk to some other people who happen to also be at the studios or we just talk to each other. And then one of us says of us says okay guys we really need to record and about 15 minutes after that We might set up and actually start to record then we record then we procrastinate some more. I usually drive at home It takes a long time

Jess and I sang a duet Jess and I sang a duet. We did, I'll put that in. No. We sang it. No, no, no. We sang a rendition of under the boardwalk. And we shared a meal together tonight. We've got stuff going on.

We definitely do. But we're going to get into the episode real quick. Yeah, let's do that. But I'm just going to read out the... So we've got different levels that we've named after different references from the show. And the more you pledge, the more you get back from us extra content that we have it one of the they put a lot of this together i'd love can you slot something in where someone can donate a six pack of beer it you know so that can be it well that can be a fit you can set goals i can be our first goal is to get twenty dollars to buy six pack of beer

That can be a, you can set goals. That can be our first goal is to get $20 to buy a six pack of pears. That's gonna be our first goal. I think $20. Because occasionally people like it when we drink beers. So maybe, if they can fund our alcoholism, is that what you're wanting from our listeners? Don't, yes. Because they will,

because people will love it when you drink for some, they'll fund a slab. That's when they quit. They're saying, the next drinking episode, can you do this? Oh, God. Matt, they're gonna try to kill you. The way I take it is, you're boring when you're sober.

Yeah. Is that how you would read that? Yeah. Yeah, because we're, it's more fun when you drink. Yeah. When you've got personality. No, I agree with them though. Yeah.

So that's going to be our first goal, $20 by a six pack for us to share for Matt to drink the majority of. Yeah. But I'm going to read out the, really quickly, the rewards and what you get, but we must insist that you only ever pledge what you can reasonably afford to give. And if you can't afford anything,

the best thing to do it, if you love the show I wanna help it grow and support it, it's just to tell someone about it. Yeah, just talk about it. To eat about it, that kind of stuff. So if you feel like you got no money, that's fine. Just tell someone about it, or just keep listening because we love it.

But if you would like to pledge $1 or more a month you get this that's called the keen for pain plate No, it's called the hashtag keen for pain plate. Thank you. You don't get a physical reward But a big thank you for supporting us and making sure none of us have to become accountants especially Thank you. Thank you so much. I won't do it. The two dollars or More per month pledge. That's the Rukinama Rukinama. In exchange for that, every three weeks, you can vote via Patreon, the thing that you're pledging money through. On what topic from the hat you would like Matt to do his next report on. So from now on, Matt is going to be a voice of the Patreon people.

Yeah, I like that because I mean, even picking it out of the hat there's pressure on that I'd love to I'd love to I'm so indecisive. I'd love to push away Responsibilities possible you love and I know you you find that it's overwhelming when you open up the hat And you're like well The head had a same it would be bloody bursting If you pledge five dollars or more per month, you are the associate in quotation marks producer. Oh, hashtag AskProd. You are an AskProd.

You're the associate, AskProd. I will give you a shout out at the end of an episode. So upcoming will read out four or five names a week. And a big thank you to anyone who would pledge it. So you get to hear your name. We'll also let you know about our upcoming episode topics a week in advance if you can on that kind of thing and you can also vote on what you would like Matt to do on this topic.

It's next report on. And we're going to do a Christmas thing. If you pledge, anyone pledges $5 or more before December 15th, we will send you a personal do-go on Christmas card. Wherever you are on the world, we'll write you a little message. How little message about that put that on the fridge I'm so excited about that one show grandma that on Christmas Day 10 hey grandma here's the both do you know these people nah he's an internet radio show what's the internet grandma $10 or more per month this is the dreamboat Cooper award once a month you'll get an exclusive mini episode.

We're going to record an extra episode on a topic, a mini one, that will send out to just the Patreon people that pledge $10 or more. I will also give you a free ticket to a live show. If you ever do one near where you are, wherever you are, if we're doing one, we're going to get ran to it. You'll also know about the upcoming episode topics and get to vote on Matt's hat. And we'll send you the Christmas card if you get in before December 15th. Then we have the $20 or more per month, which is crazy, but if you're up for it, it's the Sydney Shineberg Deluxe Package. Sydney! Hey, I'm Sydney, and I want you to sign up for this podcast because, hey, what else is going

on in your line, right? You get all of the things that we've mentioned as well as well as that we'll pretty much do an episode on whatever topic you suggest. Your suggestion will go into a special exclusive golden hat and we'll have to do a topic on that. The only stipulation is that it's got to have enough information on it. You can't just be like do a topic on my dad's barbecue skills. Hey, I could talk for days about my love with girls girls. And lack thereof. Oh. Yeah, he's hopeless burns everything.

That was a sweet burn. Oh, dad. Take that, John. And finally, we come to the final pledge, which we've limited to only three people. Even though there'll be hundreds of you wanting to pledge $100 or more per month. It's called the Doctor of Podcasts. What I could have been if I continued to do a PhD in podcasting. Pretty much, you get everything we've mentioned before, but we'll also do a

mini episode about you and send it to you. The way we'll do that is I'll email you a question about you and we'll send it to Gary Newman It'll be confused It gives a fuck right we've got your money. Let's fucking party We'll sell it we'll send it to a Gary of your choosing glitter Abbas We're not sending Gary Gary I'm using glitter, Abyss. Oh, we're not sending Gary Abyss. Gary Abyss. Gary Abyss.

I'm sure there's a Gary Abyss. It's got a bit. Gary Abyss, great, no, actually. Gary Abyss. I like that a lot. I just finally finished that off. So we'll do a podcast about you, send it to you, and I'll send you a questionnaire,

and then the rest of it, I'll make up the facts about your life, and then Justin Macdonald, I can play along like it's a real thing. So get in before December 15th if you want to get the bonus Christmas card you can pledge anytime and you know pledge as much as you like we'd appreciate that and I will say that we're not going to be banging on about like reading out the pledges every single week so don't feel like you're gonna. It's not gonna be one of those podcasts for the first 20 minutes is us begging for your money. Hey not there's anything with that, if that's what you do on your podcast.

Or if that's what you love about podcast. Yes, that's the bit you listen to. And then you turn the rest. Turn off the, this, don't know why they're banging on about this for a port shit. Mmm. Bored. Snow. Uh, but-

I quite like the, I listen to a few podcasts, and I like the, um, the pre-rambles that everyone winches about. Not always. Look to me on us. I listen a few podcasts and I like the pre-rambles that everyone winches about. Not always, look to me honest. But sometimes it's nice to just get to know what people are doing in the little times. It's not fun, it's really tough. In the little times. Oh my goodness. We did have a nice family dinner before.

You're a bit full now. You've got the full tummy sleepy. Yeah, I'm a bit sleepy. That's okay, that full tummy sleepies. One of it's sleepy. That's okay, that's okay little buddy, I'll get you, we'll perk you up. I'll perk up, because you're doing a topic today. Perk up for Perkins. Perkins, right, so thanks for all the second.

My second favorite episodes are the ones that Jess does. To basically anything that you don't do. Yeah, fair enough. You know mine and my second favorite too. Oh. Oh. Who's getting burnt here? Me. He owes it clearly everyone's favorite.

Thank you go in. I do what I can. Oh no I just wanted to have it figured out a question. Oh make it up. Oh hang on. No we'll be right I'll go. Another shithouse report from Jess Pick. Here we go.

Jess Pop. Perkins thank you very much. Just throwing it together with the last minute like it's bloody amateur arrow over here. I'm done with my best. Alright. Alright, let's podcast time. Let's do... Let's podcast. Yes, I know you just said you don't have a question, but please try and wake up. The other ones that are popping into my head are very funny.

Oh, that's an example. Hmm. Who is the most famous person named Helen in history? Helen Marin. Oh, fuck. Good one, but no. Ah, Helen, uh, Bonon, tell the Helen. Oh, that's, uh, no. Helen... Helen Detroit. No. So we're going for fifth most famous Helen. I was a hellen. I'm a hellen of the generous That's Ellen. I said it twice as well I thought it yeah, right. No, it's definitely not right on her show Helen Silent age

Wasn't visible age The logo features zero ages There's gonna be lots of hair and... Helen, well how many more of those? Jess, can you think of any other Helen's that aren't the one you're? My auntie, Helen O'Connor. My other auntie, Helen Stewart. Oh, I think almost that...

Oh, I think I know. Yep. Helen Keller. Bang! Helen Keller. Thank you very much Matt. Matt, do you think he always gets these? I always... No, it's just that... No, you're about to say. Yeah, Helen Keller. Thank you very much Matt. Matt thinks that he always gets these. I always know it's just that.

No, you're about to say. Yeah, Helen Keller. Amanda Keller is mine. I can't fault that. Fuck you. Helen Keller. Do you know how that is Matt? Yeah, but this is not going to be a fun one, is it?

Why not? Oh, cool. Yeah, let's have. I'm having fun. Why isn't it going to be fun? Because you're doing it near fucking useless. Oh! Ha! Ha! Ha! Ha!

I wonder if, just in the edit can you put that on repeat? So Matt can hear it back. You can just hold bastards. But like, do you, what do you remember of Helen Keller to assume that this is a really tragic story? Well, because she used to, she hosts this weird Sean, right on our channel seven, and it's just awful. Like they do home improvements. It's Friday night's on channel 10 mate. Alright.

Oh, it's from your stable of shows. Asprod. Alright, hello, hello. Hello, Keller, this was from the hat, so this is suggested by John Titus at the John, the John RT on Twitter, so thanks, John. John Titus, getting $20 worth of value right there for nothing, gotta say that, because we picked his idea. Oh yeah.

Just wanna put that in. Just saying. So what's John Titus' handle, do you have that? Yeah, I just said it, at the John RT. John Titus sounds like? Do you have that? Yeah, I just sit at the John R.T. John Titus sounds like a condition that I'd want to get. Oh, I got to do the John Titus. Do you know? Yeah, I thought at first, since Sinkt was, oh, you don't want that.

But then, I'm like, you think about it. John Titus sounds fun. If someone's got it, I'm going to get real close. I can't think of any diseases I can't think of any diseases that I'm like, I want that. Yeah, well, until now. Apart from chicken box. Until now. As we discussed, no, but did you saw the feedback

we got someone message in saying that there is now a thing that stops you getting at it. A thing, a vaccine. Oh yeah, there's the vaccine, which is. There's a vaccine, but if you do get it, then you're susceptible to shingles. Susceptible? That's a word. Yeah. Good. I'm right on the edge of a cliff. I feel like I'm falling off it. You falling into my abyss? I'm free-fallen. Oh, I'm at it. I'm getting

tired of this. Mate, I could not fit neurobis, no matter how hard I try. And I want to talk about Helen Keller. Yeah, I also. I would also like to talk about Helen Keller. Helen Keller, do go on. Thank you. So Helen, Adam's Keller was born on June 27, 1880, in Alabama. Her family lived on a homestead called Ivy Green

that Helen's grandfather had built decades earlier. She had two younger siblings, a mildred Campbell and Philip Brook Keller, and she had two older half-brothers from her father's primary, the name of James and William. Her father, Arthur H. Keller, spent many years as an editor for Her father Arthur H. Keller spent many years as an editor for the North Alabamaian and had served as a captain for the Confederate Army. Her mother Kate was the daughter of Charles W. Adams who was a Confederate general. Originally from Massachusetts, Charles Adams also fought for the Confederate Army during the American Civil War, earning the rank of Colonel. The only reason I added this is because he was also an acting Brigadier General.

Brigadier General. Brigadier General. Brigadier General. I love that a lot. As soon as I saw it, I was like, that's got to go in. A couple of weeks ago, well maybe last week you asked what my favorite word was and I totally blanked on Brigadier. Brigadier.

That's probably number one. It's got to be. It's got to be. Brigadier. So, Helen's paternal lineage traced to Casper Keller who was a native of Switzerland. Again, the only reason I answered, the only reason I reference this is that one of Helen's Swiss ancestors was the first teacher for the deaf in Zurich. So that's kind of cool. Oh really? Yeah, it's interesting. Nothing to do with her, which is kind of a weird coincidence. Now what I didn't know

is it so was that Helen Keller was born with the ability to see in here, but at 19 months old she contracted an illness described by doctors as an acute congestion of the stomach and brain. There's still not 100% sure exactly what it was, but they some say it was scarlet fever or meningitis. And this illness left her both deaf and blind. At that time she was able to communicate somewhat with Martha Washington, who was a six-year-old daughter of the family cook, who understood her science. They kind of made up their own little science together. And so by the age of seven, she had about 60 home science to communicate with her family. But at this time, Helen's mother had heard about the successful education of another deaf and blind woman, whose name was Laura Bridgman and she sent Helen with her dad off to speak to seek out a physician called Jay Julian Chisholm who was an IE&Nose and throat specialist in Baltimore. Are you reacting to that name?

It's a great name, Jay Julian Chisholm. I like it a lot. Jay Julian. I was more into the fact that J Julian's into Ian knows and throat. I Ian knows and throat. Oh the quadruple. The big four. It's on the four. The big four. You have to. The ice the is. The nose and the throat. Now Laura Bridgeman, she was known because she was the first deaf-blind American child to gain a significant education in the English language. And she, for like years, she was almost a bit of a celebrity. Like, she had this celebrity status because Charles Dickens met her during his 1842 American tour

and wrote about her accomplishments in his American notes. And this is where Helen Kiddler's mother had heard about Laura and was like, well, we've got to seek out, like, a similar sort of education for Helen, which is kind of cool. So the doctor, Jay Julian Chisholm, referred the Keller's to Alexander Graham Bell, who was working with deaf children at the time, famous obviously for inventing the telephone. Oh, telephone. The bell.

Give us a bell. Is that where that comes from? Yeah, that's where it comes from. So, and also, because it wasn't Alexander Graham Bell's mother famously deaf. I think she was, yeah, I think I'd heard that. So maybe that's why he was working with deaf children or an interest in working with that.

Still, so this other girl has met Charles Dickens and who's met Alexander Graham Bell? Helen Keller. Helen Keller, so sorry, it wasn't the other girl. No, the other girl met Charles Dickens. Pretty cool. Both very famous people. Both very famous influential people.

So they go, Alexander Graham Bell. Now he tells them to contact. This is so good. They're devil. No. No. I'm going for my hand on your shoulder,. This is so good. The devil. No. No. I'm going for my hand on your shoulder, because this is so exciting for me.

Bell advised them to contact the Perkins Institute for the blind. Oh, there we go. Yeah. Why did she chose the topic in the first place? That is not why it was a total bonus. I was like, yes, Perkins. Nice one.

That was a school where Laura Bridgman had been educated. It was located in South Boston. Now, I found a little thing about the school. So the school was named in honor of Thomas Hand Hand aside Perkins, one of the organization's incorporators and a wealthy Boston shipping merchant who began losing his sight at the time of the establishment of the school.

Jess, you trying to protect one of your relatives like a denity with that weird fake name? It's a weird name, it's a hand-to-sid. Hand-to-sid. Can you look at that, Dave? Hand-to-sid? Like it's H-A-N-D-A-S-Y-D. Hand-to-sid. Hand-to-sid. Hand-to-sid. Hand-to-sid Perkins. Hand-to-sid Nishanberg.

Just call him Tom Perkins, which is my cousin's name actually. But he's not from Boston. But no relation. No relation. To you. We think. Well, we could claim. Anyway, so another reason that it was named, I think it used to be called something

different, but the reason they changed it to Perkins was in 1833, the school was just in the house of the father of one of its founders. Like, it was just a small little school, but it was starting to grow and it was outgrowing that space. So Perkins donated his Pearl Street mansion as the school's second home, and in 1839 he solved the mansion and donated all the proceeds to the school. Does that hurt? But he donated instead of giving it to your family?

A little bit. A little bit. You could have had that mansion. I could have had that mansion. I could have had that mansion. But this gift allowed the purchase of a more spacious building in South Boston for the school. So like a mansion. So really, you've given up a mansion

so some kids can have a school. You're a great person. Thank you so much, David. I feel like people don't acknowledge that enough. Yeah, Matt, come on. Yeah, come on. Look, I have the stewards ever given a school to these people?

Yes, they're a Stuart school for the dice. There is multiple I don't think there is and we did it for the right reasons not like the Perkins Well, what wrong reason is there to do that what wrong reason? Yeah, definitely in bestling I reckon everyone in the book About those yeah every last one. I've thought about it. What are you talking about all of the wrong? I'm actually... Name me a wrong reason. Yeah, exactly. You couldn't.

Oh my god. Matt, I actually, because change my opinion now, Matt, so that you are a bad person. What? I'll get a good case. Happy one year, everybody. Yeah.

Matt, you should ruin another birthday party. Matt, and you do this every time. You do this every time. You always find friends. I reckon you should be a lawyer. You're amazing. I am a lawyer. Of course you are.

I can't believe everything you say. Yeah. You do believe everything I say. Oh, fuck this guy. This guy's stuff is really working. Yeah, it's really creepy. I might just continue on with the podcast. I reckon, but at the back of my mind,

I'll be thinking about how I do believe everything you say. But I just want his approval. of my mind I'll be thinking about how I do believe everything you said but I just want He's approval I approve Oh God of David's work No, it's my report still feeling good over here by the way no fair enough All right, so anyway back to Helen and Jess I've written so back to Helen she has actually written so back to She knew that Matt would somehow derail the show.

I should have got leaf out of Matt's to. It's a book and I wrote down the lines. I want to say. Yeah. Word for word. I'm reading out every word. I'm writing, Rhett, whoo. Oh no, he's lost his papers.

Oh no. Oh, the cat's just pulled over the keyboard. Okay, back to Helen. So Michael Anganos. Anganos, Anagos, and Anagos. I'll never say his name again, but that doesn't mean anagos. Anagos. He was a school's director. He was 20-year-old former student and Sullivan, who was herself visually impaired, to become Helen Keller's instructor. This was the beginning

of a 49-year-long friendship during which Sullivan evolved into Keller's governess and eventually just her companions. What's that again? The whole. And Sullivan. She's the way. She became a different form. People like that doesn't normally happen in the one lifetime.

Can you get further away please? You are so sitting so far away. You're at the door. He's sitting at the door. You okay over there? Yeah, I don't know why I've done that. I don't know why you have. I'm gonna come back in.

Okay. I'm gonna keep talking while you do that. Anzalvan's a very key player in this whole story. Huge player. Hey guys, good to see you. Okay, thanks to Johnny Us. And Anzalvan arrived at the Keller's house in March of 1887, that is.

And immediately began to teach Helen to communicate by spelling words into her hand, beginning with D-O-L-L for the doll that she'd brought Helen as a present. Okay, so Helen Keller has always sort of blown my mind that how is she learning what letters are if she went blind at such a young age? Just find it so it's amazing. It is, it is incredible. How could she know, like how would you associate that pattern, D-O-L, with the... Just a lot of time and association. It was really hard.

Matt, what are you going to say? I guess it's just like it's a different language right? So whatever that is to her, that means dull. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm sure it wouldn't be. She's not picturing the letters necessarily, like you would. Maybe it's just a certain feeling. I just want it, so I'm going to talk to her. It's amazing.

I know what I'm talking about, because I do. Yeah. I'm an expert in this field and all others. But I think anybody signing even, sign language or liberating and stuff is going to be different in their head to how we hear and say words. But at the end of the day, they're still able to communicate and understand. Is purple that I see the purple that you see? Probably not. Probably not. You've got terrible vision. You've got terrible vision. He just put his glasses on and then took them off just for a dramatic effect. I'll rest my case.

Alright, you're not a lawyer. So she- That's close. Objection. I ruled. So Helen was really frustrated at first because she didn't understand, obviously because she doesn't understand this new method and she doesn't understand that every word, like every object has a word that uniquely identifies it.

So it was a real struggle for a while. At first she was kind of curious and then she was defiant and she refused to cooperate. But when she did cooperate, Anne Sullivan could tell that she wasn't really making the connection between the objects and the letters. She was just kind of like, whatever. She was cooperating in the sense of not fighting it. She didn't really care. Right. But she didn't understand fully. So she would get really frustrated. Helen would get frustrated and she would throw tantrums because she couldn't communicate and that would be incredibly frustrating. So finally, Sullivan demanded that she and the and she and the

Helen, she and Helen, be isolated from the rest of the family for a little time so that Helen could concentrate only on on Sullivan's instructions and they moved into a little cottage on the property, on the family's property. There was this really big dramatic struggle where she was, Anne Sullivan was trying to teach Helen the word for water and she helped her to make the connection between the object and the letter by taking Helen out to the water pump and placing Helen's hand under the spout. So as she's like got her hand under the water, she's she's spelling out water in her other hand. And then eventually she finally like it clicked, she understood and she repeated the word like she wrote the word back on Anne's hand. So she understood and she wrote it back. And then she started, she like fell onto the ground

and was like banging on the ground, wanting to know what it was called. And so then she's spelling out words for her like ground to her as well. She had to learn a series of patterns for everything. Yeah. Rather than knowing that, because you wouldn't know what sounds are,

so you can't be like, G-R, oh that's a grure sound. Yeah. You just have to knowing that, because you wouldn't know what sounds are, so you can't be like, G-R, oh that's a grura sound. Yeah. You just have to know that wall, okay that's W-A-L-L. Yeah. Wow, you'd have to learn so many patterns. Yeah, I know, but it's ridiculous.

But this is just a beginning. This is just how she started to be able to communicate. Amazing. Yeah, and so that night, so after they had this big breakthrough with the water and then ground, Helen was like dragging Anne around the whole room and asking for every object. She's like, what's this, what's this? And then just in that first night, she'd learnt 30 words.

So you got from zero to 30? Zero to 30, she doesn't muck around, I love it. She must be like sort of abnormally smart. normal people couldn't do that right you would think so yeah Yeah, well yeah, you're right. I know I would not be able to learn 30 how old is she? She's six It's pretty amazing. Yeah Hi icons it's Danny Pellegrino from the Pop Culture Podcast, everything iconic, and I love Nordstrom.

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Mycomputercareer.edu. In 1890, so she's 10 years old, she began speech classes at the Horace Man School for the Deaf in Boston. So she would sort of work for like 25 years, she would learn to speak so that others could understand her. She worked on improving her communication skills. She was really determined to communicate with others as conventionally as possible. Over the course of her life, she learned to speak and she spent much of her time giving speeches and lectures. Right, so she 100% Blanna, 100% deaf?

I believe so, yeah. Oh, you can hear yourself back. But like, they, a lot of deaf people, all now, all deaf people speak now pretty much. Yeah, but if you can't see, or can you, it makes it way more. It makes them much harder, but when you say like, I find it so amazing. It's incredible. It's so fascinating.

Yeah. But it's different. It's so interesting as well how the attitude has changed. Like one of my mum's sisters is deaf and at the time, there was only like a couple of schools she could go to in Victoria. And one would teach to sign but not speak and the other would teach to speak and not sign. So my grandparents sort of had to make the choice and center to the school where she learnt to speak and Then as an adult she learnt sign language herself, but was frustrated that she didn't know that already Oh, so what if she mainly communicate with now she speaks

She's had a cochlear ear implant as well. So her speech has improved enormously She could the other day I was at my grandparents house and the doorbell rang So I went to get it and my auntie went to get it as well And I said you heard that and she went, yeah, I can hear. And I was like, okay, well, I'm not wrong from being a surprise. You were born profoundly deaf. It's not crazy that I was surprised by that. You started an argument with it. Yeah, we had an argument about it. It's an interesting decision. We did it. I do. I feel like you probably came off well from that. When she was a kid, and she would like, she would be fighting with her siblings and they would sort of fight with her,

she would just close her eyes. Like, can't hear her. Their arguments invalid. I think that's genius. That's very good. Very clever. Anyway, so yes, she can Helen's learning to speak. She also learned to hear people's speech by reading their lips with her hands. So her sense of touch became really, really good. What? Yeah. How does that happen?

Again, she's not hearing it. Oh, it's not the same in her head. The same way it is for you, but she's understanding them. You'd have to do another series of, all right, when I say the word water, they mean this. This is what it feels like.

Yeah. Oh yeah, that is tricky. Water. Water. Water. Water. Water. Water.

Yes, just touching your lips. And saying water. No, but I'm saying it in an American accent because she's American. Water. No, she's South American, Southern American. She probably wouldn't have an accent because she's American water. She's South American, Southern American. She probably wouldn't have an accent then. She wouldn't have an accent. She never heard anyone else speaking.

Yeah, good point. Great point. Yeah. Who knows? Yeah. She also became proficient at using Braille and reading sign language with her hands as well. Okay, I reckon she's a genius.

Yeah, she's got a big, crittly smart. But she also worked really hard. She wanted to learn. It was amazing. So when she became determined to attend college, she was like, I want to... She had gone to school. Yeah, she's gone through school. And she wanted to gone to school. Yeah, she's gone through school. Yeah, and she

She wanted to go to college and in Well, that's what I was about to talk about her school So in 1896 she attended the Cambridge School for young ladies, which was like a prep school for women um and as her story started to become known to the general public She began to meet famous and influential people One of them was the writer Mark Twain, who was very impressed by her and they became friends. Very good. Yeah, that's kind of cool. How cool, very thin. How cool, very thin. And then he introduced

her to his friend Henry H. Rogers. I reckon anybody with like a middle initial is cool. So you reckon I would get like a lot more respect if I was David J. Warnecke. That's pretty cool. Matthew J. Stewart. Matthew J. Stewart's better than David J. Warnecke. Yeah, Matthew J. Stewart. No, Matthew. Matthew J. Stewart.

No. I feel like a 90s TV. I hate it. Matthew J. Matthew J. Matthew J. That's good. Jessica A. Perkins.

Jessica A. Perkins. Jessica A. Perkins. Jessica A. Perkins. Yeah. Yeah. Jess A. Perkins. Jess A. Perkins. No. No. If you were Jess H. Perkins, that is, Oregon H is the best one. Yeah, Oregon, you're right. William H. Macy. Very good. David H. Warneke. El. Samuel L. Jackson. El is good. S sounds good too. Matt S. No, not for you. David S. Warneke. Oh, yeah, that's not bad. That's not bad. Unfortunately, none of these are our names.

Jess S. Perkins has. So I was like, were SS like a ship. I was thinking more like David's blue. No. Oh, anyway. Thank you. So Mark Twain introduced Helen Keller to his friend Henry Hade Rogers,

who was a standard oil executive. And he was so impressed with her. No, like the standard oil, not like just do you stand it oil, like, Just standard oil, like, what's he company is called standard oil? He was not necessarily a city executive, he was a full executive. He wasn't an ass prod like yourself or an ass ex. He wasn't an ass ex. He was so impressed with Helen with her talent and her drive and determination that he agreed to pay for her to attend

Radcliffe College. So there she went to college. It was rad. She was accompanied by Anne Sullivan. Are you laughing because I did this? I'm laughing at it all. You're losing your mind. Anne Sullivan went with her to college basically and sat by her side to interpret her lectures and her books and stuff like that. And Standard Oilman's pain. Yes, he's paying for her education which is really cool. So by this time she had mastered several methods of communication, most of which I mentioned before so like touch lip reading braille speech typing and finger spelling I don't know what that is but it sounds great

Yeah, you don't know You're doing west doing the west sign. What's the other one? What's that supposed to be? There's a V. What are you doing? What's going on here? Those are just two W's M to M M for Matt Matt's I'd best I'd What's going on here? Those are just two W's. 2M's. 2M's. M for Matt. Matt's our best son.

Okay. Alright, here we go. We're doing some biggest spelling. He's pretty much doing... Me! You're at me. He's doing like this gang symbols that will get him... What? Killed. M's not a... That's not a gang symbol M you're gonna get west side

That's a that's That's a w for west side. Yeah, and you're just doing that upside down. You can see that upside down. We're not idiots But that makes an up you know an upside w is an M Hey, an upside down smile. What about this one? What about that? That's an eye. It is an eye, I'm doing it with my middle finger. It's a capital eye, or a lowercase l. What are you spelling there?

Ile. Ile. Ile. You the illest. I'm the illest. I'm feeling rather ill from your bullshit. No, no, no. Kinda got it on that one.

No, I didn't really. Anyway, so she's a very good communicator and with the help of Anne Sullivan and Anne Sullivan's future husband, John Maycee. How do they know each other? I'll talk a bit about him in just a moment. John H. Maycee. John Maycee, but we'll call him John H. Maycee.

Thank you. So with their help, she wrote her first book, which is the story of my life. Alan Keller. Alan Keller wrote her first book. It covered her transformation from childhood to 21 year, to a 21 year old college student. And she graduated from Redcliffe in 1904 at the age of 24.

She was the first deaf blind person to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree. Fuck. How cool is that? How cool is that? It's very cool. You have a Bachelor of Arts degree. Fuck. How cool is that? How cool is that? It's very cool. You have a Bachelor of Arts degree, Matt. I do, yeah.

And it is very cool. So do I. So do you. We all have one. Oh no. And we're begging for your money. And she's just being amazing and we can't do basic things. So in 1905, Anne Sullivan married to John May Macy. He was an instructor at Harvard University,

he was a social critic and a prominent socialist. And after their marriage Sullivan continued to be Helen's guide and mentor and she Helen actually went to live with them as well and they both initially gave Helen like their undivided attention or both super supportive. Oh I don't like the word initially. Because gradually however, An and John became distant to each other. An and John, they are parents. Oh my god they have my parents' names! I didn't even realize that!

Those are my parents' names! Why didn't you even realize? Really? It's weird that Matt would. Yeah! That's weird! My parents are An and John but but um They're from the Perkins. They're from the Perkins. This is shoot at the front. Yep. Yeah, and

They've never mentioned this so Anna John as splitting up. Yes. Is it because of Helen? He kind of no It's not Helen's fault. Oh, they told you so they told you Helen in this Jess is this whole story about you? Yeah. You've got a Bachelor. I do have a Bachelor of Arts. Your parents are Ann and John. My parents are all stacking up.

My name is Ann and Helen, and I have 2020 vision. You have? I'm not deaf. 2020 vision. Yeah, that's pretty good. 2020 vision. Anyway, so Ann remains really devoted to Helen and continues helping her. And after several years, John and Anne separated.

But they never divorced, but they did separate. Not my John and Anne though, they're still going strong. Oh, it's a little bad news. 30 something years, I don't remember. It's a long time they've been together. Yeah, and they wanted me to pass on a message. What was that? Helen Keller broke them up.

Helen Keller. Helen Keller, go back. She's back and she has come between them. She's ruined another marriage. She back. Oh, she back. She's really clever, but she's really good at ruining marriages. Yeah.

She's vindictive. She's a home regga. She just spells out. He cheated. But he didn't. She just lied. She's a bad person. Wow, I did not come across any of this in the report in my research.

Did you? I've both crossed, checked our sources. Wow. No, I'm sorry. I mean, as I say, I didn't, I didn't do enough of it until this part got up. So, I wasn't aware. So, that's really interesting. Wow. That'll change the tone of the rest of the world.

What I think, yeah. What did she broke up with your parents married? Yeah. She's been in some years. Is he gonna let that come between us and the podcast and find? Yeah, I am. Be a little baby. But if you want to be a professional,

you want to be a professional podcast, I think you need to get back up on the potty horse. I thought you got to be a journalist. you got to be like separate yourself from the, you know, from what you're reporting on. And I believe you did study journalism. You become to involve Perkins, you're off the case. Boys, when you're right, you're right. Thank you. Well, I'm sorry.

And I'd like to continue as a professional if that's okay. That's right. Well, that's difficult, but you can definitely continue. I, I, you just said be a professional. Fuck you, you're just being impossible, mate. So after college, Helen said out to learn more about the world and how she could help improve the lives of others. News of her story started to spread and she became a well-known

celebrity and lecturer by sharing her experiences with audiences and working I've broken up 17 marriages this month you can too which is my three easy steps what are the steps lie cheating steel everybody lie cheat still lie cheat still you get a broken marriage you get a broken mode They throw the run to her I don't see a cow she's like god this feel wet yeah I can feel this is wrong Anyway, she's actually doing some really good work. Throwed wet on the border. Impression. Oh they appreciate all right. What are you guys doing? No she's not breaking up marriages. She's working on

behalf of others living with disabilities. Oh, God, that's taking the fun out of the tone. Yeah, she's doing some good work. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, Helen tackled social and political issues, including women's suffrage, birth control. This one was kind of interesting because I read about this later because I was like I was appointed on a commission to investigate the conditions for the blind. For the first time I, who had thought blindness and misfortune beyond human control,

found that too much of it was traceable to wrong industrial conditions, often caused by the selfishness and greed of employers. This is where it gets interesting. The social evil contributed its share. I found that poverty drove women to a life of shame that ended in blindness. So basically what she's saying there is that poverty drove women to prostitution. Prostitution led to syphilis. Syphilis led to blindness. So she was like, some of this is traceable and preventable. And so then she was kind of advocating for birth control. So the birth control stopped the syphilitic babies being born blind?

Is that what she's saying? Or is in birth control like, what's called dingas? Stingas. And I think syphil... Prophylectic. Syphilis would make you go blind, right? But like not immediately.

Not immediately, but if it got, yeah, prolonged. Yeah. I was just singing a birth control in trying birth, but yeah, if it's like STD controls. Yeah, that's what it is. STI, whatever they, what are you, if a kid's called. Safe, safe sex, that's what she's, she's all, she's all about toughs, toughs, toughs.

She loves the toughs, toughs, toughs. Oh, mate, there's nothing hotter to me than the roughs sex. The safer the better. The safer the sexier. Yeah, just wrap me up and bubble wrap, put a buddy's back at on me and let's get it in. If we don't touch, I'll get really, I'll get off. Yeah. I'll get really young.

I'll just... Why has she got out? He's... This is a little dumb, yeah. This episode is loose. Mmm. Okay. What's like Matt's pants? She testified before Congress, strongly advocating to improve the welfare for blind people.

In 1915, along with the renowned city planner George Kessler, she co-founded Helen Keller International to combat the causes and consequences of blindness and malnutrition. And in 1920, she helped found the American Civil Liberties Union. It's like, she's hell. She's an over-a-chiever. She does so much when, it's hell. She's an over a cheaper. She does so much when, oh, it's just amazing, it's amazing. You know, it's hard because you don't wanna be like,

patronizing. You don't wanna be patronizing, but it's like she's already amazing for a person without any of these disability. If she was fully able, it's still being pressed with their life. Yeah, right. But she has this, you'd still be impressed with their life. Yeah, right. And but she has this,

and you'd be like, if that was me, if that was me in that situation, I would so comfortably just be like, well, this is my lot in life, and I would sort of give up. But for her to just keep going is amazing. But you don't want to talk about that too much

because then you're being a patronizing asshole for treating her like she's like, I want you clever. Yeah, yeah, sure. It's, yeah, a good topic choice, Jess, it was really good. I thought it was an interesting one. It is very interesting. I haven't known a lot of this. Yeah, I didn't know a lot of this too.

The American Federation for the Blind was established in 1921 and Helen became a member a few years later in 1924 and participated in many campaigns to raise awareness, money and support for the blind. She also joined other organisations. Seems a little bit self-serving, do you think? Yeah, like he's trying to raise money for the blind. Is that an altruistic thing? Helen? Or you got a little interest in this? or you got a little interest in this. I mean, for all the blind people, but I mean, I'm one of them. If you want to swing a little cash my way. One's arm sorted, I'll pass on the right hand.

I've got a raise awareness for myself. It's all about branding. She's on it. She's on it. She's big in a market. She invented marketing. She invented marketing. I was about to get to that. That's very exciting. Good for her.

I take this opportunity to remind listeners of the Patreon account. We have credit. Self-serving. Self-serving? No, no, I would say altruistic. No doubt. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's for the greater good.

Well, first we'll get rich. Then we'll pass it on. We'll get rich. First we'll get rich then we'll pass it on we'll get rich The part of me thinks that Dave believes that on somewhere. Yeah, these things like this This could be a full-time job now if everyone on the planet gave one dollar This one just won that one's we get what six seven billion dollars. That's pretty good That's two billion dollars each. That's too much. Too much billion.

That's different. I have like everyone in the world. I have to give $1 a each a month. Did you know what though? If we got $6 billion a month, we could actually... I'd probably give a couple of thousand a charity. No, okay. Look, I'm not signing a contract saying I will, but I probably would.

No, I'm being serious. We could fix the world. We could fix the world. We still live very comfortably ourselves. We have to just get everyone in the world to first give us a dollar, plunging themselves into further poverty, only for us to give the money back to get them out of poverty. Okay, no. We redistributing lots of the wealth. Think about this super wealthy people giving us a dollar,

and then we end up giving heaps of that money to people who don't have homes, and then they have a home, and we get them a job, and we save the world, and then we're heroes. Are we better than Helen Keller? Where, why are you better than Helen Keller? Look, I'm convinced. Eurone, I'll rest in my case. I actually do rest my case. Done. Take that, Helen Keller.

Drew doesn't even eat an hour on this one. No. They don't even leave the courtroom. They all stand up and kill up. Jury doesn't even eat an hour on this one. I know. They don't even leave the courtroom. They all stand up and start laughing. Look, to be honest, we've got billions of dollars. We earned this, Jury. You get that's right. We earned this whole call. No, but we don't know.

We're cool about it though. We're cool about saving the world. I everyone's very cool when they're billionaires. Yeah, have you seen the shit cars we drive? That's just saying we fit in with the clips. We're just saying we're saying grounded. We're saying humble. We're humble and grounded. That's us I've always said that about all three of us. Yeah Humble and all grounded. I've been telling everyone how humble I am all week

It's amazing. I say hello. I'm Jess. I'm very grounded Very grounded. I'm very glad you're thank you. Thank you for asking. Thank you. Thank you I do look humble today. Oh my goodness Okay, well aren't you just a little diet a little dear little duh Oh whatever. I don't need to talk to you and better than you and rich. I've got six billion dollars for a podcast I also developed an accent somewhere in there too. That's okay. That happens with money. Yeah money. Money changes you and your accent That's okay. That happens with money. Yeah, money changes you and your accent.

Changes everything. Money. I'm gonna say money. That's money laugh. That's gonna, that's gonna have money to remove the Bunnings Warehouse tattoo from his testicles. He's not sack, I believe, to call it.

I'm already booked it in. Congratulations. Thank you. Only 15 painful sessions. The way from having a normal thing. They said that not much of the sac will remain. On our Patreon I'm putting an option that's at the bottom. If you contribute one million dollars per month, Matt will get his testicles.

That is definitely true. I would do that for a million dollars a month and I did about that. Really? But would you share that million dollars with us or would you keep that meal? A little bit for us, come on. Yeah, we'd come to an arrangement. A month? Yeah. Fair enough. Just have about just one month you split it with us and then you can go back to having a million a month. Yeah, you can have it all that. That's fine, I can have that.

Yeah, that's cool. I might just go on with the podcast. Oh please. Wait, yeah. Who are we talking about? I saw one not as good Yeah, that's cool. I might just go on with the podcast. Oh please. Oh wait. Yeah. Can we talk about us? Oh, and not as good as us Helen. Yeah, I think what we were doing there was taking a little break away from feeling like we can't be silly around a perfect person. Yeah, she's pretty much the perfect person. I'm like, oh, let's have a real go at this, Let's make a little search for an angle here. Yeah, it's a tough angle. She's gonna have a little show a little weakness, I'm sure.

John, who suggested this for us? Great topic, fascinating person. You're making our jobs a bit hard though. I think you'd have to be a miracle worker to make this topic funny. I reckon Helen Kelly could. Helen Kelly could make? The miracle workers are very famous play

about the life of Helen Keller. That's a very famous play. She said, I said that, looking down at it, he actually stood up on his chair, looked down, literally looked down his nose at us. Well, because he can't, otherwise he has to stand on a chair because he's very small.

And I said, look down, it was probably a look us in the eye. Yeah, which is the first time he's done that. What a piece of shit. What a scheme. So she's working to raise money in awareness for the blind and she's also joined other organizations that are dedicated to helping the less fortunate, including the permanent blind war relief fund, which is later called the American Braille Press. Soon after she graduated from college, she became a member of the Socialist Party, most likely due to in part to her friendship with John Mason. There it is. She's a commie. New and all along. Okay, so she's not perfect. Well, I have minutes ago, you were telling us you're going to take

a dollar from everyone and redistribute it to that's true you did say that well no hi don't the difference between me and a comic is that I say that I'm gonna do that actually know that and I keep the money that's exactly what all communist regimes have ever done so in in in anyways I'm more communist than Helen Keller yeah she's a socialist you somewhere jumped okay all right

so between 1909 and 1921, she wrote several articles about socialism, and she supported Eugene Debs, who is a socialist party presidential candidate. She wrote a series of essays on socialism. They were entitled out of the dark, and they described her views on socialism and world affairs. And it was during this time, this is kind of interesting,

it's during this time that Helen first experienced public prejudice about her disabilities because she'd always been sort of hailed like a, so she claims that newspaper columnists who had previously praised her courage and intelligence, you know, before she expressed her socialist views, now called attention to her disabilities. So the editor of the Brooklyn Eagle wrote that her mistakes sprung out of the manifest limitations of her development. Kind of fucked. And she responded to that editor, referring to having met him before he knew of her political views. And she said, at that time, the compliments he paid me were so generous that

I blush to remember them. But now that I have come out for socialism, he reminds me in the public that I am blind and deaf and especially liable to error. I must have shrunk in intelligence during the years since I met him. Oh ridiculous, Brooklyn Eagle! Socially blind and deaf, it defends an intolerant system, a system that is the cause of much of the physical blindness and deafness which we are trying to prevent. Cup that, Brooklyn Ego! Like that was very well said. Like she slammed him. Yeah, water smacked down.

Like, oh, you didn't... We thought I was so clever when I... before I expressed an opinion, a socialist one. I was just a work, an area of bloody peace, a work, a dirty dog. In 1936, Helen's beloved teacher and devoted companion and Sullivan passed away. She had experienced health problems for several years and a few years earlier in 1932 she'd lost her eyesight completely and so a young woman named Polly Thompson who'd great name. Polly Thompson. I trust her, I trust her with my life.

Polly, definitely. She began working as a secretary for Anne and Helen in 1914, so several years earlier. She became her Helen's constant companion when Sullivan passed away. So now Polly's sort of looking after and accompanying her everywhere. In 1946, Helen was appointed a counselor of international relations for the American Foundation of Overseas Blind.

And between 1946 and 1957, she traveled to 35 countries on five continents. In 1955, at age 75, Helen embarked on the longest and most grueling trip of her life, a five-month track across Asia. Through her many speeches and appearances, she brought inspiration and encouragement to millions of people. She didn't bring it in me. Well, it's okay, mate. Right, you're old, but not that old. Oh, wow, that's the biggest compliment you'll ever get on this podcast.

Yeah, you're not that old. You old piece of shit. I've called you old piece of shit. Could you a piece of shit a lot today? Hey. Maybe one of the Patreon things should be called pieces of shit. The piece of shit award. That's no good.

I put money into that. Yeah. That could be $10,000. So Helen's autobiography, The Story of My Life, was used as the basis for the 1957 television drama, The Miracle Worker. And in 1959- Jason, you haven't heard of that, even though she wrote it down today.

In 1959, the story was developed into a Broadway play of the same title, starring Patty Jook, Iskella, and Anne Bancrofter Sullivan. It was a wacky musical and Bancroft. Yeah, played Anne Sullivan. That was really cool. And it was it was one of those ones where they're like she's behind you. Oh no no no no. What a pantomime. pantomime. Yeah but that kind of places there are the blindness. I did not intend. Okay. And I think the miracle work it's I've seen seen it made fun of on comedy shows like it's a... South Park?

It's on South Park and other shows where they, like it might be a recurring play that people put on. American listeners, do people put on the Miracle Worker like they imply in American TV shows? Like it might be a thing that people put on their high school a lot. Oh, okay, one of those plays, it gets a good run. Like our version would be that one about the guy who was the last man hanged in Australia. No, that's not it. What?

I think our version would be like... What are you talking about? I don't know. What are you talking about? I don't know. What's his name? The last man hanging in his show, isn't it? What are you looking at? I just said...

You guys are the drama boys, people? What? Surely you would know what the big Aussie drama play would be the high schools and stuff. Not the Aussie one. There's not a lot of Aussie. The Annie was always big. That's not a Australian at all. That's what I'm just saying.

Our big ones are... Don's party. Hotel Sorrento. You know the best when I read in uni when I was a drama major? It was Norman Armed and it was excellent a really good play But it's not what they're gonna use look cuz it has swearing in it summer of the 17th So what kind of swears? Racial ones actually, okay, let's move on very powerful in the context

That sounds like I'm like no, but the racism's fine. It's definitely not. What I'm saying is it's a great play. Anywho, we're nearly done here. So they also made a film of Miracle Worker in 1962 and those actresses played those two. And bankrupt. And bankrupt.

I don't know what that means. Sounds good though. Yeah. And bankrupt. Just an actress. And bankrupt. And bankrupt. And bankrupt. And bankrupt. And bankrupt. During her lifetime she received many honors in recognition of her accomplishments,

including the Theodore Roosevelt Distinguished Service Medal in 1936. The Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1964, an election to the Women's Hall of Fame in 1965. She also received honorary doctoral degrees from Temple University and Harvard University and from the universities of Glasgow, Berlin, Delhi and Johannesburg. Wow, she's just like a doctor on every continent. Yeah, additionally she was named an honorary fellow of the Educational Institute of Scotland, so she's got that too. Did she win a Victoria across? No Victoria cross? No Victoria Coral asking no Victoria cross unfortunately she was robbed

Rob Rob Danny Jr. won that year Rob She suffered It's pretending like I was an Academy Award Robert Danny Jr. Yeah, he won the Victoria Cross at the Academy Awards. In the 1960s, Matt, Keith Huff. Keith Huff, Matt, I know you're tired. We're all bloody tired, Chad. And the act of being bitten by Robert Downey Jr. is called being robbed.

In any pursuit. You got Robert Danny Jr. Yeah. Anyway, Helen suffered a series of strokes in 1961 and spent the remaining years of her life at her home in Connecticut. She died in her sleep seven years later on the first of June 1968, just a few weeks before her 88th birthday. She lived a long life. She lived a long time and she got a lot done.

It was really amazing. It was a service held in her honor at the National Cathedral in Washington and her ashes were placed next to her constant companions and Sullivan and Polly Thompson. So that was at that was at the Washington National Cathedral. I said for all three of them. We're together. All right, but Anne Sullivan's husband that Helen broke up. No, we didn't say Probably still on the run. He's still he's still alive yet again the man loses Okay, I've got a couple of fun facts to finish on. Couple of fun facts. Oh, all right, I mean. Already?

Couple. I don't know how fun they're gonna be. That's tricky, because it's been a barrel of laugh so far. Way too from here. Way too bad. Somehow I'm gonna make it even more fun. I think you lift the fun factor at all. I can even more fun.

I doubt it. So far, am I just feeling really inadequate as a human? Are you? Yeah. I've just done nothing with my life. Oh my God. I also have a Bachelor of Arts degree. Oh, well, yeah, you're just as good as her. You're right, I'm just as good as Helen Keller.

I've got a Master's, does she have one of those? Don't exo, she's got seven for the honorary. So I didn't earn them. Academically speaking. Not worth the paper, their buddy, print them. So. So in a way, we're all better than Helen Keller's, what we're saying. This is just a typical comedian in adequacy that we're like, yeah, well, whatever.

We can't just be like, well, that's fascinating. Have you ever done a joke on stage, you've had a 15 people and made 12 of them laugh? Yeah, Helen Keller, have you? That's a good hero. That's good. I probably should have said 12 out of 50. I feel being realistic. I'm saying you perform.

Oh, brutal, but nafe. Oh, okay, fair enough then. Fun facts. Yes. In 1916, when Helen was in her 30s and world famous, her teacher and companion and Sullivan fell terribly ill as before Anne died, obviously. Anne's estranged husband sent Peter Fagan, who was a 29-year-old Boston herald reporter, to be Helen's private secretary to feel in what Anne is sick.

The pair quickly became infatuated. RONANCE! I'm such a friend of the Anne Sullivan's husband that she later broke up. Yeah, yeah. So Peter learns how to speak to him. He learns the manual finger spelling language. And he's... What a sweet way to flirt. I know.

Like learning their language. Spelling words out on each other's hands. He's like, he reads, like, he spells the contents of letters and newspapers and articles and books and stuff to her. And so, like, they get all, and he's like passionate spells the contents of letters and newspapers and articles and books and stuff to her and say like they get all and he's like passionate about politics and he loves his zest for life and they fall in love. He's pretending to be passionate about politics, but he's just passionate about giving

him a pants. The only problem is I don't know what happened to them. Like I fell in love apparently they attempted to a lope but because it was a different time you guys. Helen's family of teachers society around that time were kind of like well no they felt strongly that women with disabilities shouldn't marry or have romantic desires. So it's like yeah apparently she used to read like romance novel, romance she used to read romance novel and Anne. She used to read romance novels, and Anne Sullivan would be like, stop reading that trash.

She wouldn't let her, you know that desire, you know that feelings. She wasn't like, it married. I don't really know what happened to them. Apparently they attempted to alope, but it obviously didn't happen. So from then on she decided to ruin marriage after marriage. Oh, that makes more sense.

I'm down with that. If you can't be married, no one can. And the lady who stopped her from getting aloved was answering the marriage that she broke up. Oh yeah, fucking cop that dickhead. Boom. I bet they don't talk about this in the miracle worker. They're two afraid.

They probably don't. That's why this is high art and that is a piece of fucking shit in a bucket. There. We said it. We said look, it's been sitting there. I reckon somebody has done a shit in a bucket and put it in that gallery. I've done it myself. Yeah, I mean, we weren't even pretending it was art. That was just a need of a good.

That was a desperate situation. Hi, every desperate situation has an out. Right. That is butt. Yeah, obviously though, just tiny pellets, but I feel that bucket Small bucket it was more of a symbol The word bucket is a fully verb. He's my heart Your heart, but he's butt is the size of a hamster a

Hamster's butt hamster hamster That's a big part because other well, that's pretty big. That's a big part anyway This last one fact I have is really it's kind of interesting that last one fact was more that she was not allowed to have a lot of fun Yeah, no, it started kind of interesting Fun how she she died tragically alone because society Fun facts. Fun how she she died tragically alone because society Respected her mentally, but that was the least fun fact that like you couldn't have gone at and found a less fun fact

If there were no restrictions on my doing my He's a piece of tragedy Fun fun fun fun to look as a fun fact dress it up a little bit. Oh Boy thanks for Yeah, John Helen Keller is really fun. I don't know if John was saying he's a fun one. No, he's just saying he's an interesting one, he's right. When Helen visited Japan in July of 1937, she inquired about Hachiko, the famed Akeeda dog that had died in 1935.

She told a Japanese person that she would like to have an Akeita dog and one was given to her within a month with the name of Kamikaze Go. And when he died, yeah, he unfortunately died. So they did eat. What was the name like that? Kamikaze. Jumped out of a plane with a parachute.

Straight to a battleship. When Kamikaze died, his older brother, Kenzan, was presented to her as an official gift from the Japanese government in July 1938. And... So a die a year later, she did not look after that dog, and gave her another one. She's pointed out.

Like... She's... She's... She's... She's... She's... She's... She's... She's another one. She's another one. Oh, does it set off a chain of events? Well, what's interesting is that she owned a 95 dog.

What's interesting is that Helen is credited with having introduced the Akeeda dog to the United States through the two dogs. She bought over several thousand dollars. She started that breed of dog in the States. Akeeda is a beautiful dog. Well, thanks, Helen Keller. That is, that is, that is, says America. That is a fun fact. That is fun. Is that fun? She introduced the Akeeda. Was it finally a fun fact in there? Yep. Thank fuck, as I'm down. That's the end of a fun fact that is fun she introduced the Akita was there finally a fun fact in there. Yeah, thanks fuck

I'm down. That's the end of the fun fact The other report Perkins out boom and I'm going that is my report on Helen Keller Incredible woman that made was very difficult to laugh at But maybe we should look at laugh with we could definitely love with, hey? And admire at. We could definitely admire at her. We're not admire with. No, no, I never would. I wouldn't dream of it. Wouldn't dare.

Don't even think of asking me to. So there we go. Very suggestible with. Have you pressured me for even for a brief amount of time? I probably would, to be honest. Well, we're all going to stop talking because that is the end of episode 55. Thank you so much for listening in. And we talked at length with it at the start of

the show, we have launched our Patreon, we'll be tweeting, we're Facebooking, we'll be probably Instagramming, we're doing all the things about that and you can also use those mediums to get in contact with us at do go on pod on Twitter and Instagram. We do go on pod on Facebook and do go on pod at gmo.com on email. If you're interested in getting involved in Patreon, maybe you've got a suggestion for a thing that you'd like us to do in exchange for a reward with you to this. Yeah, I was going to say, so yeah, you... If you want us to...

You're flexible on what rewards are offered. Yeah, like if you... You're more open to suggestions. If you guys want, I don't know, if you're... Because some people are really into Patreon, Ion, I don't know what other things. So if other people do Q&As or things like that, they're interested in or? Yeah, if you want to ask questions, and maybe on the mini reports,

we could answer your questions. Answer your questions. We can all happen to do that. Tell, it's all about open communication, you guys. Just tell us what you want from us, and we will do our best to accommodate you. OK. And we'll end this episode by reading out some names of the people we assume will be contributing to the Patreon. Okay let's all do one. Okay so Helen Keller. Obviously.

She respects our. Obviously. Matt who do you think will be contributing to the Patreon? I would have thought in his first public appearance in many years, DB Cooper is going to... Oh, I was saying. Dreamboat, DeBon. I don't know, do you call that a public appearance? If you... Public where appearance? Yeah, public where appearance.

And if you contribute it to the Patreon? Yeah. He does it in a very subtle way. If anyone wants to create an account called DBQ, really contribute, that would be, like, I think that would probably make my life worth living. Wow, that's sad. I made my life complete. All worth living.

Because it's been pretty good so far. I'm just missing one piece, and that's it. And then you can die. Is that what you're saying? Yeah. Cool. Jess, who do you think will be contributing to the Patreon? Come in Elizabeth, obviously. The first or the second?

The first. Great. I thought so. The second is not up for this, but the first. She's not that interested. Burger will get her, but the first one definitely. She tweets every week and she's like, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, that's nice. Well, it's great to have celebrity fans. And oh my god. But if you want to get involved, we would appreciate it.

Thank you so much, guys. I'll be back next week with a report of my own. Ooh. It was episode 56. We'd like to say thank you for everyone that's listened to all the episodes in our first year. Year two starts next week. Hi, happy birthday.

Happy birthday guys. Happy birthday, guys. Happy birthday, birthday. I love you very much. I love you too And I just hope that Helen Keller will not come between us like all those marriages No, she won't I think you really you took your time getting to that sentence but I mean as per you Warnicky and perco just talking alive me. I've been trampled over here. Can't get a body word in it

Matt's gonna fall asleep so we probably should sign up so I'll say I'm dreaming Well, we are pretty dreamy Bye You're not gonna say latest it lightest? Lightest. Thank God, it's the first time in a year. He's broken. This episode is brought to you by Progressive. Most of you aren't just listening right now.

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