A Woman Fowl legacy: The Drag premieres podcast on lifetime of first girl

A southern-style string melody and prepare whistle sound someplace within the distance because the voice of pupil host Jade Emerson marks the primary episode of The Drag’s “Woman Fowl” podcast. “In a non-public room adorned with household photographs scotch taped to the partitions, 51-year-old Woman Fowl Johnson ready to present a speech…”

The Drag, UT’s audio manufacturing home, partnered with the Lyndon Baines Johnson Basis to supply its latest podcast, “Woman Fowl.” The 12-episode sequence connects pupil hosts with UT alumna and First Woman Claudia “Woman Fowl” Johnson via archived audio interviews. An intimate look into Woman Fowl’s life and legacy, the podcast particulars her research at UT, romance with President Lyndon B. Johnson and private experiences within the White Home. 

“Once you consider vital First Women, you consider Eleanor Roosevelt or Jackie Kennedy,” stated Katey Outka, managing director of The Drag. “However Woman Fowl hasn’t been in that dialog. She’s decreased to the beautification girl or the wildflowers girl or no matter. Lots of people don’t understand she was a lot greater than that. She was such a invaluable adviser to LBJ. She had a front-row seat to so many vital elements of historical past from the attitude of being a politician’s spouse. I believe she’s usually missed, particularly because the partner of somebody with as massive of a character as LBJ.”

After a profitable launch on the Woman Fowl Johnson Wildflower Heart final week, the primary episode of “Woman Fowl” is now accessible on podcast streaming platforms. Future episodes will embody a particular installment devoted to Woman Fowl and President Johnson’s love letters and a bonus interview with the couple’s daughter, Luci Baines Johnson. 

“I bear in mind we had been at a listening session, and I assumed, ‘Wow, this simply jogs my memory of going via my outdated childhood diaries or sitting with my grandma and going over her little scrapbooks,’” stated Sofia Vargas Karam, advertising communications supervisor of The Drag. “We actually wished to take into account that that is any person else’s voice and story that we’re telling in a really intimate means.”

Distinctive amongst The Drag’s productions for its intensive use of historic data and in-depth story-telling, the sequence is “in contrast to something that’s ever been made earlier than” for Karam. 

“My hope and my aim is to get folks my age to take heed to (“Woman Fowl”) and fall in love with it,” Karam stated. “We are able to learn textbooks, and we are able to learn articles on-line, however lots of people don’t need to type via archives or numerous letters and outdated handwriting only for enjoyable. So we did “Woman Fowl” in a cool means the place you might have all this content material in a single place with cute and attention-grabbing audio.”

New episodes will probably be launched each Tuesday. Robert Quigley, founding father of The Drag and government producer of the podcast, stated he hopes pupil listeners can draw inspiration from Woman Fowl’s story.

“First girls are a fascination of the American public,” Quigley stated. “However listening to about (Woman Fowl’s) relationship struggles, how she hated her chemistry class or about her buddies and the place they go to have enjoyable round Austin — it’s numerous enjoyable. I believe college students will see numerous themselves in her story.”