Boggis: To honor Ona Marie Judge Stains, use her proper name
JerriAnne Boggis
Attached to each of our names is a unique and personal history. These days, I can tell the state of my mother’s mind by the name she calls me. When she says my full “government” name “JerriAnne Elizabeth Creary,” the rote formality tells me she does not remember who I am. When she calls me “JerriAnne,” I know the fog of dementia has lifted briefly and I glimpse the mother I know. But when she looks at me and says “Jer” my heart melts. I’m both a child yearning for her mother and an adult filled with nostalgia.
Transcript
Casey McDermott:
I m Casey McDermott, in for Laura Knoy and this is The Exchange. When is the last time you read a presidential biography that does not just focus on that particular politician s biography of their childhood or perhaps their early political career, but also includes lists of things like his pettiest acts or his frenemies. Today on The Exchange, we ll revisit the legacy of perhaps the most mythologized founding father, George Washington, with historian Alexis Coe. She challenges us to rethink not only what we think we know about our first president, but also the notion of whose stories are told and how those stories shape our idea of democracy today. Spoiler alert: A lot of that has to do with who s in power or at least who held power when those stories were being written.