July 7, 2014: Eleanor Roosevelt's lesbian lover

Terry Baum's play about Eleanor's lover, Hick

"I ache to hold you close." -Eleanor Roosevelt in a letter Lorena Hickock

Did you know Eleanor Roosevelt had a long-term lesbian relationship with journalist Lorena Hickock?  If you don't, you're in good company - despite being disclosed in a biography in the late seventies, it's one of the best kept secrets in recent history.  We talk with playwright and actor Terry Baum about her play, "Hick" which opens on Thursday at the Eureka Theater in San Francisco. For tickets go to crackpotcrones.com or call
800-838-3006.

Lorena Hickock was the AP jounalist who suggested that the press follow President Roosevelt's wife, Eleanor. So she ended up covering Eleanor and they fell in love. Evidence of this affair survives in 2336 letters that Eleanor wrote to Hick archived at the FDR library. Terry Baum weaves excerpts from the letters with a part of an earlier play about the affair written by Pat Bond.

Get MP3 or listen now: 29:32 min.

Also on today's show:
Idle No More and Sunflower Alliance: Bay Area Refinery Healing Walks

Click here to listen to the entire show. 59:50 min.