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A podcast focusing on the perspectives, lives, and stories of Kansans to provide greater insight into the state we all call home.
AAK_Ep51
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Baby Rhino Surprise
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[00:00:00]
Gus Applequist: So one of the many great things that Tanner does for us is that he goes out and travels and photographs things. Um, which you have to know about Tanner is that Tanner did this before we hired him. Yeah. Tanner continues to do this as a service, you know, you know, he gets paid to do it. It's not like he's just doing it for free, but he had this awesome opportunity the other day to go and meet this baby rhino at Rolling Hills Refuge.
Yeah. And so we have some like fresh off the presses video footage. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Music. Oh, music. So that's Evie. That's mom.
Gus Applequist: That's the mom. Okay.
Sydney Collins: Oh my God.
Gus Applequist: So he is, he's the baby creed is standing in front of his mom licking a salt lick
Sydney Collins: Sock block. Salt. Salt,
Gus Applequist: salt block. Lick salt block.
Sydney Collins: Don't put your feet on it man. You put your mouth there.
Gus Applequist: I don't think about how weird. Oh my gosh.
Their [00:01:00] face shapes are until
Sydney Collins: they are, they're very rectangle. Oh my gosh. He's like, what you doing? What you
Gus Applequist: got? He's ran right up to the camera. Oh, he is jumping.
Sydney Collins: That is so cute.
Gus Applequist: This will be something you can see, uh, either on the YouTube version if you're listening, or you can check it out on, uh, our Instagram.
I at some point we'll get it up there. I bet.
Sydney Collins: So the other thing is, so they named him Creed after Creed Humphrey with, for the Chiefs. He's the center of the Chiefs.
Gus Applequist: Gotcha.
Sydney Collins: So that's why Creed is named. You've had, as someone named after you, you've had a rhino named after you haven't you, or a hippo.
There's not with this. No
Gus Applequist: idea.
Sydney Collins: Well, it's not like you personally.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. I was named after hop. No, I'm just kidding. I wasn't always getting's a guest. Belly. Belly rubs with a, with a brush. So much character. What a delightful.
Sydney Collins: Very delightful.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Thanks for, thanks for doing this, Tanner. This was really great.
[00:02:00]
Podcast Intro Space Nerds
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Gus Applequist: Welcome to Ask a Kansan
Sydney Collins: podcast where we're amplifying, connecting and uncovering Kansas.
Gus Applequist: And this is one of those episodes that feels especially crafted for me. So welcome, welcome to my world. Welcome to this episode.
Sydney Collins: Welcome to this episode of Gus. Ask a Kansan, ask a kanon for Gus
where I to nerd out about space stuff.
And I sit there and smile.
Gus Applequist: You asked.
Sydney Collins: No, but it's good. Yeah. so I live at McPherson, so Hutch is only 30 minutes away. So we go to Hutch all the time. It's either like, oh, are we going to Hutch or are we going to Wichita? Are we going to Salina? 'cause they're all like between 30 and 15 minutes from our house.
It's nice. It's a good in between.
Gus Applequist: That is nice.
Sydney Collins: so yeah, we've been to the Cosmosphere a lot.
Meet Claire Ludes
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Gus Applequist: So our guest today is Claire [00:03:00] Ludes. Mm-hmm. Who is the executive Vice president of development for the Cosmosphere.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. So she, gets to talk to a lot of really cool people. She has a lot of really cool stories.
She's only been there for two years. and she's already done wonders. Of course. It's what Claire does. So,
Gus Applequist: yeah. So, uh, if you're familiar with the Cosmosphere, we'll hit some of the high points again and maybe tell a few stories you don't know. And if you're not, this is your chance to learn about the Cosmosphere.
Sydney Collins: Yep. So, without any further ado, here's, um, our conversation with.
Unboxing Cosmosphere Swag
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Sydney Collins: Hello. Welcome.
Gus Applequist: Come on in. You've your kid boxes.
Okay. Thank God you did not need to do that. Oh, it's so heavy
Claire Ludes: you did not do
Gus Applequist: this. Is. This is, so even the box is really cool.
Claire Ludes: While we
Sydney Collins: open Super, can you introduce yourself for our audience? Yeah. So they know what we're opening. Yes. So I,
Gus Applequist: oh
Sydney Collins: yeah. Lets
Claire Ludes: get you, let's raise this up here. Okay. Okay. There we go.
I am [00:04:00] Claire Ludi. I'm the senior VP in Chief Development Officer for the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas.
Sydney Collins: Oh man. Awesome.
Claire Ludes: Welcome. I'm
Sydney Collins: welcome. You're gonna, you're gonna lose your mind. Mainly,
Claire Ludes: I think Gus's is a little bit different than yours. I love
Sydney Collins: it. Space pen. Yeah, I
Claire Ludes: got
Sydney Collins: one. Yes. Love it.
Claire Ludes: I, her, I
Sydney Collins: officially, so we
Claire Ludes: had a, so you had Lori Blake on?
Sydney Collins: We
Claire Ludes: did, and Gus brought it up that he loves space pens, so I was like, oh, Sydney. Oh my God. Needs her own too. What's my name?
Gus Applequist: Whoa.
Claire Ludes: So Gus challenge course, and I'm sure we'll get into this, um, Gus's box is more alumni base. Oh. Which I, I hope that we get to that, uh, in the podcast. Oh. And then
Sydney Collins: of course,
Claire Ludes: Sydney is more
Sydney Collins: I
Claire Ludes: love it.
Just general.
Gus Applequist: Yeah. Well, thank you. Thank you. I've seen a lot of mugs in my day.
Sydney Collins: Oh, you got a, did you get a pen?
Gus Applequist: I, yes. I know
Sydney Collins: you're a pin guy. I might give this to you if you're a, [00:05:00] because he's a pen
Gus Applequist: guy. I am a PIN guy. This is awesome. Yeah. I've seen a lot of mugs in my day, but I don't know that I've seen many that have printing on the inside.
Inside.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: That's cool. I thought you would appreciate that. Yes. Thank you so much. This is so kind of you. Love, love. Wow. Okay,
Sydney Collins: this is legit.
Gus Applequist: Now we're gonna have to step up our game.
Sydney Collins: I know. Oh my gosh. Look at a shirt.
Gus Applequist: Oh, it's like 3D.
Claire Ludes: Yeah, that is
Sydney Collins: legit.
Claire Ludes: The puff
Sydney Collins: stuff. How did I print that?
Claire Ludes: Yeah,
Gus Applequist: I'm super impressed by your boxes.
The boxes.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Thank you. Yes. Yeah, we are gonna have to step up our,
Gus Applequist: that
Sydney Collins: is brilliant. Okay,
Gus Applequist: so, um, gotta like focus now I know
Claire Ludes: focus
Sydney Collins: got all excited. Back
Claire Ludes: down business. Right? I want
Sydney Collins: my
Claire Ludes: space done now.
Claire Career Journey
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Gus Applequist: Um, so could you tell us a little bit about how you ended up in this role working for the Cosmosphere?
Claire Ludes: I would love to, so I, as you both know, was, um, the executive director for the Salina area, United Way here in Salina.
Um, and got [00:06:00] approached by a recruiter that the Cosmosphere had hired, to find the right person for the role that I'm in now. And, um, reached out to me and said that a colleague here in Salina had recommended me for this job, but it's in Hutchinson, Kansas. And I said, well, I, I'm not moving. Like I'm, I'm pretty stuck here.
And they're like, no, no, you don't have to move. if you're willing to, you know, work remotely a couple days and drive to Hutch, which is, I have it down to a science by now, uh, 50 minutes. Um, uh, they, they would really like to have you. And so I said, okay, well, I. I don't know a, a ton about space.
I know the general, the history, the, all of those things. Um, they said, no, no, we'll teach you that part. I said, okay. so four interviews later, here we are, almost two years now.
Gus Applequist: Wow.
Claire Ludes: It's gone by that fast.
Sydney Collins: And, and the, the fun part is, is [00:07:00] before even the United Way, you were in sales, right?
Claire Ludes: Uh, so I worked for um, OCCK.
Oh,
Sydney Collins: that's right.
Claire Ludes: Okay. Yes. So I was their director for their transportation department and worked there for a while before moving into United Way role. So
Sydney Collins: why did I think you have a sales background, though?
Claire Ludes: I don't know.
Gus Applequist: Sales. No sales.
Sydney Collins: It's, I guess it maybe your alter ego that I think is, has
Claire Ludes: failed background.
It's possible. Yeah. I know before, and then before that I lived in Wichita and ran 13 retail stores across, maybe that's across. Wichita is the district manager for a company up there. So I mean, you're doing sales across, I get it. Across the board. Across the board. I mean, selling how great our nonprofits are.
There you go. Yeah. So
Gus Applequist: that's that's totally true.
Claire Ludes: It really is a sales job.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Claire Ludes: So,
Gus Applequist: so your title. If you said it a second ago, you do both development and strategic partnership work, is that correct?
Claire Ludes: Correct. So we just did some restructuring, so my new title
Gus Applequist: Okay. Okay.
Claire Ludes: As of a week [00:08:00] ago, if you really wanna know, um, is senior VP and Chief Development Officer.
So, um, our CEO, uh, Jim Remar, who's been with the Cosmosphere over 20 years, has kind of moved me into his, not that I wasn't already doing this stuff, but kind of helping lead a lot of the organization. Um, but then also working across many donors, many aerospace companies, all of those things. So it's, it's a really exciting time.
Artemis II Buzz
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Claire Ludes: Space is cool. Again, I like to say, um, it always cool. It's always cool, but to the general people, it's cool again now. Um, and so it's, it's really exciting with Artemis two. getting ready to launch any day now with the window of April 1st through April 6th. Hopefully. Fingers crossed, everything seems to be looking good, although, I know this is gonna be recorded, but the NASA administrator is [00:09:00] supposed to be coming to the Cosmosphere on April 6th if Artemis does not launch
Sydney Collins: we'll, all.
Claire Ludes: Um, so I don't know for you if I want to cross my fingers on which way. we, we have an alumni who actually does all of the training for the astronauts. So if she saw me say that, I was like torn on it. She might come after me, but that's okay. So, but it's. It's awesome. We live in a really exciting time right now.
Gus Applequist: I totally agree. Since you brought up Artemis two. Yeah. It's, it's kind of astounding to those of us space geeks, how little the public is aware of Artemis two Uhhuh and what it is. Could you tell our audience
Claire Ludes: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Me, the public, me the audience.
Claire Ludes: Yeah. So going back to the moon again. Artemis two, getting ready to launch here in a little over a week.
and so really the Cosmosphere is, as Gus knows, and I Sydney Have you been to the Cosmosphere? Yeah,
Sydney Collins: I, so I live in Mc person. So Cosmosphere is a go-to for the kids.
Claire Ludes: Yeah. [00:10:00] So when you think about the cosmosphere and it's, its total mission of a inspiring the next generation of astronauts or.
Interest in aerospace and then telling the true story of the space race, um, which the Cosmosphere is the only place you can see that in the world, um, side by side. But now that we're getting ready to launch back up and everything that's going into that, the Cosmosphere is actually hosting a launch party for the launch.
Um, and doing a VIP experience to where you actually get to watch the launch in our mission control room that we have at the Cosmosphere. so going back and all of those things, it's, it's just, it's exciting to see all the work that's been going into it and everything that they're working then towards for Artemis three.
there's just a lot that's happening here now and in the next couple of years as well. So
[00:11:00]
Cosmosphere Origin Story
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Gus Applequist: could you talk a little bit about how the cosmosphere came to be, like Pat Carey? Yeah. And, and kind of get us to today and what you do. Sure.
Claire Ludes: Yeah. A really amazing story when you hear how this all started. Our founder, Patty Carey, when she was growing up, her dad took her out into their field down in Oklahoma where she lived telescope, looking at the stars.
And that was really what started her passion for just a love of the stars in general. And so in 1962, Patty had her own stargazing, ball that she took to the Hutchinson Fairgrounds in a chicken coop.
Sydney Collins: Love it,
Claire Ludes: and set it up there, set up folding chairs. She wanted everybody to have. An opportunity to just really see how beautiful the sky is and [00:12:00] everything that it's capable of.
And so she invited the community to come and enjoy that, and it, it went off so well that, what we now know as Hutchinson Community College, they invited her into their science department, into their planetarium, that they had to continue doing more shows and things of that nature. That planetarium now is what we know as our Dr.
Goddard's lab.
Sydney Collins: Oh, wow.
Claire Ludes: In our facility.
Sydney Collins: I did not know that. That's why
Gus Applequist: it has a dome.
Claire Ludes: Yep. That's why it has a dome. Well
Sydney Collins: I knew it had the dome like
Claire Ludes: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Okay.
Claire Ludes: So that was, was a part of the college. Um, and then it now is part of the Cosmosphere. And from there it just grew. They added on what's our planetarium now to now we have also a dome theater.
And then in 1997 when they brought the SR 71 Blackbird, the rest of the facility was built around the Blackbird. Um, and then the museum accumulating more and more artifacts. So the Cosmosphere has the [00:13:00] most US artifacts outside of the Smithsonian and the most Soviet artifacts outside of Moscow. And so our collection just continued to grow and grow and grow, to where then in, in 1985, they decided that they needed camps for students.
and that's where our future astronaut program really started, and it was our higher level. Older high school students, coming to the cosmosphere, spending time with us, going through camps, learning what it meant to be and train like an astronaut. and then our Space Works division came out of that where we do all of our own restoration fabrication, not only for ourselves, but we travel all over the world, doing restoration fabrication.
Um, our most recent one that we did was, uh, redoing, uh, mission control for Johnson Space Center. Um. The
Gus Applequist: original like cabinets,
Claire Ludes: right? Yes. Yes. Correct. Yes. the Apollo 13 [00:14:00] movie that Tom Hanks did, our Space Works division did about 90% of all of the movie props for that film. Wow. we've done work on for all mankind, the Apple TV series, um, which is a whole he is, which I love, I love, um,
Gus Applequist: it's one of my favorite.
I mean, literally, I think next week, the fifth season comes out. Yeah. So, very apropos.
Claire Ludes: Yes. So, um, we also, uh, did, um, restoration for the F1 with Jeff Bezos when their dive team went and recovered the Saturn five, from the ocean. Uh, so there are, there, we could be here all day. Honestly, we have a very short time.
But, um, and so now the Cosmo sphere, uh, is, as what it is now, has begun to. Again, current artifacts. We now have a flown Merlin engine that was donated to us from SpaceX. Uh, we just found out that we are getting a, um, parachute from SpaceX now that [00:15:00] visitors will actually be able to touch when they come. and so the cosmos here.
Wow. Amazing place that's doing a phenomenal job, telling the, the history of the space race and you get that comparison side by side. When you come and visit us.
Iconic Artifacts Spotlight
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Gus Applequist: Is there, so like in all of that. Craziness. Is there an artifact that, that like particularly infatuate you?
Claire Ludes: Well, Apollo 13, so we have Apollo 13 in our collection.
Um, and the story behind that is really amazing. So, of course they, you know, when everything happened, um, and they recovered it, they wanted to figure out what happened, what went wrong, and so they completely tore apart the whole interior of the capsule itself. Um, searching and trying to figure that out.
Um, it then went on, uh, exhibit over in France, in Paris, for a a period of time. And then when it [00:16:00] finally came back to the us, um, our Space Works Division actually redid the whole interior of the capsule itself. So when you come to the Cosmosphere and see it now in its display, that whole interior was completely redone by our Space Works division.
And you wouldn't know that, that it looks like it was the original. Um, that's how amazing. So I would say that that's a, a pretty amazing piece of our collection. Of course, we have Liberty Bell seven, um, which, which is amazing. We have the V two. yeah, I could go on and on.
Gus Applequist: so the co free is very unique in that it houses both Soviet era and, um, you know, American Yes. Space history artifacts. Has that changed at all with, you know, recent developments, like the relationship with Russia and, and all of that, or, I know that, that there's been some really intentional work done by the space agencies mm-hmm.
To not let [00:17:00] that affect their working relationship. Right,
Claire Ludes: right. So I would say no, not for us personally. And the reason I say that is because of how we got those artifacts. So, there was a traveling exhibit that was in the US and that company went bankrupt. and so they had to sell off
Gus Applequist: Oh, wow.
Claire Ludes: All of, all of those pieces.
And at that time, you know, the Cosmosphere was really trying to, to beef up its collection to have and be able to tell those stories. And so they took advantage of, you know, that. Difficult situation for them. And that's how it came to be that we have all of those artifacts because of that company that was touring in the US at that time, going bankrupt and didn't really have anything else to any other way, but to sell them off.
Um, and so we went and took as much of as we could, um, which now is our collection [00:18:00] that we have that allows us to be the only place you can get the full side by side comparison of the space race from a US and Soviet.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Keeping Up With Space
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Gus Applequist: So as has been previously referenced, I am a biased party in this interview.
Um, I, I have a lot of love for the council fair. I've worked there briefly in college doing Dr. Goddard's lab, um, and, and was, uh, I attended the space camps for five years and, At that kind of point in, in, in human space flight, um, the, the shuttle was still launching mm-hmm. Regularly.
Sydney Collins: Yep.
Gus Applequist: And that was kind of the most recent development, and honestly, that had been going on for like, the better part of 30 years.
Sydney Collins: Right.
Gus Applequist: and so there's kind of this new thing that we didn't really know what to think about and it's called private space flight. Mm-hmm. And you know, there's a few billionaires that were kind of spending money on it, but I wasn't really sure if it was going anywhere.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: And between that point and now like 15, 20 years later, oh my goodness.
Like the whole world has changed. Mm-hmm. Yeah. And so what is the Cosmosphere? I mean, you, you sort of already mentioned a few of the things, but I'm just, [00:19:00] yeah. Curious, how does the sphere plan on like, keeping up with all of this crazy development that's been going on?
Claire Ludes: So right now, like I mentioned, we, we have one piece in our collection that's telling that current story of space exploration.
But the intent is to continue to add to that collection. Um, and so we're, we are fortunate, you know, down in our museum we're, we're kind of at maximum capacity to be honest. Um, if you, if you haven't been there, we are, we're at maximum ca capacity down there. Um, and right now, even having the Merlin down there, it's kind of out of place.
And so the intent is to, create space in our rotunda area utilizing some of that space That's. Just kind of sitting empty doesn't really have a lot of rhyme or reason. And that really is the intent to then begin telling the current and future story of it space exploration from a NASA perspective, but also [00:20:00] from the private.
Um, and like I mentioned, we're very fortunate. We have a great relationship with SpaceX. We have a board member, um, who works, uh, very closely with, uh, Gwen Shotwell. Um, and, and really tries to keep us in the loop and know what's going on. Um, but of course we're also building relationships with the fireflies in the axioms of the world, um, and helping people understand that yes, NASA is very important and serves, but also our private companies can do things sometimes a lot quicker.
Um, as we know with the, the red tape that the government, um, has to fall under and things of that nature. Uh. But I would say also with the new NASA administrator, Jared Isman, he really is pushing the boundaries and understands what that takes. Having flown on two of his own private missions that he funded himself, um, with SpaceX.
[00:21:00] So he sees that from that perspective too. And I think that that is huge and, and just then shows why we need to continue telling that story of, yes, we're a great history museum, but that's not the only thing we wanna be known for. and telling that future story as well.
Museum Renovation Tour
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Gus Applequist: One of the things, whenever people go with me to the Cosmosphere
Claire Ludes: mm-hmm.
Gus Applequist: I have to kinda give them my version of the tour Sure. Of the hall of space and, and what I love about the structure I've been to the Smithsonian and the Smithsonian is really, [00:22:00] in my opinion, difficult because it's, it's not laid out in a way that allows you to tell a story as cleanly and the hall of space is.
Now it has a few more options mm-hmm. In that path. It does because of the recent renovation, but it's still, um, yeah. You, you get a sense of like where rocketry came from as an idea Right. All the way through to it, taking us to the moon and, and a little bit beyond with Skylab and now
Claire Ludes: mm-hmm.
Gus Applequist: Those other things.
but yeah. Could you tell us a little bit about that renovation, what that's been like and what new visitors that have maybe been before, haven't been in a while, what they could expect?
Claire Ludes: if you've been there in the past but you haven't been there for a while? Um, a lot of how we would describe it was kind of.
Dark and you were kind of going from place to place, but just seeing things, not really getting that full story, that comparison. And so, uh, that was really a big piece. The, the joke was, and this was before me, that when they would hold events and they would try to put stuff down there for visitors to do [00:23:00] donors, things of that nature, nobody wanted to go down there because it was so dark at times, especially in the evenings.
and so they really took that into the thought process when renovating and, and redesigning how you view the museum. And so it is a lot brighter, there's more colors and it really did then shift everything so that when you're walking you are, you know, on your left side seeing all of the Soviet and on the right side, seeing all the us.
Um. The, the tunnel back down into the museum with the Berlin Wall pieces that we have. Um, it just really kind of sets the stage and gets you in the right mindset of, okay, now I'm really about to see a true story. And that, to your point with the, with the Smithsonian, the Aaron Space Museum, that is the big difference between us and what we really pride ourselves on is you're not just kind of walking [00:24:00] from artifact to artifact without really seeing that true picture.
We want you to fully understand the history and what it, what was put into it to get us to be where we were. And, and then also kind of sets you up now as you learn about what's going on, of like, okay, this is kind of where things halted in a sense. Um, but this is now where we're going and, and telling that story and why it's so important now for us to really continue to tell what's going on currently as well.
Gus Applequist: It's, it's things like that, the, the storytelling element that I think, like you said, set the cosmo sphere apart, and that's not just our opinion.
Claire Ludes: Right.
Gus Applequist: Uh, I, I read that Artemis two astronauts have given it their seal of approval as one of the best, if not the best.
Claire Ludes: Correct? Correct.
Gus Applequist: And we, we hear that from other astronauts mm-hmm.
And other people in, in space stuff. So it's really cool.
Claire Ludes: We do, um, one of our main contacts at NASA specifically has [00:25:00] the image of one of the astronauts saying, well, you know, Senator, the Best Space Museum is in your home state, the Cosmosphere in Hutchinson, Kansas. And so we, we don't take that lightly. I mean, that's, that's a big, big thing.
Um, and we're fortunate that Senator Moran, he, he truly believes and understands the impact that the Cosmosphere is making. And so we're appreciative of that. So yes, the best, the best space museum in the world.
Camps Mission Control
---
Gus Applequist: So I like to say that the Cosmosphere has a secret, well, actually many secrets, but many, but like when you enter the Cosmosphere, there's the big SR 71 Blackbird, and you go through that.
And on that main level, there's obviously Dr. Goddard's lab and, and the mm-hmm. The, the theater and all those different things. Yeah. But there's a level above that
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: That most visitors don't even know is there. Mm-hmm. And they're missing out on probably the coolest thing they are. That, that it does.
So could you tell us about
Claire Ludes: Sure.
Gus Applequist: The camps in a little more detail? [00:26:00]
Claire Ludes: Yeah. So the Cosmosphere has, uh, camps, summer camps that start at the age of third grade. Um, and those are day camps running through the sixth grade. And then starting from middle school through high school, we have overnight camps as well.
And so, in 1985, like I mentioned, that was when the initial first camp. Really started. Um, and they've just continued to build upon that as the years have gone on to, having, you know, four levels of camps and then now going all the way from third through 12th grade. and so upstairs in that area we have multiple classrooms.
We have a full mission control. You go through simulations. We have, a, uh, shuttle up there where you search for air leaks in a, the capsule. you, you name it, we probably do it. Uh, we're getting ready to launch a brand new camp this summer in [00:27:00] partnership with K State Salina. Um, working with drones. Uh, so students will come in.
Uh, design their drone 3D, print their drone, assemble their drone, and then eventually fly it at the end of the, the week. that is what Gus is referring to, uh, is our, our amazing classrooms and education area up on the second floor. and so in 2025, we celebrated 40 years of Cosmosphere camps and held an alumni reunion that weekend, invited alumni back, from all over.
Uh, and I would say the thing that most amazed me of that weekend, There was probably mainly, maybe only a handful of alumni that were within driving distance of the Cosmosphere. Really, the rest flew in to Wichita and then drove over to spend the weekend with us because like us, they have, they have an affinity for the cosmos.
It's truly what inspired them to, more than [00:28:00] likely pursue the careers that they're in today because of the impact that they have. Um, and we're fortunate we see Gus's storytelling and love for space, being an alumni of those camps, I mean, it truly, it truly impacts them and, and the workforce that comes from it.
Gus Applequist: So like, if you know kids that are interested in stem, this is such a great way to, to engage them, you know, science, especially something that can, can exist like on a page and in maybe on screen. Um, but the, this sort of hands-on mm-hmm. Engagement with science is transformative.
Claire Ludes: It truly is. And when you think about, you know, our amazing educators and you think about, okay, they're, they're teaching from a textbook.
Some of these concepts are hard to put those hands on, um, examples together for them. That's what we excel at. Um, and so, so many [00:29:00] times we have educators that reach out to us and say, do you have, do you have any hands-on activities you can help me with? Do you have those curriculum based? And so everything that we do, um, in our, in our camps, whether it's camps, field trips, boy Scouts, girl Scouts, overnight school camps, um, specifically ties to one, the 16 career pathways for the state of Kansas.
And secondly, all of the next gen science standards. So everything you are, are getting from our education department is the top of the top. Um, you won't get any more elite anywhere else than what we're doing and, and how we're putting stem and steam, um, into what we, what we teach students. And it's fun, you know, it doesn't feel like learning.
And that's the real, the real key to it is. For them to not feel like they're learning and having a great time, and then connect it later in life to something that they're doing in their day-to-day lives.
Soft Skills From Space Camp
---
Gus Applequist: the first year that I went [00:30:00] to what we called Fat P at the time. Yeah. Fat p uh, future Astronaut Training Program.
I'm like
Sydney Collins: so much
Gus Applequist: today. Um, that whole week was, kind of like Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. You spent like learning and preparing as a small team. There's four or five of us on each team. And then we went into a simulator and had a simulated mission. Mm-hmm. Uh, that lasted I think probably about two hours.
And this is like a legit simulator that moved backwards like you were tilted back in your seat and, and you know, all the same buttons, uh, that, that maybe not all of the same buttons, but many of the same buttons that they actually had on the space shuttle. And as I kind of reflect on that now, I realize that, you know, a lot of the lessons we were teaching were, we were learning was were actually soft lessons.
Mm-hmm. You know. That. Yeah. The, you know, the auxiliary power unit is an important thing to know about.
Sydney Collins: Yes.
Gus Applequist: But, but it's really, you know, teaching like seventh and eighth grade, ninth, 10th grade kids how to, how to engage in [00:31:00] teamwork mm-hmm. In stressful situations. I, I was probably never more excited than going into that.
I remember after we succeeded in our mission, they like ushered us into that really cool conference room. Yeah. That overlooks. And I just remember thinking like, we did it. We survived,
Claire Ludes: we did not fail.
Gus Applequist: So, yeah. I, I, I really think even though I don't work in stem, that Yeah. The lessons I learned in that camp were really important.
Claire Ludes: Well, so many times, I mean. Working with so many aerospace companies and having these conversations with, you know, Textron and Boeing and Airbus and all of those. I mean, that's the biggest thing that we truly hear is the soft skills that they get. Freshly graduated students that come in and they don't, they don't always know how to work as a team or communicate as well as they should.
And that's something that we, we really do try to [00:32:00] incorporate into all of our camps. And I can't tell you how many times students have come in and, and they have, you know, in their minds they're gonna be an engineer, they're gonna be a pilot, you know, one of those top things. And they come out and they say, okay, well I just did marketing and communications and PR in this camp.
I really liked that. I, maybe I don't wanna do this. And, and it happens. They end up going and changing what they originally thought they were going to do, because the Cosmosphere really does try to show you, yes, you can be an astronaut, you can be a pilot, but there are so many other people that are doing things that are also impacting it and you might enjoy it.
Mm-hmm. And so connecting those is just to Augusta's point, so important for them to understand that there is only a handful of individuals that actually go up to space, but there are thousands and thousands of others that are on the [00:33:00] ground making that happen.
Space Inspiration And Spinoffs
---
Gus Applequist: Oh, I, I, I'm like conjuring up memories from, not that I was alive for Apollo program, but um, you know, from, from when President Kennedy made the promise to go to the moon mm-hmm.
By the end of the decade. and, and 1969, July when we actually landed on the moon. Like the hundreds of thousands of people across the country that work together in a systematic way to, to achieve that vision. And, and I think what's so beautiful about that moment in our history as a country and as a species is that, there was not much that could get in the way.
You know, think about the sixties and how much turmoil,
you know, assassinations and, and just awful things were happening, war. but despite all of that, this vision of going someplace further and beyond, you know, we rose to the occasion. And so that's, that's one of the, the things that I think the Cosmosphere continues to instill in Kids' today and in me today, is this idea of like, well, what is our vision for [00:34:00] the future?
And how do we. Sort of align ourselves for that vision. And, and obviously it takes a heavy theme of space flight at the Cosmosphere, but it also sort of asks each person who visits there, what is possible. Mm-hmm. What do you wanna see in the world? And then what are you gonna do to achieve it?
Claire Ludes: Well, and I think too, when you think about just how many folks it took accomplish that and how many industries it impacted, and how much comes out of just space in general that we don't realize is impacting, whether it's, you know, healthcare or, this is crazy, but as simple as, as a ballpoint pen.
I mean, that came out of space from the space race. I mean, those types of things that you wouldn't actually think about and connect to what is happening. I mean, it's really mind blowing when you sit down and you think about just all of those things and how everything impacts everything. it just, it blows my mind.
Project Hail Mary Talk
---
Gus Applequist: So I can't help, uh, we're sitting [00:35:00] here on, what is it, the 24th? Yeah. March 24th. Yeah. I think this episode comes out roughly next week. Is that right? No, April. Two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks. So, uh, by the time you're listening to this, uh, there's been a movie out for a couple weeks now. Project Hail Mary.
Yeah. which is, I think, exciting for all of us Space geeks because it features space very heavily. Yeah. I'm curious, have you seen that movie yet?
Claire Ludes: I haven't seen it. However, um, we are fortunate, uh. We have an alumni, uh, member who works at JPL, um, jet Propulsion Laboratory, uh, out in Pasadena, California.
he spent his whole day a couple weeks ago with Ryan Gosling. Um, I'm glad because I know, I know.
Sydney Collins: Should have gotten to space.
Claire Ludes: I
Sydney Collins: know. I hung out with Ryan Goling.
Claire Ludes: Exactly. And so it was funny. I was on a call with him a week after it had happened and I said, so I said, how was that? He goes, oh, I spent the whole day with him.
You know, all of those things. He's such a, you know, great guy. We had a fun time and I'm just over here like.
Cosmosphere Dome Film
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Claire Ludes: And you [00:36:00] didn't call me, I could have flown out there real quick and just been there for, you know, emotional support for you that day. so no, I haven't seen it, but, uh, it's at the Cosmosphere right now.
Oh, is it really? It is. It's our feature feel film in the dome theater
Gus Applequist: maybe have to come down. That's
Claire Ludes: Yeah. Yeah.
Gus Applequist: I's a really good movie. Um, at multiple levels. It's not just a movie for us Space Geeks.
Claire Ludes: No,
Gus Applequist: it's a, it's a, it's a buddy movie. Mm-hmm. It's, uh, yeah. Um, so yeah, go check that out. I think it, it also kind of points at this idea of like, space asks us as humans to like, come together in a way that most things don't.
Um, and so, yeah. If that's intriguing, you should definitely go watch that movie.
Sydney Collins: Mm-hmm.
Gus Applequist: Really good. Um, let's see.
Learning The Museum
---
Gus Applequist: I did have, do you have any questions? Sorry,
Sydney Collins: I do, uh, what Gus's
Claire Ludes: just taken,
Sydney Collins: I was gonna let Gus just do his thing today, but I do have a question of like the learning process of when you start at the Cosmosphere too.
Learning one the entire museum of probably going through and having to [00:37:00] actually have the time to read everything and learn basically what the Cosmosphere is about. How was that learning process? Was it hard? Was it easy for you?
Claire Ludes: It
Sydney Collins: was a
Claire Ludes: lot.
Sydney Collins: Did you have any interest in space at all? So I, before you started?
Claire Ludes: Yeah, so I did have an interest in space, but it wasn't like to the capacity that it is now. Mm-hmm. I mean, now I may be not on Gus's level, but That's okay. But, but it's really, it's amazing when you actually sit and like connect everything that the Cosmosphere does. Mm-hmm. I mean, I was kind of one of those, I was one of those people where I had been there on a field trip when I was younger, and hadn't been back, you know, since, and I'm sitting there interviewing and I'm just like, oh my goodness.
Like what am I getting myself into? But then when you hear just. A Jim, our CEO, his passion for it. I mean, how he came to be at the Cosmosphere, [00:38:00] starting out as a curator, and just working his way up. Now, having been there over 20 years as our president, it's, it's hard not to fall in love with that place, just from his excitement alone.
but then also just realizing how much we truly do, to your point, Sydney. Mm-hmm. It's, it's overwhelming, I mean, truly. and so it did, it took a lot of time, um, to kind of figure it out and understand, you know, how do, how do I tell the story? How do I take my passions and my understandings?
Education Pipeline Impact
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Claire Ludes: and one thing that we really, we are a lot better now, but we didn't talk about our education like we should have.
We didn't share how impactful and all the things our alumni are doing and that, that kind of started at the Cosmosphere. And so that was something that I could really kind of grasp onto for me to kind of help connect those pieces of what we're teaching kids now [00:39:00] and how it ties into the story and connecting our artifacts and being able to talk with aerospace companies about what they're doing and how we're, we're really igniting that spark in their future workforce.
Um, because so many of those people that are working at those companies. If they're getting ready to retire, they're becoming of that age, and we're not filling that pipeline up as quickly as we need to, just because we aren't getting that excitement. And so I feel like the cosmosphere is really that place where you're, you're not just doing, you know, everyday kitchen science experiments, as I like to say.
You're, you're actually doing things, you know, you're doing missions to Mars now you're working with robotics, you're working with drones, you're using vr, detaching from, from the, uh, from the space shuttle and having to figure out how to get back. I mean, all these things that are really fun things that are [00:40:00] what you are preparing you for your future.
And so that's really what kind of helped me start to connect the pieces of, okay, this is where this goes and this is what this was and this is how we teach it. So. I did give a presentation though, at Abu Men's Abu here. Um, oh gosh. I had maybe been at the Cosmosphere a couple months.
Sydney Collins: Oh, goodness.
Claire Ludes: And I was like, oh gosh.
Okay. Well if you've been to Men's Abu here, you know, you know how that is. And so I was like, I'm not sure if I'm ready for this, but okay. And so I, I had a whole PowerPoint, you know, ready to roll with all of my notes, just completely written out. And I was like, please don't ask me any questions. I can't answer.
And if I don't, I'm gonna have to tell you. I'll get back to you. But now I'm just like, okay, I feel like I can really talk about it. And, and, and I love it. It's fun. It's, it's someplace where you truly want to go to work every day. And I feel like not many people can always [00:41:00] say that. I mean, I know you guys would say that you love to go to work every day.
We've had this conversation before. But it is, I love to go to work every day and walk in and just, who am I gonna get to talk to today? Who's gonna walk through the door? What, what astronauts do we have coming in to help with a camp or a school group? I mean, it's, it's fun.
Kansas Partnerships
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Gus Applequist: I feel like the Cosmosphere is kind of a place on the forefront, and your job is on the forefront of that, like pushing for what the cosmosphere will be. and so you're building a lot of relationships, some of which are, you know, trying to, to fundraise, some of which are trying to build more strategic partnerships.
Mm-hmm. Can you just talk about like what sort of relationships you're looking to build in the Kansas region
Claire Ludes: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: And how Kansas can support you in that.
Claire Ludes: Sure. So as we know, we like to, you know, call Wichita the air capital of the world. but I, in a lot of conversations, we've been having Kansas as a whole.
Really should be the air capital of the world. [00:42:00] because when you think about just all across the state, how many companies and businesses, and even K-State here in Salina, everything that they're doing and impacting, is truly shifting what the cosmosphere is able to offer. and so the things that I have been working on specifically a, is just helping.
Companies realize that you don't have to be in aerospace to be impacted by what our education department is teaching. there's a company that we've been working with who does a lot of design and build work, and we have the ability with VR to really help show students what's out there, in a architect design build type of world.
And so students do that. They go in, they build, you know, a Mars habitat and have to live on it. It's just like constructing in real life. the drone program that I mentioned, um, [00:43:00] one of the partners in that, uh. That donated dollars to support. That is a construction company. Um, but they heavily work with drones.
They use drones to check roofing and all of those types of things. And so really the biggest thing that we've been working on with companies across the state is just helping them understand that what your business is doing, we're probably teaching students in some capacity. Is it space themed? Yes it is.
But to understand the concepts, that's really what then they can take and walk away with. we, we've been fortunate this time last year we signed into a partnership with K State Salina and have been doing a lot of work in multiple areas, um, on their campus. Uh, one specifically is with their new KE facility, the VR component.
their students right now, as one of their senior capstone projects are taking our air leak, scenario and putting it into VR for us. Oh. Um, [00:44:00] and so building on that, we've, we've incorporated composites into our camps a lot more heavily. Um, after doing some work with their composites lab here on campus, we're doing a lot more with outreaches.
Um, and so that was one partnership specifically that. We hadn't really thought to explore. Um, and then kind of started to have conversations when their new aviation, um, department head Ty came on. Uh, and it just kind of grew from there to where it was made total sense for us to go into a full blown, MOU partnership with them to really solidify that it's not just Wichita doing great things, it's, it's all across the state and it's happening right here in our own backyards.
Salina Space Trivia
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Gus Applequist: Okay, can I, can I wrap things up by telling you a bit of space trivia that I've been keeping? Kind of hidden.
Claire Ludes: Yeah, please do.
Gus Applequist: Okay. This is, this is just interesting. So we have an astronaut from SLE named Steve Hawley.
Claire Ludes: Yes.
Gus Applequist: [00:45:00] Steve grew up here and then he went to KU and then he ended up working at NASA as an astronaut.
Mm-hmm. And he, um, serviced Hubble, which, if you know anything about the shuttle, that was some of the scariest missions that the shuttle did. 'cause it was really high orbit. and Steve was, was in that, that generation of astronauts that were scientists, they weren't pilots like they were, they were beginning to do real science in space, not just pilot the thing.
and Steve fell in love with, a young Sally Ride. And Sally actually came here and they were married in the backyard of their house of Steve's parents' house on Santa Fe in Salina. And so the first female astronaut from the us At one point was in Salina Yeah. Now they, they weren't married for very long and they went their separate ways and, and very sadly, Sally passed away from cancer, not, you know, a decade or two ago.
but it's, I think it's just neat to see how, how some of these space stories intersect around [00:46:00] here more than you think they do.
Claire Ludes: They do. And we were fortunate, we actually had Steve at the Cosmosphere back in September for our alumni event. So Steve and his wife Eileen now, who also worked for nasa, joined us and we had Fred Hayes on virtually.
Um, and then astronaut Don Thomas, who was actually, with Steve on the aircraft. So they were together. but to your point, it, it's amazing how much Salina truly impacts a lot of what. Is going on and has gone on. so funny fact then if we're gonna go on that. Oh, no. Okay. I'm gonna have to think of one now.
Sorry. Yeah. Sydney, get thinking while I'm talking. So I was in Seattle a few weeks ago and, uh, was meeting with a, a donor of ours up there. And he is a pilot. and I learned from him that Salina was one of his favorite, um, stopping points to refuel [00:47:00] because they would give anybody that stopped to refuel here a box of steaks.
And so Salina was known for giving the best stakes to the pilots when they would stop to refuel. And so that's how he, the first knowing of Salina came to be for him, was he would always stop here.
Gus Applequist: Wow. I, yeah. That's a new one.
Claire Ludes: So there you go.
Gus Applequist: That's a new one. Wow. Thank you so much for, for joining us today and for allowing me to talk about something I'm really passionate about.
Claire Ludes: Of course.
Gus Applequist: Thank you for having and thanks for all the work that you've
Claire Ludes: done. Oh, thank you. Thank you. Yeah, I'm glad to be here. Glad to be on the show and it's been fun.
[00:48:00]
Museums Shape Future
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Gus Applequist: Well, we hope you enjoyed that interview with Claire at least as much as I did.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. it's, it always fascinates me about how museums are not just museums and I feel like. We just need to drive that home is like, yes, they're preserving history. Yes, they're trying to tell stories, but they're also working towards the future.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: In some capacity. And so I just,
Gus Applequist: I agree.
Sydney Collins: I just really want to drive, drive that. It's
Gus Applequist: like libraries.
Sydney Collins: I think both
Gus Applequist: of those are sort of,
Sydney Collins: oh, libraries understood. I feel like are the most underutilized resource and every single community.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: And I will die on that hill.
Gus Applequist: I agree. And so yeah, I go, go to the Cosmosphere, engage with it.
SpaceWorks Restoration Story
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Gus Applequist: Um, I, sorry, I, there's just one more space thing. Go. I just can not say, we touched on it briefly, but Space Works is their division that [00:49:00] makes incredible things, for other museums. They also redo space artifacts. This is like such a niche thing. Like very few people in the world. Like fix old space junk.
Sydney Collins: fix
old space
junk, like the level of, of expertise and difficulty they face in some of these things. She mentioned, the Liberty Bell seven, which was, uh, one of the, mercury era, capsules. And it was piloted by astronaut Gus Grissom. which obviously another one of the reasons why I'm into space is 'cause I tragically Gus Grissom later died in Apollo I fire, which is really sad.
Gus Applequist: But he had a really close call in Liberty Bell seven when it splashed down in the ocean. the hatch exploded open early before the team was there to keep it from sinking, and so he was just barely able to get out of his harness and get out of the capsule before it sank to the bottom of the ocean. that capsule set on the bottom of the ocean for years before it was eventually discovered [00:50:00] and brought to the Cosmosphere for it to be fixed.
Capsules open. So the fish, the, the, you know, all of the little bacteria, all of that stuff was around that thing for decades before they found it. Brought it up and the Cosmo sphere had it in their, uh, they actually had a, one part of Space Works was actually in the museum so you could see it. And that's really had Liberty Bell seven.
Um, so they, they made this thing, look, I'm not gonna say like new, but they made it look like it wasn't sitting at the bottom of the ocean Yeah. For several decades. So that's, that just kinda describes the level of, of coolness that they mm-hmm. Do there. So anyway, thank you for letting me tell just one more Yeah.
Thing. Now over to you for the segment
Sydney Collins: speak.
Merch And Stickers
---
Sydney Collins: Speaking of coolness, so before I get into the segment, I do wanna do a little shout out. So merch is up the ask a hands in stores here. Usually we save this for the very end of the episode. But let's be honest, some of you never get that far. So, before we go, so we have our ask or Curious Can and water bottles.
These are whites. We've, we have been [00:51:00] using these all weekend. Mm-hmm. And this is the same ice. It is now a Tuesday. This is the same ice as Sunday. Like, this has just been chilling in my house. And some of you're like, I can't believe you haven't washed it. No, I haven't. Okay. It's fine. Get over. Its my water bottle, not yours.
But they are seeing the steel. They're white because the whole purpose of it is we wanted you guys to put your stickers on it. Mm-hmm. And share it. Put photos of it, tag us in it. cause stickers are like a really cool thing now. And what's the first thing you wanna do when you get a new sticker? Is.
Gus Applequist: On something
Sydney Collins: put put it on something.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Tanner actually had this brilliant idea. He's like, well, why don't we just give them a place? And so it has Ask A Kansan on it. Curious Kansan. Um, we've got our own stickers on here. I've got United Way, which is funny. I just put it on this morning, not even thinking like Claire there.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Um, and then my library again, I will die on that hill.
Um, but yeah. And then our kind of curious Kansan ones,
Gus Applequist: because I'm kind of prone to such things. I've already dropped it and so it got a little dent on it. Well,
Sydney Collins: that just means it's
Gus Applequist: been used. Right? Exactly. [00:52:00] I I So can I tell my favorite sticker? there is a Kansas musician named John Depu. Uh, he's a newgrass, kind of bluegrass artist.
And I have this can of worm, sticker Can of worm, which I just love. So, yeah. Yeah. So if you do this, we want pictures of your Stickered.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Thermos
Sydney Collins: because they're cool.
Gus Applequist: Water bottle.
Sydney Collins: the other thing is we have t-shirts. This is actually how they come open 'em up now so you can see 'em. Ah. I got it. We're good.
Um, so also we have the Kansas Stars logo, which I'll show you here in a bigger, that's on this t-shirt, but we have 'em in stickers and we have a curious Kansan also available on the Ask A Kansan store. And then we have these signature tees. These will. Be limited. Um, at some point we will renew 'em and come up with a different design.
Um, I don't know when that will be, but we wanna kind of keep things fresh. So get it while you can. So this is the Kansas Stars This's, a fun little [00:53:00] logo, and then you have your Curious Ksn on your sleeve. ask a Kansan on the back. So it's fun. They're available on our store.
Gus Applequist: It's a good quality print. It doesn't have like that big Taree thing on
Sydney Collins: the
Gus Applequist: front.
Sydney Collins: Oh yeah.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: So, um, a hundred percent cotton. It's not like one of the weird, like, no offense to the Red Cross, but you get those Red Cross t-shirts and they kind of just feel like paper.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: Um, but they're really good sleep shirts. I will tell you that like, if you have not slept in a Red Cross T-shirt as a child, you have not lived.
Um, I feel guess we're, was that just me? Just confirming
Gus Applequist: I'm dead? Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Uh, 'cause my grandma would go give blood all the time and like if I went to my grandma's house, I just wanted to sleep in her t-shirts and she'd give me the big red crust t-shirts. Anyway, we've learned so much aboutt, we've
Gus Applequist: learned so much Sydney.
That's
Sydney Collins: great.
Sputnik Newspaper Oddities
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Sydney Collins: Okay, so with that, um, I tried to be on brand today with our segment and I it got, it went off the rails a little bit. So I did try to do space history, but for some reason, every time I [00:54:00] looked up a space story, there was like marriage advice on the exact same page of that newspaper.
Gus Applequist: What does that tell you?
Sydney Collins: I don't know. So. We will start the first one, so this is a Wichita Eagle October 18th, 1957, where it has this really cool article. Um, it's this in SPU Sputnik's Wake and the title is Mankind's Ancient Dream, the Conquest of Outer Space Now Near the To Reality. So it gives this really cool piece, written piece of, um, Sputnik kind of the breakdown, um, where we are at.
It's a really good article.
Gus Applequist: I kinda see where we went off the rails.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Yeah. And you can see where we went off the rails because in that same article there's a little segment that says, for Less awesome view of the future, see Henry McLemores. M-C-L-E-M-O-R-E-S.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: Um, m Lemo, how do you pronounce that?
MREs. M Henry. Mick [00:55:00] Henry's. Anyway, call him anywhere else on this page. That's, and I'm like, okay, well, where's Henry's article? So Henry's article is undoubtedly moon people ready for us tourists.
Gus Applequist: Oh,
Sydney Collins: here we go. Now I'm not gonna read this whole article, I'm gonna read my favorite part because the article is really funny. But basically he, this is not from a Kansas, uh, I mean it was in the Wichita Eagle, but it's not. It's from Florence, basically. So the guy is comparing Florence's tourism to US citizens as the moon people.
Okay, we'll treat. Um,
Gus Applequist: so this is very tongue in cheek. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Yes.
Gus Applequist: Okay.
Sydney Collins: It is not literal.
Gus Applequist: Okay, good. I was like, I
Sydney Collins: really hope, gosh, I
Gus Applequist: hope
Sydney Collins: not.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, that would be bad.
Sydney Collins: So my favorite part of this article is a segment called Beams and Dollars, and we'll read it. It is also reasonable to assume that many moon characters have started [00:56:00] exploring the possibilities of a black market in money.
A moon's unit of money, let us call it the moon beam for convenience sake, um, is unlikely to be worth exactly what the dollar is. So there will be a need for men to operate, operate dreary little shops as fronts for places where an American will be able to get, say, I don't know, forty four hundred and thirty six beams for his dollar instead of the official rate of 412.
That's a lot of going on right there. It gets better. Heaven only knows how many moon people are busy setting up antique shops. My guess is that no fewer than 3 million are hard at work. Filling windows and back rooms with old moon chairs, seis lamps, silver platters, cream pitchers, [00:57:00] warming pans, muskets, and the like.
Gus Applequist: I like, can't even make sense of this.
Sydney Collins: No. And I'd say that nearly as many moons are turning out cheap, native wearing apparel that's no woman tourist is coming back to earth without a blouse like those worn by the moon peasants.
Gus Applequist: Well, that seems
Sydney Collins: very
Gus Applequist: offensive,
Sydney Collins: or I know, or a pair of sandals either, uh, that she looks a frighten them.
Isn't going to stop her. It is impossible to, uh, estimate the number of moon people at work printing scenic postcards. Yes, sir. It must be, uh, exciting up there on the moon these days.
Gus Applequist: I have so many questions for Mr. There's so many questions, Henry and Macklemore. Um, yeah, this, this is weird. I, I, there was an, an era like before we actually went to space where.
Like we really dunno what to expect. No. And I think this article kind of [00:58:00] highlights that. Yeah. If like,
Sydney Collins: so 1957 is, is when this came out.
Gus Applequist: October
Sydney Collins: 57.
Gus Applequist: So where did your newspapers.com journey take you from here?
Sydney Collins: Oh, so many on the exact same page. Okay. This is this, this article along with the other article, there's this article.
Mm-hmm.
Marriage Advice Rabbit Holes
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Sydney Collins: Let's explore your mind. Girls don't mind meeting their boyfriend's mothers. True or false? So it's an article where it gives three different questions. And so if you're wondering false, a girl does this, this sentence does not make sense to me. Okay? A girl does not have the chance.
Her boyfriend has had to get acquainted with the other's family during their dating and courting days. Basically, his first point is if he doesn't like his mom, she's already gonna be biased against the mom. If he loves his mom, she's gonna be like, oh no, I can't live up to mom. Which is very fair. That is very true to this day.
Okay. [00:59:00] Um, the third question is a little interesting. The great problem with prejudice is how to overcome it. True or false?
Gus Applequist: I mean, you could say that about anything though.
Sydney Collins: Exactly. And so they say false. The most difficult problem is often even to recognize that it exists.
Gus Applequist: Ugh. Uh, fine. Oh no.
Sydney Collins: Yeah, it gets
Gus Applequist: worse.
No, this is bad. Bad, bad, bad.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. So we're not gonna, we'll,
Gus Applequist: yeah,
Sydney Collins: it gets a little interesting on question three. A little interesting. But this is on the same, there's antis. The Uhhuh, yeah. There's some antisemitic things. I'm not gonna read 'em, but it, it's just like out of the blue, nowhere on the same page as all this moon space and the legit article about Sputnik.
Gus Applequist: I think what I'm learning is that sometimes I, I fall into the trap of like thinking that that journalism has, has fully devolved into like not great things now, but I guess it, oh no, it's [01:00:00] calling this journalism is,
Sydney Collins: is a little rough.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Alright, next one.
Gus Applequist: Also the smiles on those people.
Sydney Collins: Oh yeah. There was a picture that was really weird.
Gus Applequist: Uhhuh.
Sydney Collins: This was also on the exact same page called Modern Marriage Being Ignored, hurts Girl. No, I have to set this page up for you. This was on the bottom le uh, bottom. Yeah, left side. Sputnik was on kind of the top page with the picture. Your moon was on the bottom right? Like this was all over. It's not like it was section out.
Gus Applequist: Which, which paper was it from?
Sydney Collins: Wichita eagle
Gus Applequist: Wichita eagle. Okay. Two, two quick comments. Yes. The way you read that was being ignored hurts, girl, but I think it's actually being ignored. Hurts girl.
Sydney Collins: Uh, yeah, please, please. It's very much so, but basically I'm not gonna read the whole one 'cause it gets a little interesting.
But basically this senior in high school, Dolores, um, is asking [01:01:00] Dr. Paul pin pop Popo, um, why she doesn't have friends anymore. That's like the basis of, of the article. And here's, here's his, uh, response to her is, um, I'm gonna read the last paragraph and then this list of questions. And it's very interesting.
One of the finest books on a subject is called, um, teens, how to Meet Your Problems By the well-known Husband and Wife Writing Team, John and, uh, Dorothea Crawford in this book, doctor and Miss, and Mrs. Crawford deal with. With exactly the problem you describe. Um, they point out that your interest may have changed, that your personality may have changed, or if there's been no such change, perhaps other people are catching up on you now.
So, and then he goes, check yourself on these points. And I'll say, as a mom, I don't know if I, I [01:02:00] think some of them, yes, I would probably explain my daughter, but some of them are, I'm like, ah, I don't know.
Gus Applequist: I will say like, I've already kind of pre-read the list. Yeah. And my first read on it was like, like if this is just directed towards girls, it's like absolutely terrible.
Sydney Collins: Oh yeah.
Gus Applequist: But if it's directed to everyone, I feel slightly different about it. Mm-hmm. So please continue.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. So. I'm gonna read 'em and then we can, we can shot. Okay. Or maybe not all, all of 'em, but there's like 10 of 'em. But the first one, have you been too touchy or cranky lately? Mind you, he's talking to a senior in high school.
Yeah. A teenage girl. All teenage girls are touchy and cranky, so. Sure. Um, are you too bossy and not cooperative enough? So basically, are you too, again, he's, this is to this senior in high school. Uh, girl. Yeah. Are you too bossy and not cooperative enough? Some
Gus Applequist: Dr. Guy?
Sydney Collins: Yeah. Well, all teenagers are bossy and girls kind of, if you stand up for yourself, then you're, [01:03:00] you're not being cooperative.
But anyway. Um, three. Do you tend to argue over little things? All teenagers argue over little things? Um, do you frequently push people around? This one, I don't really get, like, are you be like, are you being too push
Gus Applequist: people around in quotes?
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: So that's, yeah.
Sydney Collins: Um, five. Would others often consider you thoughtless or rude?
Now that's a really good, like inner question. Like is it like, is it my tone? Is it like, I'm okay with that one. Um, six. Must you have things you your own way most of the time? Seven. Are you frequently jealous? Eight. Are you too sensitive about in insignificant details? Well, what's insignificant? What's the definition of that again?
This is 1957. So parenting then and parenting now very different. Um, nine. Do you like to run the whole show? Uh, 10. Do you [01:04:00] often pass along gossip and add to it?
Gus Applequist: Okay. I'm going back on what I said previously. I, even if this was developed with both, both girls and boys in mind, it clearly targeted towards girls in a.
Bad way. Yeah.
Sydney Collins: But I just thought, again, it's on that same page as space. Like that's what I just, I was just like, this is all over the place. This is fascinating.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: So that led me to more weird places on newspaper.com. So what's the next one?
Vintage Grocery Ads
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Sydney Collins: Um, mercury Manhattan. I just thought this was funny on how some of this was phrased.
December 12th,
Gus Applequist: 1957. Let's describe, we're at here, we're looking at ads probably from a grocery store.
Sydney Collins: Yes.
Gus Applequist: In the newspaper
Sydney Collins: for, from Manhattan, Kansas. December 12th, 1957. Rump roast was only 63 cents a pound.
Gus Applequist: When was the last time you've had a rum roast?
Sydney Collins: I haven't, 'cause I can't afford one.
Gus Applequist: Okay. I was like, I, I don't even know.
I know what that is. A rum.
Sydney Collins: Um, ground beef. Three [01:05:00] pounds. A dollar 15.
Gus Applequist: Yep.
Sydney Collins: Um, my favorite though is down here in the corner it says, wieners 49 cents.
Gus Applequist: Yeah,
Sydney Collins: I just love it. I'm,
Gus Applequist: that was before, that was
Sydney Collins: an immature thing. I'm secretly a middle school boy when it comes to funny things. But also, um, one of the others that was funny is the value fancy, which is tomato catsup.
Gus Applequist: Yeah.
Sydney Collins: Tomato ketchup.
Gus Applequist: I think we just need to get back to, to spelling snacks the correct way.
Sydney Collins: Yes.
Gus Applequist: SNAX
Sydney Collins: potato snacks,
Gus Applequist: that is the correct
Sydney Collins: way
Gus Applequist: to false
Sydney Collins: snack. 29 cents.
Gus Applequist: Mm-hmm.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. I just love it. I just thought it was fun.
Gus Applequist: Well, this one was certainly a journey.
Sydney Collins: Yeah.
Gus Applequist: Is there more?
Sydney Collins: I think there's one more.
Gus Applequist: Okay. Let's,
Sydney Collins: yeah. Oh yeah. I didn't read this whole article. I just thought the very top part was really funny. This is from Atchison, Kansas, uh, January 24th, 1898. Oh. And it says a talk about marriage, advice of a doctor and a judge, uh, in regard to [01:06:00] the matter.
Gus Applequist: Good. We're getting both sides of it
Sydney Collins: here. Yeah.
We're getting both sides. Both agree that early marriage, early marriages. Are wise and that that wedded life makes peop people better.
Gus Applequist: So in other words, get married young.
Sydney Collins: Get married young, you'll
Gus Applequist: never regret it. The first sentence of the article is Two Men Reasoning from entirely different standpoints.
Like, I think, I think we're missing a whole side of marriage here by only talking to the men.
Sydney Collins: But anyway, so there's the rabbit holes that I went down. You're welcome.
Gus Applequist: Yeah, that was, that was troubling.
Sydney Collins: Yeah. So
Gus Applequist: yeah, if you haven't checked out newspapers.com It is,
Sydney Collins: it's
Gus Applequist: very
Sydney Collins: interesting. It's, it's so interesting and wild.
Gus Applequist: Like today, our history is being documented so much more thoroughly than that was obviously. Oh
Sydney Collins: yeah.
Gus Applequist: Where like, just imagine you're like great grandkids looking at your Instagram account.
Sydney Collins: That's terrifying actually. How I get, how I get why some [01:07:00] people just like completely delete their Instagram accounts like every five years.
Like start fresh.
Wrap Up And Goodbye
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Gus Applequist: you've, somehow you've done it, you've made it to the end of an episode of Ask A Kansan.
Sydney Collins: please make sure to visit at, visit us at askakansan.com. Make sure to subscribe to our Curious Ksan newsletter.
Um, check out the articles, on our website, askakansan.com. It's all kinds of other fun stuff on there.
Gus Applequist: Yep. We've got, uh, you know, another episode next week and, and many more exciting. We've got, we're planning out like two plus months right now. Yeah. So, uh, we're really excited about some of the guests we have coming up.
Sydney Collins: It's fun stuff. Without any further ado, we will see you on next time.