Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev

History in the Making with Beth Thompson

May 22, 2023 Kosta Yepifantsev Season 3 Episode 1
Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev
History in the Making with Beth Thompson
Show Notes Transcript

Join Kosta and his guest: Beth Thompson, City of Cookeville Museum’s Manager overseeing the Cookeville History Museum and Depot Museum, facilitating the mission to provide exhibits, programs, and activities that promote the history of Cookeville and Putnam County.

In this episode:  Beth's professional journey as a Museum's Manager and how she started working with the Cookeville History Museum. What visitors can expect from CHM and the Depot Museum on a daily basis and throughout the year. Why we must continue to share and teach the hard lessons from history and what we need to do as Tennesseans to better understand and share the stories of those who came before us. 

Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a product of Morgan Franklin Media and recorded in Cookeville, TN.

Find Out More About Beth Thompson and City of Cookeville Museums:
https://cookevillehistorymuseum.com

Find out more about Kosta and all the ways we're better together:
http://kostayepifantsev.com/

Beth Thompson:

If we can be present, we can tell the difficult stories we can have the moral courage to say, we are going to tell the difficult part of history, even if it makes people uncomfortable.

Morgan Franklin:

Welcome to Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev, a podcast on parenting business and living life intentionally. We're here every week to bring you thoughtful conversation, making your own path to success, challenging the status quo, and finding all the ways we're better together. Here's your host, Kosta Yepifantsev.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

Hey, y'all. This is Kosta and today I'm here with my guest, Beth Thompson, city of Cookeville museum's director overseeing the Cookeville History Museum and Depot Museum, facilitating the mission to provide exhibits, programs and activities that promote the history of Cookeville and Putnam County. Now Beth, before we get into the episode, I want to talk about how you started working with the Cookeville History Museum and what your role as director looks like day to day.

Beth Thompson:

Well, let me start by saying I am the city of Cookeville, museums, managers, my title, I manage both the Cookeville history and depot museums, we are there Tuesday through Saturday, every week open tend to for year round, free admission, we are very lucky to be heavily supported by the city and the Department of Leisure Services. So let's get all that out of the way. I started working with the city museums 11 years ago in 2012. So hard to believe it's that long ago already. I was hired on as the historical arts assistant, which basically meant that I ran the depot, just the depot, Judy Duke was our museums manager at that time, we miss her and her creative force every day. And she retired in 2015. And I was promoted then to her museums manager position. Previous to the city museums, I worked for the Cookeville Children's Museum, okay, both as a volunteer and on staff. I was there for about four and a half years. My son was born in 2000. And that museum opened just right at the turn of 2007 2008. And so I was looking for somewhere to volunteer with him, show him that that's an important part of our lives, and to just really make a difference somewhere and that children's museum opening was really great.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

Did you always want to work in museums growing up? No. Seems like such a special job like specialized job.

Beth Thompson:

It certainly is. And yeah, I don't know if there are a lot of little kids that say someday I'm going to work in a museum. I actually did hair for 25 years before I started, and during the time that I was volunteering at the Children's Museum.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

Now you're from Cookeville, though, right?

Beth Thompson:

I have been here for 3536 years, my mother and I moved here in the 80s. Wow. You know,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

I was gonna say how much different was Cookeville in the 80s versus now it was

Beth Thompson:

if you like to eat at McDonald's or Sony's you were in luck.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

I love it. So day to day operations for you in your role, like are you greeting guests? Are you making sure that all the exhibits are properly displayed? I mean, what do you do?

Beth Thompson:

Yeah, we do all of that. We have a staff of three, myself being the manager of both museums, then. Pam Philco is our exhibit specialist. Ashley McKee is our education specialists. We have those three full time staff for the two buildings. So we are small museum professionals, we wear a lot of hats, everything from exhibits and interpretation to event planning to directing theatrical events to do or in tourism and field trips and tour groups to selling souvenirs. You name it, you know, sometimes we're the custodian. We do a lot of things. Right now, we're very busy with a lot of field trips, because it's that spring into summer season. And we have festivals, and lots and lots of events that we do at both museums. We have history hikes, we have movies and concerts and Christmas events and story Fest and all kinds of really great events that we put on.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

So for our listeners who haven't visited the Cookeville history museum or depot, what can they expect and what should we know?

Beth Thompson:

Well, you should know that you should have been there by now. No, just kidding. No, we would love to welcome anyone who hasn't been you'd be so surprised how many people come in Every weekend, say I've lived here my whole life. And I've never been, or I just moved here. And I'm so thrilled that we have cultural institutions in our town. We're very lucky to have that for a small southern town. We've got museums, we've got the symphony, we've got the university, we've got the PBS station, we're so lucky, we really the performing arts center is it, you know, all wonderful feathers in cook those cap. So when people come to the history museum or the depot, they're usually surprised. The History Museum in particular, is not what one would expect from a small town Museum. Interesting. It is curated and cultivated in a way that it's not just a room full of old stuff stacked up on top of each other. Yeah, we have a timeline that goes around the ceiling of the room, we try very hard to follow that timeline, and to not overwhelm the AI with just an overabundance of stuff. What date does the timeline start? It starts in prehistoric times.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

Very cool.

Beth Thompson:

But it goes quickly to the early 1800s. Okay, where Cookeville was first settled pioneer area, and then we go into incorporation. Civil War, of course, then we go into some economic growth, schools, churches, businesses, Tennessee Tech, the railroad, both happened in the exact same year, the Dixie College and the depot, were both built in 1909. So go from there, and then go into World Wars one and two, and then into the post war boom, you know, Cookeville was poppin. And mostly thanks to the railroad and the university, we're so lucky to have those two things. And then because of the railroad being that major artery right through the middle of Tennessee, then the interstate system, of course, was put in 1966. And so here's Cookeville, again, finger on the pulse right, halfway between Nashville and Knoxville, just such a great location. Of course, now we're seeing all the people coming in for the outdoor activities, you know, everybody's coming here to paddle into waterfalls, and we get to see all those people too.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

So if there was originally if it was the railroad than it was the interstate system, Tennessee Tech has always been a staple through and through what's driving this economic expansion, in your opinion, what's driving the economic expansion now in our city, low tax

Beth Thompson:

rates, okay. A lot of people wanting to do a little bit more rural living. Okay, we see a lot more rural tourism now than we used to. I think that this is weird, but I think Airbnb has a lot to do with it. Wow. Because people can now rent spaces in areas that they never would have before. Nobody would have taken a vacation to Sparta or Walling, Tennessee, you know, specifically, but they do now and it's because of these readily available spaces, and historic tourism. It's a thing as well, you know, we have a lot of people who come to our museums because of either a civil war interest or a genealogy bent that there aren't you know, someone comes from Oregon or you know, wherever and they're coming to find their family and their roots. And so

Kosta Yepifantsev:

where does the history museum sort of conclude current times?

Beth Thompson:

Okay, yeah, we come all the way up to recent population numbers, recent governmental entities, city council, things like that. So

Kosta Yepifantsev:

what is the population number? Do you know off the top of your head? I'm so curious because I've heard like 80,000 But then the other day I was talking to somebody and they said like 110,000

Beth Thompson:

county wide but cook fields specific 2010 Was I believe, 36,000

Kosta Yepifantsev:

Okay. 36 Wow. So every other year you have alternating events between the night of the museum and cemetery walk will you tell us about these events in when they take place?

Beth Thompson:

Absolutely. Cemetery walk is on the 11 years. Okay, night at the museum's is the odd years. So their fall events September so September 23. This year, we will be having the netic museums event. Night at the museum's is between the Depot Museum and the history museum for anyone listening who don't know there are a block and a half apart. So geographically, there it's ideal for an event like this. And we have about oh, six or eight stops between the two museums outside where our displays come to life and they escaped the museums and they run out because they just want to talk to the people. They want to tell their stories in their own voices. And that's what they do. It's a free event, it's dropped in. So people are on the west side anyway, some people aren't even aware to tap in and they come out of, you know, blue pig or whatever. And they've had dinner and drinks and they come out and they say, Oh, what is this, and they here's some local history, and it's a lot of fun. And then on the 11 years, we do the cemetery walk, which is in the Cookeville city cemetery. We candlelight it with luminary bags, and we have six denizens of the cemetery that come up from their graves and tell us their stories. Of course, their local actors doing a wonderful job doing scripts that sometimes they write themselves. And we've also got some stunt writers that come in, if it's not staff, we fill in the gaps, of course, but we have stories that run the gamut from murder to last year, we had one that actually featured Anna Nicole Smith, if you remember and Nicole Smith, the oil magnate, the billionaire that she was married to when she died, or when he died, and then she died not long after was actually married to a woman from Cookeville for over 30 years. She is buried in the city cemetery. Wow. So yeah,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

thanks, man. So I mean, like, but history in general, like what gave you this passion for? I mean, a lot of people, they don't really, they don't really lean into history. You know what I mean? So why did you choose that path?

Beth Thompson:

Well, it's interesting. I love history. But I love the story part of history. You know, so many times people think that history is just having a bunch of facts and dates thrown at them. And we all really try and concentrate and focus more on the story side of that story. fest is a good example, our Storytelling Festival that we do in the spring, so many people, the first question they have is, why is a history museum putting on a Storytelling Festival? Well, guess what? The very, very first form of history was somebody telling a story and passing those on. And so I feel like it's a perfect dovetail for the history and the stories to go together.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

So let's talk about the importance of history. As we know, history and education go hand in hand, as Winston Churchill said, Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. With so much adversity and contention surrounding the education of history, specifically in public schools. What can museums and public education do to counterbalance these arguments?

Beth Thompson:

Well, we can be present, we can tell the difficult stories, we can have the moral courage to say, we are going to tell the difficult part of history, you know, extremism is really rearing its head right now. And you know, book banning is not a good thing. Yeah, stories need to be told, even if you don't want to hear the story. You can't tell someone else that they can't hear the strike. So we have to have that courage to put the stories sometimes in the forefront, even if it makes people uncomfortable.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

I mean, do you get people that give you criticism about the things that you have in your museum? Because and just so that we're on the same page, a museum doesn't make stuff up? They take history, and when I say history, I mean like factual history, not made up history, factual history, and they display it in a building. Do you get criticisms for the things that you display in a museum?

Beth Thompson:

We do? People bring their opinions, as they do everywhere. more so now than we've ever seen before. You know, the last 10 years, obviously has been a very opinionated Hi,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

are they saying that what you're displaying is not true? Or that they just it just makes them uncomfortable? They would rather not see it so interesting, what kind of things if you don't mind sharing,

Beth Thompson:

or on the other side of it, they'd like to see more of it. We've had people who really enjoy the segregation that is displayed at the depot, which is disconcerting, to say the least like they

Kosta Yepifantsev:

enjoyed the colored only White Only signs like they actually wish

Beth Thompson:

that they could see more of that now in practice. Yeah, wow. Yeah, we yeah, we've heard that we've heard that we've given too much focus to the Civil War, kind of come in from the other side of the flip side of that coin. There are just stories that are told that people are offended by in so many ways. We have some Ku Klux Klan things at the history museum, we have some Nazi paraphernalia that was brought back as war trophies. Some of these Things can be ethically iffy. And you have to be careful, we have tried to be diligent in really studying up on those best practices for museums, ethically speaking. So that can be it can be a little dicey. And people certainly bring their opinions to

Kosta Yepifantsev:

has, has the sharing of opinions become more or less sensational, in the last like three to four years,

Beth Thompson:

definitely more,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

is it weird to have a conversation or maybe just like frustrating to have a conversation with somebody that is talking about a version of history that, you know, is like, there's no possible way that this can be true. And I am astounded that you even really talk about it? And where did you hear these things? Like, how do you reconcile those types of conversations,

Beth Thompson:

it's really difficult, and I have to bite my tongue almost off sometimes. But also the conclusions that people can draw, you know, they're looking at, you know, a picture of Ralph's donuts on the wall. And they'll somehow say, COVID vaccines are so bad. And I just wanted to just make that. You know, not not picking on Ralph's in any way. But they've been around for a long time. So 1962. So of course, we have a picture of them on the wall. And it's,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

and the reason that I'm talking about it is because, you know, I was listening to NPR. And so I was like, Okay, well, maybe this is just NPR, but I started doing some research in the New York Times, which is a respected news outlet. They said that 40% of eighth graders scored below basic and US History During this year standardized tests. That means that 40% of kids in eighth grade do not actually know the basic fundamentals of US history. Like for them to be able to get citizenship, you have to pass a citizenship test, 40% of those kids would fail. Only 13% are considered proficient. Are we just like not teaching history? Like Are we just like leave omitting parts of history? And so we're just what's what's going on?

Beth Thompson:

Have you tried to take one of those citizenship tests online?

Kosta Yepifantsev:

So I helped my parents and my grandparents study for the citizenship test, because I was born in Russia. Okay. And so when we got our US passports, we had to pass the test. And it's, I mean, it is a full, I'd say, probably up until maybe sophomore year of high school, you have to go through that process to be able to pass the test.

Beth Thompson:

Yeah. Well, and there's so many civics lessons, yeah, within it as well. And I mean, I know many, many, many adults that would not be able to so eighth grade notwithstanding, you know, how many people don't know what the Tennessee State Legislature is? Yeah, the General Assembly, if you say General Assembly, they don't know who it is. And they don't know what district they're in or who they're represented by. So yeah, that's definitely an issue. The answer to that is, who knows, I feel like teaching methods could be absolutely improved on you have to look at equity and inclusion, how people learn because of their life experiences, and tailor those lessons to those people. But in teaching to the test, it sets these kids up to failure, because they're not being tailored to the way that they need so many of them. And yeah, it's probably 40% that are gonna slip through those cracks, because they don't have the time to do it. It's not the teachers, they don't have the time, right.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

It's dangerous, though. And I've talked about this on the podcast before, when people don't know their history. This quote from Winston Churchill is very appropriate. But if people don't know their history, then they're going to follow people that are going to take them down some pretty dark roads, because I'm be honest, like, people haven't changed all that much from colonial times. I mean, probably from Roman times. I mean, all revolutions take 1000s upon hundreds of 1000s of years to really like change who we are as human beings, right. And so when you look back through history, those strong men that have you know, spoken out against the fundamentals and institutions of government that have literally taken populations to the brink of extinction, meaning like Germany, Italy, you know, those types of Japan, I mean, Japan was practically wiped off the face of the earth, right, and like, people don't realize that this is already happened. And if they only understood and knew their history, they would be able to ask the right questions instead of just following blind lessly on emotion,

Beth Thompson:

it would be very nice to have that level of insight liked in the common general populace, thank you. But also the problem too, is that there are so many versions of facts out so many versions of the news, you know, everyone used to watch Walter Cronkite. And we believed him. And we went to bed at night. But now you can pick what you want to hear or who you want to tell you what to believe, or what you think, you know. Yeah, I feel like it's a little bit dangerous. Now, I'm not saying that we should all have, you know, one option. But I would love to see more factual facts and not opinion facts.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

Well, it's, it's interesting, because when I watch the news media, or when I listen to, you know, like Sirius XM radio, I try really, really hard to not listen to just Fox News, or just MSNBC or just CNN, because it's an echo chamber, and like, you can get sucked in and you'll never get the other end. Like you have to be able to shift your brain into thinking about both sides of things, both aspects of the problem of the conversation. And I'll be honest, unless you can tell me I have not been able to find one news program that just delivers facts without opinions, maybe see is pretty good. True that yeah, that's a good point. But I mean, like, I literally can't get on cable news right now and find a channel that is just like facts. So you know what I do on Samsung TV. There's like the Samsung TV plus thing. And there's these like, weird news channels like chatter. Yeah, they don't even have shows. They just have like, words written across the screen that like gives you like news bulletins. You know, it's like that, like, that's what I have in my house. Yeah.

Beth Thompson:

Well, whatever keeps us sane. Exactly.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

Exactly. So as Tennesseans Do you believe that we've done enough to represent people of color and indigenous people in our museums and Local History?

Beth Thompson:

No, the stories are just now coming more to the forefront. We recently at the depot put in a piece of interpretation about Porter's railroad. Porter's Yeah, traditionally African American, it was a great job. It was a prestigious job to have back in the day. And that was a story that we hadn't ever thought to tell. It wasn't that we were trying to suppress that story. We just hadn't thought to tell it. But it's not as much of a I don't want to say a problem and issue as it is in Tennessee's plantations, and the South's plantations. That is where it's really coming to a boiling point. You can't say, Come to our plantation and have your dream wedding anymore, because it's becoming a hot point. I have a friend Bridget, hey, birds, if you're listening, she's works at Bellamy plantation in Nashville, and she's African American. And she calls herself the hood historian. She's really cool. But she has worked with dei at bellemeade. And she has actually she is a force but all their money now from weddings, is put back into the Nashville, African American community. All of that money is earmarked. As you know, you can call it reparations if you want to, but that money is going into a community that needs it. And you know, that place was built on their sweat.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

I mean, what do you say to people who say that we are trying to erase history by removing certain busts and statues taking the name plantation off of something like White Plains plantation or you know, Bellamy plantation drive, you know, it's like, what do you say to people that say that,

Beth Thompson:

as far as the bus and statues and things like that go, they have a place, but I don't think glorifying the Grand Wizard of the kk k is what we want to be known for that I can speak for myself and say, it's not what I want it to be known for. I want Tennessee to be welcoming and inclusive of everybody and tell all the stories that we can,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

and it's not that they won't be taught that the kk k was started in Pulaski, Tennessee exactly by Nathan Bedford Forrest, they'll still know that we just won't have a bust in the State Capitol with his face on it. Absolutely. No, it's not that we won't know that Robert Lee was the general of the Confederate army. We just won't have a statue of him riding a horse in Virginia.

Beth Thompson:

Well, and you know, there's a group right now that has been to the state legislature twice, insisting that they rightfully own every civil war artifact in the State Museum. and their case is being heard. And to set that kind of a precedent in museums is completely insane. Because what would stop you from coming and saying all the gold in Tennessee is mine, or you know, whatever. It's just, it's crazy some of the things that are being entertained and listen to by the powers that be Well,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

so here's something that I've heard and discourse that I found to be somewhat interesting. And I think it's important to talk about, if you are a young, white man, for most of history, you have done quite a lot of bad things. You know, I'm, I'm a white man, that I'm sure that if you look back through genealogy, you can find some bad things that my family has been a part of throughout its history. When you go to college, okay, let's say College, we don't even talk about high school, when you go to college, and you take a course on US history. And you're all 1820 years old, right? Do you think that maybe our elected officials are trying to prevent those white men, young men from having a maybe a mental health crisis? Because they're being told of all of the terrible things that they have been associated with? And they should probably feel bad about it? And they should probably come to terms with some of it.

Beth Thompson:

But shouldn't that just lead to more empathy? Cry? I don't understand. Are we that weak, that we can't handle it? I don't think we are, I mean, didn't to learn about slavery when you're right? I don't think that we're that weak. Also, you don't have to feel bad, you don't have to feel guilty, you can feel bad. Of course, it makes you feel bad. It doesn't make you feel good. Nobody thinks about slavery and feels a warm, fuzzy, yeah, but you don't have to feel guilty about it. You have to learn from it, get some empathy in your soul, and continue on and do the best you can to, like you said, never have this repeat itself. I don't think anybody wants anything more than that. I don't think anyone's trying to make the little white children feel guilty or cry themselves to sleep. And I don't know if that's really happening to you.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

I just graduated with my bachelor's in political science and have a minor in history. And I'm always fascinated with history, like I was saying earlier, you know, I spent a lot of time in in school suspension for being truant. And what I did in my free time, or in my pastime, was read the history book, when I took a African American studies course. And I actually got to learn the history of African Americans, like the the porters that you're describing, and how fundamental they were to the NAACP, and to get out of some of the worst conditions that African Americans found themselves in in the 1920s. They were instrumental, and how they had to guard from being removed from that job. I think a lot of times, if we don't pick up a book, especially if we don't pick up a history book, or a nonfiction book, to learn something, then we are going to get trapped into that news, entertainment media narrative. And we will be engineered through sensationalized content. And we won't be able to think for ourselves. I mean, like, people could listen to this podcast and believe every single word that I'm saying and take it as gospel, but I don't want them to do that. I want them to go to the Cookeville History Museum and learn from professionals. I want them to go to the local library and read about Tennessee history and read about US history. And I want these 40% of kids that are below basic in US history to get back to proficiency. But I don't feel as optimistic as I would have felt five or six years ago. It's it's rather strange. So anyway, moving forward, what's your greater vision for the History Museum and depot and how do you see these programs evolving over the next 10 years?

Beth Thompson:

Well, the future of the Cookeville museums is bright and we are not going anywhere. We're gonna be here for a long time. Nice. We'd love to see the history museum expand it is just far too small. I heard a statistic one time that the Smithsonian has 4% of their collection on display, and they have what are they up to 2122 buildings now. So don't feel as bad about our storage, but we have a lot of stuff in storage. Again, we don't want to just pollute the space with stuff. It's very hard to call the best pieces and the most narrative. We're trying to tell the story. I would love to see the history museum expand, I don't want to see it move. I love the location, you know, across from City Hall, dogwood Park is in the backyard performing arts centers on one side and the libraries on the other side. I mean, how much better could it get? Yeah, but I don't know. Maybe a second story. I was gonna say to build, let's build up. Yeah, yes. Yes, love. Let's take it all the way. The Depot preservation, there is the absolute key, we've got to keep that building in the great shape that it's in the restoration of that building, when it originally happened in the 80s was just absolutely wonderful. You know, most of that building is still original. So we're very lucky lucky lucky to have that. I don't know if y'all know it was scheduled to be destroyed in the mid 70s. Along with all the other depot's on the line, most of which were Crossville in Cookeville, I think are the only two original ones that are still left, there may be one or two other small ones, but you know, that steam engine, the things like that, we want to really make sure that those are maintained, and that is unscheduled, to be repainted and restored, we would love to see that be able to stay in a really nice pristine condition. Once it's restored. Again, it's been 20 years since it was brought here. So it needs another restoration because it sits out in the element. But there are safety issues, there's vandalism Cookeville is not the same place that it was. The west side of Cookeville is so busy now. And we absolutely love that. It's just my favorite place in town. It's where all the magic happens. But we do need to protect and preserve those items to make sure

Kosta Yepifantsev:

and inside the depot, there's like that model of downtown Cookeville. And it's a beautiful model. And it has all of the old stores like the pharmacies, and apparently there's a hotel down there as well. And like so if you ever want to see what Broadstreet was like the west side of Cookeville was like, you know, before became what it is today. 1955.

Beth Thompson:

Wow. Yeah, that hotel Craig's it burned down in 1970.

Kosta Yepifantsev:

So how can we get involved as cook villeins? And what are you looking for in volunteers?

Beth Thompson:

Well, we are always looking for volunteers. I think that there is a misconception that people think that to be a docent in a museum, that they have to know everything about Cookeville history when they walk in the door. Absolutely do not. You know, we are all learning every single day. And the very best thing that you can tell someone if they have a question that you don't know the answer to is I don't know, but I'll find it. I will get that answer to you. So that is basically what they do. We have a lot of retired people, but we also have younger people coming aboard. We have one gentleman that is a real estate agent. And he literally is working at the depot because so many people come in as their first stop in Cookeville. I love and he can hand them a card. You know, that's great. Call me up. Yeah, it's a three hour commitment either once a week or once a month on a Saturday. But during the week, we have usually the same person count, you know, like every Thursday from 10 to one George's they or whatever. Nice. So yeah, we're always looking for volunteers. Sometimes people just work special events and things like that. But we have the most dedicated army of volunteers. We have one gal, a retired teacher who has been with us for 17 years. And she has put every single artifact in both museums into an online catalog. While herself she's amazing. And she does so much stuff that we don't want to

Kosta Yepifantsev:

can I plug your podcast? What is the name of your podcast? It's

Beth Thompson:

called Tennessee on Earth. Okay, and it's with stone comm

Kosta Yepifantsev:

it's a history. It's a history,

Beth Thompson:

Tennessee history and

Kosta Yepifantsev:

the history podcast. Do you guys talk about Cookeville primarily or say

Beth Thompson:

more on the upper Cumberland? Yeah, and kind of different aspects that, you know, I might have an archivist on I might have a professor or somebody who just has a really cool personal history. There's so many elements to history, and we want to entertain, want to trick you into learning basically,

Kosta Yepifantsev:

this way to do it. And where can people find it Apple podcast? It's,

Beth Thompson:

it's so income website. Yep, their website and Facebook. Yeah. And we of course put them on our Facebook and the Twitter's and the Instagrams and comes out

Kosta Yepifantsev:

weekly, bi weekly, twice a month. Fantastic. So we always like to end the show on a high note, who is someone that makes you better when you're together?

Beth Thompson:

It's so hard. We have this huge network of friends. That's family, you know, but then I've also I got a beautiful one tie. I've got one child, and he's quick to say my parents are my friends. But my husband, it's my husband. My husband is the person I have the most fun with in the world. We have a really, really amazing relationship and he makes me better, and he makes me smile.

Morgan Franklin:

Thank you for joining us on this episode of Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev. If you've enjoyed listening and you want to hear more, make sure you subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you find your podcasts. Leave us a review or better yet, share this episode with a friend. Better Together with Kosta Yepifantsev is a Kosta Yepifantsev Production. Today's episode was written and produced by Morgan Franklin post production mixing and editing by Mike Franklin. Want to know more about Kosta visit us at kostayepifantsev.com We're better together. We'd like to remind our listeners that the views and opinions expressed during this episode are those of the individual speakers and do not necessarily represent or reflect the official policy or position of this show its producers or any related entities or advertisers. While our discussions may touch on various topics of interest, please note that the content is intended to inspire thought provoking dialogue and should not be used for a substitute for professional advice. Specifically, nothing heard on this podcast should be construed as financial, legal, medical or any other kind of professional advice. We encourage our listeners to consult with a professional in these areas for guidance tailored to their specific circumstances.