Armed with a newly-talking cinema and trying to survive The Great Depression, Universal Studios developed a new genre – horror. For twenty-two weeks, crews filmed Dracula. And for six of those weeks on a shoestring budget of $66,000, they shot Drácula at night. Antonio Barrenechea (University of Mary Washington) says that despite this unbalanced relationship with Hollywood, this inter-American production contributed to a national cinema throughout the Western Hemisphere in Mexico, Brazil, Peru and beyond. Also: Each generation has its own toxicant. The children of The Great Depression had asbestos. Their children were rattled with lead exposure. And their children are littered with microplastics. Aaron Reuben (University of Virginia) says over 150 million Gen X’ers have mental health issues because of their exposure to lead. And here’s the real fright: there’s no cure!
Later in the show: We’re all gonna die. That’s one thing that life promises us all. After helping his parents settle their estate and make funeral arrangements, Willy Donaldson (Christopher Newport University) realized that they needed to talk more about death. Way more. Did they want to be cremated or buried? Did they want a big funeral or something more intimate? He found it easier to start with the negative. What don’t you want at the end of your life? Willy’s book is Estimated Time of Departure.

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