17-year-old Helena Muffly wrote exactly 100 years ago today:
Friday, November 22, 1912: Am trying to get some points for a debate which comes off next Friday.
Her middle-aged granddaughter’s comments 100 years later:
Did Grandma enjoy debating or did she dread it?
What was the debate about? Here are a few of my guesses about possible topics:
- Should women have the right to vote?
- Should the sale of alcohol be prohibited?
- Should drugs be regulated?
- Should factories be unionized?
There’s probably lot of other things that were controversial a hundred years ago that would have made great debate topics. Other ideas?
A Hundred Years Ago 
Suffrage was definitely a top issue in 1912. Two other big ones were tariffs to regulate foreign trade and how to deal with the big trusts (monopolies). Since this would be after the elections, maybe they were debating the merits of a two party system.
It must have been an interesting election with candidates who were Democrat, Republican, and Bull Moose.
There used to be this old Canadian game show called ‘Reach For The Top’. It was on TV and high school students would team up to debate topics. I forget how they decided a winner but it was one of my favourite shows when we only had 3 channels (& one was french to boot).
I remember when we only had two channels. 🙂
I enjoy your “dialogue” with your grandmother. You are almost creating an interactive diary with her. Enjoy your posts!
I have a lot of fun doing this blog. I like the way you described it as an interactive diary. I’ll have to remember that term.