Modern Day Flappers

Have you ever had the opportunity to have a long and deep conversation with someone who's book transformed your life?  That happened to me when I interviewed Dr. Marcia Mount Shoop. Unlike the tragic movie The Fault In Our Stars, my experience meeting the woman behind the book was incredible.  I was nervous but her gentle presence helped me relax within minutes.  I continued to learn what it means to live my faith in my body or, in theology words, understand embodiment. Her book Let the Bones Dance gave me poetry and prose to help navigate the issue of sexual violence on college campuses in my thesis.  Her book Touchdowns for Jesus and Other Signs of Apocalypse opened my eyes to the good and need for healing in sports. I'm in good company the New York Times interviewed Marcia too. You should also follow Marcia's Blog.

Check out Sarah Wilke's incredible work at the Upper Room!

Pastor of Nancy Webb Kelly United Methodist Church and Associate Director of Community Care Fellowship A song that inspired Toi: I’m Still Holding On Another story about Toi's incredible Work

Good Friday is a day for lament.  Jeannie Alexander speaks to the sorrow of prison while at the same time speaks words of hope and restoration about the future.  This conversation is tough, but it's one of the best interviews I have ever had and my heart and mind are still wrestling with our conversation. Modern Day Flappers is a podcast dedicated to exploring women's identity beyond traditional scripts.  My hope is for listeners to discover their own story in the lives of the women interviewed and cultivate love for themselves and those around them.    This interview with Jeannie Alexander was recorded in the 4th Story Theatre at West End UMC Wednesday night event called Current. Jeannie Alexander served as the Head Chaplain at Riverbend Maximum Security Institution for three years until September 2014. Prior to that, she was the volunteer chaplain for two years. As chaplain, she facilitated the creation of an unprecedented number of programs for insiders, both in minimum security and on “death row.” Before this, she worked as an attorney, but left the practice of law to become a community organizer and to complete a graduate degree in theology and ethics. As an educator, she’s been a professor of philosophy, ethics, and religion. As a pastor, she’s served and developed interfaith communities in prison based on a model of liberation theology, as well as served as co-pastor to Mercy Community Church, a congregation where 85% of the members were experiencing homelessness.  She is the co-founder of Amos House and Open Table Nashville and was a writer for and sat on the board of The Contributor for several years. Two of her essays are published in And The Criminals With Him, and she features significantly in the documentary Tent City, U.S.A., available on Netflix. She lectures and preaches frequently on the topics of mass incarceration as slavery, mandatory sentencing, and the death penalty. She understands the Gospel as a manifesto for radical liberation now on earth and an invitation to experience God through the living presence of others.To read the Scripture story of The Gerasene Demoniac read Mark 5:1-17 and Luke 8:26-37 More about prison reform can be found at No Exceptions.

A podcast dedicated to exploring women's identity beyond traditional scripts My hope is for listeners to discover their own story in the lives of the women interviewed and cultivate love for themselves and those around them. Things I learned this season: 1 -- I didn’t realize this Modern Day Flapper journey was really about how hard it is sometimes to be a woman pastor. 2 – I have the most amazing friends. 3 – Men have stories of how they can’t live up to the traditional scripts too. It’s hard for everyone. Season Two of Modern Day Flappers will be released in March of 2015. I am so excited about some of the women I have reached out to interview – but I am also thinking that I might interview a few men! Now I’m going to talk about some of my favorite moments: Fran: “I don’t think you know who that woman is yet.” You never know who will be inspired by the ashes… Heather Lefkowitz -- How do we make peace with scripts? Emily: Have you experienced the tension between: “I need to not care what anyone thinks about me and I’m so desperate for love and connection.” Lis: “La esperanza es que se pierde lo ultimo” – Hope is the last thing that you would loose. Betty Nixon: We need to invite someone who disagrees with us! How do you figure out your own style or voice?  “Now I know what I’m supposed to sound like.”  Have you had that moment? Megan’s interview held the most surprises! Carolyn German, "The status quo is allowed to step in and say 'you’re crazy.'" -- Breaking a stereotype: You get to choose who you want to be! “Now I Become Myself” By May Sarton Now I become myself. It’s taken Time, many years and places; I have been dissolved and shaken, Worn other people’s faces, Run madly, as if Time were there, Terribly old, crying a warning, ‘Hurry, you will be dead before-‘ (What? Before you reach the morning? Or the end of the poem is clear? Or love safe in the walled city?) Now to stand still, to be here, Feel my own weight and density! The black shadow on the paper Is my hand; the shadow of a word As thought shapes the shaper Falls heavy on the page, is heard. All fuses now, falls into place From wish to action, word to silence, My work, my love, my time, my face Gathered into one intense Gesture of growing like a plant. As slowly as the ripening fruit Fertile, detached, and always spent, Falls but does not exhaust the root, So all the poem is, can give, Grows in me to become the song, Made so and rooted by love. Now there is time and Time is young. O, in this single hour I live All of myself and do not move. I, the pursued, who madly ran, Stand still, stand still, and stop the sun!

More about Carolyn: http://www.theatercraftinc.com/www.theatercraftinc.com/Carolyn_German.html       ·      Nashville Cultural Arts   ·      Why is nudity always one sided?   ·      The status quo is allowed to step in and say “you’re crazy.”   ·      Glen Campbell – Dreams Of The Everyday Housewife   ·      Lucille Ball -- Biography   ·      “I think about the void that history has given us not because women weren’t doing anything but because people weren’t paying attention… I think for the most part people are busy getting the breakfast on the table and mortgage paid.  I think there is a void of knowledge of the types of contributions women have made.”   ·      As an artist I try to take in lots of input.  I want to know how people think, talk, react.   ·      Writing is NOT like having a baby.   ·      Burden of Justice: 1863   ·      Signs of a New Day: The Z Alexander Looby Story:   ·      The Story Builders   ·      Breaking a stereotype: You get to choose who you want to be   ·      Being a Theatre Educator: Differentiating between acting identity and personal identity can be difficult for youth and children actors.   ·      Not knowing exactly the way it is going to go – but TRUSTING AND WORKING   ·      Modern Day Flapper Dog – Magnolia (Maggie)   ·      The Best is Yet to Come (Thanks Frank)  

Next Modern Day Flapper interview with Megan Black!

Dreaming with Caren Tiechman My guest today is Caren Tiechman who currently works for Living in the Green -- a set of adaptable, facilitated circle practices that provide a framework for discerning, designing, launching, and funding grassroots missional ministries.  https://www.facebook.com/livinginthegreen.sewanee She earned her certificate in Dream Work from Marin Institute for Projective Dream Work in Fairfield, CA: http://www.jeremytaylor.com/mipd/index.html She has a certificate in Spiritual Direction from the Haden Institute in Hendersonville, NC: http://www.hadeninstitute.com/. Caren is a mother of four sons, ages 18 to 23, whom she loves, adores, is astonished at, and enjoys immensely. Caren lived the traditional script for years. How do you reconcile living the script? Woke up a passion through serving in Antioch Joe March in Little Women by Louisa May Alcott -- http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=91245378 Women Mystics Theresa of Avila inward journey to come back out. Catherine of Siena: http://www.catholic.org/saints/saint.php?saint_id=9 Clare of Assisi: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bruce-davis-phd/a-love-letter-to-st-franc_b_2653317.html Feminine Energy – Understanding our own creative potential Story of the Hebrew Midwives – Exodus 1:15-21 Using dreams to know yourself – story of belt and gratitude Gifts from ancient women in your dreams. Our dreams are another world that is unseen – by remembering and talking about them we are paying attention and acknowledge that we want to be in relationship with it. Every remembered dream is a miracle. Ask myself – where was I before I was here? Why do we have so much shame associated with the female body? Modern day flappers for me is not about having a socially fabulous life – but about demanding to define your own identity. There is enough room for all the women in the word! Let’s make more space. What does balance and partnership in our inside and outside lives? How do you see God in your life?

http://lorimechemmusic.com/ http://www.nashvillejazz.org/ A respected jazz pianist, composer and educator, Lori Mechem, along with her husband Roger Spencer, has lived in the Nashville area since 1988. In addition to directing production shows and conducting musical theatre, she has performed with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Red Holloway, Jimmy Smith, Cal Collins, Roy McCurdy, Terry Gibbs, Pete Christlieb, Edie Gorme, Bobby Militello, Kirk Whalum and Donna McElroy. A native of Anderson Indiana, Lori received a Bachelor of Music in Jazz Studies from Ball State University, Muncie, Indiana.Lori's first CD, "Welcome to Brazil" was nominated for "Best Jazz Album of the Year" by the Nashville Music Awards in 1997. In 2003, Lori's second CD, "Shiny Stockings, rose to #26 on the jazz charts. In 2005 she released a Brazilian Christmas album on Village Square Music. Since then she has released three more CD's: "April in Paris" (a second Count Basie album), "The Dream of Life" (original meditation music), and "Return to Ipanema."Lori and Roger founded and direct the Nashville Jazz Workshop. Lori is responsible for curriculum, student advisement, and special events, and teaches vocal, instrumental, and keyboard classes. “You play good for a young girl” is something Lori hears a lot.  “You’re a good pastor/preacher for a woman” is something I hear too.  Have you ever heard this for your procession?  Is it regional? Fly to Forever - by Donna McElroy and Lori Mechem Nashville Jazz Workshop is a jewel of Nashville!  Visiting the Jazz Cave or taking a class is a MUST! Lori’s piano mentors: Oscar Peterson, Monte Alexander, Gene Harris, Mary Lou Williams. Sue Level was the first woman Lori saw doing her thing and doing it well.  Who is this in your life? Keep On Keeping On a Documentary about jazz and mentorship.  It’s one of the best things I’ve seen in a long time!  Liz Johnson and Lori Former NJW student Rachael Price Sings Lake Street Dive in the Studio: "What I'm Doing Here" A mentor that really molded Lori in college – “helped her out of the tree” -- was Beth Turcotte.  Who was a mentor from your college days? Improvisation started with the blues – a musical question and answer.  Singers and instrumentalists should play nice and listen to each other. You can hear the pain and where they were -- Carmen McRae.  Charlie Parker – always busy. John Coltrane – deep. How do you figure out your own style or voice?  “Now I know what I’m supposed to sound like.”  Have you had that moment? All of My Life by Lori Mechem & Sandra Dudley  

Betty Nixon started her work career as a high school teacher in Anniston, Ala. and eventually became a Metro Councilwoman and two-time mayoral candidate in Nashville/Davidson County; Videos during the time of her campaign: http://youtu.be/aFzqJG7sU6c, http://youtu.be/Egn2zgckYLU, http://youtu.be/ZojONV4X7dw.  She was Deputy press secretary to Tenn. Gov. Ray Blanton; Managed a few campaigns: including the state campaign for Mondale/Ferraro presidential campaign, state campaign manager for U.S. Sen. Jim Sasser for his successful 1988 re-election campaign and served as as a professional staff member of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Intergovernmental Relations.  She chaired the board for the Metro Election Commission.  She worked at Vanderbilt University as the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Community, Neighborhood and Government Relations. Betty also attends West End UMC and was willing to host my Modern Day Flapper release and 30th birthday party – all my friends were inspired by her! · She is the fourth generation to be college educated (and for someone born in the late 1930s that is incredible to me)!· She went to college to find a husband and had to figure out something else… how much of my non-traditional script is because life didn’t work out like I thought it would?·  Mary Catherine Bateson author of Composing a Life.·  Is the idea of balance a privilege afforded to me because of women like Betty?·  Betty’s daughter Mignon Nixon teaches at The Courtauld Institute of Art in London, UK.  She studies sexuality and aggression in art since 1945, focusing in particular on questions of feminism and gender politics. She is the author of Fantastic Reality: Louise Bourgeois and a Story of Modern Art (MIT Press/October Books, 2005) and the editor of the Eva Hesse October File (MIT Press/October Files, 2002). She is a co-editor of October magazine (New York).· She explains the privilege to be involved at the tipping point of feminism and civil rights in 1960s.· Rural Women experience power – The 50s model verses pre-50s model· Powerhouse meeting for the 1984 election talking about Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman to run for vice president on a major party ticket.   o Betty Friedan – women’s rights activist and author of Feminine Mystique (1963):    o Carol Bellamy   o Eleanor Smeal, President of the Feminist Majority and the Feminist Majority Foundation.   o Mary Landrieu -- United States Senator from the State of Louisiana    o Sharon Percy Rockefeller – wife of West Virginia Senator John Davison "Jay" Rockefeller IV. ·  Amendment One in Tennessee ·  Hume Fogg in Nashville:   My school was Rochelle School of the Arts in Lakeland, FL·  We need to learn to live out diversity in our lives!·  A discussion of fear and scarcity: economic disparity in the US.  Video I referenced: http://youtu.be/QPKKQnijnsM·  Gloria Steinem – a leader of the women’s movement in the 1960s and 70s ·   Bella Abzug -- New Yorker, feminist, antiwar activist, politician and lawyer:

Modern Day Flappers is a podcast dedicated to exploring women's identity beyond traditional scripts.  My hope is for listeners to discover their own story in the lives of thewomen interviewed and cultivate love for themselves and those around them. My guest today is Lis Valle we met at Vanderbilt Divinity School because we both love the intersection of visual and performing arts and the ways they help us explore our faith.  She is currently a Ph.D. student at Vanderbilt University in the Homiletics and Liturgics Program. She has more than 30 years of experience in acting, and more than 20 years of experience directing and using theatre as a means for education and transformation. She also has a law degree from University of Puerto Rico.  Lis is an ordained ministry in the Presbyterian Church (USA). She is the mom of Jotam (21) and Kemuel (13).  Is there anything she hasn't done ...A story about the first time Lis learned about cultural stereotypes. “I learned to bat the ball and run home to turn the rice.”Dr. Ana Ines BraulioDoña Barbara a novel by Rómulo Gallegos first published in 1929 and translated in 2012  http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/chicago/D/bo12611628.htmlLis explains how her mother’s story impacts her own story.  How does your mom effect your story?Lis navigates her call to preach and teach while also being a woman.  What do you do “like a girl?”How do you exist as sexy and _____.  Lis is a young, pretty, sexy, woman pastor (I am too!).“A patriarchal system locks people of every gender and sexual orientation within the social construct.  Everyone within that system is being hurt and so when a particular man doesn’t treat me the way I expect to be treated… I remove myself from that situation knowing that he is as victimized by that situation, but I’m also not going to stay there.” It’s up to me to not let them hurt me“La esperanza es que se pierde lo ultimo” – Hope is the last thing that you would loose.

  My guest today is Emily Kilbourn we met as camp counselors at Warren Willis United Methodist Camp in central Florida and that friendship has grown into one of my deepest and most meaningful in my life.  Emily has a Master's degree in Counseling and is currently working toward her license as a Professional Counselor. She worked on the road in the music industry for 4 years and still hops back on the road from time to time to work at events for Compassion International. She's a self-proclaimed tea aficionado (but for real – knows a lot about tea!).       ·      Anam Cara which means “soul friendship” -- John O'Donohue    ·      The feelings of being not enough and too much at the same time.  Have you ever felt this way?   ·      Lake Radnor   ·      “Wild in a way that can’t be tamed” on an African Safari   ·      Brene Brown Shame, Belonging Compassion, Connection – Connections Curriculum –  shame resilience.   ·      Have you experienced the tension between: “I need to not care what anyone thinks about me and I’m so desperate for love and connection.”   ·      Sue Monk Kidd, Ann Kidd Taylor – Traveling with Pomegranates   ·      Elizabeth Gilbert – Eat Pray Love, interviews, podcasts   ·      Honesty and acceptance are starting points   ·      Tracy McMillian – The one person you’ve always wanted to marry  

Modern Day Flappers is a podcast dedicated to exploring women's identity beyond traditional scripts.  My hope is for listeners to discover their own story in the lives of the women interviewed and cultivate love for themselves and those around them. My guest today is Heather Lefkowitz we met at Vanderbilt Divinity School.  She’s most happy when she’s learning new things, affirming people’s gifts and talents, and laughing – she laughs a lot – For 15 years she worked in higher education.  She also is an improviser both teaching and performing.  She has helped me, companies, and educational realms to be better communicators and make our mission and vision clear.  She is also a member of Music City Improv: https://www.facebook.com/musiccityimprov/reviews   ·      Childhood in the 70s with divorced Parents ·      Nora Ephron – collection of essays she wrote in Esquire ·      What do you think about the “country kitchen”? ·      TJ Jagodowski – improve and the one “right” word. ·      How do we make peace with scripts? ·      How do we make peace with scripts while raising a girl? ·      “When I got married and had a kid it freed up an enormous amount of space in my head…”  I never subscribed to the scripts but it did free up space to be able to do what I wanted.  What takes up space in your life? ·      Middlemarch by George Eliot – Virginia Woolf called it “novel written for grown-up people” ·      Learn about – Theresa of Avila – you won’t regret it. Teresa of Avila’s Interior Castles is a key text in mystical theology ·      “Mindset: The New Psychology of Success” by Carol Dweck – fixed verse growth mindsets ·      Being in the kitchen – separate the noise in your head and ask do I enjoy this? ·      Hippie Barbie: http://www.ebay.com/bhp/hippie-barbie but I am more inclined to go with Graduate School Barbie: http://www.openculture.com/2013/10/graduate-school-barbie.html  

Photos and links at ModernDayFlappers.com “I don’t think I know who that woman is yet.”What does it look like to be ready?What is the blueprint?Erykah Badu - On & On Eartha Kitt on love and compromiseWhat does it mean to fit into someone else expectation?Alice WalkerJames BaldwinNella Larsen’s character Helga CraneVisitations from Billie HolidayInspirational books: In search of our Mother's Garden and The Temple of my Familiar by Alice WalkerYou never know who will be inspired by the ashes…Twilight Zone episode “The Eye of the Beholder”Spirit birthright is queen “above what is petty”  “Someone who does not settle for less than what they are worth.”

A few weeks ago I shared late night nachos at Sunset Grill in Hillsboro Village with two of my dearest friends, Ben and Elizabeth.  We had just watched the movie Boyhood across the street at the Belcourt.  Boyhood is the kind of movie that would show at the Belcourt –a non-profit movie theatre specializing in documentaries, artstic, and innovative films.  The director, Richard Linklater, filmed the same cast over twelve years and, like the title suggests, it’s about childhood and growing up.  Literally the boy actor grows into a man before your eyes.  So, we were discussing the movie over nachos and Ben says, “I can’t help but think about what the movie would have been like if it were about girlhood.”I laughingly said, "You would say that!"  (Ben might be more of a feminist than I am because of his deep appreciation for Marylynne Robinson’s poetry, fiction, and prose…) and replied, “What would the movie womanhood look like?”  I rambled on, “What if I filmed my best friends over the next ten years and see what happens?”“I think I’d watch that,” Ben responded, “What would you call it?”And without really thinking I replied, “Modern Day Flappers.”We kept eating nachos and discussing various parts of the movie that we liked — but the idea didn’t leave my mind and the next day I typed in the domain name: moderndayflappers.com.  It was available.  Then I Googled “Modern Day Flappers” and found two interesting articles: Five Signs Your a Modern Day Flapper in the Huff Post and Modern-Day Flappers: Lena Dunham and Girls from Biographile.  Both reference the same book published in January of this year Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation by Judith Mackrell.  I immediately searched for the book at Nashville public library and sent it to the branch near my house.I love the parallel between Lena Dunham and Girls and flappers.  I have seen every episode of Girls and I am intoxicated by the woman’s locker room conversation put on national television from a realistic perspective in an authentic and unapologetic tone.  Yet, there is more than one conversation going on in a women’s locker room!  Many of my friends have talked about how we resonate with Dunham’s characters, yet they do not allow for their spiritual domains to influence their life choices and their context of NYC is very different than Nashville!A few days later, I picked up the book from our branch and read in the introduction, “The young women of this era weren’t the first generation in history to seek a life beyond marriage and motherhood; they were, however, the first significant group to claim it as a right (pg. 5).”  “Yes. This.” The voice in my gut said when I read those words…A few pages later Mackrell’s words resonated again with this statement about the six women whom she presents to represent flappers, “Often they feel closest to us when they were struggling and uncertain.  None of them had role models to follow as they grappled with the implications of their independence.  Their mothers and grandmothers could not advise them how to combine sexual freedom with love, or how to combine their public image with personal happiness (pg. 10).”I feel a lot of uncertainty when I try to articulate how to be a woman, in the south, in public and private settings, seeking my right to an identity outside of wife or mother, navigating singleness, love, sex, and independence, while also discovering and being found by God, and desperately trying to “be human in the most inhumane of ages (Thomas Merton).”  All of this coupled with the fact that I am clergy and “should” know these things!I, for sure, do not have all the answers — but I do have a ton of questions.  Therefore, over the next year of my life — “30, flirty, and thriving” — I am going to ask as many questions as possible and ask them of those who are on the journey with me — my modern day flappers — my late 20something and 30something friends who are also seeking their identities, wholeness, and love.  I hope to discover parts of myself in the stories I unearth in them.I will record my interviews in a podcast called — you guessed it — Modern Day Flappers!