twoshrewspodcast's podcast

The final episode of Season Two is Women Who Run With the Wolves by Clarissa Pinkola Estes, Ph.D. The book uses fairy tales to teach women more about how they're made and what they might've come here to do.  It stresses the importance of using intuition, finding your pack and letting go of the ways society has taught us how to act. This podcast doesn't cover every aspect or story in the book but does give a general overview. However, it should be required reading for women everywhere who want to reconnect with their own wild nature. 

In our latest episode, Kitty tells the story of Fannie Lou Hamer, a voting rights activist and community organizer, from the award- winning biography, This Little Light of Mine by Kay Mills.  Her story begins in Mississippi and takes plenty of twists and turns but also terrible moments where she faced police brutality and was beaten in a jail cell. She risked her health and safety to change a system that suppressed Black voters with poll taxes, exams and other impediments. For years, Hamer served as a role model for her community despite threats, physical harm and harassment. Her speaking and singing abilities drew crowds and rallied communities to action. She ran for a seat in the U.S. Senate and later co-founded the National Women's Political Caucus whose aim was to recruit and train women to run for political office.  We were utterly inspired by Fannie Lou Hamer's story and hope you are, too. 

Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born in Cotton Plant, Ark., to a ukelele playing mother who sang in the Pentecostal church. By the time Rosetta was 5 years old, she was playing guitar and singing in front of the congregation. The church influenced her deft playing style and she would grow up and share her talents across the globe. This oft-overlooked singer and electric guitarist influenced artists from Johnny Cash to Eric Clapton to Little Richard and the Rolling Stones. She truly is the godmother of rock and roll. This podcast episode is based on the biography by Gayle Wald and tells Rosetta's story. 

In the midst of protests, coronavirus, and whatever else 2020 plans to throw in the mix, we are discussing Becoming, the autobiography of Michelle Obama in this week's episode. This is the most current biography topic we've tried on the podcast, and we like the way it turned out. If you haven't already read it, Michelle's book is beautifully written, authentic and one thousand percent inspiring. We learned about her home life, her mother, the death of her father, how she felt about law school, how she met Barack and the road to becoming first lady. We hope you love it as much as we did.

This week, Kitty and Ellie continue their break from reading books and talk about some things that have happened in quarantine with MARRIAGE, the north nodes in astrology, diving into the self-help side of YouTube with “parts work” and other important life events. Fun fact: They both cry a lil bit in this one. It's a more informal type of podcast episode, and we hope you like it.

Religion and the quest for something to believe in is the topic of this episode. We discuss the book, Post-Traumatic Church Syndrome by Reba Riley and her journey to “experience 30 religions before you turn 30.” As someone raised with strict beliefs, she felt burdened by her religious past while at the same time suffering from physical ailments with no diagnosed medical cause. Frustrated and confused, she decided to experience all that religion had to offer from the Amish to the Quaker. Kitty and Ellie were raised in similarly religious households and found some solace in Riley's quest. Kitty set up an interview with Riley but unforeseen circumstances prevented that from happening. However, Kitty and Ellie had plenty to say about the topic of religion as well as updates from quarantine life. We hope you enjoy this episode!

The famous Nellie Bly was known primarily as a journalist, but in the novel, Nellie Bly: Daredevil. Reporter. Feminist, by Brooke Kroeger, we learn she was also an industrialist, world traveler, and a woman of many “firsts.” Her story began in 1864 in Pennsylvania and continued to writing for the Pittsburgh Dispatch, the New York World, for Joseph Pulitzer, and more. At a time when hardly any reporter had a byline, she was frequently on the front page with her name in the actual headline.  Most well known for her undercover stint in a “madhouse” or lunatic asylum, she was also known for traversing the globe in under 80 days, and her many interviews with important figures in history, such as Susan B. Anthony and Emma Goldman. She was doing gonzo journalism long before Hunter S. Thompson. She also took over her husband's manufacturing company after his death and became the first woman to design, manufacture and market the first successful steel barrel in the U.S. She frequently championed the underprivileged, especially if they were women or orphaned children. She had her flaws, but she commanded attention everywhere she went and became a pivotal figure in history in the early 1900s.

The Bridges of Madison County was an iconic story written by Robert Waller, however, few people know about the woman behind the story, Jana St. James. She could be the woman behind it. Maybe. Or she could be a woman who had a brief affair with Waller and wanted to capitalize on his fame. You decide.  In the story, St. James is a naive college student who meets Waller in the Student Union and starts taking guitar lessons from him. She has feelings but later discovers he is married. She details their short-lived affair in her book Memories of Madison County. Is this book total fluff? Yes, but we enjoyed picking it apart just the same. 

So, this episode is a departure from the normal biography podcast, however, trauma is a topic that affects everyone, and some might argue, a disproportionate number of women.  The book is "The Body Keeps the Score" by Bessel Van Der Kolk. And we discuss some of the interesting ways the body and mind respond to trauma. Why can you talk about trauma either very dispassionately or not at all? The brain has the answer. The body can re-experience trauma, too.  This book also goes into the long term effects of domestic violence, the 9/11 attacks and the PTSD suffered by war veterans and others. We also throw in some thoughts on handling vulnerability from Brene Brown. 

This episode is different from others. In early February, Kitty's mother passed away and her funeral was held on Valentine's Day. In this podcast, we talk about Kitty's mom, how it feels to lose a parent (or two) and lots of other things like funeral food, disappointing eulogies and childhood trauma (more on that in the next episode). If you have thoughts on grief or losing a parent or general well wishes, feel free to leave them on our social media. Also, visit our website for a lovely "eulogy" Kitty wrote about her mother. These words could have been said at her funeral, and though they weren't, those who knew her felt all of this and more in their hearts.

Virginia Hall might be the most badass lady you've never heard of. This episode covers her story as it was told in The Wolves at the Door by Judith Pearson. Hall grew up hunting and farming in the Maryland countryside but dreamed of working in the foreign service. In her 20s, while on a hunting trip with friends, she suffered the loss of her lower leg when her gun went off and fired into her foot at point blank range.  She survived and walked with a prosthetic leg, which she named Cuthbert, for the rest of her life. She went on to serve in the war effort in France as an stick shift ambulance driver, driving wounded soldiers in from the battlefields. After that, she decided to link up with the Britain's Special Operations Executive to learn all about espionage -- James Bond style. She served in France for 13 months and eventually became known to the Germans as the "limping lady."  Her cover almost blown, she narrowly escaped France and certain death at the hands of Klaus Barbie, the butcher of Lyon, by walking over the Pyrenees mountains into Spain. After a cooling off period in England where she learned to operate a radio, she returned to France to help orchestrate guerrilla warfare tactics and covert operations to sabotage train tracks and other vital supply lines for the Germans in advance of D-Day.  She was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross, the only one given to a civilian woman in WWII. She was named an honorary member of the Order of the British Empire and given the Croix de Guerre in France. 

You're so vain. I bet you think this podcast's about you. Don't you? Well, if you're Carly Simon, it IS about you. This episode covers her autobiography Boys in the Trees and tells about her childhood, her stuttering issues, her marriage to James Taylor and her rise to music stardom. She even covers who the song was actually about. Sort of. Carly Simon was the daughter of the Simon half of publishing company Simon and Schuster. Her father was a classical pianist who had a rocky relationship with her mother. At a young age, Carly started stuttering and soon found that singing was a way to mitigate the effects of her speech impediment. She and her sister Lucy eventually started a group together, but Carly later found success as a solo artist. With the song “Let the River Run,” Simon became the first artist to win a Grammy Award, Academy Award and Golden Globe for a song composed and written and performed by a single artist. We admire Simon for turning her weaknesses into strengths. Her whole autobiography had a “be who you are and don't care what anyone thinks” vibe. We can totally dig it.

At the end of everything, could you honestly say you lived your life with no regrets? Edith Piaf could. The French singer was known for her talent, her passion and her way with men. In this week's episode, we talk about her biography, No Regrets, and her unusual childhood. Piaf was raised by a father who performed in the circus, her self-absorbed mother and her dutiful but distant grandmother. She spent her life searching for the love her childhood lacked. She always found it on the stage and sometimes found it in the arms of men. Many, many men. We lost count. The movie La Vie en Rose was based on her life and was the title of one of her most famous songs. Piaf struggled with excess. She frequently used alcohol, drugs and people to escape the darker sides of her personality. Her spirit never died, but before she turned 50, her body could no longer contain it and she passed away in 1963. The funeral procession and throngs of mourners stopped traffic in France. Not since World War II had that happened. The subject matter in this episode was a little bleak, we'll admit. But we livened it up as much as possible with references to Lyle Lovett, trying to figure out the time difference between Germany and France as, as always, references to Flight of the Conchords.

In this week's episode, we interview two shrews! A few moons ago, two self-named shrews consulted the googles to see if others like them existed, and lo and behold, they came upon our podcast. The shrews are Elizabeth Paulson and Stephanie Higgs of Two Shrews Press. They're two women who left the world of corporate publishing to start their own company, and they even have a book out right now, The First Winter.  Luckily for us, these two shrews reached out and made our acquaintance. We were instantly smitten by their mission and knew they had to be on the podcast! They sent us a copy of The First Winter to read, and we interviewed them from their respective homes in Green Bay and New York. We talk about how they became shrews, why they started their own company and how their friendship is just like ours. On their site is the quote from Ruth Bader Ginsburg, “Never underestimate the power of a girl with a book.” And with The First Winter, they take that idea a step further by putting girls IN a book. The First Winter collects the thoughts of Somali teenage girls living in the United States as refugees. The girls write about their faith, being teenagers, learning to live in a new country, hot Cheetos, and missing home. Their stories are real and painful and charming and remind us of the awkwardness and grace of being a teenage girl. We're so excited to share this episode with you!      

In this week's episode, we tell the story of Aimee Dubucq de Rivery and Rose Tascher de La Pagerie, two women from the island of Martinique who would become the "power behind the throne" in two of the world's greatest empires.  The story by Zia Wesley, starts with The Stolen Girl and one night when two young girls quietly visited a Creole seer in the middle of the night and hear their destiny foretold. One would be captured by corsairs and sold into a seraglio (a harem). From this position, her son would go on to rule an empire. The other cousin would marry, then become a widow, and then marry a young man who would become a world conqueror. Guess who.  The two-book series was a riveting read, and in this episode we decided history class should definitely include more sex because it made this story far more interesting. It's a tale of intrigue, murder, eunuchs, royalty, the dance of the seven veils and pomegranate sorbets.  Plus, everything seemed to remind us of a song, "St. Elmo's Fire" makes an appearance. And we dare you to listen to this without suddenly singing Istanbul and Constantinople. Is it in your head already? Called it. We hope you enjoy this episode and sing along with us!

Niki de Saint Phalle was a French-American painter and sculptor. She suffered from a traumatic childhood and turned to art in her later years to express her pain and to bring joy to others. She is most well-known for her Nanas, large sculptures of animals, monsters or feminine figures.  She spent more than 70 years on this earth, which is a lot of ground to cover. This episode of the podcast focuses on her biography, Harry and Me: The Family Years, where she talks about her life as a wife and young mother to two small children. Niki's creations are colorful and experimental and often marry words and images together in mixed media. She had no formal training in art, which we think means her creations came straight out of her soul.  We hope you enjoy this introduction to an artist many in America have not yet discovered. 

Famed actress Lauren Bacall was not just another pretty face. She was a founding member of the original rat pack, for God's sake. As an actress and model in the 1940s, she somehow navigated the world of male directors, actors and producers with humor, grace and aplomb. She did that by focusing on her work and learning from her rock of a husband, Humphrey Bogart. In this episode, we discuss her biography, By Myself and Then Some. She recalls her early time trying to get bit roles in the theaters of New York as a budding actress and then finally getting her big break on the cover of Harper's Bazaar and then a starring role opposite Bogart in To Have and To Have Not. After that, she pretty much never stopped working. For proof, check out her miles-long IMDB listing.  We hope you enjoy this episode and our spontaneous, emotional outbursts. Spoiler alert: There may be crying. 

In this episode, we read the autobiography of doctor Qanta Ahmed, an American-born doctor and Muslim who traveled to Saudi Arabia and tried to make sense of the culture and navigate Sharia law. The book is In the Land of Invisible Women: A Female Doctor's Journey in the Saudi Kingdom. Ahmed's time in Saudi Arabia spans late 90s and early 2000s, and she was living there during the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Once she arrived in the country, Ahmed bought her first hijab and other full veils and worked to integrate herself into her surroundings. She even took a pilgrimage to Mecca one year. Ahmed is shocked by what she finds in the Saudi Arabia but also oddly comforted by some of the daily rituals and the journey to Mecca. Though she never completely accepts with the rules, she finds peace and tenderness in the people and places. We learned so much while reading and discussing this book, and we hope you do, too!

Have you heard of Louise Thaden? We hadn't either, but she was out here breaking records as a female pilot in the 1920s. Yes, she knew Amelia Earhart. They were friends, but Louise was the first and only pilot to hold the women's records for speed, altitude and solo endurance — all at the same time. She beat Amelia and other female competitors in the first all-women's transcontinental race, and in 1936, she and her co-pilot became the first women to win the Bendix Transcontinental Air Race, in one of the first years it was open to female competitors.  Basically, she dominated her field. But she did it with grace and diplomacy. This week, we read and discuss her memoirs, High, Wide and Frightened, and then talk about her many notable accomplishments and why she's so dang inspirational.     

This episode focuses on opera producer Sarah Caldwell, a conductor, impresario and stage director from Arkansas. The book is called Challenges: A Memoir of My Life in Opera, and by Caldwell, with contributions by Rebecca Matlock. The book tells how Caldwell worked to make opera performances come alive in ways no one had tried before. She was known to add live animals and water features to performances. She also traveled to the country of the opera's origin to conduct research and gather the sights and sounds of the area to make her performances as true to life as possible for audiences. Along the way, she met dignitaries and even had a reporter from Time magazine tag along on one of these research excursions. In addition, the Library of Congress assisted her during research of ancient China. She even befriended Imelda Marcos along the way and was burned in effigy alongside her. So, yeah. If you haven't gathered already, Sarah Caldwell was a strong-willed, opinionated and interesting lady. We cover some things about her work and her life in this week's episode.

Our first biography of Season Two focuses on poet Edna St. Vincent Millay. She won the Pulitzer Prize for her poem, "The Ballad of the Harp Weaver" and you might also recognize her famous poem "First Fig," which goes like this: My candle burns at both ends;    It will not last the night; But ah, my foes, and oh, my friends—    It gives a lovely light! We confess we didn't know much about Millay before beginning this biography called Savage Beauty by Nancy Milford, but we left fully inspired by her. She's a lady who worshipped nature, self-expression and rebellion and who never knew the meaning of "Imposter Syndrome." She was a natural writer, a compelling orator and a powerful figure in our nation's literary history. In this episode, you'll also learn a bit about us -- some might say too much -- as we scavenge the kitchen for chocolate and argue about when it's appropriate to fart in a relationship. Enjoy!

Just like when your favorite TV show returns, we start the second season of our podcast by recapping the first. We give some updates on our life, talk about summer break and take a trip down memory lane to review some of our favorite moments from Season 1. We also give some hints about what to expect in Season 2! Check out our website for the full Season 1 setlist.

This episode falls neatly between Easter and Mother's Day, and for this one, it gets personal. Yes, we usually talk about notable women, but today we're focusing on the OGs -- original grandmothers -- who shaped us. We're discussing the generations of ladies -- great-grandmothers and aunts and mothers who have led by example and inspired us to be the women we are today. So, we answer a few questions about the best and worst advice our moms ever gave, our favorite memories and some of the other strong-ass maternal influences in our lives. We hope you enjoy!

They say the way to a man's heart is through food, but love food is not just for dudes. This week's book, by Elizabeth Bard, combines French food and romance in a such a delicious way, our stomachs went all heart-eyes emoji. The book is Lunch in Paris, A Love Story with Recipes. We work our way through this endearing story talking about our favorite comfort foods, love and sex — not necessarily in that order. Bard is an American journalist who met her future husband in France. She tells the story of how they fell in love with each other and how she learned to love her new home country. She also shares a few of her favorite recipes. While in France, she learned sometimes you win, sometimes you lose and sometimes you take your anger out on hapless vegetables and make French onion soup. In this episode, we learned a few things about French culture — are the French really terrible at improv? And tackles stereotypes — are women who love food better at sex? *Cue the Flashdance lobster-eating scene* And can you fall in love over a plate of sausage? Come along with us as we find out.

One normal thing about being human is we all have a body to get us from place to place. But they're all so different. This would be fine if things like body shaming and bullying didn't exist. But unfortunately, they do. Though we all suffer, it seems like it's especially difficult for women to learn to love their bodies in a world where they are constantly scrutinized and criticized. This is why this week's episode focuses on the book Fat Girl Walking: Sex, Food, Love and Being Comfortable in Your Skin... Every Inch of It by Brittany Gibbons. She's also the hilarious voice behind the website BrittanyHerself.com. We discuss her childhood, becoming a mom, revealing herself to the world and learning to accept and love her own body.  This book is a must-read for anyone who has struggled with body image, and in this episode, we dive into our own struggles and come out on the other side ... relatively unscathed. 

woman with an amazing life story that included five husbands and loads of wealth. The book is An American Princess: The Many Lives of Allene Tew. Her story weaves its way through American history with themes of class conflict, love, business savvy, tragedy, divorce, gambling, suicide, and five whole marriages. We even talk about more than a few yachts or "yatches" because that's the new way to say it as well as how to camouflage your poodle. We hope you enjoy it as much as we did. 

For part two of the Women of the White House series, we continue to focus on the women behind the men of the presidency with discussions of Jackie Kennedy and Mamie Eisenhower. The book is Upstairs at the White House, written by J. B. West, a White House usher through several presidential administrations starting with the Roosevelts in 1941. This book had so much great information, we had to split the discussion in to two parts. The first part featured Eleanor Roosevelt and Bess Truman, while this segment covers the Kennedys and Eisenhowers. We are so excited to share what we learned here, and we hope you love it, too.

As we head into Presidents' Day, we focus on the women behind the men in our latest episode. The book on tap is Upstairs at the White House, written by J. B. West, a White House usher through several presidential administrations starting with the Roosevelts in 1941. This book had so much great information, we had to split the discussion in to two parts. The first part features Eleanor Roosevelt and Bess Truman. The next episodes will cover Jackie O, Mamie Eisenhower and Ladybird Johnson. We are so excited to share what we learned here, and we hope you love it, too.

This episode tells the story of Elizebeth Smith Friedman, one of America's first codebreakers. She and her husband, William Friedman, unwittingly became pioneers in the age of intercepted messages and unraveling the secrets of your enemies. The book, The Woman Who Smashed Codes, by Jason Fagone, walks us through how these two young people were introduced to codebreaking, ciphers and the world of hidden messages before World War I. And once they learned the patterns behind codebreaking, their services became indispensable to defeating the Nazis in World War II. You may not have heard of them, but their tireless work behind the scenes, magically turning indecipherable jumbles of letters into critical Allied intelligence, changed the course of history. We hope you enjoy this episode.

In honor of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, we discuss the book, My Life, My Love, My Legacy: Coretta Scott King. In this book, Coretta tells the story of meeting and falling in love with Martin, feeling called to the Civil Rights Movement, turning from pacifism to non-violence, and her lifetime of promoting equality for all. From her childhood in the early 1900s in Alabama, she suffered from the racist actions of those around her. She faced destruction of her home, death threats and harassment and watched those around her endure the same. She met Martin and fell in love, and together they marched, conducted sit-ins, and organized bus boycotts to bring about momentous change in the South.  She and Martin championed what they called, "The Beloved Community," which would bring people together and cause ripples throughout the country and beyond. After Martin's death, she continued to fight for equality. Her tireless efforts and determination led to the federal government approving the creation of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday we celebrate each January. We were so inspired by her story, and we hope you enjoy this episode.

But this episode is not about Angela. It's about his wife, Leah Remini, who wrote an autobiography about her life and her time in the Church of Scientology. Along the way, she meets A Man Named Angelo (but we called him Angela on accident and it really stuck) and he eventually is her husband. In her book, Troublemaker: Surviving Hollywood and Scientology, Leah talks about her career as an actress, starting in the church and how she became a "Suppressive Person" who decided to leave the church with her family.  Come along with us as we tell this intriguing tale of religion, money, fame, and the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria.  

For this episode, Kitty and Ellie crack open a bottle of bona fide champagne from France to tell the story of Veuve Clicquot.  In French, "veuve" means "widow," and Clicquot was the married name of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin who would become a well-known name in the world of champagne. She was a pioneering woman who took risks, invented a new way of bottling and consistently kept her competitors, including Moet & Chandon, wondering how she did it.  She was pragmatic, a single mother, and left a legacy for her family to enjoy for centuries after. So, we're popping a bottle of her demi-sec champagne, telling her story and toasting to her success. 

In our latest episode, we swing through the New York years with beat poet Diane di Prima. Her life has spanned multiple biographies, and this one focuses on her childhood, college and early adulthood in New York. She was a poet, and from an early age, she knowed it. The book is called Recollections of My Life as a Woman: The New York Years and tackles such themes as beauty, femininity, psychic power, family bonds, abuse, and love. Along the way, she met figures like Ezra Pound, Audre Lorde, Jack Kerouac, painter Raphael Soyer, Allen Ginsberg and more. At least, those are just some of the names that got dropped in this podcast. She was part of a movement, and though it's hard to realize you're in a movement until it's over, she was fully aware. Her writing is engaging, and her mind is admirable. We hope you enjoy this episode.

This week's episode tackles racism and its history in America with Michele Norris' autobiography, The Grace of Silence. She discusses her family's struggles with racism in Alabama and Minnesota, and her quest to find the policeman who shot her father in the leg when he was a young man. Her journey takes us through history, and we face some hard truths about America and its past. Her autobiography was meant to spark a discussion. We hope this podcast makes our listeners think and start discussions of their own.

Some of the titles bestowed upon Zelda Fitzgerald: socialite, flapper, author, crazy wife of Scott Fitzgerald.  This week, we pick apart some of those titles as we delve into the life of Zelda. Our main source is Z: A Novel of Zelda Fitzgerald by Therese Anne Fowler. The book is a fictionalized account of Zelda's life based on extensive research of her books, letters and other known facts about her.

This week, Kitty takes us through the life of an original trailblazer, Mildred Burke. She may not be a household name, but she helped pave the way for women in sports. The book that inspired this episode was Jeff Leen's, The Queen of the Ring: Sex, Muscles, Diamonds and the Making of an American Legend. Mildred became devoted to wrestling from an early age, and even had a natural talent for the sport, but had to sacrifice much to pursue her passion. She was a woman ahead of time, trying desperately to forge a path in a sport and a world dominated by men. She stayed strong and ultimately became a national champion, but at what cost?

In this episode, we interview an original G.L.O.W. cast member, Godiva! She talks about being the British Bombshell, the character Britannica is loosely based on. She gives us a little behind-the-scenes take on the show based on her life and discusses being a woman in a male-dominated sport. We also managed to make a few parallels between wrestling and roller derby.  

Raye Montague is credited with the first computer-generated rough draft of a U.S. naval ship. She was an engineer and graphics design trailblazer for the U.S. Navy and was a “hidden figure” in science and computing. Her work ultimately saved time and millions of federal tax dollars. She was recently inducted into the Arkansas Women's Hall of Fame, and we discuss her amazing story in this week's podcast. 

In our second full-length episode, the book, "I Hear She's a Real Bitch" by Jenn Agg is up for discussion. Her memoir details the issues faced in the culinary world by women. At times irreverent, Ellie and Kitty get to talk food, restaurants, sex and power. Also, the thoughts and opinions in this episode are our own and no one else's. We may speak candidly about topics here, but we firmly believe in equality and that consent goes both ways.

A quick intro to learn more about us, and the thinking behind the Two Shrews podcast.

In this episode, we discuss the book, How to be a Woman by Caitlin Moran, and cover such topics as first periods, childbearing, men, what to name your lady parts and more! Not for the faint of heart or dads. This is one of our first episodes, and we hope you like it!