Podcasts about aunt jane

The complete audiobook is available for purchase at Audible.com: https://www.audible.com/pd/Lavender-and-Old-Lace-Audiobook/B0DM9P2TC6 Lavender and Old Lace By Myrtle Reed Narrated by Martha H. Weller In Lavender and Old Lace, we are presented with a poignant and humorous tale of four romances along with dashes of mystery and even a touch of the supernatural. Ruth Thorne, a newspaper reporter in the city, comes to stay in the home of Jane Hathaway, an aunt whom she has never met. Aunt Jane is on a trip abroad but instructs Ruth via a letter to place a lantern in the attic window each night. No one knows why. A fellow reporter, Carl Winfield, is suffering from eye problems and has been sent to the same small town. Ruth and Carl are thrown together through a recommendation from Ruth's boss and a gentle then passionate courtship ensues. In comic parallel, the maid Hepsey and the town carriage driver Joe pursue their own romance. Meanwhile, Aunt Jane is briefly missing from the organized trip abroad and when she abruptly returns to her home—well, that's a revelation and another romance! Hepsey provides a clue to the mysteries by mentioning Aunt Jane's friendship with Miss Ainslie, a woman much beloved by the villagers and yet considered somewhat crazy. Her story and lost love holds the key to understanding everything!

Bible Reading: Romans 5:6-8; Ephesians 4:20–5:2"Isaac, I need you to go to Aunt Jane's house and give her this book. She needs it for her class tonight." Isaac groaned. He used to like walking to Aunt Jane's house. But now mean Mr. Tindall spent a lot of time in his yard, and he always scowled at Isaac. And recently a new family moved into the neighborhood, and they had a gigantic, growly dog. Isaac usually liked dogs--but not this one.Mom seemed to sense Isaac's thoughts and looked out the window. "No dogs in sight, Isaac. And give Mr. Tindall a chance."Isaac took the book and started up the sidewalk, but sure enough, the growly dog bounded down the driveway. Isaac took off as quickly as he could."What's wrong, Isaac?" Aunt Jane asked when he shot through the door."That--that--dog!" Isaac could hardly breathe. "He's mean!""That's Riley," said Aunt Jane. "He just looks mean. Wait! I have an idea." She went to the kitchen and came back with a handful of dog biscuits. "Here, take some dog biscuits, and when Riley runs out, throw them to him!"Isaac took the biscuits and headed home. Sure enough, the growly dog came running down the driveway. "Here, Riley," Isaac called and tossed him the biscuits. Riley happily chomped away and Isaac hurried the rest of the way home, not even noticing Mr. Tindall's scowl as he walked by."Everything go okay?" Mom asked Isaac when he got home."I guess," said Isaac. "I gave Riley some dog biscuits, so he wasn't growly.""Hmm," said Mom. "Maybe you should try that with Mr. Tindall." "Throw Mr. Tindall dog biscuits?" Isaac asked. "Oh, wait--you mean that maybe if I did something nice for Mr. Tindall, he wouldn't scowl at me anymore." "Exactly," said Mom. "But even if it didn't stop him from scowling, you'd be showing him the love of Jesus. He tells us to be kind to others even when they're not kind to us because He showed us that kind of love by dying for our sins when we were His enemies."The next day, Isaac went back to Aunt Jane's to get the book. But before he went, he grabbed another handful of dog biscuits--and in the other hand he carefully carried a plate of cookies for Mr. Tindall.–Linda Weddle How About You?Do you avoid certain people because you think they're mean? Have you tried showing them kindness instead? Even if they're not nice back to you right away--or ever--God says to show kindness toward everyone because He showed kindness to you by sending Jesus to die for your sins. Show kindness to others and ask God to use it to touch their hearts.Today's Key Verse:And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you. (NKJV) (Ephesians 4:32)Today's Key Thought:Show kindness to others

Matt, Thomas, and jD are joined by friend of the podcast, TV graphs own, Jamie Burwood. Before her conversation with Thomas, Matt and jD go through some Cheri Oteri trivia. Enjoy. Transcript:Track 2:[0:43] Thank you so much, Doug DeNance. It is a great pleasure to be joining you all here outside the SNL Hall of Fame. If you wouldn't mind, as you cross the threshold, please take advantage of the mat out front and wipe those feet. The SNL Hall of Fame podcast is a weekly affair where each episode we take a deep dive into the career of a former cast member, host, musical guest, or writer, and add them to the ballot for your consideration. Consideration once the nominees have been announced we turn to you the listener to vote for the most deserving and help determine who will be enshrined for perpetuity in the hall and that's how we play the game it's just that simple this week we are joined by our friend jamie burwood to discuss the bona fides of sherry o terry but before we do that we are going to talk to our friend matt ardill and matt i've got a question for you my friend.Track 3:[1:44] Are you ready because i've got two words for you sherry o terry matt what have you got well sherry o terry is five foot five foot two born september 19th 1962 in what i what appears to be a snl hotbed upper derby pennsylvania the hometown of tina fey yeah so water there yeah yeah it's just i i guess there's something about that suburban experience that uh makes you crave uh making people laugh um or at least distracting yourself from being there uh she grew up around music her father was a nashville record producer and worked at amn records before joining the groundlings she earned 92 acting credits six writing credits five producer credits and four soundtrack credits um yeah she has played everything from uh the sidekick of inspector gadget to an animated tooth fairy uh she she is one of the uh folks from snl to go on to broadway having starred in the production of Musical the Musical.Track 3:[3:06] And is a friend of Paul Reuben's, playing husband and wife on an episode of Ally McBeal. Went on to be nominated for the Best Dance Sequence at MTV's Movie Awards and the Teen Choice Award for Best Comedian. Well, that's some cool stuff so far. Anything else on Terry O'Terry? No she's kept it pretty private she's one of those uh snl folks who's gone on to uh just just uh step back and and enjoy the show well we ask you to do the same step back and enjoy the show as we head to our friend thomas senna thomas take it away, All right.Track 4:[4:17] Guys. Thank you so much. You're so excited for this episode. Hello, and welcome to the SNL Hall of Fame conversation portion of the episode. Today, I am joined by an amazing guest, a mainstay at the SNL Hall of Fame, for sure. He's been advocated for a lot of great SNL, current SNL Hall of Famers, actually. So, like, what, Will Ferrell? Jamie, how many people have you gotten into the SNL Hall of Fame? I think you're on a pretty good run. I'm trying to think. We've definitely done quite a few episodes. I'd have to look to see what the actual track record is to know the percentage. Yeah, Will Ferrell got in. Yeah, and you were on for Molly? I was on for Molly. I don't think she got in, though. Did she? Well, Molly's a new inductee. Oh, okay. In the latest. Yes. All right. So Molly got in. Christopher Walken.Track 4:[5:09] Yes, that was my episode. So you're on a pretty good hot streak. Okay, okay. I think. Nice. So I think you're the perfect person to come on and chat about Sherry O'Terry. But I'm going to formally welcome you, Jamie Burwood. Welcome back to the SNL Hall of Fame. How are you doing? How have you been? I'm doing good. It's great to be back here this summer. Yeah, just having a good start to the summer, doing some beach time coming up. But yeah, it's been great. Happy to be here. Yeah, beach time for all of us. That's what this summer is about. It's beach time 2024. So I'm glad you're partaking as well. Is there anything you'd like to plug up top before we get started here? Talking about Sherry? Yeah, I feel like TV show graphs is still my go-to account on TV.Track 4:[6:03] Twitter, Instagram, all of the places, tvshowgraphs.com. Yeah, it has the whole library of a lot of the TV-related data deep dives I've done in the past, exploring a few new topics coming up soon. So hopefully as some of the summer travel slows down, there'll be some new stuff up there soon. But yeah, otherwise I kind of have just been chilling the last few months. So enjoying the start of the summer.Track 4:[6:27] Well, I think you've earned it. Your graphs and the website, side that's like quite the rabbit hole like a true tv fan could spend a lot of time going down that rabbit hole it's pretty cool so you you deserve it any sort of break you get you definitely deserve it jamie so today our nominee like i mentioned sherry o'terry right in your will house jamie like i said you've covered the air a few times here on the snl hall of fame and of course today talking about um somebody who's beloved to us sherry o'terry uh jamie for What was it about Sherry O'Terry that may have first got your attention when you saw her? Yeah, I feel like the zaniness and how memorable her characters are. I feel like she's somebody that, in my opinion, doesn't get talked about enough. And in some ways, she is well-recognized. She has her best of collection. I feel like people do acknowledge her role in that era of SNL and just how important it is. But there's just something really captivating about her wackiness and the way that she commits to all of these characters that she does. And I think for me, that was really what drew me in. Like, there's just something about watching a sketch with her where you can't quite look away in a good way, I think.Track 4:[7:47] Yeah, no, I agree. I agree. And I think sometimes, maybe sometimes I feel like I might throw around the term underrated or underappreciated a lot. But I honestly think in Sherry's case, it fits. And I have, I guess there are theories floating out there as to why she might be underappreciated. But if you actually look at her work, look at the type of performer that she was, I do think she probably should be talked about more and be held in higher regard than she is. So I really do think there's something to that, Jamie. It's not just like throwing out there like, oh, she's a little underappreciated. Like with Sherry O'Terry, I truly, truly think she is. So neither of us say that lightly. Absolutely. Yeah, I feel like she's somebody who...Track 4:[8:32] Just her role in that era, I hope that people recognize. And just, we've talked a little bit in the past in some of the earlier episodes, but just the role that she had in showing how funny female comedians on SNL can be. And just this willingness to go all out and commit fully. And I don't think she's the only one in her cast who does that. I feel like Molly, Will, many others embody that. But there's something to me special about Sherry in just the way that she went all in on things. And she's somebody who you could put her alongside Will Ferrell. And I would argue she doesn't get overshadowed. They match each other. And the chemistry just builds upon each other.Track 4:[9:19] And I feel like she had this knack for kind of elevating some of these sketches where she was working alongside other greats, other Hall of Famers. And she not only holds her own but just makes things so much better yeah i mean when you're trying to revive snl and we've talked about this before prior to season 21 they did almost a full house cleaning like molly was a carryover norm was a carryover there may be a few care but it was pretty much cleaning house from season 20 to season 21 and sherry i always thought crucial like almost a performer like that's necessary for the revival remind people just like how just how much that season 21 cast just revived this show yeah absolutely i feel like it was just a shift in a different kind of comedy at a time where the show really needed it right like it was away from that kind of like meaner vibe which had its time and place on the show but i feel like there were just aspects that were starting to feel a little bit tired, starting to feel not really keeping up with what people wanted to see. And I feel like the tone of the show really shifted into this very, like.Track 4:[10:40] Character centric we got lots of the great greatest of all time in my opinion recurring sketches recurring characters in this era and i feel like sherry in particular really embodied that kind of character actress character comedian and just not being afraid to be be silly and people responded to that really well i think and i think that was a big part of why why that era is remembered so fondly yeah i think it toward the end there it got exhausting just like there's a lot of that mean comedy a lot of the bad boy quote-unquote stuff and then we entered a stage you're right of like character driven a lot of goofy like a lot of goofball kind of comedy was very refreshing and sherry was such such a vital part of that as far as her path to snl cliff's notes not a ton honestly sherry seems a little private uh not a ton of known about her personal life she's from philadelphia the philadelphia area moved to la in her 20s she's a groundling so she did a lot of quality sketch training before starting at snl her audition was really great i don't know if you had a chance to see it it's on youtube uh so i encourage everyone to check that out but the her audition was like eight minutes and and what she showed in her audition she did three characters that ended up on the show but right away you can see like why Lorne and everybody else who saw that edition were like, we got to have Sherry. So I don't know, Jamie, if you've ever seen the audition. I haven't.Track 4:[12:08] Yeah, I do like them. I haven't watched hers. If I haven't, it's definitely been a while, so I'll have to go back and do that. Yeah, it's really fun. So she had a great audition. You could see why she got chosen for the cast. So she starts off 1995, season 21, Sherry O'Terry, Will Ferrell, the rest of the crew. So I want to get into it. like.Track 4:[12:30] What characters or sketches, Jamie, do you go to when you think about Sherry O'Terry? Yeah, so let me talk about a few characters because I feel like, honestly, most of my favorite Sherry sketches are around some of her well-known characters. And there are a few that are not, which we can talk about, too. But I feel like for me, a few of the ones that stand out, Rita Delvecchio, that like grouchy Philadelphia is the vibe woman who just is, I don't know if mean is the right word, but just that typical like kind of street smart lady.Track 4:[13:11] She's kind of like a little grumpy, but she's pretty likable at the same time. She's kind of that old lady who does who's like no nonsense she doesn't take any crap from the name especially the neighborhood kids i'm going on the porch for five minutes a piece the first one who calls me gets my slipper okay you kids got the whole street to play ball on but you're gonna play in front of my house that's okay because i keep it now okay i keep it it's mine now all right have your mother come get it i hear you smart ass but there's something very likable about her jamie like it's almost do you get the sense when you watch her do rita del vacchio that it's like a one-woman play it is i just for some for some reason that character in particular and like she does all sorts of different brands of like out there characters but for some reason like that what i just feel like is a connection and just work she does it so well and And the writing in most of the ones that she's done for her, I feel like, have been really solid. I feel like they tend to incorporate the host in a really fun way. Just kind of showing her amidst the neighborhood, I feel like.Track 4:[14:23] You then see kind of the host pop up and either like the neighbor or a kid or like all of these different like characters amidst her life. And it always just like feels really natural. Like I'm always happy when one of those sketches pops up in an episode. I'm like, Oh, we get to spend some time with Rhea. This is great. Yeah, no, it's amazing world building. And sometimes you're right. They'll, they'll work in the host and everything. And every now and then a character will come by a lot of times. It's just her standing there a lot of times by her front door, just like yelling at a neighbor. And she's and sherry's doing this such a good job of filling in the other person's dialogue there so it's just her on the screen but she's doing such a good job of making it a conversation.Track 4:[15:04] That only on screen only she's taking part in like she's so skilled at that and the whole role building this is something that she auditioned with she had this character sherry started building this whole world uh at the groundlings that that's just such a testament to her her talents is like a creative mind i think absolutely yeah i love the one with the the screen door and like the kids who are coming up to the screen door repeatedly that one always sticks sticks with me for some reason and you're right that is another example where it's like yes you have kids coming up to the door but she is like owning the comedy in each of those scenes and is having her like wild reactions to each one of those people coming up so completely yeah yeah and And she even made, in that particular installment, she even made kind of a boring host, Steve Forbes, like a very boring host. She actually made him, incorporated him really well into the sketch. She ended up stealing one of the kids' money that was coming up to take donations. She ended up taking the money and all of that. Yeah, that was a really great one with Steve Forbes. She puts a lot of love into that character. I think that's a great first choice.Track 4:[16:08] Yeah, she definitely does. And then I feel like for my second choice, and there's so many. But I just love Nadine and in terms of like when I was in high school and this era was I was in high school in the early 2000s ish so right around this era um there the whole like Simadown now, catchphrase was huge like I just remember friends I don't even know like when people first started saying it. I don't even think I really realized where it was coming from. And just like people embodying this character that she did on SNL only to like later recognize that connection. Excuse me, excuse me. My husband's been in a motorcycle accident. I think he broke his wrist. Yeah, I can't move it. It's swelling up really badly. Okay, everybody simmer down now.Track 4:[17:06] Listen, I would love to simmer down now, but you see my wrist is shattered. So I would encourage I encourage you to admit me now. Sir, your sass is unappreciated here. So before your obelisk becomes shattered, I suggest you fill out these forms and have a seat and then simmer down. That's correct. I love all of the Nadine sketches. I feel like the one with Garth Brooks is probably my favorite, like returning things at the desk there for the name of the store. But to me, that's a classic one and just, it's so fun. It's so fun. Yeah, yeah, I love it. You're right. That whole, the Simudan now, like just totally spread like wildfire. Always like people used to always do the impression where she's trying to start the car. Yes.Track 4:[17:59] Yeah, like, and then it goes Simudan. Yeah, there's all kinds of like different ways you could say Simudan now if you want to get creative. That definitely stuck. She only did it three times. Yep. And it caught on so well. Yeah, I also love the line, like Donna Summer and how does her name appear in the phone book, like Summer, Donna, like that, that to me is just great, great writing, great delivery, so much. Yeah, all those strained ways to make the connection to Simma down now. I love it.Track 4:[18:30] There's two, Jamie, that kind of when I think of Sherry O'Terry, I really connect with. And I'm going to talk about the one that she did the most, Barbara Walters. Yeah. She did that one 21 times, I think, last summer when the SNN, our friends at the SNN, did their character countdown. I believe Barbara Walters ended up on the list for good reason. I think that this is her best character. And something that Sherry said that she worked really hard at, she studied Barbara Walters quite a bit when she found out she was doing this. And there's been Barbara Walters impressions done on the show before. I think this is the quintessential one. What do you what do you say about her Barbara Walters? It's so good and like I Have heard that Sherry somebody who's nervous about like the impression aspect of the show coming in right and it's Not necessarily what you like maybe think of right away with her But this is I agree one of the all-time best things that she did over her time in the show I feel like it's a perfect example to me of an impression that like I.Track 4:[19:36] Is very, like, draws from the real person very well, but then also, like, plays things up in a way that gives it a life of its own so that it's not just, like, purely a copycat, but, like, becomes funny in its own right. Fidel Castro and I were roommates my freshman year in college. And girlfriends, let me tell you, he may be brilliant, he may be stubborn, but what I remember most is that he had some funky B.O. Whenever I see Fidel Castro, I just think he looks like an extra from MASH. I mean, you know what I mean? With that hat. Don't look at me.Track 4:[20:17] I just love any of the like VIEW segments where she popped up. I feel like those were always just a good time and just like meant for comedy, meant for parody. It was great. Yeah, I loved the VIEW one specifically when she would get mad at Debbie Martinopoulos. And she would do things like she one time she told her to go get in the cage that was a classic moment for me when she's like enough she's like go get get in the cage go now and then debbie monotonopoulos would just go do it and and this is just how she would kind of erupt at her you that was so funny and then she would uh reference like casually spending time with famous people and historical figures like i was in the hot tub with fidel castro when i found out that or just like the name dropping is wonderful.Track 4:[21:05] This Barbara Walters was one that could be used in so many different settings, Jamie. I give points for that. If you develop a character or do an impression, and it could be used on a talk show or weekend update, or this is such a versatile character.Track 4:[21:20] I agree. And again, it speaks to the theme of when she pops up and you're excited to see that character. And i think it's one that i don't think anyone could really get sick of or maybe somebody could but i certainly did not get sick of this one ever like i could see this every episode in her era and be happy with that yeah so this might be like if i was going to show one person an example of why i love sherry it might actually be her barbara walters like like this one makes me so happy for sure like amongst many that make me so happy and i'm sure that make you so happy you know like what what's what what's another character that people just can't miss for sherry yeah i feel like colette reardon is one that we should talk about the prescription pill addict lipstick smeared on the face and this is true for a lot of sherry's characters but i feel like there's just like an aesthetic to like the character she commits to and like a lot of times in similar outfits, makeup, just like you, you see that person and you're like, okay, I get what this is trying to be. And then Sherry just.Track 4:[22:36] It to to another level it's a good thing that the phone's on the fritz because sometimes i gots to shoot methadrine so i can fire up my toro leaf blower to clean my front lawn falls a bitch dick i don't care how you slice it methadrine you ever try a rake.Track 4:[22:57] Oh really any poop after five hours of methadrine fueled leaf blowing i get kind of confused and start making long distance phone calls i don't know how many of the um of the clut sketches there were i know she appeared a few times maybe on weekend update and then a few standalone sketches maybe like five okay yeah yeah yeah it felt like more honestly such a lived-in character yeah i feel like super memorable one um there was one where i.Track 4:[23:28] Feel like a phone is involved like you have pills coming out of the phone and she's trying to eat the pills which amazing physical comedy just this type of character i feel like she does really well and not in a hateful way like it's a character that you kind of have to like walk that fine line with right because it's like a little bit of a extreme scenario but you come away just being like oh my gosh this character is fabulous and and laughing all over well that's one thing that you know when i had john schneider on for the kristen wigg episode and we talked about when she would do characters uh and impressions that she didn't come at it in a mean way so we used as an example like target lady for kristen and wig that could have been done mean but you can tell there was love put into that and i think somebody like colette you know she she's whacked out on all these pills and and her hair's messed up messy lipstick she's always trying to hit on whoever and uh but like there's still an element of just like she sounds it seems like sherry has love for that character she's not trying to.Track 4:[24:36] To totally be mean to those kind of people or whatever. It's just like they almost... All of our characters almost seem likable, even as wacky as they are. That's such a gift, I think. It is. It really is. I feel like it's...Track 4:[24:51] You kind of see the other level of some of these characters and you watch them and you laugh, but you also just are like, oh, I want to spend time in this world and with this person and just see what antics they're up to. And she did that so well. Yeah, absolutely. This is one of the prime examples to me of a comparison that I've made with Sherry. Kind of think she always reminded me of Mike Myers on screen.Track 4:[25:16] Like just her energy. energy uh if she was in a sketch she was best as the the focus the focal point of the sketch she and mike both like every now and then they would kind of play the straight character the background but that's not what they did if it was a mike myers sketcher it was a sherry o'terry sketch i think or maybe she had a co-pilot and will ferrell sometimes or molly or something but she has this she had this mike myers energy about her that i see pop up in characters like Colette I don't know if I'm off base if we love to make comparisons as SNL fans but Mike Myers and Sherry Oteri was always one that that struck me yeah I can definitely see that like the the leadership in the like just like you said sure you could put her in a background role but it's it's almost a waste like you you want to see her in that that spotlight and I I feel like she has that kind of like magnetic quality yeah for sure um well what's uh what's another what's next on your list yeah i feel like we gotta talk spartan cheerleaders we talked okay during the episode but i again i feel like if you ask people on the street about sherry especially like more a casual fan or someone who.Track 4:[26:35] Maybe not like dedicated to this era as much but that, recurring sketch I feel like is just cemented into pop culture history in a really cool way and I feel like whenever I go back and watch some of these it, am impressed at just how her and Will feed off of each other. It almost feels like improv in some ways. Like, oh, yeah, as much as they're like, the writing is great, not to discount that, like, it just feels like they are in the moment just having fun as two performers, just like.Track 4:[27:11] Each going off of each other. And it, there's just an energy to these ones to me that I feel like is hard to top yeah you're right and i think no that's actually a credit to the writing that doesn't discount in any way i think paula pell who helped them write these was probably the third spartan cheerleader in these in these sketches like she did an amazing job but you're right like like uh showcasing sherry's talents unreal physical performer.Track 4:[27:36] She the way sometimes that she would just leap into will ferrell's arms and they would she would do this weird pose and or will ferrell would just like carry her around in a weird way like sherry Sherry was just fearless, such an amazing, fearless performer. I hope that when people see the cheerleader sketches, they're just not focused on Will, because Sherry's arguably topping his performance in this, honestly. I always thought Sherry was the better performer in these sketches specifically. I agree, actually. And I'm not sure how that dynamic played out in terms of, like, Like, was Will tempering in, like, letting her really be the super zany? And, I mean, he was pretty zany, too, so it's all relative. But I feel like that's the thing that surprises me the most re-watching these is, like, everyone knows, like, Will Ferrell. He's huge. He's, like, had such a big career. People think, okay, Spartan Triller is him. But you watch these and you're like, oh, my gosh, Sherry was killing it. And, again, not only, like, matching him but in some cases, like, going beyond. And that's really cool because I think, again, not everybody...Track 4:[28:46] Thinks of that but when you watch it it's there it really is oh my god ariana can you believe summer's over already i know craig i already missed my summer job at kenny rogers roasters i'm still getting the newsletter though.Track 4:[29:03] Well i'm glad my lifeguarding job is over i did not enjoy taking off my shirt no no craig tomorrow morning we are going to be real spartan cheerleaders this has got to be our year, It was an awesome idea to practice all night. Yeah, and my parents will never know I'm gone. I put my brother's blow-up doll underneath my sheets. Oh. Yeah, she would do these little things as Ariana, like, to give the character neurosis. Like, if it was a little sigh or nervous laughter or something like that, she was very expressive in her face and just the little, like, breaths that she would take. Like, something as a sketch performer, I always admire when I notice those little things, those little small beats that you know sherry thought about does naturally whatever but they're out there and uh yeah this is um if if not barbara walters maybe the cheer maybe ariana the cheerleader uh could be up there as far as like the quintessential sherry especially physically like as a physical performer i'll put ariana right up there and then one other recurring her in character that I want to make sure we talk about. And I think we only got this one a handful of times, but Althea, the little child who in one sketch is on a plane and another is on a bus, Sherry just going full-on annoying.Track 4:[30:27] Child in her layers of pink jackets and clothing and just embodying that... Hyper, chaotic, says-anything kid. I especially love the one with Chevy Chase as the pilot. I feel like to me that's the one that stands out. Dr. Burke, we're going to visit my Aunt Jane in Colorado, where it's called. My Aunt Jane has a life partner. Her name is Judy. They're not married. They're life partners. Life partners! Life partners! Althea, Althea, come on out. Watch the controls now. With my nose will any flight attendant please report to the cockpit any flight attendant please report to the cockpit run to the cockpit.Track 4:[31:21] That's the one actually uh the althea on a plane she actually auditioned with that too so that's like part of her audition really yeah she had the cap and everything like the whole the glasses like it was fully formed in the audition like it didn't seem like they changed much at all from the audition to to the air it does feel like one that like i feel like there's certain characters where they feel like okay this person like cared to develop this and it has that kind of like personal touch and i can absolutely see that with this one right it just seems like a character that she knows that she can embody very naturally um yeah this is just a really fun And I feel like, especially in the plane one with Chevy, the deadpan-ness of his character and the annoying.Track 4:[32:11] Just chattering away child of her character is just, it's such a fun, fun match and made for an awesome sketch. Yeah, for sure. and she would say things like not just weird things as a child but she would say like really precocious like things that like an adult would say or maybe she's repeating what an adult told her but but she would kind of like surprise the audience a little bit or the person she was interacting with by saying something really mature and adult like something beyond like you shouldn't know that or you shouldn't be saying that that's kind of interesting that you're saying that so i like that layer to this character it's a really fun one agreed yeah no i i feel like this is one that just feels very like true to sherry and like everything that she embodies yeah there was a uh along the lines i think of like the colette or alfea there was a one-off i don't know if you had a chance to see this one um her name's roberta it was sherry did this like in the the sixth episode of her first season. So she played somebody named Roberta and it was this dad work colleague who invited herself over to Thanksgiving dinner.Track 4:[33:22] So it was just very weird energy. She was very inappropriate. I'm surprised this actually wasn't a recurring character because this happened really early on in Sherry's career. But she just said these weird things that she thought were just normal, but everybody at the table was like, Oh my gosh, I think, I want to say Jennifer Aniston was in the sketch. But y'all should go look up Roberta because it's like a spiritual cousin to somebody like Colette or Althea or even Rita, like one of these just crazy characters. So I wanted to throw out that a one-off. Oh, that's so exciting. Are Sarah jetting off to Paris? Have you ever been to Scranton?Track 4:[34:06] Nope. Don't count it out. The beauty of the skyline alone made me do a double take. I stayed at the airport Ramada. Ooh, Ramada. It was funny because they hadn't washed the sheets. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. How is that funny? You didn't let me complete the tale. Oh, wow. The other one-off one that I love is with John Goodman playing Adele as the, like, flirty office character. Character just like basically coming in kind of dressed in her like scantily clad outfit um, saying things that are very obvious innuendo and then like going the next mile of explaining every little thing like this this one to me is just like really funny and again great great writing and like all of the different like innuendos that they throw out there, but she super committed, just like very physically on every person in the sketch. It was a fun one. Yeah. Well, this boy's got one thing in his pants that I'd like to wrap my sweaty little mitts around. I'm talking about putting my hands on your penis.Track 4:[35:33] Yes, and again, there's no confusion there. Adele, we got it. Thanks. Well, speaking of getting it, I'm gonna head over to the old icebox and get my oyster platter.Track 4:[35:48] What you looking at, fellas? this is a broke yeah she's totally owning the room in that too like like the office like she's just kind of making her way going to uh everybody i think i remember at one point she um says something suggestive to rachel dratch yes and rachel dratch is like i'm just an intern, i'm just a temp yeah why are you doing this and so yeah yeah that was a really funny one yeah that probably could have been a recurring character yeah as well i could have seen like obvious innuendo lady or yeah like in different settings like we had the office setting and put her in other like various professional worlds i feel like would have been yeah for sure uh there's what if so i i think i said something like she puts a lot of love like it doesn't seem like she, dislikes her any of her characters if there was one where she it was more so making fun of a type and maybe you could sense like there's some sort of meanness underneath the surface it was with the morning latte one yeah oh yeah we gotta talk about that yeah yeah morning latte she and will the dynamic duo again they first did this and i think in season 23 and then they just did a run of them uh famous ones with like chris farley was in a was in a really famous one just a lot of like hyper dumb energy jamie i love these ones yeah these these are great i feel like just that.Track 4:[37:14] Perfect morning talk show shtick and I know we've seen that from like a few cast members over the years but something about this one and this pairing we talked a little bit about like the improv vibe a little but I get that from this as well I'm just like two great people sitting down having fun I know Sherry has mentioned this as like one of her favorite recurring sketches at at some point and it it does just feel like fun fun riffing and just a little bit different from some of her other characters um in a way that's that's kind of fun like yeah crazy but like in a in a different way and more of that like contain talk show still weird but different kind of weird, yeah they're just so funny like they were uninformed about what was going on in the world So we're recording this the day after Joe Biden announced he was stepping down as the Democratic nominee. This is something that the morning latte people would be surprised by the following morning. Or they'd be like, did you hear that Joe Biden? They would just say it with such surprise because they don't follow the news, but they're supposed to be talking about a part of this morning show. They have terrible taste in movies. Cass, how was your weekend? Did you and Eli finally see Good Will Hunting? No, I did something even better. We saw Spice World. Ooh.Track 4:[38:41] That's supposed to be good. Frank, have you seen Spice World yet? I don't know what that is. Oh, well, I'll tell you. You know what I found myself saying after I saw this film? Move over, hard day's night. No kidding. Yes. No, I'm saying these gals are fabulous. That's what I've heard. Yeah, they have got more talent than anything out of Britain or England. Wow. Wow. Wow. Do you like when sketches have like, familiar beats within the sketch how is that for you as a viewer i i do really like that actually i feel like they're i don't know if it's like the comfort or just the style of i don't mind that at all as long as the the jokes are there to kind of hold it up still i i like that and i feel like for this one in particular there was something about that just like kind of.Track 4:[39:31] Sim like i don't know if that's the right word but just like not quite there a little bit like like you said, in their own worlds, combining that with the talk show format was enough to me. Sometimes you don't have to try to reinvent the wheel or do something crazy. It worked because the performers were great. And I think that's a testament to Sherry and to the cast. For sure. They would always involve their producer. So a lot of times the host would play. So John Goodman, Chris Farley, they would involve the producer. I love the bit where Will would say a word and sherry would interrupt him and confidently give a definition that was wrong and she would just say it so confidently like and of course that means this and then will would say no like i just i yeah i love those beats they did a perfect caricature of those cheesy morning show i was part of a morning zoo radio show so i can kind of relate a little bit to that this is something you don't think it's talked about enough and maybe within like snl fan community sure but like i I feel like there needs to be just, like, a giant reel of all of these, like, just great quotes and great moments from this. I feel like it holds up. And sure, some of the pop culture stuff is very much a relic of the time, but the jokes and the...Track 4:[40:48] Dim-wittedness of these characters and how funny that can be i think does really hold up yeah yeah absolutely go back and like deep dive like binge on these morning lattes i found some on tiktok so i googled search and then they came up on tiktok a lot i've been seeing that more and more for snl clips like and i'm i'm not a big tiktoker but i am like okay this is this is kind of refreshing to me that like that's out there in another way for people to kind of discover moments from the show's years past. Yeah, I don't know the TikToks very well, but if they have a lot of SNL sketches, I'll probably visit a lot more. Yeah.Track 4:[41:26] She did another, we talked about the Barbara Walters impression. She did another impression that really stood out to me, but I want to give the floor to you. I want to see if our brains align with maybe the next one that's on your mind. I'm just kind of curious. A little experiment here, Jamie. So what do you got for us next? Yeah. Yeah, I mean, my, this one's probably going to be, I think the only other one I had for a recurring that I definitely wanted to talk about was Zimmerman's. Okay. I don't think that's what yours is, because you were saying yours is an impression, right? Yeah, exactly. But I want to hear your thoughts on the Zimmerman's, though. Oh, I mean, the Zimmerman's, gosh, so, so fun. So we have her and Chris Kattan as this like super always breaking out into very inappropriate over-the-top sexual moments and just like can't keep their hands off of each other and, these are just so funny to me like going from the like sexually charged madness to nothingness and to often like blaming the other person in the room like the other couple or whoever else is around in the sketch for like, oh, you guys are inappropriate, or oh, how dare you, like, I feel like that, that in some cases was like the, the conclusion, but the...Track 4:[42:46] Just these moments of like kind of like one upmanship of the just how over the top like sexual energy how much they can bring to the table was just so genius so fun to watch and to re-watch like i feel like if folks haven't revisited these in a while they to me really hold up in terms of the the physical comedy and like just some of the moments and just how some stuff that i'm actually like okay you got that on on tv i know obviously it's late at night and that's the business of snl but um yeah some pretty like vulgar stuff i feel like they got in there which which was fun they did i know it was pretty risque and chris katan's a cast member who i've had a mixed kind of relationship as a viewer with i wasn't always the biggest chris katan fan but i think sherry brought some good parts of chris katan out in these sketches they have a a similar energy so i can see how their kind of energies play off each other well even though i think i really think sherry's a much better sketch performer than chris katan had better snl career but i think she brought out the good parts of chris katan yeah in these that's why i do like watching these agreed yeah i feel like that was a pairing that i enjoyed.Track 4:[43:58] Seeing and i have a similar kind of thing with chris katan of like different doses or different moments is like the right amount for me but i do feel like there's a little bit of a a parallel to me i do hear them sometimes get talked about in like similar conversations and just as some parallels i think with with the roles they played um and just their like relationship with the show itself but this one to me is just like taking those parallels and.Track 4:[44:29] Like putting it to good use because there could be a world where and sometimes this did happen like both of them was too much for one sketch but this is like you're pairing them romantically and like telling them to just go all at it and have fun with it and it it works yeah no i completely agree this is worth a deep dive for a lot of snl fans this is fun a fun revisit and it captures the era a lot because we were talking about like goofball sketches coming off the heels of of not so goofball maybe more mean stuff like yeah so this is like a good example of kind of that goofball energy she did an impression that.Track 4:[45:05] Judge judy oh yeah yeah i really really love she played judge judy like perfectly no nonsense tough lady um fun interplay between her and tracy morgan as the bailiff uh so i really enjoyed her judge duty judy i thought it did great justice to the real judge judy hey hey hey hey look at me look at me i'll take a pig to the butcher when i want to eat baloney. Got it? Hey, got me? Hot judge, cold cuts. All right, Miss Diamond, what sort of training do you have? What's your background as a clown? I never took no courses, but my mother really encouraged me. Whenever the circus came to town, she would drop me off and leave me there for a few days.Track 4:[45:49] Did your mother teach you how to make those disgusting animal balloons? No, they are my own design, tight ass. Hey, hey, hey, hey. Hey i'm the only tight ass in this courtroom it's right here right here okay yeah i gotta go back in and watch because that's what i i didn't watch for my my rewatch here but i remember yeah from from years past so um yeah if that one is available easily i'll i'll revisit that one again i think that a lot of them are on tiktok so like just the little beats like she came up with little sayings that were funny she would say things like i'll take a pig to the butcher or when I want to eat bologna or I'll grind the organ when I want the monkey to dance and just like these little Judge Judy-isms. Judge Judy actually came on as herself one time and I thought that was pretty fun. Like sometimes I'm hit or miss on like when the actual person comes on. But I think Sherry...Track 4:[46:43] Sherry reacted pretty funny to the real Judge Judy. And she kind of interjected sometimes. And Judge Judy would tell her to go away. And so I thought that was fun. So I think Judge Judy, she did about five of them. I think so. So I think it's worth a revisit for Sherry O'Terry. Another really good impression, I think, Judge Judy. So Jamie, post-SNL, Sherry O'Terry. So not a ton. So she did guest appearances here and there. She was in Shrek the Third, Grown Ups 2. who I'm a big Curb Your Enthusiasm fan, so she was in a memorable episode of Curb for me. A lot of voice acting for animated shows. She was in Scary Movie, the first one, but she never found a project to lead. So do you think it was like a missed opportunity by studios or did something about her style not translate post-SNL? Yeah, it's an interesting one. I feel like her comedy on the show was very much going all in on these zany wacky characters and I could see that leading to a situation of how do we actually take this and put this in more of a film or TV, outside of sketch comedy role I think that, is part of it I know she's talked a little bit about how she.Track 4:[48:02] On SNL it was about comedy first as opposed to like acting outside of sketch comedy and how people have a tendency to kind of like then put you in that lane and i i think that that may be part of it she's someone who like when she does pop up though i always really enjoy seeing her and like curb is a perfect example she's great on that um she had a guest star yeah exactly yeah she popped in on crazy ex-girlfriend which is one of my my favorite shows like was was happy to see her there um so I I'm okay with that and I don't know what like her goals are like what she wants or wanted from her career but I am okay that some cast members aren't like.Track 4:[48:51] Blockbuster every month kind of vibe that that's not the direction their career took like i.Track 4:[48:58] Like seeing her when she has pop up i hope we continue to see those little bits and pieces and i do love her in the comedy roles and and i don't know if that's again what she wants or if she's wanting to was wanting to expand beyond that but i'm happy having her pop up in some of these great shows from time to time no i completely agree like they're not all going to be will ferrell and just take the like be a blockbuster movie star it's not gonna happen with every uh cast member so i'm completely with you i think the thing that maybe is more unfortunate that's impacted her legacy on snl amongst fans is i don't think she's come back to snl yeah like really at all since she left the show in 2000 and i think that kind of sucks jamie i think that's unfortunate i don't know particular reasons why i've kind of heard maybe some stuff But I don't know about you, but I think we're missing out on like Sherry O'Terry not coming back to the show. Agreed. I feel like she's less integrated to like the click of SNL where you see, okay, this person has a show. They're going to bring in all their SNL friends. And you just see this kind of world.Track 4:[50:05] And there can be many reasons for that. Again, I know there are like different theories of like, oh, she was tough to work with or this and that. And, like, I personally have kind of tried to give her the benefit of the doubt among that kind of discourse just because I don't know what happens. I haven't – nothing that's been horrible where I'm like, oh, my gosh, we cannot talk about this person in the history of SNL. I feel like she is somebody who –.Track 4:[50:34] Again, is not super connected with, like, some of the other folks in the show, and I don't know why, and I don't even know that, like, I could. There may be valid reasons for that. There may be invalid reasons. I don't know. I guess what I will say is, like, it's a bummer in the sense of, like, I would love to see her come and host, and she would be a phenomenal host.Track 4:[50:54] So if those circumstances change and she does become more integrated and we get to see more of her in that context that would be an amazing bonus but also if it's a situation where she did her time and that was a period in her life and now she's doing other things i'm okay with that too but yeah yeah the more sherry the better yeah right i know and i don't want to it's hard to speak to like the dynamics between her and her cast members because we weren't there we don't know one thing that she has said though she said she was nervous a lot around the office and she said she would get really nervous before sketches she was nervous during the week so she said she was like this ball of nerves yeah when she was at snl she craved the approval from lorn she really did she she told a story about how norm had to kind of talk her down before a sketch or something like like she just was always just this ball of nerves and maybe she was so nervous that like it kind of prevented her from forging those tight bonds and because i would love like we see dratch come back we see molly shannon we you know sherry o'terry was such a significant arguably bigger than like a dratch or somebody like that but i mean do you think like her not coming back has hurt her legacy a little bit i think it it makes her maybe less known or less talked about in like the fabric of the history of the show to me it doesn't change the like legacy of of what she did for the years and the seasons that she was on the show and doesn't diminish the work.Track 4:[52:23] It maybe contributes to this kind of underrated vibe that comes across because I feel like.Track 4:[52:31] As a result of not being in some of those places, she does get talked about less. And so then when she is talked about, it's like, oh, wait, don't forget about Sherry. She was amazing, too, and also part of redefining this era. So I think that's where I see the connection. Yeah, I'm with that. I think our discussion here hopefully has caused people to go back and remember and just kind of say, like, oh, yeah, Sherry Oteri, she actually was that great. So hopefully this can go towards serving that. So now's the time, part of the show, where you kind of speak to the voters, you speak to the audience, you're speaking to the water cooler.Track 4:[53:08] And, I don't know, Jamie, tell them, why should SNL fans still hold Sherry in high regard as a great cast member? Absolutely, yeah. So Sherry was part of this crucial era of redefining SNL, saving SNL, really showing folks a new way that SNL can be funny. I feel like she was a trailblazer for female comedians on the show. I feel like she paved the way for a lot of the greats that we saw in years to come alongside her cast. I feel like the timing that she had, her ability to excel and really own these character-based sketches was phenomenal. She had this incredible ability to do over-the-top, crazy, fun characters so well, which were so important to that era of the show and what it was all about. Out and I think she really deserves her credit and and props for for that role that she played so I absolutely think that Sherry should be remembered as one of the greats and for playing a critical role in in SNL's history.Track 2:[54:37] So there's that thank you so much thomas and welcome back jamie burwood really great to hear your voice extolling the virtues of sherry o terry i gotta tell you when thomas started to talk about impressions that Sherry O'Terry was part of. And he mentioned Barbara Walters. I was immediately taken back. And I just think that character really exemplifies a lot of what she was capable of and able to do. It's silly, but it's on the mark. And it's a lot of fun. Let's take a listen.Track 5:[55:40] Good morning, I'm Meredith Vieira, and welcome to The View. We've got a fabulous show today, right ladies? Oh, we certainly do, Meredith. We certainly do. Okay, let's take a look at the news. Paula Jones went face-to-face with President Clinton today. He gave his deposition regarding her sexual harassment suit. Now, Star, you're a lawyer. Yes, I am. Now, President Clinton allegedly exposed himself to Ms. Jones and allegedly asked for sex and allegedly Ms. Jones said no, which disappointed the president, allegedly. You know, I was paired with Paula Jones in a three-legged race at Larry King's Fourth of July barbecue bash. And she assured me that President Clinton's member had more twists and turns than the curly fries at Arby's. It's true. Well, I just don't understand what the big deal is. I mean, if a guy whips it out, you just have to be assertive and say, like, hey, don't whip it out, you know?Track 5:[56:41] You're very young, Debbie. Very, very young. All right, this next story is amazing. Chicago physicist Richard Seed wants to open a clinic that would clone human babies. Amazing, right? Now, allegedly, he's going to clone a baby by the year 2000, and what this means is that he's going to take a baby and using signs, he'll make an identical baby to that baby really, really soon. Mm-hmm. You know, there are three people that I would clone. Albert Einstein, Diana, Princess of Where's, and Hugh Downs, my co-host this week on 2020. Well, if I had a clone, I'd make out with myself.Track 5:[57:31] I'm just kidding. Do not speak again. Our guest today is a big star. She is one of the big actresses in the world, allegedly. Please welcome my girl, Glenn Close. Hey!Track 5:[57:58] You are strong and inspirational, and you are one of the whitest women I've ever seen.Track 5:[58:06] I'm delighted to be here. Glenn, you have done so much. Acted in award-winning films. Performed on Broadway. Only one question remains. What do you think of me? Well, Barbara, I admire you tremendously. I've always thought that you would... Oh, you know what I have to ask you about? I want to ask you about that scene in the big chair where you let your husband get that other lady pregnant. Mm, I could not do that. Because I am a do-right woman, and I have to have me a do-right man. Yes. We know that about you, Star. That's done in a nutshell. That's done in a nutshell. Oh, Glenn, I have a question about John Malkovich. What's that? He is so sexy. Ugh. Oh. What's the question? Oh, speaking of questions, it's time for the question of the day. Okay. Today's question comes from Marlene Kimball of Tulsa, Oklahoma. And, Glenn, this question should be really good for you. If you could change one thing about your face, what would it be? Well, nothing. This face has served me very well. Well, I think women need to embrace the uniqueness of their flaws. Wouldn't you all agree?Track 5:[59:31] I don't go in for plastic surgery. If I could change one thing about my face, which is allegedly very big, I would tell those doctors to suck some of this fat out of my neck.Track 5:[59:42] Well, thank you, Glenn, for coming by. That's it? Oh, my God. You know what I just realized? You're the mean lady from 101 Dalmatians. Cruella de Vil. Yeah, now I know who you are. You're evil. Stand over there! Go! Stand over there! Quicker! Stick around. In our next segment, we'll be talking about female circumcision with Naomi Judge.Track 2:[1:00:11] Oh, man. Yeah, that brings back some memories. That's like the original View cast that they were parodying there. And allegedly, I will say, Sherry O'Terry has a path to the SNL Hall of Fame. I believe it. Not a first ballot Hall of Famer, I don't think. We'll get more on the water cooler this week and see what Joe and Shari have to say.Track 2:[1:00:41] Next week, we are discussing Garrett Morris with our friend Darren Patterson, and it should be another great, great episode for you all. Now, that's what I've got for you this week. So, if you would do me a favor, and as you're leaving and walk past the Weekend Update exhibit, turn out the lights, because the SNL Hall of Fame is now closed.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/snlhof/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Can you survive five nights?The terrifying horror game phenomenon becomes a blood-chilling cinematic event, as Blumhouse— the producer of M3GAN, The Black Phone and The Invisible Man— brings Five Nights at Freddy's to the big screen.The film follows Mike (Josh Hutcherson; Ultraman, The Hunger Games franchise) a troubled young man caring for his 10-year-old sister Abby (Piper Rubio; Holly & Ivy, Unstable), and haunted by the unsolved disappearance of his younger brother more than a decade before.Recently fired and desperate for work so that he can keep custody of Abby, Mike agrees to take a position as a night security guard at an abandoned theme restaurant: Freddy Fazbear's Pizzeria. But Mike soon discovers that nothing at Freddy's is what it seems. With the aid of Vanessa, a local police officer (Elizabeth Lail; You, Mack & Rita), Mike's nights at Freddy's will lead him into unexplainable encounters with the supernatural and drag him into the black heart of an unspeakable nightmare.The film also stars Mary Stuart Masterson (Blindspot, Fried Green Tomatoes), as Mike's icy Aunt Jane; Kat Conner Sterling (We Have a Ghost, 9-1-1) as Abby's caring babysitter, Max; and Matthew Lillard (Good Girls, Scream) as Steve Raglan, Mike's smug career counselor.Five Nights at Freddy's is directed by Emma Tammi (The Wind, Blood Moon) and is written by Scott Cawthon, Emma Tammi and Seth Cuddeback.The film's iconic animatronic characters will be created by Jim Henson's Creature Shop.Five Nights at Freddy's is produced by Jason Blum and Scott Cawthon. The film's executive producers are Bea Sequeira, Russell Binder, Marc Mostman and Christopher H. Warner. Universal Pictures presents a Blumhouse production, in association with Striker Entertainment.

Aunt Jane's Nieces out West

Aunt Jane's Nieces on Vacation

Aunt Jane's Nieces and Uncle John

Being the one hundred and ninety-first episode in which Tolkien's Aunt Jane is the coolest, Tommy B severely roasts his forest friends, and we'll keep our fingers crossed for a future Tom appearance.    The Show: Twitter - www.twitter.com/tolkienaboutpod Instagram - www.instagram.com/tolkienaboutpod  Facebook Group - https://www.facebook.com/groups/3043311089030739/  Merch - https://bit.ly/3yELYc3  Patreon - https://www.patreon.com/tolkienaboutpod/  Cover art by Vashaun Brandon - https://www.instagram.com/vashaundesigns/    Mary Clay: Twitter - www.twitter.com/mcwattsup  Instagram - www.instagram.com/mcturndownforwatt TikTok - https://www.tiktok.com/@mcwattsup     Mike: website - https://www.schub.es/ The Newest Olympian - https://www.thenewestolympian.com/  Twitter - https://twitter.com/Schubes17  Resources, Articles, Etc. - Adventures of Tom Bombadil - https://www.councilofelrond.com/poem/the-adventures-of-tom-bombadil/  Bombadil Goes Boating - https://www.councilofelrond.com/poem/bombadil-goes-boating/ Potterless: Anti-Semitism in Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, and Fantasy w/ Eric Silver - https://www.potterlesspodcast.com/episode-161  Fan Organizer Coalition - https://fandomforward.org/coalition  Race in LOTR and Tolkien's Works: https://docs.google.com/document/d/11ExziJbBteK8eJn9xgrjm17P23Vg_Ucm8rAyYAkm9yc/edit 

Aunt Jane's Nieces by L. Frank Baum

Aunt Jane is hungry!!!

We're going to Aunt Jane

Estate planning can be difficult for people to face, and unfortunately, it doesn't get any easier when guardianship comes up. Many young families struggle with the decision-making around this – no one wants to think about what will happen to their children if they are no longer around. But as much as parents try to avoid it, it is one of the most critical decisions parents can make. We often find that clients are surprised by how complex guardianship can be. It is not quite as simple as jotting down Aunt Jane's name and moving on with your day. There are many things to consider, and you want to get it right so everyone involved can transition and maintain their lifestyle as comfortably as possible.  In this episode of Absolute Trust Talk, Kirsten and Madison team up to discuss:  What guardianship is The guardianship processes The different situations when guardianship is necessary  The different types of guardianship How to select the right guardian And more! There are many reasons to put off selecting a guardian, but we urge you to take a minute to think about your children. If your family ever finds themselves in the difficult situation of needing a guardian, will your kids and family have the comfort of knowing what you want for them? Or will you leave it up to the court to decide for you? We hope you will listen to this episode and share it with your friends and family because guardianship is a topic every family should discuss. 

Aunt Jane's Nieces by L. Frank Baum audiobook. Jane Merrick is a wealthy, elderly, difficult invalid woman who is preparing for her approaching death. In her youth, she inherited her money and estate from her fiancé, Thomas Bradley, who died before their wedding took place. With no children of her own, she calls for her three teenaged nieces to visit her, so she can decide who will inherit her estate. They are Louise Merrick, Elizabeth De Graf, and Patsy Doyle, children of Jane's younger brother and sisters. Each of the three cousins is a different type.

If you're like most people, holidays can be a time of stress if not managed with intention. We can experience the full range of emotional notes, creating a symphony of something approaching chaos. As we try to live into a Hallmark movie version of life, it can often feel like we're missing the mark.   The good news is that you can take control of your holiday experience.   Are you interested in negotiating a better holiday season this year?  If so, check out this episode! It's designed to help you navigate this holiday journey with ease so you can maximize your enjoyment of the season (even if crabby Aunt Jane pushes your buttons)!   With your host, Cindy Watson, you'll cover:   Negotiating Your Mindset, including: Choosing How You Want to Show Up Setting Intentions Recognizing the Gift of Gratitude Choosing Your Reactions Negotiating Your Mindset, including: Managing Travel Managing Your Space Getting Active Embracing the Great Outdoors Food As Fuel Sweet Dreams Money Madness Negotiating Family Dynamics, including: Recognizing You're in a Negotiation Up-levelling Your Negotiation Skills No F.E.A.R. Model 5 W's Model A.R.E. F.I.T. Model Asking For What You Want Reframing Success   These simple tips can make a world of difference in how you experience and enjoy the holidays. Set your intentions and live into a more joyful, engaged holiday season. Get your FREE E-books here! Negotiate Your Mindset No F.E.A.R. Negotiation  5 Secret Weapons to More Effective Negotiating   Make sure to check out my Women on purpose website at www.womenonpurpose.ca  Join our Women on purpose community at https://www.facebook.com/womenonpurposecommunity/ 

The time between Thanksgiving and New Year's is the most challenging time of the year to stick to your hard-earned health and wellness goals. We are preparing meals that we don't make any other time of the year, and you might be looking forward to the special stuffing your daughter-in-law makes or the pie that Aunt Jane will bring.  Are you taking a trip this year and celebrating Thanksgiving or Christmas or the holidays with your grown kids and their families? Or is everyone coming to your house to feast? The trouble is not the actual holidays. It's the days between where we might think since we didn't stick to our routine, it's ok to blow the rest of the year and restart in January. But what about your intermittent fasting strategies during the holidays? Unfortunately, you might end up gaining 5 - 10 lbs during that time without even noticing. This year, don't let that trip you're taking be a guilt trip. The holidays are a time to enjoy your family, food, and having fun. Remember that intermittent fasting is flexible, practical, and straightforward by nature, and that doesn't change during the holidays. So use Intermittent fasting and my 5 Important Intermittent Fasting Strategies For The Holidays as your secret weapon this year to stay healthy and not gain weight.     Click here to listen! Rating, Review & Follow on Apple Podcasts Heike's insights are so helpful in creating a well-rounded, healthy lifestyle! Loving every episode of the Pursue Your Spark podcast!” ← if that sounds like you, consider rating and reviewing my show here!  Your action helps me support more empty-nester moms 50+ - just like you - thriving in their second-half of life.  Click here, scroll to the bottom, tap to rate with 5 stars, and select “Write a Review.” Then be sure to let me know what you loved most about the episode! Plus, if you haven't already, subscribe to the podcast. There is always something new on the feed and, if you're not subscribed, there's a chance you'll miss out. Subscribe NOW!   Links mentioned in the show:  Causes of Inflammation Alcohol Calories Content 5 Tips For a Strong and Lean Core Over 50 YouTube Channel The Empty Nest Reboot How Intuitive Eating Can Improve Your Health And How To Get Started   For more episodes, click here.

Have you ever considered looking into your ancestry wondering if you would stumble upon something interesting? This episode is about discovering family secrets, one that pushes you to re-examine your existence and experiences. I'm honored that this week's guest on "Happiness through Hardship" - The Podcast, Jane Fine, bravely shares hers and to a degree mine, because we're related.  My bright and bigger than life, (though shorter than most,) Aunt Jane is a highly acclaimed, award-winning painter and teacher. A wildly smart and passionate conversationalist, her abstract art focuses on social and political themes, which has been exhibited nationally and internationally for over 20-years. Today's episode showcases her backstory, one she didn't know and only discovered recently by taking a genealogy test. Jane re-tells the story, which led her down a path of reexamination of past experiences, relationships with family, as well as her own identity. During this episode, Jane not only shares the background, she also talks about how she has continually navigated. While her art and creative avenue has been a tremendous help with coping, we barely touched upon her elaborate career. Recognized globally, Jane is famous in the art world, having been reviewed frequently in The New York Times, The New Yorker, New York Magazine and Art in America among other periodicals. She's also the recipient of several prestigious grants including the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, The New York Foundation for the Arts and The National Endowment for the Arts. In addition, she has been awarded world-renown fellowships and has been resident at The MacDowell Colony, Yaddo, The Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, The Millay Colony, The Cité Internationale des Artes in Paris, The Golden Foundation and The Hermitage Artists Retreat. She is currently represented by Pierogi Gallery in New York City and collaborates with her husband, my uncle, artist James Esber, under the pseudonym "J. Fiber." SHOW NOTES 5:03 - Jane backstory before the backstory 6:03 - Jane's sister, Paula, has doubts about who her father is 9:07 - Jane's son, Abe, is interested in taking a DNA test 10:49 - Jane's moment of realization about her biological father 11:33 - Jane's initial denial 14:05 - The realization 15:19 - The phone call that felt like a movie 17:14 - Jane's son gives her helpful advice 19:11 - Jane now asks herself “Who am I?” and “Who is my biological father?” 19:42 - Jane's range of emotions after accepting the discovery 20:46 - How Jane researches who her father could be 28:39 - Jane's self-reflection 31:55 - Jane makes new family connections and finds new similarities 35:28 - How Jane finds peace and how others can, too 40:21 - The peace her son gives her 44:32 - Caryn and Jane play The Grateful Game CONNECT with Jane: Jane Fine website: https://www.janefine.net/about Jane Fine Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janemfine/ and https://www.instagram.com/grand.flag/ Jane Fine - represented by Pierogi: https://www.pierogi2000.com/artists/jane-fine/ Collaborative work with husband, Artist James Esber: https://www.pierogi2000.com/artists/j-fiber/ James Esber: https://www.jamesesber.com/ CONNECT with us: www.PrettyWellness.com/podcast - for more information on the podcast episodes 
www.PrettyWellness.com/cancer-resources - easily accessible cancer information
 www.Instagram.com/prettywellness - for daily wellness tips www.CarynSullivan.com - for more information on media, speaking engagements and book partnerships Our Social Media:
 www.Instagram.com/prettywellness www.Facebook.com/PrettyWellness www.Twitter.com/PrettyWellness To Buy the Book:
 Happiness through Hardship - The Book: amzn.to/39PAjuT

Hello dear friends,Welcome to another week of The Austen Connection and our sixth podcast episode, which you can stream from right here, or from Apple or Spotify! And this episode features a conversation with Austen scholar and Janeite Devoney Looser - who for many of you captures the spirit and vibe of Jane Austen's stories in her work and in her life: Looser has dedicated so much of her life to connecting through literature and Jane Austen, from her books, her teaching, her many appearances at conferences and at Janeite and JASNA gatherings, and also in her personal life through her marriage to Austen scholar George Justice and her roller derby career as Stone Cold Jane Austen.These days Devoney Looser is working on a new book, due out from Bloomsbury next year: Sister Novelists: Jane and Anna Maria Porter in the Age of Austen explores two sister novelists writing, innovating, and breaking rules in the Regency and Victorian eras. Devoney Looser is also the author of The Making of Jane Austen. And - full transparency here - I'm lucky enough to call Devoney Looser a friend. We met as professors on a campus in Missouri. So this is a continuation of conversations that Devoney and I have had for years. We got together by Zoom a few weeks ago and talked about many things, including the first time she read Austen, how an Austen argument was the foundation of her first conversation with her husband, and how -  just like Jane Austen - Devoney straddles the worlds of both high culture and pop culture.Here's an excerpt from our conversation. Enjoy!Plain Jane:  So let me just start if you don't mind with a couple of just questions about your personal Austen journey. What Austen did you first read? When did you discover Austen? Do you remember which book? And which time and place? Devoney Looser: Absolutely. And this is a question that I really enjoy. It's a kind of conversion question, right? … So I love that this is where we start …  I do have my awakening moment. And your awakening, I think this is a common story for a lot of Janeites, which is why the story resonates. It was my mother, who handed me a copy of Sense and Sensibility and Pride and Prejudice bound together. I now have this book. It was a Modern Library edition of both of those novels that was published in the ‘50s. And she handed it to me because … she knew I was a reader, she knew I loved to read. And she said, “Here's one that I think you should read.” We had books from her childhood, or from church book sales in our house, we had a lot of books in our house. And I started to try to read it. And I really stumbled because I could not get at the language. But she was insistent, she kept kind of putting it toward me, and saying, “I think you should read this one.” And I think it was maybe around the third time I tried it - Pride and Prejudice is what I started with - it just really took. You know, it was like, Oh, wait this is kind of funny. And I like these characters. And I like the story. So after I got my PhD, I learned that my mother had actually never read Pride and Prejudice before. And to me that actually made her giving it to me even more meaningful. She is not college educated. She wanted me to have an education. And the idea that novels could be handed down from mothers to daughters, even mothers without an education, to say, “Here's a way for you to have access to more opportunities,” is what the books are about too, in a way, right? I mean, the mothers aren't always the ones doing it in the books. In fact, they're often not. But the books are functioning as that opening up - worlds opening up possibilities and opening up education, self actualization. You know that this is to me meaningful that my mother knew that this is a book that educated girls should read, and that she wanted it for me. Plain Jane: She was tapping into something that she hadn't had herself and just trying to give that to you. That's awesome. So you're a professor, scholar, writer. … What attracts you to the conversations about Jane Austen, and teaching Jane Austen? Devoney Looser: I think the thing about Austen that keeps me coming back to her is how readable she is. And lots of people say this in the critical community and the Janeite community like the scholars and JASNA. I think even anyone who picks her up casually having not read her in 20 years or never read it before, there's a complexity there on the level of the sentences, paragraph, plot, that is really, to me. enriching, or generative - it generates ideas. And every time I go back to the books, I see something new. every age, every experience that I've made it through, gives me a new way into those sentences. And there are a lot of books that we love, but that we can't really imagine rereading with the same level of love, I think. And for me, that makes Austen just really remarkable. The idea that you can go back to her, you know, every year. A lot of people who love her books read her every year, all six every year. Do you know that joke from Gilbert Ryle, the philosopher, philosopher Gilbert Ryle was asked, this is a century ago, asked, “Sir, do you do you read novels?” And he said, “Yes, I do, all six every year.” So this is this is a good Janeite in-joke, that the only novels there are these six? Obviously not true. … But the relatability is how I would I would answer that.Plain Jane: So I mean, Jane Austen can be, like you say, kind of adapted to your life as you go through different things in life. But you, with The Making of Jane Austen have really documented how not only individuals can adapt Jane Austen to their lives, but movements can adapt Jane Austen to their causes and ... we see that in kind of exciting ways. Can you talk a little bit about why her? Why are her novels so adaptable throughout the last couple of hundred years?Devoney Looser: So I know you know this, I talked about this in The Making of Jane Austen about the ways that various people have very different political persuasions find a reflection of their values or questions or concerns in her novels. So she has been used to argue opposing sides of political questions for 150 years and probably longer. I think this was partly to do with the fact that her novels and her fiction open up questions more often than they close them. And I think it's her relationship to the didactic tradition in her day, the moralizing tradition. I think she's really stepping outside of that and more interested in gray areas, than in declaring what's right and what's wrong. So I think this is a beautiful, complex thing about her novels and they're novels of genius, to my mind, and I'm not afraid to use that word. But they also present certain kinds of really interesting challenges, because you can't go to them and say, “What should I think?” They don't really answer that question for you in a clear away. I think in other kinds of didactic fiction where there's a clear moral outcome, this person's punished with death, or, you know, or some kind of tragic outcome, or this person's rewarded, and it's all going to be, you know, happily ever after, and nothing ever is going to go wrong. Her novels are working outside of that to some degree. So I do think that that's one reason why people have very different experiences and political persuasions and motivations, come to her novels, and it can be kind of like a Rorschach test, right? You can see what you want to see in the designs to some degree. Now, I do think people can get it wrong, I think you can find there are arguments that people make that I think there is absolutely no textual evidence for that whatsoever. But oftentimes, I can look at someone coming to a conclusion that might be different from the one that I reached, and say, Well, I see where you can get that from emphasizing this point, more than this one, or seeing this passage as the crucial one, instead of another passage.I think this is a beautiful, complex thing about her novels and they're novels of genius, to my mind, and I'm not afraid to use that word. But they also present certain kinds of really interesting challenges, because you can't go to them and say, “What should I think?” They don't really answer that question for you in a clear away.Plain Jane It's also occurring to me listening to you Devoney, that she sort of makes people think, in ways that might be uncomfortable. She must be one of the few novelists that can actually draw you to her story, draw you in and draw you to that narrator. But also be uncomfortable, maybe with what she's giving you. And maybe we just stepped around the discomfort some of us. Do you think that's an accurate way of thinking about Jane Austen as well?Devoney Looser: I think that's beautifully put. And, you know, I think too we can read her novels on many different levels. If you say, I want to go into this for a love story, that's funny, with a happy ending, which is what many people who read in the romance genre know the formula, and they're going to it because they like the formula. And it might have different things in different component parts. But you know that at the end you're not going to be distressed and dealing with something tragic, right? So when you go into an Austen novel, the kinds of discomfort you're describing, that they will be there along with something happy, too. So I think you could just read it for the happy ending. [But] I see that as a real lost opportunity. Because I think the happy endings are tacked on from genre expectation about comedies. If you're focusing on the happy ending, you're missing all the important stuff that's happening all along the way. And that's the uncomfortable stuff, right? The stuff about family conflict, economics, all of the kinds of ways that people are terrible to each other, that are, maybe borderline criminal or actually criminal. But everything below that, too. That's more mundane, the way that people mistreat each other. That is wrong. It's not criminal. And that, to me, is what makes these novels uncomfortable, is that even those people who are doing terrible things, usually get away with it. Plain Jane: Hmm, yes. If you said to people, Here's a novel about the insult and injury endured by women because of class and gender - and possibly you can add race and disability and a lot of other boundaries in there” -  I don't know how many people would see that as Jane Austen. But there's that subtext. … The more I read and reread Jane Austen and just stay really close to the text, the more I find myself relying on Gilbert and Gubar and their “cover story.” And it's, you know, I read that a long time ago. So it's probably influencing my reading, I say close to the text, but it's close to the text that's very influenced by what I already have read of you, and is it Sandra Gilbert and Susan Gubar…. How much do you think she was consciously or even unconsciously saying stuff? In all that meandering, within that courtship plot and then within that happy ending plot that you just described? How much do you think was going on with that cover story?Devoney Looser: So I want to first start with the end of this, which is to say, I think every sentence is saying something else. You know, and not like it's a secret ...I think there are there are people who will say that this is a code for a completely other world below the surface. I'm not sure that I would go there. But I do think that these are novels that are trying to get us to investigate not only who the characters are, but who we are. And sonthere's always something else going on in any human conversation. There's always something else going on. And I think she captures that in the conversations among her characters, that they can be having the same conversation but with such varying motivations that you can see it and it becomes humorous. You know, Henry Tilney in Northanger Abbey, talking to Mrs. Allen, about Catherine Morland's chaperone about muslin, that whole conversation about clothing and shopping. You can read that as a love of fashion, you can read it as an indictment of consumer culture, you can read it as a kind of gender cosplay, or you can use it as an indictment of femininity. I mean, there's just so many different levels within the same conversation and you can try to understand how these characters are arguing with each other. So I think in some ways, what you're getting at is, Yes, there's something beneath the surface. So the text that you brought up, Gilbert and Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic, I think that came out in 1979 - incredibly important book. Because a lot of second wave feminism, 60s and 70s, had said Jane Austen is not a primary author for us or not an author that can be as important to the second wave, because these novels end in marriage. And it was a moment in the feminist movement, when looking for something that expressed anger, that expressed alternative lifestyles, was seen as more important than reinforcing heteronormativity, which is what Austen was imagined as doing. So what I think what Gilbert and Gubar did is allowed for feminists and feminist critics and scholars and people beyond that circle, to look at Austen and say, “What if we didn't emphasize the ending? What if we emphasize the other parts of the story?” And of course, they took that to a lot of other different texts and the “madwoman” in the attic is actually a reference, as you know, to Jane Eyre, to Bertha Mason? What if you read Jane Eyre and centered Bertha Mason, which is of course exactly what Jean Rhys did in her novel Wide Sargasso Sea. But Gilbert and Gubar gave us a framework to say, “Let's look at the parts of these novels from a feminist perspective that maybe we haven't focused on.” And I think it opened up so much possibility for Austen, reading it through that lens of saying,”Maybe there's more here than the ending. Maybe there's more here than heteronormativity. There is a lot more going on.” And I'm really grateful to that book for doing that. I do think there is some tendency now to turn it all into, “Well, it doesn't mean this, it means this exactly the opposite.” To me, that's doing exactly what we shouldn't be doing. We're just closing down the text. … “Here's a clue. Now we'll find an answer. Now we've got this new clue, solve next mystery.” These are not mysteries with solutions. They are moral quagmires - and you can't solve a moral quagmire with a fact or an answer.Plain Jane: I love that. I love the way you say, “Don't shut down the text.” I love the way you describe that 1979 Madwoman in the Attic, because you're right. They were just, I guess at a time when you know, feminism was wearing Doc Martens and reading Hemingway … Devoney Looser: … and reading Kate Millett and Sexual Politics: Let's find the sexism. It was a sexism-identification moment, which is really important because a lot of people couldn't see it until people like Millett and others said, “Oh my gosh, there's sexism here in every single book, how do we not notice this?” Plain Jane: Yeah. And they were saying, These are women's lives, let's interrogate what's happening with stories by women, about women, really going in depth in their lives. And they happen to be genius, as well. You know, Devoney, you also say, in your book, The Making of Jane Austen, that Jane Austen has, in many ways, been the making of you. This is getting back to you a little bit, Devoney. In what ways is Jane Austen and the making of you? I know a few of those ways. But why did you write that? Devoney Looser: Well, I think, again, this is the reason this story resonates with people is because all of us who care about literature, and who allow books to lead us places, probably had moments like this. Mine is slightly more bizarre than most people's in that I now make a living from reading Jane Austen. And as you said, I read lots of other things, too. I read Jane Austen in the context of the history of women's writing, which has been very opening up of territory for me as a scholar, and I help lead people to read outside of her. But I've also been able to create a romantic life that started around conversations with her - and I know you know, this - that I met my husband, George Justice is also an Austen scholar. We met over a conversation and an argument on Jane Austen's books. Plain Jane: What were you arguing about again? What book? Was it Mansfield Park?Devoney Looser: It was Mansfield Park. So my husband George and I were introduced at a cocktail party that I was crashing. … And George had actually been invited. And we had a brief conversation that ended, but he came and found me because somebody said to him that I had worked on Jane Austen. And so he said, “I hear you work on Jane Austen. What's your favorite Jane Austen novel?” And I know, you know, George, Janet. So you know that he likes to ask these kind of puncturing questions, right. … … And I said, “Well, the one that I'm working on right now is Northanger Abbey.” And he said, “I didn't ask you which one you're working on. I asked you which one's your favorite.” He heard that I was working on it. But he wanted me to make an aesthetic, you know, you want to make a judgement about which one's the best. … So I said, Well, I guess my favorite is Pride and Prejudice. And George said very proudly, “Well, my favorite is Mansfield Park. … And so I said, “Well, Mansfield Park is my least favorite. And I like it the least because I don't like the heroine. Fanny Price is too much like me. She's boring. Plain Jane: You said that?!Devoney Looser: Yes. And George said at that moment that he said to himself in his head, “I'm gonna marry this woman.” So you really need to hear his side of it. I just thought, this guy's kind of needling me. And I'm shutting down his meddling with, you know, disarming honesty and sarcasm. But you know, I do mean it, I did at the time. I really felt like a very shy person and quiet person and I had more class sympathies with Fanny Price of all of Jane Austen's heroines. But I didn't like those parts myself. I didn't like being quiet and timid, and didn't appreciate her as a character, I think, in a way that I now do. But he did end up proposing to me that night. And I said, “No.” I said, “I don't believe in the institution of marriage.” But whatever. What I can say is that he was very persuasive. And within about a month we decided we'd have a Jane-Fairfax-and-Frank-Churchill-style secret engagement. And we got married. We got married about a year later. So George is very persuasive. Plain Jane: That's awesome. I did not know that he had proposed and that you had declined on that same evening. And I love it that you relate to Fanny Price and find that kind of complicated. Now I have to say, you have told me that story, Devoney. And I had forgotten the details about Fanny Price. But I learned them again, from the First impressions podcast, where they were talking about you on that podcast, and that you related to Fanny Price. And that got me thinking about who people relate to in Jane Austen novels. And I feel like Jane Austen is putting herself  - I feel like all authors, for much of the time -  are putting themselves in not just the positive aspects of characters … She's even probably in Mrs. Norris a little bit, you know? Think of your worst person, you know? There's a part of her that wants to be Lady Bertram, probably. And there's certainly a part of her that's Fanny Price. And there's certainly a part of her that's Emma, who's also a difficult character. So anyway …  does George love Fanny Price?Devoney Looser: I think George loves underdogs who triumph. And I think to him, he likes the idea of people who weren't born to it sticking up for themselves. And he likes the idea of there being greater opportunity for people who weren't necessarily born to opportunity. And I think that's the story of his grandparents and his parents. So I think that's where he came to the love of that particular plot, out of stories from his own family. Plain Jane: So we are talking about, we've been talking about, the way people take on Jane Austen for their causes. You also talk about the fact that Jane Austen has ... carried pop culture and high culture simultaneously. Almost maybe like almost no other artist, maybe Shakespeare can carry those two at the same time. And you also walk both of those worlds. Can you talk a little bit about that? How are we doing with those two things right now? I mean, Jane Austen's probably bigger than ever before, right, today? And are we kind of bringing the high culture of the scholarly and the fandom together in interesting ways? And in productive ways?Devoney Looser: Yeah, that's such a great question. And the “greater than ever before,” quite possibly, if only because of how communication is greater than ever before, right? … But there were moments where she definitely popped in popular culture before now, you know, millions of people saw that Broadway play in 1935 that moved to the West End in London, the next year. This was another moment of Austen pop culture saturation. Where I think if we were able to compare it, then, to now we might say she was in the imagination of the cultural imagination to a pretty great degree in these other moments, too. But let's not go there - now I'm in the weeds! But I do think there is something about being in both worlds that really speaks to my sense of our responsibility as scholars to be educators, but also to be trying to understand the world outside of the academy and seeing that as a talking across, not a talking down. And there are moments where it's easier for scholars to remember that than others, but the talking across has really made new scholarly ideas possible. For me, this is a divided identity. I think you're capturing that accurately in how you describe it, Janet, but I want to make sure that I'm saying it's not a one way street for me. When we talk about teaching, those of us who are educators, we talk about learning from our students, and people often roll their eyes at that … But I think back to an old, classic and educational theory of Paulo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, where he talks about differently located learners. And the Janeite community through JASNA has definitely brought home to me the ways that differently located learners can inspire each other, and teach each other. And I think that is just really, really crucial. And I love that Jane Austen has made this possible.Plain Jane: You know, we're in a way a lot of what we're talking about is her image. And how, you know, there's a lot under the surface of the Courtship and the Marriage Plot, that you've researched this, and written about it in The Making of Jane Austen. In what ways did her family contribute to this image? Can you talk a little bit about that? And why - why were they trying to create, if I have this right, a respectable sort of Aunt Jane? Do you feel like this is what she also would have perhaps wanted? I mean, class insult, class injury can be humiliating, and I feel like perhaps also Louisa May Alcott, some of these women writers who were writing for money, maybe did want to be seen first and foremost, as respectable. What do you think was going on with the family members painting her image?Devoney Looser: I think this is a really difficult, multi-layered question. And I, of course, have different ways of answering this. But I think that the ways that her family described her, were trying to head off criticism. And I think if you look at the ways that women writers were treated in this period, you can understand why they wanted to head off the criticism. They very much wanted her not to be seen as strident Bluestocking, morally suspect. They very much wanted to put her on the side of … the polite, the proper, the lady .... Not the bitter spinster, not the ugly woman who couldn't get married or who was having all sorts of morally questionable behaviors with men. But the woman who was very much doing the “femininity”, quote-unquote, 1810s and the 1820s. So at first, I think that's what her family is up to. And the extent to which she would have been excited about that, I don't know. But it does seem quite possible that she would have endorsed staying to the side of that. Because in the same way that 70s feminists brought us to see the ways that language was about Virgins and W****s - not that no one had ever noticed this. But I think in Second Wave feminism, the Women's Studies classes, let us look at the words that were used to describe women and their sexual experiences, and say, “Wow, this is really unbelievable,” right? So I think if we take that and we move that conversation back 150 years, I think the Austens were wise to the fact that you were not allowed to be anything other than one or the other. And it was very clear what you wanted to be if your choice was to be castigated as the woman writer so who is more virgin-like, or the woman writer who is more W***e-like, of course, she wanted to be on the side of the Virgin. It's a crime that this existed, right? It's a linguistic crime. But if you're a family trying to negotiate the reputation of your relative at the same time that some of you are clergymen and trying to make your way forward in polite society, titled society, elite society, of course ... She's a Public Woman. Those words aren't supposed to go together. You want to put her to the side of the one who wasn't looking for money, the one who wasn't looking for fame, the one who wasn't too learned. She was nice. She was doing this for her family. She wasn't doing this for fame or money, you see that? Already, you're talking about sides of a question, where putting your eggs in one basket results in a different outcome. So the extent to which Austen herself wanted that, what would be desirable of being on the other side of that? Very little, right?Plain Jane: Listening to you talk makes me really understand that so much more. And also realize that in a way they were doing what Jane Austen seemed to do with her novels, which was to keep herself out of it. And maybe she's not as out of it on the third and fourth rereading as we thought she was on the first rereading. But she's kind of keeping herself out of it and just letting the story, letting the characters, say what she really doesn't want to be seen saying particularly, perhaps.Devoney Looser: You know that I'm working on two contemporaries of Jane Austen, Jane and Anna Maria Porter. I'm writing this book, Sister Novelists: Jane and Anna Maria Porter in the Age of Austen. And where for Austen, we have 161 letters of hers [that] have survived. So when we try to say, “What did Jane Austen think?” The novels give us a certain amount to go on. But a lot of us say, well, “What did she say in her letters where we can assume that she was being more of a quote-unquote, authentic self?” … But the idea that we only have 161 of these to go on; for the Porter sisters, they were both novelists. And they wrote thousands of letters, which they painstakingly preserved. And so to be able to go through these thousands of letters between these two sisters who are looking at literary culture through the eyes of public women and literary women, and looking at the ways that they describe the things that they want people to believe and what they're actually doing behind the scenes, has been really illuminating for me. And I hope other people will be interested in reading about that too, people who are interested in Austen, people who are interested in the early 19th century and Regency culture, Victorian culture, because the Porter sisters lived longer than Jane Austen did. [And] the ways that they tried to navigate making decisions with agency and with, specifically, female agency and romantic agency and a culture that said that, as Austen puts it, their only power should be the power of refusal. And they, the Porter sisters, were doing things all the time that you weren't supposed to do. And we know it because they were writing about it with each other. They were innovators in historical fiction. And Jane Porter claimed, I think with with some accuracy, that she was the one who influenced and inspired Sir Walter Scott's Waverley, which was published in 1814. Plain Jane: Wow, you had us at Hello - our sisters writing to each other, during the Regency and beyond, and they have each other, they're doing historic fiction. I mean, I just think hashtag-Regency is going to blow up over these two sisters! I think that sounds like a lot of fun. I just feel like there is a hunger to broaden out these conversations, and you can see it, the conversations are being broadened out in such exciting ways, especially right now. Books, like The Woman of Colour, and then every conversation we can have about Bridgerton -  like anything to do with the Regency and people's lives and especially the lives that we're uncovering that have been overlooked: Women writers, Black citizens of the Regency in Britain, and it's just and so many others. It's just really exciting. So I feel like there's a hunger for these conversations. Devoney Looser: And I think it's absolutely crucial and important that we start to try to understand race relations in the early 19th century. And think about why we care about them so much. Now, that's what literature should do. I get really frustrated when people want to tell us that we're taking questions from the present and popping them back falsely under the past. This is not at all we're doing. Things are popping in our moment that we can see, we're also popping in Austen's moment. ,,, Maybe she doesn't write about them to the degree that some of us would now wish she had. But these questions are there. And we are having a real opportunity, through scholars like Gretchen Gerzina and Patricia Matthew, and others who are helping us look back to the abolition movement, look back to texts, like The Woman of Colour, which Lyndon Dominique edited in a fabulous edition for Broadview Press that everybody should run out and buy. This is a novel from 1809, an anonymous novel. All of these works are giving us new opportunities to read Austen in terms of race issues that were important in her own day and to her novels. And for very good reasons have popped up in ours, so I'm excited about the opportunity to open up these questions.I do think there is something about being in both worlds that really speaks to my sense of our responsibility as scholars to be educators, but also to be trying to understand the world outside of the academy and seeing that as a talking-across, not a talking-down. And there are moments where it's easier for scholars to remember that than others. But the talking across has really made new scholarly ideas possible.Plain Jane: And some of this is historians also - Gretchen Gerzina, in a previous episode, alerted me to the National Trust report that was done documenting the ties to the slave trade in the Great Houses in England. Such a simple thing, really. And very much a historic enterprise, not a political enterprise in any sense, other than [that] everything is political. But that's exciting. And then you've also contributed to this conversation about the legacy of slavery and the ties to the slave trade in the Austen family. Do you want to talk about that at all? I mean, this is something that's just been published in The Times Literary Supplement and then picked up a lot of places. Do you want to just give a takeaway on what was going on with your research on that and what you'd like people to keep in mind when they think about Austen's family and the slave trade?Devoney Looser: Absolutely. So the May 21 issue of the Times Literary Supplement, which is a weekly newspaper that anyone who cares about literature should subscribe to … I am very honored to have published it. I did a piece on Austen and abolition, looking deeply and very minutely into the Austen family's relationship to slavery and abolition. And people are asking a question now, “Was Austen pro-slavery or anti-slavery? Was the author's family pro-slavery or anti-slavery?” And because of things like the National Trust report that you just mentioned, and a freely available database called the Legacies of Slavery that's run out of UCL by a scholar named Catherine Hall and a team. This is a freely available database, George Austen's name shows up in that database, because he was a trustee for a sugar plantation in Antigua that was owned by somebody who was probably a student at Oxford. So this is the fact that we had, and that has been repeated, that Austen's implicated in the economics of slavery. And what my piece did, is tried to look at what that means, and to try to deepen that conversation. And what I, the takeaway, for me is that the Austen family can be described as both pro-slavery and anti-slavery. And this is probably true for a lot of 19th century families, frankly, where you would have members who were on different sides, quote-unquote, of these questions. But the moment we try to turn it into sides, we're missing an opportunity for further description and nuance. And what my piece shows is that George Austen probably never benefited financially from this trusteeship. He was a co-trustee. And I go into a lot of description about that. And that years afterward, 80 years after that, Henry Thomas Austen, we never noticed this before: Henry Thomas Austen was a delegate to an anti-slavery convention. So we have a member of the immediate Austen family, a political activist, against the institution of slavery and with the anti-slavery movement. So to me, this tells us that the Austen family was both of these things. And I think it's an additional piece of information for us to understand the ways that race and slavery come into Austen's novels and the ways that she is working with the difficulties and complexities of this issue that was central to the moment she lived in.Plain Jane: What do you love most about introducing people to Austen? And what surprises you when you teach - in the classroom, or in Great Courses, from people that you hear from all the many Janeite and fandom conversations that you so graciously, drop in on Zoom with? What do you love about introducing people to Jane Austen?Devoney Looser: Yeah, so these 24 30-minute lectures I did for the Great Courses, which is interestingly just rebranded itself as Wondrium. But I say there, and I say this at the beginning of my classes as well: I love these books. And I love the ways that these books have inspired me to be a better thinker and have created certain things in my life that have become possible and meaningful to me. But it is absolutely not required to me that anyone in my class come out loving them like I do. What I want is for students to find that thing that is meaningful to them. And that generates meaning for them - that's generative, to go back to that word again. And I think when students take me at my word, I'm very grateful. I want them to read closely and think about these things. But it is absolutely not required that they see in them what I see.—————Thank you for reading, listening and being here, my friends. Please stay safe and enjoy your remaining days of summer. We'll be back next week - and it's all about my conversation with definitive Austen biographer Claire Tomalin! I caught her at home, safe, enjoying her garden during the pandemic, and I'll share our conversation here, same time, same place, next week! Below are many of the authors that Devoney mentioned in this conversation, with links to finding out more.If you enjoyed this conversation, please do share it!And if you'd like to have more conversations like these dropped in your inbox, subscribe - it's free! More Reading and Cool Links:Gilbert and Gubar's The Madwoman in the Attic: https://www.npr.org/2013/01/17/169548789/how-a-madwoman-upended-a-literary-boys-clubPaulo Freire and The Pedagogy of the Oppressed: https://www.freire.org/paulo-freire/paulo-freire-biography/Gretchen Gerzina - https://gretchengerzina.com/about-gretchen-gerzina.htmlLyndon Dominque, editor: The Woman of Colour: https://broadviewpress.com/product/the-woman-of-colour/#tab-descriptionPatricia Matthew: https://www.montclair.edu/newscenter/experts/dr-patricia-matthew/UCL slavery database: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/ Devoney Looser's website: http://www.devoneylooser.com/The Wondrium/Great Courses on Jane Austen: www.thegreatcourses.com/janeausten Get full access to The Austen Connection at austenconnection.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome to how to love your body, today we are talking about how to stop caring what people think.  This is a big part of what keeps people stuck in the diet cycle - worrying about what other people think can really fuel the fire. People will say, I’m doing this for me, it’s not about what others think but since we live in a culture that is so obsessed with thinness and looks it’s almost impossible to untangle what YOU really want from what our society has taught us we are meant to want. Firstly let’s tackle this idea that “i just want to lose weight for myself” -cannot remove yourself from diet culture -its too engrained -external validation -cannot escape the deep core message that we are accepted by our body size -yes of course you want external validation - 100s of years ago that’s how we survived - but now we are evolved enough to think critically about that and shift that way of thinking. This is just to say - question your thoughts and beliefs when you think “It’s not about what others think, I just want this for me”. Can that really be true? Now moving onto when we KNOW we care what people think (again, which is so normal and it’s only human, but when it rules how we live, it’s something we can work on). Here are three things you can do to begin putting what other people think lower on your priority list: 1. Get logical about it. This is something you can journal on: Imagine a scenario with someone who you are worried about seeing - play it out. You’re walking down the street, you see Claire, she says hi, you ask how her mom is, she asks about your partner, and you both go on your way. What she thought about you really had no effect on this situation. It’s more about what WE think they’re thinking than what they’re actually thinking. Most of the time you will never know what people are thinking. And yes of course there will be insensitive people who say rude things but do we want to spend all of our days to change ourselves so that Aunt Jane doesn’t make a rude comment at Thanksgiving dinner? The cost/ benefit just doesn’t line up. 2. It’s really about what WE think of ourselves that gets us worried. When you are worrying that someone is thinking X about you, it’s really a worry that someone is ALSO thinking X about you. It starts with us. If you got your hair done and loved it you wouldn’t be worried that people won’t like it because YOU like it, if you got your hair done the same way but hated it, you would worry that other people didn’t like it. Our insecurities about what people think COME from our own insecurities. The good news is that when you have the self awareness about worrying what other people think, you can then look inward and reflect on your own beliefs and then you have somewhere to go from there. We cannot control what other people think but we can work on our own mindset! 3. Never caring what anyone thinks is unlikely to ever happen, instead focus on the people who you respect and love. Do you worry about what Simone from high school is going to think? Maybe not worth your time. Are you worried what your partner is going to think? Maybe something worth looking at because you are going to be affected by that. HOWEVER, this never means someone else’s opinion is ever more important than your own. This can at least make you be more selective about WHO you worry about. This is a big part of the work but it is something you can get better with. Freedom does require lessening the importance of what others think and increasing the value of YOUR opinion. If you find the podcast helpful please rate and review, it helps a lot. See you next week!

Little Wizard Stories of Oz - L. Frank Baum - Book 17 Title: Little Wizard Stories of Oz Overview: Little Wizard Stories of Oz is a set of six short stories written for young children by L. Frank Baum, the creator of the Oz books. The six tales were published in separate small booklets, "Oz books in miniature," in 1913, and then in a collected edition in 1914 with illustrations by John R. Neill. Each booklet is 29 pages long and printed in blue ink rather than black. The stories were part of a project, by Baum and his publisher Reilly & Britton, to revitalize and continue the series of Oz books that Baum had written up to that date. The story collection effectively constitutes a fifteenth Oz book by Baum. Baum had attempted to end the Oz series with the sixth book, The Emerald City of Oz (1910). In the final chapter of that book, he sealed off the Land of Oz from the outside world. He began a new series of books with The Sea Fairies (1911) and Sky Island (1912). Also, he reacted to his 1911 bankruptcy by increasing his literary output. He produced five books that year, his greatest output since 1907. Baum tried to launch two other juvenile novel series in 1911, with The Daring Twins, released under his own name, and The Flying Girl, under his "Edith Van Dyne" pseudonym. None of the new series was as successful as the previous Baum and Van Dyne series; the Oz books and Aunt Jane's Nieces. Both the Flying Girl and Daring Twins series ended with their second volumes, The Flying Girl and Her Chum and Phoebe Daring, both published in 1912. Disappointing sales through 1911 and 1912 convinced Baum and Reilly & Britton that a return to Oz was needed. Baum wrote The Patchwork Girl of Oz for a 1913 release, and in the same year, his publisher issued the six Little Wizard stories in individual booklets at a cost of $0.15 each. The goal was to reach the youngest beginning readers and create in them an interest in the larger Oz canon, as part of a "promotion of L. Frank Baum and all of his books." Published: 1914 Series: Nonestica Continent of Imagination, Land of Oz, The Oz Books Series, Short Story Collections #6 Author: L. Frank Baum Genre: Myths, Legends & Fairy Tales, Fantasy, Children's Novel, Action & Adventure, Children's Literature Episode: Little Wizard Stories of Oz - L. Frank Baum - Book 17 Part: 1 of 1 Length Part: 1:17:25 Book: 17 Length Book: 1:17:25 Episodes: 1 - 6 of 6 Narrator: Phil Chenevert Language: English Edition: Unabridged Audiobook Keywords: adventures, travelers, fairy tale, magic, magical kingdom, wizard, witches, royalty, whimsical, fantasy, mythology, legends Hashtags: #freeaudiobooks #audiobook #mustread #readingbooks #audiblebooks #favoritebooks #free #booklist #audible #freeaudiobook #LFrankBaum #wizard #wizardofoz #oz #dream #happy #cute #traveling #adventure Credits: All LibriVox Recordings are in the Public Domain. Wikipedia (c) Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License. WOMBO Dream. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/free-audiobooks/support

Surprise! It's Valentine's Day, and we couldn't let the holiday pass by without teaching Lauren about our new Mormon History crush, Jane Manning James (or, Aunt Jane to her true fans)! Don't have a Valentine this year? Then jump in with us as we get to know the first Black woman in Utah (and her impressive place in Mormon church history). After the show, head to Patreon for our Linger Longer about dating during COVID! And find us on Instagram and Twitter: @drunkmormonpod

6Church of Jesus Christ Study Session seeks to generate reflection about areas in the Restored Gospel. Whether it's Come Follow Me, a General Conference talk or a recent Gospel Topic, hopefully you'll find something to keep the Spirit of Christ in your life. Twitter - @mattsroberts90 ldsstudysession@gmail.com You can also join the discussion in the Facebook Group 'Church of Jesus Christ Study Session with Come Follow Me'. You can purchase my book, From Father to Child: Raising a Child to Spiritual Strength in Generation Alpha at the link here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Father-Child-Spiritual-Strength-Generation-ebook/dp/B08DRLWWZD/ref=mp_s_a_1_3?dchild=1&keywords=from+father+to+child&qid=1596387393&sr=8-3 Join us today as we pause from our Come Follow Me study and consider another principle we learnt from last week. We consider the the differences between Moroni's message and the verses in Malachi and we reflect on the promises planted in the hearts of the children.  Elder Quentin L Cook: Family history work, heaven-blessed by technology, has dramatically increased in the past few years. We would be unwise to become complacent about this divinely appointed responsibility and expect that Aunt Jane or some other committed relative will take care of it. Let me share President Joseph Fielding Smith’s jarring comments: “None is exempt from this great obligation. It is required of the apostle as well as the humblest elder [or sister]. Place, or distinction, or long service in the Church … will not entitle one to disregard the salvation of one’s dead.”

November is Native American Heritage Month. Mom and I talk about ways Native Americans effected South Carolina's development, as well as their impact on our own family.

The Holidays are Hard and Nattie and Cousin Jane are already dealing with Holiday related issues and "laughing all the way"!

It was a pleasure to revisit our dear old Aunt Jane in short story form... especially in a mystery like this one, which features deceptive appearances, gruesome violence, and a particularly snooty Raymond West (which as we all know by now is *really* saying something).

“On the day I called, you answered me, you increased my strength of soul.” Psalm 138:3 Growing up I learned what it meant to memorize phone numbers. I had several of them memorized. My home phone. Grandma’s house. Aunt Jane. Luke Mauldin’s house. And the offices where my parents worked. Thinking back on it, I enjoyed calling familiar numbers when I knew what to expect on the other line. The psalmist here tells us that when we call on the Lord, we can surely expect that God will answer us. This is a great gift, church. Check out our other podcasts at athensfirstumc.org/podcasts.

Aunt Jane and Cousin Chuck join the Outlaw & The Derelict for some mid-day hijinks. Learn more about Depends Diapers, extracting a parasitic worm from an asshole and The Derelict shitting and peeing to mark his territory. BIG Thanks to to our Sponsor, Big Bubba's BBQ & Liquor Shack, located in the heart of Homestead, PA

Welcome to the Quiltfiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading an abridged version of Chapter Nine of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. Entitled "The Gardens of Memory," in this chapter Aunt Jane discusses her philosophy of the garden. This is the last episode of the season. Thanks so much for listening!

Welcome to the Quilt Fiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading the second half of Chapter Eight of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. Entitled "Mary Andrews' Dinner Party," this is the story of how a woman takes revenge on her miserly husband.    

Welcome to the Quiltfiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading the first half of Chapter Eight of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. Entitled "Mary Andrews' Dinner Party," this is the story of how a woman takes revenge on her miserly husband.

Anna Austen has always been told she must marry rich. Her future depends upon it. While her dear cousin Fanny has a little more choice, she too is under pressure to find a suitor.But how can either girl know what she wants? Is finding love even an option? The only person who seems to have answers is their Aunt Jane. She has never married. In fact, she's perfectly happy, so surely being single can't be such a bad thing?The time will come for each of the Austen girls to become the heroines of their own stories. Will they follow in Jane's footsteps?In this episode, historian Lucy Worsley chats to Erin Christie about her love of history and Jane Austen, and how she plans to pass this on to the next generation of young girls through her writing.

Anna Austen has always been told she must marry rich. Her future depends upon it. While her dear cousin Fanny has a little more choice, she too is under pressure to find a suitor. But how can either girl know what she wants? Is finding love even an option? The only person who seems to have answers is their Aunt Jane. She has never married. In fact, she's perfectly happy, so surely being single can't be such a bad thing? The time will come for each of the Austen girls to become the heroines of their own stories. Will they follow in Jane's footsteps? In this episode, historian Lucy Worsley chats to Erin Christie about her love of history and Jane Austen, and how she plans to pass this on to the next generation of young girls through her writing.

Welcome to the Quiltfiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading Chapter Seven of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. Entitled “How Sam Amos Rode in the Tournament” this is the story of the time Sam Amos thought he might win a blue ribbon riding in a horse show--until his horse kept going!

Welcome to the Quiltfiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading Chapter Six of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. Entitled “The Baptizing at Kittle Creek” this is the story of how some husbands and wives are destined (predestined?) to spend their marriages arguing about religion.

Frances is one of our favorites. She talks to us about life right now, and the new quilt fiction podcast, season 2. For more go to http://www.quiltfiction.com. There's video too. So you can see her reading the book, Aunt Jane of Kentucky. I so adore it. She is also the host of the Off-KilterQuilt (When a Straight Line's a State of mind).

Frances is one of our favorites. She talks to us about life right now, and the new quilt fiction podcast, season 2. For more go to http://www.quiltfiction.com. There's video too. So you can see her reading the book, Aunt Jane of Kentucky. I so adore it. She is also the host of the Off-KilterQuilt (When a Straight Line's a State of mind).

Welcome to the Quiltfiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading Chapter Five of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. Entitled “Milly Baker's Boy” this is the story of how a woman raises her son to be a great man, in spite of difficult circumstances.

This Tuesday on Tea & Tattle Podcast, I’m joined by the fabulous Lucy Worsley to discuss Lucy’s latest novel for young adults, The Austen Girls. Lucy Worsley is an historian, writer, television presenter and the Chief Curator of the Historic Royal Palaces, with her office situated at Hampton Court Palace. Lucy is the author of several bestselling books, including the captivating biography of Jane Austen, Jane Austen at Home. Her historical stories for children aged 11-14 are also hugely popular, and I loved The Austen Girls, which tells the story of Jane Austen’s favourite nieces, Anna and Fanny, and the difficult decisions they must make as they approach womanhood and look ahead to the prospect of balls and marriage proposals. Tasked by their Aunt Jane to be the heroines of their own lives, both Fanny and Anna must decide the kind of women they wish to become. I highly recommend The Austen Girls for anyone who is homeschooling during lockdown, as - as well as being a fun, gripping story that both children and adults can enjoy - The Austen Girls also gives a fascinating perspective on the domestic sphere of women in Georgian England. The novel, of course, also provides some excellent background to Jane Austen’s world, and it’s a lovely read for any Janeite. I had a fabulous time chatting to Lucy about her love for Jane Austen and how she came to write this novel about the Austen nieces. Read the show notes: teaandtattlepodcast.com/home/135 Get in touch! Email: teaandtattlepodcast@gmail.com Instagram: @teaandtattlepodcast If you enjoy Tea & Tattle, please do rate and leave a review of the show on Apple Podcasts, as good reviews help other people to find and enjoy the show. Thank you!

Welcome to the Quiltfiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading Chapter Four of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. Entitled “Sweet Day of Rest," this is the story of the day Milly Amos came to church and refused to sing.

In "Aunt Jane's Album," Aunt Jane is giving her quilts an airing out and remembering the time Sarah Jane Mitchell finally won a blue ribbon at the County Fair.

Welcome to the Quiltfiction Podcast! In this episode, I’ll be reading Chapter Two of Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. In this chapter, “The New Organ,” Aunt Jane tells the story of the time the ladies of Goshen Church raise enough money to buy an organ and how the voice of one of their choir members, Uncle Jim Matthews, proves to be a trial and tribulation to the members of their congregation and beyond.

Hello and welcome to Season Two of the Quilt Fiction podcast. In this season, I'll be reading Aunt Jane of Kentucky by Eliza Calvert Hall. First published in 1907 and set in rural western Kentucky in the late nineteenth century, the book recounts an elderly quilt-maker Aunt Jane’s memories of life in the rural south as told to an unnamed younger woman visitor. The book was hugely popular in its time, reaching over a million readers, and President Theodore Roosevelt was one of Aunt Jane’s biggest fans. Because I wanted to get this season up and going, I recorded it under slightly more relaxed standards that Season One. If you hear anybody snoring during the recording, rest assured it’s my dog Travis, who is almost always at my side. Occasionally I stumble over a word, but I just kept going. I hope you don’t mind! I hope you enjoy today’s episode, “Sally Ann’s Experience.” This is a story about the ladies of Goshen church, and in particular, it’s about Sally Ann, who decides it’s finally time to tell the men of the church a thing or two about their shortcomings. I hope you enjoy this funny story of one woman speaking her mind!

Black-Eyed & Blues Show 401 Air Date February 19, 2020 Playlist: John Nemeth, Three Times A Fool, Jackson Stokes, Can’t Get You Out, JD Simo, You Need Love, Devon Allman, Don’t Set Me Free, The Reverend Shawn Amos & The Brotherhood, Troubled Man, Real Impossibles, Chery Cherry, Benny Turner, Who Sang It First, Bill Blue, Do What I Say Don’t Do What I Do, The Young Presidents, Pulling Me In, Zoe Schwarz Blue Commotion, Give Me The Key To Your Heart, Edi Roque, Once Upon A Time, Debra Power, All Night Playing The Blues, Troy Gonyea, Gina Sicilia, Light Me Up, GA-20, Naggin’ On My Mind, Curtis Salgado, Hard To Feel The Same About Love< The Cash Box KIngs, Ain’t No Fun (When The Rabbits Got The Gun), The Nick Moss Band feat. Dennis Gruenling, Full Moon Ache, Rick Estrin & The Nightcats, New Year’s Eve, Sugaray Rayford, The Revelator, Avey Grouws Band, Let’s Take It Slow, Jangling Sparrows, True Fine Now, Phantom Blues Band, I’m Just Your Fool, The Mary Jo Curry Band, Nothin’ Is Easy, Harper And Midwest Kind, Blues I Can’t Use, Carl Ricci, Carl’s Stomp, Whitney Shay, Equal Ground, Tas Cru, Shookie Shake, Jeremiah Johnson, Forever And A Day, Bernard Allison, I Can’t Get You Out Of My Mind, Sid Whelan, Nina Simone, C.W. Ayon, Messing With Me, Kim Wilson & Big Jack Johnson, Humming Bird, Chris Beard, Chips Fall, Anthony Geraci, Don’t The Grass Look Greener, Mambo Sons, She Just Wants To Ride, Mojomatics, Soy Baby Many Thanks To: We here at the Black-Eyed & Blues Show would like to thank all the PR and radio people that get us music including Frank Roszak, Rick Lusher ,Doug Deutsch Publicity Services,American Showplace Music, Alive Natural Sounds, Ruf Records, Vizztone Records,Blind Pig Records,Delta Groove Records, Electro-Groove Records,Betsie Brown, Blind Raccoon Records, BratGirl Media, Mark Pucci Media, Mark Platt @RadioCandy.com and all of the Blues Societies both in the U.S. and abroad. All of you help make this show as good as it is weekly. We are proud to play your artists.Thank you all very much! Blues In The Area: Infinity Music Hall: Friday, Los Lobos; Thursday, Charlie Musselwhite; Hartford. Black-eyed Sally's: Friday, Anthony Geraci & the Boston Blues All-Stars; Saturday, Mambo Sons; Sunday, New England Winter Blues Tour New England Winter Blues Festival Curtis Salgado (headliner), Sugar Ray Norcia, GA-20, Gina Sicilia;, (12:30 pm); Tuesday, Fat Tuesday- Mardi Gras Party; Hartford. (860) 278 7427 Smokin' With Chris: Saturday, Blues Guitar with Rocky Lawrence; Southington. (860) 620-9133 Note Kitchen & Bar: Saturday, Jake Kulak and the LowDown; Bethel. Peaches On the Waterfront: Saturday, Otis and the Hurricanes; Tuesday, Peaches Annual Fat Tuesday Celebration w/The New Orleans Beatniks (3:30 pm); Norwalk. The Acoustic Café: Friday, Soulshine: An Allman Brothers Experience; Bridgeport. (203)-335-3655 Coal House Pizza: Friday, Jake Kulak & the LowDown; Stamford. BRYAC: Saturday, Mardi Gras Crawfish Boil (3 pm); Tuesday, Fat Tuesday with Krewe de Bryacus; Bridgeport. Wall Street Theater: Friday, Dixie Normous Mardi Gras Masquerade Madness; Norwalk. Bill's Seafood: Sunday, Shawn Taylor & Wandering Roots Duo (3:30 pm); Tuesday, Aunt Jane’s Fat Tuesday Mardi Gras Party (5 pm); Westbrook. Dunvilles: Tuesday, The 5 O'clocks Westport. Mulligans: Friday, The Boogie Boys w/Petey Hop; Torrington. The Palace: Saturday, Once Were Brothers: Robbie Robertson and The Band (Meet/Greet & photo exhibit by Elliott Landy, 6:30 pm); Danbury. The Bee and Thistle Inn: Wednesday, Dan Stevens; Old Lyme. (860) 434-1667 Moodus BBQ: Saturday, Dan Stevens; Moodus. Beachcomber: Friday, Kathy Thompson Band; Milford. Two Wrasslin' Cats Coffee House: Saturday, Terri and Rob Duo (12 pm); East Haddam. Best Video: Wednesday, Jug Band Music: The Howling Hound Dogs; Hamden. Paradise Hills Vineyard & Winery: Friday, Eran Troy Danner, solo acoustic (5 pm); Wallingford. (203) 284-0123 The Brass Horse Café: Friday, Phil & The Fireballs; Sunday, Sunday, Jr Krauss and the Shakes (3 pm); Barkhamsted. Cambridge Brew House: Saturday, Johnny Larsen Band; Granby. 860-653-2738 Carmine's: Friday, Cobalt Express; East Hartford. Matty D’s: Friday, Righteous Continental; Hartford. Strykers Café: Friday, Center Line; Berlin. (860) 828-8218 Yarde House Tavern: Saturday, Six Pack of Blues; Enfield. (860) 254 5778 Scoreboard Bar & Grill: Friday, Eran Troy Danner, electric trio; Waterbury. Woodbury Brewing Company: Friday, Rob Glassman Band; Woodbury. Hawk Ridge Winery: Saturday, Eran Troy Danner, solo acoustic (3 pm); Watertown. Andover Pizza: Friday, Gene Donaldson and the Stingrays; Andover. Coventry Lakeview Restaurant and Bar: Friday, Patty Tuite Group; Coventry. The Stomping Ground: Saturday, Pat Halpin and the 351s; Sunday, Oak and Elm (1 pm); Tuesday, Tyler James Kelly (Solo) of The Silks; Putnam. (860) 928-7900 Daddy Jack’s: Friday, Jamie Whitney; New London. Sneekers Café: Thursday, Johnny MacLeod duo/Dickie Reed; Groton. C.C. O'Brien's: Sunday, Chris Leigh Band (2 pm); Pawcatuck. (860) 599-2034 M/Bar: Friday, Shawn Taylor (4:30 pm); Mystic. 1784 Restaurant & Bar: Saturday, Dave Robbins & The Amplifires; New London. Rocks 2: 1Friday, Sue Menhart, Solo Acoustic (6 pm); Mystic. Hops Company: Thursday, Eran Troy Danner, solo acoustic; Derby. Daryl's House: Friday, Rumours - Fleetwood Mac Tribute (night two); Saturday, Rumours - Fleetwood Mac Tribute (night three); Sunday, Blues Brunch: Kevin Burt in association with the Hudson Valley Blues Society; Sunday, Rumours - Fleetwood Mac Tribute (night four); Wednesday, Morgan James - Memphis Magnetic Tour; Pawling, NY (845) 289-0185 The Turning Point: Saturday, UpSouth Twisters; Piermont, NY The Falcon: Friday, Quinn Sullivan Band; Saturday, Professor Louie & The Crowmatix w/The Woodstock Horns; Marlboro, NY. The Falcon Underground: Friday, Dire Wolf; Marlboro, NY Garcia’s at The Capitol Theatre: Saturday, Music of Grateful Dead for Kids (11:30 am); Saturday, Music of Grateful Dead for Kids (2:30 pm); Monday, Music Movie Monday: The Grateful Dead Movie; Wednesday, Finders Keepers; Thursday, Lost Soul Found; Port Chester, NY The Capitol Theatre: Friday, Joe Russo's Almost Dead; Saturday, Joe Russo's Almost Dead; Sunday, Joe Russo's Almost Dead; Port Chester, NY The Bayou Restaurant: Friday, Fat Boi's Brass Band Pre-Mardi Gras Party; Saturday, Dr Zsa's Powdered Zydeco Band; Monday, Pre Mardi Gras Jam Night; Tuesday, 30th Annual Mardi Gras With CJ Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band; Mount Vernon, NY Lucy's Lounge: Sunday, Eric Lindell Unplugged and Acoustic - Lonesome World Tour; Pleasantville, NY Emelin Theatre: Saturday, Jake Shimabukuro; Mamaronect, NY Tarrytown Music Hall: Saturday, Elvin Bishop & Charlie Musselwhite; Tarrytown, NY Theodores': Friday, Balkun Brothers; Saturday, Professor Harp; Tuesday, Fat Tuesday w/ Krewe les Gras; Springfield. (413) 736-6000 The Knickerbocker Café: Friday, New England Winter Blues Festival Curtis Salgado (headliner), Sugar Ray Norcia, GA-20, Gina Sicilia; Westerly. (401) 315-5070 The Met: Sunday, Violin River (4 pm); Pawtucket, RI Weekly Blues Events Black Eyed Sally’s: Liviu Pop Invitational w/ TBA (Thursday) Hartford. (860) 278-7427 The Hungry Tiger: Blues w/Dave Sadlowski (Tuesday) Manchester. (860) 649-1195 The Flying Monkey: David Stoltz Sunday Blues sg/TBA (4–7 pm) Hartford. Steak Loft: Greg Piccolo (Monday) Mystic O'Neill's: Geoff Hartwell (First Saturday) Norwalk The Falcon: Sunday Brunch w/Big Joe Fitz & The Lo-Fis (11am); Marlboro, NY. Maple Tree: First Thursday’s Tim McDonald & Hally Jaeggi, Simsbury The Owl Shop: Planet Red (Tuesday) New Haven Farmington Marriot: Thursday Tunes w/Ryan Newman & Tim Leffingwell -Righteous Coupe TBA (6 pm) Nightingale's Acoustic Café: Dan Steven’s "Pickin' Parties" (Tuesday) Old Lyme Home: Rocky Lawrence (1st Sunday) Branford Crave: Rocky Lawrence (Thursday) Ansonia Hog River Brewing Co.: Wise Old Moon’s Twang Thursdays w/POSSM Hartford. Knickerbocker Café: Let's Dance Wednesdays w/Chris Leigh Band Westerly, RI Hog River Brewing: Sunday Sessions w/TBA (2 pm) Hartford. C.C. O'Brien's: Bob Christina & The Juke Joint w/TBA (Sunday, 2 pm) Pawcatuck. (860) 599-2034 Vincent’s: Tuesday, Boogie Chillin'; Worcester. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/id502316055

This week we discuss the Jane Austen work Pride and Prejudice, while drinking a cocktail named in her honor and chowing down on scones while discussing class structure. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/unfortunately-required/support

Richard Armstrong is a top A-List copywriter and I’m proud to say he’s my friend. He’s written for all the big mailers: Agora, Boardroom, Rodale, Kiplinger’s, Reader’s Digest, and many others. The late and extremely picky William F. Buckley, Jr. once allowed that Richard’s writing is “terrific.” The legendary Gary Bencivenga called Richard “one of the best copywriters on the planet.” And the great Dan Kennedy simply said of Richard, “I envy his talent.” Gotta agree with Dan on that one. I envy Richard’s talent, too. But envy has never prevented me from having a guest on this podcast. Today Richard’s going to talk about con artistry — and there’s a perfectly legitimate reason for that — as well as some storytelling stuff you’ve probably never heard before. 1. Richard, we’re going to talk a lot about copywriting today, but I want to start by plugging your excellent new book, The Don Con, and ask you just a little about your research for that. Specifically, what did you learn about who con artists are and what they do? 2. I know you’re going to be offering our listeners a free special report, and we’ll talk about it later. Besides your really cool book, I also got the chance to review your special report in advance, and I would like you share with us one of the most astonishing things I read in it: You said that a lot of the techniques, or maybe all the techniques, that con artists use are the same ones we copywriters use. So what are those techniques, and what’s the difference between a con artist and a copywriter? 3. In a former lifetime, I interviewed you for a webinar series and you said something that keeps echoing in my brain, for years. It was that the secret A-List copywriters know, that other copywriters don’t, is about research. Could you talk about the level of research a top copywriter does, and what’s involved? 4. Richard, as a fellow advertising guy, surely you must remember the old ad for Certs: It’s a breath mint and a candy mint. How they packed all that into one mint, I’m still puzzled about to this day. But in your own way, you’ve got a similarly rare distinction. You’re a copywriter and a novelist. Tell us, what do novelists know about storytelling that copywriters don’t know? 5. One of my favorite Richard Armstrong stories is your lift note for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance about your aunt Jane. It, of course, is great storytelling in itself. Here, let me read it out loud so our listeners will be familiar with it: Dear Friend, My aunt Jane is rich as sin. And nobody in my family can figure out why. She worked as a librarian her whole life. Her husband, who passed away a few years back, was a tool-and-die maker. They never earned much money in their lives. But boy, were they ever smart with what they had. There was a little vacation home that they picked up for a song and wound up selling for $250,000. Some well-chosen stocks that grew in value over the years. Mutual funds. Municipal bonds. Treasury bills. Even a vintage Volkswagen “Beetle” that’s worth more now than the day they bought it. Nowadays my Aunt Jane -- who we always thought was just a little crazy -- is a bonafide millionaire! One day I asked her for the secret of her success. “I have three rules,” she said. 1) Never let your money sit idle 2) Never pay more than you have to for anything 3) Never pass up anything that’s free Well, my friend, unless you return the enclosed card today, you’re going to break at least one -- and probably all three -- of my aunt’s rules. Because if you return the enclosed card, you’ll get a free issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE (Rule #3). If you decide to subscribe, you’ll get the next 11 issues at a very low price, plus three free bonus gifts (Rule #2). And instead of spending the rest of your life working for money, you’ll put your money to work for you. (Rule #1) I know my Aunt Jane wouldn’t pass up a free sample issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE magazine. But of course... She already subscribes. Best regards, Richard Armstrong Could you tell us about this piece of copy? I particularly love hearing you recount how you wrote it -- or how you gave up entirely, and it wrote itself. 6. When you’ve written controls or blockbuster promotions, beside inhuman amounts of research, what are some of the other techniques you use that might be helpful to our listeners, who are copywriters and business owners interested in copy? 7. Finally, your special report: “How to Talk Anyone Into Anything.” Besides the smidgen of your research findings that we talked about in the beginning… tell us about the other research you did writing your new book The Don Con, that led up to this report. And, tell us how our readers can get a free copy of this magnificent free special report! Check Out Richard's New Book Download.

Richard Armstrong is a top A-List copywriter and I’m proud to say he’s my friend. He’s written for all the big mailers: Agora, Boardroom, Rodale, Kiplinger’s, Reader’s Digest, and many others. The late and extremely picky William F. Buckley, Jr. once allowed that Richard’s writing is “terrific.” The legendary Gary Bencivenga called Richard “one of the best copywriters on the planet.” And the great Dan Kennedy simply said of Richard, “I envy his talent.” Gotta agree with Dan on that one. I envy Richard’s talent, too. But envy has never prevented me from having a guest on this podcast. Today Richard’s going to talk about con artistry — and there’s a perfectly legitimate reason for that — as well as some storytelling stuff you’ve probably never heard before. 1. Richard, we’re going to talk a lot about copywriting today, but I want to start by plugging your excellent new book, The Don Con, and ask you just a little about your research for that. Specifically, what did you learn about who con artists are and what they do? 2. I know you’re going to be offering our listeners a free special report, and we’ll talk about it later. Besides your really cool book, I also got the chance to review your special report in advance, and I would like you share with us one of the most astonishing things I read in it: You said that a lot of the techniques, or maybe all the techniques, that con artists use are the same ones we copywriters use. So what are those techniques, and what’s the difference between a con artist and a copywriter? 3. In a former lifetime, I interviewed you for a webinar series and you said something that keeps echoing in my brain, for years. It was that the secret A-List copywriters know, that other copywriters don’t, is about research. Could you talk about the level of research a top copywriter does, and what’s involved? 4. Richard, as a fellow advertising guy, surely you must remember the old ad for Certs: It’s a breath mint and a candy mint. How they packed all that into one mint, I’m still puzzled about to this day. But in your own way, you’ve got a similarly rare distinction. You’re a copywriter and a novelist. Tell us, what do novelists know about storytelling that copywriters don’t know? 5. One of my favorite Richard Armstrong stories is your lift note for Kiplinger’s Personal Finance about your aunt Jane. It, of course, is great storytelling in itself. Here, let me read it out loud so our listeners will be familiar with it: Dear Friend, My aunt Jane is rich as sin. And nobody in my family can figure out why. She worked as a librarian her whole life. Her husband, who passed away a few years back, was a tool-and-die maker. They never earned much money in their lives. But boy, were they ever smart with what they had. There was a little vacation home that they picked up for a song and wound up selling for $250,000. Some well-chosen stocks that grew in value over the years. Mutual funds. Municipal bonds. Treasury bills. Even a vintage Volkswagen “Beetle” that’s worth more now than the day they bought it. Nowadays my Aunt Jane -- who we always thought was just a little crazy -- is a bonafide millionaire! One day I asked her for the secret of her success. “I have three rules,” she said. 1) Never let your money sit idle 2) Never pay more than you have to for anything 3) Never pass up anything that’s free Well, my friend, unless you return the enclosed card today, you’re going to break at least one -- and probably all three -- of my aunt’s rules. Because if you return the enclosed card, you’ll get a free issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE (Rule #3). If you decide to subscribe, you’ll get the next 11 issues at a very low price, plus three free bonus gifts (Rule #2). And instead of spending the rest of your life working for money, you’ll put your money to work for you. (Rule #1) I know my Aunt Jane wouldn’t pass up a free sample issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE magazine. But of course... She already subscribes. Best regards, Richard Armstrong Could you tell us about this piece of copy? I particularly love hearing you recount how you wrote it -- or how you gave up entirely, and it wrote itself. 6. When you’ve written controls or blockbuster promotions, beside inhuman amounts of research, what are some of the other techniques you use that might be helpful to our listeners, who are copywriters and business owners interested in copy? 7. Finally, your special report: “How to Talk Anyone Into Anything.” Besides the smidgen of your research findings that we talked about in the beginning… tell us about the other research you did writing your new book The Don Con, that led up to this report. And, tell us how our readers can get a free copy of this magnificent free special report! Check Out Richard's New Book Download.

Hello First Impressions fans! We're excited to present our book review of The Making of Jane Austen by Devoney Looser! In her highly entertaining, amazingly informative and exhaustively researched work, Dr. Looser discusses how our view of Austen has evolved over two centuries, from kindly "Aunt Jane," to conservative darling, to feisty suffragette. Told through cultural artifacts such as books, plays, movies, banners, letters, and even the odd séance or two, Looser's work is an entertaining dive into the rich world of Austen reception studies. You'll be amazed at how many afterlives our beloved Jane has lived.

My godmother, Aunt Jane, was one of my greatest mentors. She was full of life! I always thought of her as my personal Auntie Mame. She lived life large to say the very least. She married a man, my Uncle Doc, who was 12 years her senior. She always knew that she would probably outlive him. However, she never imagined she would outlive all of her friends as well. By witnessing the journey of my beloved Aunt Jane, I learned how hard it is to be the last one standing.

In our 30th episode, Julia confabulates about the life and works of celebrated Regency author Jane Austen. [Even if you secretly haven’t read the books either, you certainly are familiar with some modern adaptations.] Later, enjoy a quiz called “Scents and Spend-Abilities”! . . . [Music:  1) Wanda Landowska, “Handel: The Harmonious Blacksmith,” 1948. Courtesy of Wanda Landowska, CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 license; 2) Frau Holle, “Ascending Souls,” 2017. Courtesy of Frau Holle, CC BY-NC 3.0 license.]

Hear some Irish music from Shannon Heaton's amazing podcast Irish Music Stories. You'll enjoy music from John Williams, Keith Murphy, Kevin Griffin, Eoin O’Neill, Sharon Shannon, Shannon Heaton, Maeve Gilchrist, Paddy League, Karan Casey, John Gannon, Tina Lech, Kathleen Conneely, Sean Clohessy, Matt & Shannon Heaton, Seamus Connolly, Sean McComiskey, Kieran Jordan, Girsa, Liz Carroll, Daithi Sproule, Trad Youth Exchange, McCarthy Family. Listen. Like. Share. Then download 34 Celtic MP3s for Free! http://bestcelticmusic.net/ Subscribe to the Celtic Music Magazine. This is our free newsletter and your guide to the latest Celtic music and podcast news. Remember to support the artists who support this podcast: buy their CDs, download their MP3s, see their shows, and drop them an email to let them know you heard them on the Irish and Celtic Music Podcast.   Today's show is brought to you by Patrons of the Podcast Your generous pledge of as little as $1 per episode pays for the production of this podcast as well as my time in producing the show. You will enjoy a personal podcast feed where you can listen to the show before regular subscribers, occasional extended editions of the show, and my deepest thanks. When we hit a milestone, you get a 2-hour special. Thanks to our newest patrons. Thank you all for your generosity! Become a patron today!   Notes: * Helping you celebrate Celtic culture through music. My name is Marc Gunn. I am a musician and podcaster. You can share this show and find more episodes at celticmusicpodcast.com. And you can support this show on Patreon. * CELTIC PODCAST NEWS: Subscribe to Irish Music Stories on Shannon Heaton's website. You'll also find video tutorials on her YouTube channel to learn Irish tunes. * I WANT YOUR FEEDBACK: What are you doing today while listening to the podcast? You can send a written comment along with a picture of what you're doing while listening. Email a voicemail message to celticpodcast@gmail.com   This Week in Celtic Music 0:16 ABOUT IRISH MUSIC STORIES - The stories behind the music 1:04 “Darley’s Reel, the Jug of Punch, Garrett Barry’s Reel” by John Williams from self titled debut 4:30 “Nous Allons a une Fete” by Keith Murphy from Bound for Canaan 7:32 “Seamus Connolly’s” (Jig) by Kevin Griffin with Eoin O’Neill, Sharon Shannon from Traditional Music from Doolin Co. Clare 10:23 “Aunt Jane’s Trip to Norway, It Goes As Follies & Eddie Duffy’s” by Shannon Heaton (flute), Maeve Gilchrist (harp), Paddy League (drums) from Blue Dress 14:58 THE GREAT IRISH SESSION 16:10 “Ae Fond Kiss” by Karan Casey from Ships in the Forest 20:10 “The Luachrachan's Jig / Hardiman’s Fancy” by John Gannon, Tina Lech, Kathleen Conneely and Sean Clohessy from From Tulla to Boston: Live at the Burren 23:42 “Golden Glove” by Matt & Shannon Heaton from Lovers’ Well 28:34 “I’m Waiting for You, The Magpie's Nest, The Thirteen Arches, The Sailor's Cravat” by Seamus Connolly from The Banks of the Shannon 33:26 CHAT WITH SEAMUS CONNOLLY AT BOSTON COLLEGE 35:06 ELEMENTAL EXPERIENCE OF IRISH MUSIC WITH SEAN CLOHESSY 36:07 “The Priest and His Boots” by Sean Clohessy, Sean McComiskey, Kieran Jordan from Cover the Buckle 37:42 “Captain, Captain” by Girsa from A Sweeter Place 41:00 “Tune for Mairead & Anna Ni Mhaonaigh” by Liz Carroll & Daithi Sproule from self titled 44:25 “The Tap Room, Galway Rambler, Mountain Road” by Matt & Shannon Heaton and Dan Gurney from archival field recording 48:51 LURE OF IRISH MUSIC 50:50 “Mug Of Brown Ale, Leg Of The Duck, Munster Buttermilk” by Trad Youth Exchange from From Tulla to Boston: Live at the Burren 52:40 “My Love is in America, The Milliner’s Daughter” by McCarthy Family from From Tulla to Boston: Live at the Burren The Irish & Celtic Music Podcast was produced by Marc Gunn, The Celtfather. To subscribe, go to iTunes or to our website where you can become a Patron of the Podcast for as little as $1 per episode. Promote Celtic culture through music at celticmusicpodcast.com.

Have you watched the new Murder on the Orient Express trailer? We have, and we have thoughts. Many of them. We also have a new Miss Marple short story, one that may be a little short on clues, but not on atmosphere. Not that our dear Aunt Jane’s razor-edged bear trap of a ratiocination machine (a.k.a. her mind) would ever be affected by such a silly thing as atmosphere....

So much to discuss in our first Miss Marple short story, including: 1) the "Peter Panning" of yet another beloved Christie detective; 2) the perils of dismissing your dear Aunt Jane if you happen to be a pretentious blowhard of a novelist; 3) the further adventures of dubiously tinned seafood. Throw a log on that fire, spill some lace down your chest, and settle in for some good old-fashioned cynicism, Marple-style.

Ask any experienced, successful salesperson what the single best form of selling is, and you’ll nearly always get back the same answer: “Demonstration.” That’s why savvy car dealers let customers take a new car home for the weekend before they actually buy the car. It’s the same reason Internet marketers offer a $1 trial for the first month, on products or services that are billed for far more than that every month. They know that when people get to try what they’re selling, a lot more of those people will buy it. That’s why pet stores let people take a puppy they’re interested in, home for the weekend. In sales, there’s even a term for this kind of hands-on (paw’s on?) demonstration – “the puppy dog close.” Oddly enough, you can get your prospect to demonstrate your products for themselves without ever letting the touch the product! How? By telling them what I call “demonstration” stories. Prospects get to try out your product in their imaginations. How to create and use stories is known by some of the best marketers and salespeople—but virtually unknown by everyone else. If you don’t know what they are, we’ll turn that around now. Now for my friendly reminder: Copy is powerful. That’s why I’m going to give you some really powerful new strategies today. And then, you’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Now, most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. OK, back to demonstration stories, and other tiny little stories that really pack a wallop! And by that I mean, for the small number of words in these stories, you’ll get a disproportionate payoff. How? In advancing the sale in your copy. In getting your customers to want to learn about and then buy what you are selling, more than they did before they heard the tiny little story. • How to get your prospect to imagine experiencing the benefit of your product, without ever having the product yet So the great artist Pablo Picasso said: “Everything you can imagine is real.” Easy for him to say. When he died in 1973, he had an estimated net worth of $500 million – which would be $2.8 billion today. And on June 21, 2016, his 1909 painting “Femme Assise,” which means “Woman Sitting Down,” sold at an auction in London for $63 million and change. I’m not bringing up all these numbers to make the point that he was a great artist. I’m just saying, when someone can dream up images, put them on canvas, and sell them for big bucks, it’s easy for him to say, “Everything you can imagine is real.” But Picasso was right. In this way. If you imagine doing something or seeing something or hearing something vividly enough, your mind really cannot tell the difference between what you imagined and what actually happened (or never happened). It seems that real. This is important with the kind of stories we’re going to talk about today. Because these stories are designed to get your prospect imagining enjoying one or more of the benefits of what you are selling. In such a vivid way that they actually feel like they experienced it. Then, when they realize they don’t really have what they just imagined having, they will want it all the more! We’ll come back to that point and explore it in depth in a few minutes. For right now, let’s look at some very short stories that get the customer imagining benefits. These are from a full-page ad in the National Enquirer that’s been running for at least a year and a half. The ad is for a product called “Jitterbug,” and it’s a cell phone designed especially for seniors who do not want complicated, sophisticated smart phones like an iPhone or an Android phone. Each one of these paragraphs appears in the ad, and each one of them, by itself, is a story that gets the prospect to not only experience the benefit of the Jitterbug. They also tell a wonderful mini before-and-after story – contrasting the storyteller’s frustration with the old, difficult phone to the delights and ease of the new, easy Jitterbug phone. FIRST ONE: In quotes – “Cell phones have gotten so small, I can barely dial mine.” Close quotes. That first sentence was from a person like the prospect, talking to the prospect, and it’s in quotes. The next three sentences are from the company that makes Jitterbug. All part of the same paragraph: Not the Jitterbug Flip. It features a large keypad for easy dialing. It even has a larger display and a powerful, hearing aid-compatible speaker, so it’s easy to see and conversations are clear. That’s it. WOW! Incredible story there. I had this problem – so small, I could barely dial it. Jitterbug offers this solution: large keypad, large display, powerful speaker that works with hearing aids. Covered the waterfront in four sentences… Another one: SECOND ONE: Quote “I had to get my son to program it.” Unquote. The copy from the company follows: Your Jitterbug Flip set-up process is simple. We’ll even program it with your favorite numbers. THIRD ONE: Quote “What if I don’t remember a number?” Close quote. Friendly, helpful Personal Operators are available 24 hours a day and will even greet you by name when you call. In all – there are six short paragraphs like that. It’s 90% of the full page ad. Structure - Objection (that most prospects have about current phones) - Description (of how Jitterbug is different, better) - Gives prospect experience in imagination of new phone - Complete story: -- it was like this before -- it’s like this now -- this is much better than it was Completely different from hero’s journey. Here’s another one. By A-List copywriter Richard Armstrong. This was a control for Kiplinger’s personal finance for over a decade. This little story on a one-page letter: Dear Friend, My aunt Jane is rich as sin. And nobody in my family can figure out why. She worked as a librarian her whole life. Her husband, who passed away a few years back, was a tool-and-die maker. They never earned much money in their lives. But boy, were they ever smart with what they had. There was a little vacation home that they picked up for a song and wound up selling for $250,000. Some well-chosen stocks that grew in value over the years. Mutual funds. Municipal bonds. Treasury bills. Even a vintage Volkswagen “Beetle” that’s worth more now than the day they bought it. Nowadays my Aunt Jane -- who we always thought was just a little crazy -- is a bonafide millionaire! One day I asked her for the secret of her success. “I have three rules,” she said. 1) Never let your money sit idle 2) Never pay more than you have to for anything 3) Never pass up anything that’s free Well, my friend, unless you return the enclosed card today, you’re going to break at least one -- and probably all three -- of my aunt’s rules. Because if you return the enclosed card, you’ll get a free issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE (Rule #3). If you decide to subscribe, you’ll get the next 11 issues at a very low price, plus three free bonus gifts (Rule #2). And instead of spending the rest of your life working for money, you’ll put your money to work for you. (Rule #1) I know my Aunt Jane wouldn’t pass up a free sample issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE magazine. But of course… She already subscribes. Best regards, Richard Armstrong Brilliant. And short. Less than 300 words. Now, how would this have gone as a hero’s journey story? Aunt Jane, graduates from an archivist program with a degree in library science. Ordinary life. Gets a job. Expenses go up, faster than salary. Gets married. Starts saving. Sees the writing on the wall. Jane and husband start investing. Husband gets laid off. Government budget crunch, Jane’s job is in danger. Will she continue to invest or is she going to start looking for a new job… And so on until she retires and discovers she’s a millionaire… But what Richard did was much more pared down, much more elegant, and much more effective. The first good thing about a demonstration story is that it quickly and effectively gets the prospect imagining they have the product or are using the service you’re offering – and this increases their desire. But there’s a second good thing about a demonstration story, too… • How not having the product (after hearing or reading a “demonstration story”) has the same effect as a super-powerful “takeaway close.” In other words, your prospect close themselves! Takeaway close – works probably better than any other close. Get a prospect excited about having something, and then telling them they can’t have it - after a deadline - after a limited quantity is no longer available - at the same price after a certain date, because the price goes up and there are other versions. Usually comes at the end of a spoken pitch, or the end of your copy. Reason: Human nature. People want what they can’t have. If they can wait forever, they will… With these demonstration stories, you’re doing a second level of takeaway… because… each time a prospect reads one, they “have” the product/service in their imagination… and then, boom! It’s gone. So with the Jitterbug ad: Five demonstration stories, five takeaways. Then they end with a fairly simple and light close, which simply pushes the prospect off the fence: Enough talk. Isn’t it time you found out about the cell phone that’s changing all the rules? Call now. Jitterbug product experts are standing by. By the way, if this a phone you’re interested in… jitterbugdirect.com I don’t have any business relationship with the company, but, for example, I know this is something my girlfriend’s parents would probably be interested in! So… you can see the power in these demonstration stories • How to create your own “demonstration story.” These stories are incredibly easy to write. Here’s the catch: You need to know your prospects well. You need to know what’s on their mind. What they’re unhappy with about competing products. What they’re afraid of. How they’ve been disappointed in the past. And, most important, how they talk about it. Once you know that, you simply state their objection, and answer it in a sentence or two. Example: Website software is too rigid and difficult to use. “I used to go crazy trying to put a web page together.” Well, with EasyWeb, you can put a professional looking web page together in 10 minutes or less. And you have complete flexibility as to what it looks like – or you can use one of our six proven templates for your page if you don’t want to design it yourself. This kind of thing is easy to do if you know what’s on the mind of your prospects, and how they talk about it, and how what you offer solves the problem that you’re talking about. So the key to these stories is not the formula – that’s simple, and by now you should understand what it is. The key is knowing how to fill in the formula – and the only way you’re going to be able to do that so it works is by knowing your prospects—ideally, knowing them inside-out. You can get this information in a number of ways. By talking to prospects. Talking to customers. If you have salespeople, talk to them. If you have customer service people, ask them about the most common questions and complaints. Look on sites like Amazon where there are reviews… you’ll find common themes if you read enough and think about what you read. In short, once you start to become an expert on your own customers, the copy starts to almost write itself! Download.

Ask any experienced, successful salesperson what the single best form of selling is, and you’ll nearly always get back the same answer: “Demonstration.” That’s why savvy car dealers let customers take a new car home for the weekend before they actually buy the car. It’s the same reason Internet marketers offer a $1 trial for the first month, on products or services that are billed for far more than that every month. They know that when people get to try what they’re selling, a lot more of those people will buy it. That’s why pet stores let people take a puppy they’re interested in, home for the weekend. In sales, there’s even a term for this kind of hands-on (paw’s on?) demonstration – “the puppy dog close.” Oddly enough, you can get your prospect to demonstrate your products for themselves without ever letting the touch the product! How? By telling them what I call “demonstration” stories. Prospects get to try out your product in their imaginations. How to create and use stories is known by some of the best marketers and salespeople—but virtually unknown by everyone else. If you don’t know what they are, we’ll turn that around now. Now for my friendly reminder: Copy is powerful. That’s why I’m going to give you some really powerful new strategies today. And then, you’re responsible for how you use what you hear on this podcast. Now, most of the time, common sense is all you need. But if you make extreme claims… and/or if you’re writing copy for offers in highly regulated industries like health, finance, and business opportunity… you may want to get a legal review after you write and before you start using your copy. My larger clients do this all the time. OK, back to demonstration stories, and other tiny little stories that really pack a wallop! And by that I mean, for the small number of words in these stories, you’ll get a disproportionate payoff. How? In advancing the sale in your copy. In getting your customers to want to learn about and then buy what you are selling, more than they did before they heard the tiny little story. • How to get your prospect to imagine experiencing the benefit of your product, without ever having the product yet So the great artist Pablo Picasso said: “Everything you can imagine is real.” Easy for him to say. When he died in 1973, he had an estimated net worth of $500 million – which would be $2.8 billion today. And on June 21, 2016, his 1909 painting “Femme Assise,” which means “Woman Sitting Down,” sold at an auction in London for $63 million and change. I’m not bringing up all these numbers to make the point that he was a great artist. I’m just saying, when someone can dream up images, put them on canvas, and sell them for big bucks, it’s easy for him to say, “Everything you can imagine is real.” But Picasso was right. In this way. If you imagine doing something or seeing something or hearing something vividly enough, your mind really cannot tell the difference between what you imagined and what actually happened (or never happened). It seems that real. This is important with the kind of stories we’re going to talk about today. Because these stories are designed to get your prospect imagining enjoying one or more of the benefits of what you are selling. In such a vivid way that they actually feel like they experienced it. Then, when they realize they don’t really have what they just imagined having, they will want it all the more! We’ll come back to that point and explore it in depth in a few minutes. For right now, let’s look at some very short stories that get the customer imagining benefits. These are from a full-page ad in the National Enquirer that’s been running for at least a year and a half. The ad is for a product called “Jitterbug,” and it’s a cell phone designed especially for seniors who do not want complicated, sophisticated smart phones like an iPhone or an Android phone. Each one of these paragraphs appears in the ad, and each one of them, by itself, is a story that gets the prospect to not only experience the benefit of the Jitterbug. They also tell a wonderful mini before-and-after story – contrasting the storyteller’s frustration with the old, difficult phone to the delights and ease of the new, easy Jitterbug phone. FIRST ONE: In quotes – “Cell phones have gotten so small, I can barely dial mine.” Close quotes. That first sentence was from a person like the prospect, talking to the prospect, and it’s in quotes. The next three sentences are from the company that makes Jitterbug. All part of the same paragraph: Not the Jitterbug Flip. It features a large keypad for easy dialing. It even has a larger display and a powerful, hearing aid-compatible speaker, so it’s easy to see and conversations are clear. That’s it. WOW! Incredible story there. I had this problem – so small, I could barely dial it. Jitterbug offers this solution: large keypad, large display, powerful speaker that works with hearing aids. Covered the waterfront in four sentences… Another one: SECOND ONE: Quote “I had to get my son to program it.” Unquote. The copy from the company follows: Your Jitterbug Flip set-up process is simple. We’ll even program it with your favorite numbers. THIRD ONE: Quote “What if I don’t remember a number?” Close quote. Friendly, helpful Personal Operators are available 24 hours a day and will even greet you by name when you call. In all – there are six short paragraphs like that. It’s 90% of the full page ad. Structure - Objection (that most prospects have about current phones) - Description (of how Jitterbug is different, better) - Gives prospect experience in imagination of new phone - Complete story: -- it was like this before -- it’s like this now -- this is much better than it was Completely different from hero’s journey. Here’s another one. By A-List copywriter Richard Armstrong. This was a control for Kiplinger’s personal finance for over a decade. This little story on a one-page letter: Dear Friend, My aunt Jane is rich as sin. And nobody in my family can figure out why. She worked as a librarian her whole life. Her husband, who passed away a few years back, was a tool-and-die maker. They never earned much money in their lives. But boy, were they ever smart with what they had. There was a little vacation home that they picked up for a song and wound up selling for $250,000. Some well-chosen stocks that grew in value over the years. Mutual funds. Municipal bonds. Treasury bills. Even a vintage Volkswagen “Beetle” that’s worth more now than the day they bought it. Nowadays my Aunt Jane -- who we always thought was just a little crazy -- is a bonafide millionaire! One day I asked her for the secret of her success. “I have three rules,” she said. 1) Never let your money sit idle 2) Never pay more than you have to for anything 3) Never pass up anything that’s free Well, my friend, unless you return the enclosed card today, you’re going to break at least one -- and probably all three -- of my aunt’s rules. Because if you return the enclosed card, you’ll get a free issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE (Rule #3). If you decide to subscribe, you’ll get the next 11 issues at a very low price, plus three free bonus gifts (Rule #2). And instead of spending the rest of your life working for money, you’ll put your money to work for you. (Rule #1) I know my Aunt Jane wouldn’t pass up a free sample issue of KIPLINGER’S PERSONAL FINANCE magazine. But of course… She already subscribes. Best regards, Richard Armstrong Brilliant. And short. Less than 300 words. Now, how would this have gone as a hero’s journey story? Aunt Jane, graduates from an archivist program with a degree in library science. Ordinary life. Gets a job. Expenses go up, faster than salary. Gets married. Starts saving. Sees the writing on the wall. Jane and husband start investing. Husband gets laid off. Government budget crunch, Jane’s job is in danger. Will she continue to invest or is she going to start looking for a new job… And so on until she retires and discovers she’s a millionaire… But what Richard did was much more pared down, much more elegant, and much more effective. The first good thing about a demonstration story is that it quickly and effectively gets the prospect imagining they have the product or are using the service you’re offering – and this increases their desire. But there’s a second good thing about a demonstration story, too… • How not having the product (after hearing or reading a “demonstration story”) has the same effect as a super-powerful “takeaway close.” In other words, your prospect close themselves! Takeaway close – works probably better than any other close. Get a prospect excited about having something, and then telling them they can’t have it - after a deadline - after a limited quantity is no longer available - at the same price after a certain date, because the price goes up and there are other versions. Usually comes at the end of a spoken pitch, or the end of your copy. Reason: Human nature. People want what they can’t have. If they can wait forever, they will… With these demonstration stories, you’re doing a second level of takeaway… because… each time a prospect reads one, they “have” the product/service in their imagination… and then, boom! It’s gone. So with the Jitterbug ad: Five demonstration stories, five takeaways. Then they end with a fairly simple and light close, which simply pushes the prospect off the fence: Enough talk. Isn’t it time you found out about the cell phone that’s changing all the rules? Call now. Jitterbug product experts are standing by. By the way, if this a phone you’re interested in… jitterbugdirect.com I don’t have any business relationship with the company, but, for example, I know this is something my girlfriend’s parents would probably be interested in! So… you can see the power in these demonstration stories • How to create your own “demonstration story.” These stories are incredibly easy to write. Here’s the catch: You need to know your prospects well. You need to know what’s on their mind. What they’re unhappy with about competing products. What they’re afraid of. How they’ve been disappointed in the past. And, most important, how they talk about it. Once you know that, you simply state their objection, and answer it in a sentence or two. Example: Website software is too rigid and difficult to use. “I used to go crazy trying to put a web page together.” Well, with EasyWeb, you can put a professional looking web page together in 10 minutes or less. And you have complete flexibility as to what it looks like – or you can use one of our six proven templates for your page if you don’t want to design it yourself. This kind of thing is easy to do if you know what’s on the mind of your prospects, and how they talk about it, and how what you offer solves the problem that you’re talking about. So the key to these stories is not the formula – that’s simple, and by now you should understand what it is. The key is knowing how to fill in the formula – and the only way you’re going to be able to do that so it works is by knowing your prospects—ideally, knowing them inside-out. You can get this information in a number of ways. By talking to prospects. Talking to customers. If you have salespeople, talk to them. If you have customer service people, ask them about the most common questions and complaints. Look on sites like Amazon where there are reviews… you’ll find common themes if you read enough and think about what you read. In short, once you start to become an expert on your own customers, the copy starts to almost write itself! Download.

Eric Doppelt lost his Aunt Jane to Pancreatic Cancer this past September, but that has not stopped his fight to end this awful disease.Three years ago, Erics aunt Jane was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.The diagnosis shook more than just Jane: the news of a tumor quickly spread from one person to another - friends and family alike were plagued by this awful discovery. It was devastating to hear that someone so innocent, and so compassionate, was given such an awful sentencing. After the initial shock subsided, they quickly concluded that while they may not have been able to understand why it happened, they certainly didn’t have to accept it as a simple death sentence. They could fight back. So while Jane battled, they did too.Jane’s tumor was discovered in the Summer of 2013. For the following year, she battled relentlessly. Jane underwent chemotherapy and radiation, and despite awful side effects, her smile never faded. Cancer could never steal her smile.Jane underwent surgery to remove the tumor, and with chemotherapy treatments, she lived cancer-free.The dark, grim future faded, and life was simpler. But then, in the Winter of 2015, multiple tumors appeared. Her cancer had spread. Jane battled these tumors with a similar vigor - she failed to relent. But these tumors were different. They couldn’t be beat.Jane passed away on September 24th, 2016.She left behind a wide-reaching network of heart-broken friends and family: the same group who joined hands together three years ago; the group who promised to rewrite the future of pancreatic cancer; the group who refused to accept the statistics; who knew that a diagnosis wasn’t the end of a story. This group was, and still is, Team Jane.Through attending PurpleStride walks, advocating on Capitol Hill, raising both funds and awareness, and sharing their story - Jane’s story - they battled right alongside Jane. She lit the path which guided them, and they followed in her footsteps Waging Hope!Yet now, they are all at a loss for words. Their leader, their trailblazer, their sweet Jane, is no longer leading them. But this does not mean they will stop. If anything, now more than ever, they continue on and fight back… with a vengeance.So with Jane on their minds and in their hearts, Team Jane endures with both sadness and determination. They will no longer fight with her, but will fight for her.So come join them. Be a member of Team Jane at a PurpleStride, or donate money to the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network which aspires to rewrite the future of pancreatic cancer. They aren’t done fighting, and hopefully, neither are you.http://www.firstgiving.com/fundraiser/EricDoppelt/TeamJane

It’s October, folks, and that means Halloween is on the way. To celebrate October, we’re going to present encores of our spookiest, most mysterious podcasts, as well as new Halloween stories, every Tuesday this month. And we start Halloween month with Rod’s story of Aunt Jane Dutton of Dickenson County, Virginia, accused by her neighbor […]

Come on, admit it, haven’t you secretly desired a sugar mama or sugar daddy to come rescue you from your lowly bank balance? Ever wanted to win the lottery thinking that will be the very thing to relieve your financial stress? Or maybe we could land an inheritance from dear Aunt Jane who’s close to 90 and might be moving on real, real soon? We’ve all been there; wanting wads of money to come into our lives, as if by magic. And even though there’s nothing wrong with that, (because we do believe in magic!) we would love to deconstruct this idea and see what lies right underneath the surface. Care to join us and learn the gift that’s ready to be unveiled in this conversation? http://www.MeganSillito.com      http://livingyoursoultruth.com Join our fun Facebook group where we give additional tips and tools and continue the conversation after the show:  https://www.facebook.com/groups/1615639452040672/

My Aunt Jane she brought me in, she gave tea out of her wee tin Half a bap, a wee snow top, three black lumps out of her wee shop Half a bap, a wee snow top, three black lumps out of her wee shop My Aunt has a bell on the door, a white stone step and a clean swept floor Candy apples and hard green pears, conversation lozenges Candy apples and hard green pears, conversation lozenges My Aunt Jane she's awful smart, she baked three rings and a apple tart And when Halloween comes round, for next that tart I'm always found And when Halloween comes round, for next that tart I'm always found My Aunt Jane she can dance a jig, sing a ballad for a sweety pig Wee red eyes and a cord for a tail, hanging in a bunch from a farthing nail Wee red eyes and a cord for a tail, hanging in a bunch from a farthing nail My Aunt has a great wee shop, with luck bags and lime juice rock Cinnamon buds and yella man, and brandy balls in a bright tin can Cinnamon buds and yella man, and brandy balls in a bright tin can