The Monarchy

Guilty pleasures

How about we all talk guiltlessly about our guilty pleasures? :) Music by nishan alwis [https://pixabay.com/users/stockaudios-28301327/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=113985] from Pixabay [https://pixabay.com/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=113985]

The Passion of books

Annelies and Sheba are back!  Our first episode this year is about a huge passion for both of us - reading books. In this episode, we regale you with tales of our obession with books throughout our lives, and the impact of those books on us. Here is a list of books we mentioned (and some that we didn't). * Enid Blyton [https://www.enidblyton.net/] * Jane Austen [https://www.janeausten.org/] * Sir Arthur Conan Doyle [https://www.arthurconandoyle.com/] * Barbara Michaels [http://barbaramertz.org/barbara-michaels/] * Robin McKinley [https://robinmckinley.com/] * 1984 (George Orwell) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nineteen_Eighty-Four] * Diary of a Geisha (Arthur Golden) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoirs_of_a_Geisha] * Harry Potter series (J. K. Rowling) [https://www.jkrowling.com/writing/] * Discovery of Heaven (Harry Mulisch) [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Discovery_of_Heaven] * Lord of the Rings (J. R. R. Tolkien) [https://www.tolkiensociety.org/] * Haruki Murakami [https://www.harukimurakami.com/] * Boomerang valentine (Andrea Gibson) [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HWQ08XAYbY] * The Rainforest Mind (Paula Prober) [https://rainforestmind.com/] * The Gifted Adult (Mary Elaine Jacobson) [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/545601] * Brene Brown [https://brenebrown.com/] * This is your brain on parasites (Kathleen McAuliffe) [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/25897836] * The history of surgery (Ira Rutkow) [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/58437567] * Refuse to choose (Barbara Sher) [https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/287818] * Daphne du Maurier [https://www.dumaurier.org/]

Let's talk Periods

Did you know that some countries (Japan, Korea, Taiwan and Indonesia), including a single state in India, offer women menstrual leave? There are organizations in Bihar that have set up  education and awareness, and free tampons/pads in bathrooms specially built for women. They are removing the stigma around menstruation, little by little. Recently Spain has proposed menstrual leave too. That's it. This doesn't exist anywhere else. Why?? Periods, all the pain and agony associated with them, are quietly brushed under the carpet. Women bite through and try to survive the day. Heaven forbid if we admit that yes it's my period, it's PMS, that's why I'm a little less productive than usual. We won't in either case, we are terrified of being seen as weak, right? And we all have known the despair of taking off blood stained underwear in the toilet and not having products with us...the fun little waddle to lockers and bags to get them, or the discrete question "you got a pad handy?"  So why not menstrual leave? Why not free menstrual products in the bathrooms? Why not talk about it? Why not research into why periods are so hard on many women, and how do we make it easier on them? We understand this is a polarising issue. We do think the key is to finally  remove the stigma around menstruation. We should be able to say yes I'm on the rag, without the shame and fear of being seen as a lesser human. Music by QubeSounds [https://pixabay.com/users/qubesounds-24397640/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=118000] from Pixabay [https://pixabay.com/music//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=118000]

All the happy things

Fall is here, and it is a hard time all around, but we wanted to talk about the things that make us laugh, make us happy, euphoric, and maybe just joyful, in spite of everything. Here is what we came up with! Music by Twisterium [https://pixabay.com/users/twisterium-20030970/?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=7669] from Pixabay [https://pixabay.com/music//?utm_source=link-attribution&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=music&utm_content=7669]

The Monarchy

Queen Elizabeth II has died, and  this led Annelies and Sheba to wonder about the purpose of the monarchy, any monarchy, anywhere that it still exists. Music by SergePavkinMusic [https://pixabay.com/music/search/sergepavkinmusic/] at Pixabay.