On Becoming Michelle Obama

The Wild Woman Archetype in fairy tales

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

The Little Light of Fannie Lou Hamer

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

Ain't no Man Better than Sister Rosetta

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

On Becoming Michelle Obama

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

Scenes from Quarantines

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