Episode 20: "If I Were a Man" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Episode 20: "If I Were a Man" by Charlotte Perkins Gilman

Charlotte Perkins Gilman gave us “The Yellow Wallpaper”, and now she’s back with a different story. Mollie Mathewson wishes she were a man. Almost immediately after she makes that wish, she gets transported into her husband’s mind. In that mind he quickly forgets why they had a little argument, and runs to catch the train. As the men on the train are chatting, the train is moving, and she finds that a mans thoughts are a lot different than she’s always believed - not in a bad way, but a different way. As she lives further in further in her husband’s head she realizes how much she doesn’t know and continues to learn about him and his way of thinking. We don’t get to know if she eventually finds herself back in her own head, but we don’t need that to be satisfied with this story. Tell me, would you like to spend a few minutes in your partner’s head? I hope you enjoy this episode. Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends! Goodnight, Rachael The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit withrachaelpodcast.substack.com [https://withrachaelpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 19: "The Silver Key" by H.P. Lovecraft

I put a few authors we hadn’t read before on a random wheel and spun it. Unfortunately this is the story the wheel chose for us and I’m not really convinced the author or the story is actually something I’ll ever want to read again. The story isn’t bad, it just doesn’t fit what I would consider to be intriguing. The sentence structure is very long, and almost feels like the story is composed of run on sentences strung together with paperclips and hope. If you’re like me, and listen to podcasts to fall asleep to, this one might be the one you repeat over and over again. This story can be summed up quickly. The main character has been conditioned by the world to hide his true thoughts about the world and the world that lives in his dreams. He becomes bothered with the perspectives of people living in the “real” world, calling them and their aspirations shallow and fickle. He lives in this world so much that the one he built in his dreams becomes inaccessible, and the longing to visit grows. Everything changes when he finds this silver key hidden by generations and generations of his family. I hope you enjoy this episode. Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends! Goodnight, Rachael The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit withrachaelpodcast.substack.com [https://withrachaelpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 18: "The Camel's Back" by F. Scott Fitzgerald

We do what we can to mitigate the pain of heartbreak. Some people cry in bed. Some people eat everything they have in their fridge. Some people dust themselves off, put on a camel costume and go to a party. Our main character and his partner are minutes away from signing the marriage license when they break up. Since both of them are a part of the upper echelon, they have to understand that they’ll see each other frequently, but not like this. F. Scott Fitzgerald has a lot of haters. Whether they hated Gatsby, or are disgusted with how he treated his wife, Zelda. Using her diary as content, publishing her work under his name, or putting her in the psych ward, to name a few of the most annoying actions. My only gripe with him and this story, though the theme seems to run throughout some of the other stories we’ve read so far - the description of black people in stories in the mid 1950s and earlier. I get it. Things were different back then, blah blah blah. It’s so disheartening and annoying to read about black people in stories from this time period where as soon as it’s mentioned that they’re “negro”, which is right away, the dialogue for that character consists of some corny exaggerated accent, and the overall demeanor of that person is meant to feel poor, or stupid, or less. The character is a part of that group but not in status of education level. It’s also becoming clearer to me how hypocritical it is for people this day and age to say, “Black People make everything about race!” when race in these short stories is always established when a character is black, but not to describe the main characters, whom we can only perceive as white. I hope you enjoy this episode. Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends! Goodnight, Rachael The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit withrachaelpodcast.substack.com [https://withrachaelpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 17: "The Birthmark" by Nathaniel Hawthorne

If I ever meet Nathaniel Hawthorne in the afterlife, he’ll never know peace. This story is about a successful scientist named Aylmer who falls and love and marries the most beautiful woman, Georgiana. The men want to be with her. The women are jealous of her. The only flaw she has is a tiny birthmark in the shape of an infant hand on her cheek. The birthmark is a little red, so when she blushes, the mark fades. When she’s pale, the mark is more pronounced. As soon as Aylmer, (who even names their kid Aylmer?) marries her, he becomes disgusted with the fact that she has this birthmark and begins to make her physically uncomfortable in her skin. I’m not a man hater by any means. I have my personal opinions about the roles that men and women play in society, but I also have doubts that a woman would ever do something like this. This guy Aylmer has some nerve. I hope you enjoy this episode. Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends! Goodnight, Rachael The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit withrachaelpodcast.substack.com [https://withrachaelpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]

Episode 16: "The Argonauts of the Air" by H.G. Wells

I want to get something off my chest. I feel as though it’s been a long time since our last TRUE invention. A tangible thing that flips the entire world on its’ axis hasn’t been released in a long time. Don’t fight me. This story is all about an inventor investing all of his time and money into this flying machine. The papers, his community, and passersby mock him and laugh at this seemingly unattainable goal. They see him as a joke, which starts to get into his head. Inventors have to be very brave and strong to do what they do. The constant noise and criticism can be overwhelming, and may derail the process. It’s not for the weak and takes a lot of dedication to filter out the negative voices. Can you think of an invention you’d like to see? Or are you like me, in thinking we’ve done so much, there’s not really more tangible inventions to be created? Let’s chat in the comments. I hope you enjoy this episode. Be sure to Like, Comment, or Share this episode with your friends! Goodnight, Rachael The music for this podcast was provided by Miles Agean. Check out his album, Alpenglow, on Apple Music & Spotify. This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit withrachaelpodcast.substack.com [https://withrachaelpodcast.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1]