Paperback Cabaret

Mary says the best things and this just rang so true for what we have all been working through these past months.  We know it’s been a minute since you’ve heard our voices but sometimes all the life things just take over and we have to take a step back.  But, we are always poised to pick this project back up because it is important and we all love it so much.  This episode we are discussing what has been keeping us more internally focused for the last several months, because the quiet doesn’t mean we haven’t been soaking up and living our lives the best way we know how.  And honestly, isn’t that the goal? Enjoy the “psychological unfurling,” as Lisa so eloquently said it, that has been our lives over the last six months.  Stay to the end to find out how Mary snaps herself out of nightmares and sleep paralysis.  It really is that kind of an episode.  Get more from the pod, including access to our full list of music on Spotify, by clicking on this link!

FODO = Fear of Disappointing Others.  For Traci and Lisa this episode could also be titled “Relatable”, because, man, do we feel this one.  Traci’s therapist has been helping her with this particular struggle and shared a super helpful article that we are now covering for the pod.  If you want to read the full thing, and we do highly recommend it, click here. Huge thanks to the mental health professionals out there taking care of us.   We hit all the tips in the article and discuss how we use them in our own lives, the paralysis and shame that can come along with even the thought of disappointing someone else, the ways we have found to cope and overcome some of the more impairing parts of this sensation, and posit the question: What if we started caring more about disappointing our future selves than people around us?  It’s a good one. At the moment we are sitting pretty happy in discussions of things that matter to us, but we will be starting Persepolis, both volumes, soon.  The other item soon to be released, will be our book list.  Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret  Comments and questions go here: [email protected] 

Post wrap up from our previous book, we are taking time to purge before we start a new book. Lisa starts us off with a talk about the benefits of establishing bath rituals, Traci is still in happy pre-party baker mode, and Tori shares the growth that comes along with ending a relationship that didn’t work for her.  If you’re curious what these settled in chats feel like, you should absolutely join us.  We have two more purge episodes coming up before we start to cover our next book Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi.  Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret  Comments and questions go here: [email protected] 

We get a little extra loose when we have night time recordings.  Before we jump into the conclusion for this amazing book, we gave Tori the room she needed to vent about her deep hatred of American football, especially since she wasn’t with us for the chapter that covered this topic.  Once we’re in it, we are in it.  We have a tearful moment of one mother recognizing another mother’s pain as we watch the sometimes life threatening challenges our sons face in the world that’s been built around them.  Oluo faces this with all the additional challenges presented to her as a Black woman living in America.  And where do we come out at the end of this book? We choose to follow Oluo with hope and a desire to find the place in this system where we can make the biggest push for change.  And that’s the end of Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, we have used this book as a leaping off point for each of us to find the things that we needed to be talking about right now.  We are going to take a bit of a break from reading while our summers all unfold in various ways, but be ready for some fun purge-tastic episodes. Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret  Comments and questions go here: [email protected] 

And here we are at the last chapter of Mediocre, but the pace and punch of the book hasn’t slowed any.  Oluo hits hard with imagery of American football players, overwhelmingly young Black men, as being seen as something between “a god and chattel.”  Heartbreaking, but when the facts are examined, this sport was built for violence, for domination, and every Sunday during football season millions of people tune in to watch these elite athletes throw not just their bodies, but  their hearts and souls into a game that gives them little to nothing in return.   Chapter seven in Ijeoma Oluo’s timely book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, gives us an opportunity to examine this strange and harmful paradox of exploiting Black men while also harboring a deep seeded fear of them.   Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret  Comments and questions go here: [email protected]  Recorded April 16, 2023 

Oh man, we hit one issue after another during this recording! Like the champs we are, we’ve managed to redeem our conversation and feel it’s worth it for you to give it a listen.  We didn't make it out of our music choices for the week before the conversation started touching on more vulnerable topics about alcohol, addiction, and suicide. The world is a hard place folks, let’s try to be gentle with each other.  Then we get to the book.  Chapter six in Ijeoma Oluo’s timely book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, is a needed spotlight on just how terribly our society will regularly treat women of color in politics. Or anywhere else, for that matter. Also, apologies for not having our songs added to this episode.  There’s so much happening behind the scenes for us and time is just not always there for all the bells and whistles.  But, that’s just a good reason for you to go check out our Spotify playlists.   Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret  Comments and questions go here: [email protected]  Recorded April 9, 2023

We are lucky to have our own passionate political science major in our midst and Tori’s got some of her research to share with us regarding women and the draft, in addition to the topic of the truly unjust world of women in the workforce.  Just a little something spicy to add to yet another enraging example of how this all just works according to design.  Chapter five in Ijeoma Oluo’s timely book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, gives us just a slive of the many ways the workforce has never been made a place for women, especially women of color.  Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret  Comments and questions go here: [email protected] 

What happens when we take a pause from the book to just sit and chat? A pure purge episode, of course!  Lisa kicked us off with a discussion around spirituality which morphed into a discussion around the importance of speaking out, if you feel safe to, about your abortion, and Traci did. We wrapped with Tori’s trick of using little circles to help clear her head when life feels exceptionally messy, something most of us can relate to.  Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret  Comments and questions go here: [email protected] 

Bizarre how our universities have frequently been built as havens of the elite to increase their ranks.  Please note this statement is filled with sarcasm.  While some of us had truly lovely experiences while working on a degree, difficulties still abound for many.    Chapter four in  Ijeoma Oluo’s timely book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America, hits an especially personal note with the gals this episode.    Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as our social media and other bits that tickle our fancy.  https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret 

If he wears a t-shirt saying “this is what a feminist looks like” there’s a good chance he’s still going to think he knows more, deserves more, and can take more than the people he claims to help.  Just one more hurdle on the path for basic human rights for everyone. Off we go with chapter two in Ijeoma Oluo’s timely book, Mediocre: The Dangerous Legacy of White Male America. Want to listen to full versions of the songs we mentioned? Click on the link below to find our Spotify profile as well as our social media and other bits that tickle our fancy. https://linktr.ee/paperbackcabaret