Let’s Try That Again

Childless Cat Ladies and Other Women Without Children

In today's episode I speak with Peggy O'Donnell Heffington, a professor of history at the University of Chicago, and author of "Without Children: The Long History of Not Being a Mother." There has been a long history of women without children being stigmatized, pitied, reviled, envied, and ignored. Within today's political climate - especially with the upcoming Presidential Elections - we have also seen examples of the trope of "the child-less cat lady" being rallied against so-called "non-mothers." With time, understandings and practices of Mothering are shifting to increasingly narrow definitions, where a Mother, today, is understood as a woman who can give birth to her own biological children, "naturally," and within the confines of a nuclear family. As we see unfolding before our eyes, with women being denied access to abortions in the United States, the government has always been interested, implicated, and often times, directly involved, in the decisions women make about their reproductive choices. In my conversation with Peggy Heffington, we dive into some of the historical, cultural, ecological, and socio-political reasons women today -as in the past -are not having children. Indeed, many of the reasons are not new: "history is full of women without children, some who chose childless lives, others who wanted children but never had them, and still others - the vast majority, then and now - who fell somewhere in between."
 
Here's a link to Rachel Treisman's article: https://www.npr.org/2024/07/29/nx-s1-5055616/jd-vance-childless-cat-lady-history
To learn more about Peggy Heffington and follow her work, check out her website: https://poheffington.com/

Lost - and Found - in Translation

Our guest in today's episode is Alejandra Oliva, a Mexican American translator and immigrant justice activist. We discuss her stunning memoir, "Rivermouth: A Chronicle of Language, Faith, and Migration," in which Alejandra delves into her family's history, her work as a translator, and the difficult journeys migrants must take to find a place to call home. We focus on Alejandra's work as an interpretor for asylum-seekers and for the migrants who were part of the caravan that made its way from Central America to the Mexican-US border in Tijuana in late 2018. What becomes clear as our coversation unfolds is that as difficult and traumatic as the journey is for many migrants who risk their lives and the lives of their children to make the harrowing journey to the Mexican border, the little hope and dignitiy they come with is put to the test by the US government, who - through their actions - ask: "what are you afraid of more, where you came from, or what we are about to do to you and your family before we even let you in?"

"The Bandit Queens": In conversation with Parini Shroff

In this Episode I speak with Parini Shroff, author of "The Bandit Queens." The novel revolves around the life of Geeta, a woman in a tiny village in India whose husband disappeared a few years ago. Everyone in the village begins to think Geeta killed him, and some desperate housewives start approaching Geeta for help in getting rid of their own, no-good husbands. Geeta isn't sure she wants to get involved, but some leave her with no choice. With a lot of heart - and humor - Parini Shroff addresses a wide range of important issues ranging from the stigma around widowhood, caste/class politics, intimate and domestic violence, and the complexities and strength of female friendships. 
Parini Shroff received her MFA from the University of Texas at Austin. She is a practicing attorney and currently lives in the Bay Area. "The Bandit Queens" is her debut novel. 
Here are some sources to learn more about Phoolan Devi:
"I, Phoolan Devi: The Autobiography of India's Bandit Queen"
"India's Bandit Queen: The True Story of Phoolan Devi" by Mala Sen
"Phoolan Devi Rebel Queen," a graphic novel, by Claire Fauvel
Here's a link to Arundhati Roy's scathing critique of Sekhar Kapoor's 1994 film Phoolan Devi: http://www.rarre.org/documents/roy/Arundhati%20Roy%20on%20Shekhar%20Kapur's%20Bandit%20Queen.pdf
Parini mentioned R.O. Kwon's article on parents who regret having children: https://time.com/6966914/parental-regret-children-ro-kwon-essay/

Rethinking Resiliency: In Conversation with Soraya Chemaly

Our guest in today's episode is Soraya Chemaly, an award-winning author, journalist, and activist. We discuss Soraya's new book, "The Resilience Myth: New Thinking on Grit, Strength, and Growth after Trauma," in which she urges us to question and dismantle popular ideas around resiliency that prioritize the mind/body dichotomy, encourage a "tough-it-out" mentality, celebrates productivity, and rests on the expectation of "bouncing-back" as quickly as possible. Throughout our conversation, and as Soraya argues in her book, it is clear that this cultural script for resilience is, in fact, part of the same systems and worldviews that require us to be so resilient to begin with. And as the 2024 Paris Olympic games wind-down, one athlete's story - among many! - has already left a mark on so many of us, that of Simone Biles. Soraya believes that Simone is a wonderful role model for this new reimagining of resiliency, one in which the body's needs are acknowledged and nurtured, where the virtues of "productivity" and "soldiering-on" are questioned, and where time is taken to heal with the help and support of family, peers, and the larger community.  

The Doctor Is In: Getting Personal with Dr. Mona

Dr. Mona Amin is a Board Certified General Pediatrician, a Parenting Coach, a Mom -- and a social media sensation. Through her brand @pedsdoctalk, her goal is to provide relatable and easy-to-digest education for the modern parent regarding the health, safety, and wellness of their child. In today's Episode, however, I invite Dr. Mona to put down her Doctor & Coaching hat for a moment and get personal - about her childhood, how she was raised, the kind of relationship she had - and still has - with her parents, and how it all shows up in her life, relationships, and the way she chooses to raise her own children. As a mental health advocate, Dr. Mona doesn't shy away from speaking about her own struggles, especially after the birth trauma she experienced in delivering both her children. Whether or not you follow Dr. Mona you will still be able to resonate with the underlying theme of this episode and our conversation, which is that the way you were parented mattered.
You can find Dr. Mona at her website: https://pedsdoctalk.com/ and on her Podcast: https://pedsdoctalk.com/pedsdoctalk-podcast/ and on Instagram @pedsdoctalk. 
Also please don't forget to follow us @letstrythatagainpodcast

Are You Beautiful Enough? K-Beauty Asks and Answers

In this Episode I speak with Elise Hu, author of "Flawless: Lessons in Looks and Culture from the K-Beauty Capital." When Elise moved to Seoul in 2015 as the first-ever Korea and Japan bureau chief for the American broadcaster NPR, it dawned on her that she was in fact coming "face-to-face with the future of how we might live, look, and relate to one another." South Korea is one of the world's largest exporters of cosmetic goods and is at the epicenter of beauty innovation-- creating cutting edge technologies of self-enhancement and self-modification. This, combined with powerful AI tools and social media, allows the consumer beauty industry to propose solutions for problems we never knew we had. As the window of who is deemed Beautiful becomes more and more narrow, and when appearance labor becomes conflated with self-improvement, Hu asks "what does consumer beauty culture lead to, if left unconsidered and unchecked?"
To learn about Elise Hu please visit her website: https://elisehu.com/

"'I Love You's Are For White People"

Is there much more we can say about love? Well, according to the late and brilliant bell hooks, as a society we seem simultaneously obsessed with love and yet find it very difficult to define. And that it's perhaps "our confusion about what we mean when we use the word 'love' that is the source of our difficulty in loving." In this episode we explore what hooks defines as the "original school of love" - that of our childhoods and our families. I also sit down with Lac Su to discuss his memoir, "'I Love You's Are For White People," in which he describes the difficult and tumultuous relationship he had with his father after they settled in the US as new immigrants after having to suddenly flee post-war Vietnam. Before that I talk to Dr. Aneesa Shariff, a clinical psychologist based in the UK, who has done work on first and second generation South Asian families and on the tensions that arise when multi-generational households move from Asian countries to more Western countries. Although love might be experienced as a universal emotion it is certainly not expressed or demonstrated in the same ways, universally.
To purchase Lac Su’s book, please visit: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Yous-Are-White-People/dp/0061543667
To learn more about Dr. Aneesa Shariff's work please visit her website: https://leedsanxietypsychologist.co.uk/ and you can find her on Instagram @aneesashariffphd
Please follow our page on @letstrythatagainpodcast

Let's Try That Again trailer

This trailer introduces the Podcast, its themes, and the topics we will explore in upcoming episodes.