S2E6 - Season 2 Gab: Bold Transformations & Cozy Routines

Here in our mid-season grab-bag of chilled out convo, we take a break from theory to gab: we reflect on some of the amazing experiences we had as teenagers that made us into the people we are today. From socially conscious scouting to international underwear adventures, we take it back to '90s and let you in on some dorky-but-excellent truths about our formative years. PLUS we each describe our perfect Saturday and get enthusiastic about go-to takeout and gas station jalapeño poppers. Don't judge!! Come relax your brain with us (you need troughs to have peaks!) as we gear up for the last few episodes of Season 2.

Links to Stuff We Talk About

Formative Experiences (Transformations)

OK, we didn't talk about this explicitly, but doesn't Noorain's amazing rad Girl Scout program sound like the Pawnee Goddesses from S4 E4 of Parks and Rec, in the best way possible?! We played a little audio from that in our episode - Feministing agrees that they are the best! http://feministing.com/2011/10/21/parks-and-recreation-thank-you-for-the-pawnee-goddesses/ (Noorain dreams of being the Leslie Knope of West Michigan IRL!)

Maria's life-changing semester in Norway went down at Bergen Katedralskole (est. 1153 because Europe) in the city of Bergen. Thinking about a trip to Scandinavia? You should totally go to Bergen, it's the jam: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/norway/bergen-and-the-western-fjords/bergen

Lazy Saturday (Routines)

Lichee Nut, your new go-to Chinese takeout/delivery in Brooklyn. Pairs perfectly with 8 hours of TV binging. http://licheenut.com/

The (possible?) origins of mozzarella sticks, even though we've never met anyone who actually makes them at home. Frying cheese does not a mozzarella stick make, Thrillist. But also pics and (possible) backstories for other great deep fried icons of lazy Saturdays across our great nation: https://www.thrillist.com/eat/nation/where-fried-foods-came-from-corn-dogs-mozzarella-sticks-fried-candy-bars

Music this week by Madonna, Marc Anthony (salsa version), Arcade Fire, the Kinks, and just a tad of Queen Bey.

S2E1 - Periods: Surfing the Crimson Wave

Hey you! In Theory's back for Season 2 and we're taking on menstruation! Ever wondered why we have periods? (No really - WHYYYYY??? <cramping pain>) We've got answers for you! Turns out that menstruation is full of theory to be unpacked. This week we discuss menstrual taboos across cultures, how creative tactics can help people survive oppressive systems, Maria's dream mechanical womb, and gab about the First Moon Party you never had. This isn't just for ladies--come one, come all and surf the crimson wave with us! 

Links to Stuff We Talk About

Theory

Thomas Buckley & Alma Gottlieb. Blood Magic:  The Anthropology of Menstruation (1988). http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520063501

Michel de Certeau. The Practice of Everyday Life (1984).  http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271456

Context

Natalie Angier. "Radical New View of Role of Menstruation." The New York Times. September 21, 1993. http://www.nytimes.com/1993/09/21/science/radical-new-view-of-role-of-menstruation.html?pagewanted=all

Articles

Lauren McGuire. "The Pill and the invention of the monthly cycle." Sociological Images. December 4, 2015. http://thesocietypages.org/socimages/2015/12/04/the-pill-and-the-invention-of-the-monthly-cycle/

Shreya Dasgupta. "Why do women have periods when most animals don't?" BBC News. April 20, 2015. http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150420-why-do-women-have-periods  

Bonus

last year's amazing #happytobleed campaign in India :: the First Moon Party you never had ::  new products that are leveraging a body positive view of periods in their marketing:  Helloflo / Thinx / DearKate / Lola

Classic period tunes this week courtesy of Ani DiFranco and the great Dolly Parton.

Episode 4: Childhood: those golden years (or are they?)

Ahhh childhood-- those innocent years when kids use their imaginations, play outside, and have experiences that will shape them for life. Timeless, right? Except not. These understandings of childhood are pretty recent and often assume a white, middle-class, heteronormative child. We talk about where these ideas come from and some of the disturbing results when a kid doesn't conform to popular assumptions about what children "should" be like. Get ready to blow the lid off of childhood!

Links to Stuff We Talk About

Theory

Robin Bernstein. Racial Innocence: Performing American Childhood from Slavery to Civil Rights. NYU Press (2011). http://nyupress.org/books/9780814787083/.

Sigmund Freud. "The Development of Sexual Function." An Outline of Psychoanalysis. (1940). http://www.cla.csulb.edu/departments/hdev/facultyinfo/documents/freud_developmentofsexualfunction.pdf. 

Viviana A. Zelizer. Pricing the Priceless Child: The Changing Social Value of Children. Princeton University Press (1994). http://press.princeton.edu/titles/5452.html.

Context

Hugh Cunningham, “Histories of Childhood,” in The American Historical Review 103, no. 4 (October 1998): 1195–1208. http://www.jstor.org/stable/2651207.

Ezra Jack Keats. The Snowy Day. Viking Books for Young Readers (1996). http://www.amazon.com/The-Snowy-Day-Board-Book/dp/0670867330.

Turnette Powell. "Time Out." In Episode 538: "Is This Working?" This American Life. October 17, 2014.
http://www.thisamericanlife.org/radio-archives/episode/538/is-this-working.

Articles

Brit Bennett. "Addy Walker, American Girl." The Paris Review. May 28, 2015. http://www.theparisreview.org/blog/2015/05/28/addy-walker-american-girl/.

Linda Geddes. "Does sharing photos of your children on Facebook put them at risk?" The Guardian. September 21, 2014. http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/sep/21/children-privacy-online-facebook-photos.

Anna Holmes. "White Until Proven Black: Imagining Race in Hunger Games" The New Yorker. March 30, 2012. http://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/white-until-proven-black-imagining-race-in-hunger-games.

"Black Preschoolers Far More Likely To Be Suspended." NPR.org. March 21, 2014. http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2014/03/21/292456211/black-preschoolers-far-more-likely-to-be-suspended.

Bonus

More on the Joker's Scar stories in The Dark Knight film (2008) here and here. 

Musical interludes from Taylor Swift and the Jackson Five.