Madness Cafe
A feminist current events/social commentary podcast where we discuss politics, health and wellness and women's rights issues.
210. CoHome: What You Need to Know to Buy a Home with Your Friends with guests Amy McKenna & Ruby Grynberg
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How many times have you joked with your friends about buying that big vacation house on the beach or about living together in your retirement a la The Golden Girls? It doesn't have to be a joke. For many people, it's a realistic solution to housing affordability and loneliness crises. This week's guests Amy McKenna, a managing broker of Windermere Real Estate Company, and Ruby Grynberg, Branch Manager at Salmon Bay Community Lending, talk to us about how cohousing can (with a bit of...
209. Pelvic Health with guest Dr. Judy Rossi
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In this week's episode we're diving into a topic that most of us probably rarely think about - pelvic health. To talk about why pelvic health is important, we're joined by Dr. Judy Rossi, PT, DPT, PHC - a certified pelvic health specialist.Â
Dr. Rossi graduated from physical therapy school at California State University at Long Beach. She later received her doctorate in physical therapy and her pelvic health certification through Evidence in Motion. Judy began her journey in pelvic health after s...
208. Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine with guest Dr. Uche Blackstock
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We're joined this week by Dr. Uche Blackstock to discuss her memoir Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine. Legacy is more than an account of Dr. Blackstock's journey to and in healthcare, it is also a love letter to her mother (the "original" Dr. Blackstock) and her community. As you can hear in our conversation, Legacy is also a wakeup call to all who read it, especially those in healthcare, that racism is more than unjust - it can be deadly.Â
207. By the Way, I Love You by Susan Beth Miller
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What happens when a clinical psychologist writes a novel about a girl on the verge of adulthood trying to find her way in the world without her mother? You get By the Way, I Love You written by this week's guest Susan Beth Miller. In this book, Susan explores the main character's journey to understand her deceased mother and who she is in relation to her mother all while trying to navigate college life. There are so many interesting themes running through the book...
206. Banned Books Series: Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison
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Originally published in 2018, Lawn Boy by Jonathan Evison is a novel that focuses on the life and self-discovery of Mike Munoz, a young working class Mexican American man. In 2022, the American Library Association reported that Lawn Boy was the 7th-most-banned book in the country that year due to LGBTQ+ content and sexually explicit content. Evison touched on several themes in this book. Tune in to hear our thoughts about the book.
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205. Maximize Choice. Minimize Harm. with guest Anne Riley
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Understanding the connection between humans and nature is of utmost importance now. In fact, developing that understanding may lead to solutions to existential threats like climate change and social inequality. Our guest Anne Riley has spent a lifetime thinking about and trying to understand this connection. She even wrote a book about it - The Human Idea: Earth's Newest Ecosystem.
For many years, Anne balanced family life with a career in various industries, including technology, teaching, and finance, before retiring in 2011. Influenced...
204. Transgender Scientist & Content Creator: Both are Important with guest Amethysta Herrick
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Why is it important to acknowledge that this week's guest is a transgender scientist and a content creator? Tune in to find out!
Amethysta Herrick, Ph.D., is a transgender scientist and content creator who has always been driven by an insatiable desire to understand why the universe works the way it does. Ami’s academic journey led her through molecular biology to a Ph.D. in Analytical Chemistry. In 2022, when she transitioned gender to align the person she always knew she wa...
203. The Power of Comedy and Pop Culture to Shift Perceptions and Promote Equality with Lynn Harris
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We all know that laughter can be healing. But, it can also be a helpful tool to get your message across regardless of whether you're sharing a good joke, making a toast, or trying to get someone to listen to your message. This week's guest, Lynn Harris, knows quite a bit about this. She is founder and CEO of GOLD Comedy—the comedy school, professional network, and content studio where women and non-binary folks grow their comedy careers, build powerful communities, and make funny st...
202. BANNED BOOKS SERIES: Maus by Art Spiegelman
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The next installment of our Banned Books Series is Maus by Art Spiegelman, a graphic novel in two volumes depicting Art Spiegelman talking to his father, Vladek, about his experience as a Polish Jew before, during and after the Holocaust. Maus originally began as a strip in 1972 and was serialized from 1980 to 1991. Some have criticized the book for a number of reasons, including topic, style, and themes, but in 2022, a school board in McMinn County Schools in East Tennessee removed the book from school...
201. Joyful Equity with guest Yvonne Jackson
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How are DEI professionals reacting to the rapidly changing political landscape? This week's guest Yvonne Jackson joins us to discuss how her company SocialEDG is relying on joy, resilience, and the ability to adjust in order to continue doing the important work that many companies are still committed to.Â
 Yvonne Jackson is a Resilience Educator, DEI Consultant, and founder of SocialEDG, a WBENC and WOSB Certified workplace equity firm. With over 15 years of leadership experience at top companies like Apple, Ba...
200. How to Decolonize Ourselves with guest Shebana Coelho
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Decolonize yourself - it sounds like such a daunting task, right? But it doesn't have to be. Guest Shebana Coelho - writer, performer, and creativity coach - talks about how creativity and play (especially embodied creativity and play) can be catalysts for change. They can help us to shed all that is not ours to carry. Creativity and play as paths to healing. Sometimes it really can be that easy.
"I believe we each need a catalyst expression to dismantle structures...
199. The Mastectomy I Always Wanted with guest Erica Neubert Campbell
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According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in her lifetime. Breast Cancer Facts & Stats 2024 - Incidence, Age, Survival, & More. Our guest, Erica Neubert Campbell is one of those women. Having lived through her mother's experience with breast cancer, Erica wasn't surprised when she was diagnosed with the same illness. In The Mastectomy I Always Wanted: A Breast Cancer Memoir, Erica takes us along with her from expectation to diagnosis to reconstruction and beyond. The end result...
198. Book Chat: briefly perfectly human by Alua Arthur
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How much thought have you given to death? Not just who gets what when you're gone, but also who you want around you in your last moments, what your passwords are, and how you want to be memorialized, just to name a few. Death is easily one of the most difficult topics to talk about. We all know that death is inevitable, so it makes sense that it might be beneficial for us to become more comfortable talking about it. Death Doula Alua Arthur's...
197. BANNED BOOKS SERIES: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo
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It's time for the next installment of our Banned Books Series! This month's book is The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. Published in 2018, The Poet X tells the story of a 15-year-old Dominican American girl finding her voice as she grows up and comes to terms with life, school, and family.
Although The Poet X is classified as a Young Adult book there's more than enough substance for "not so young" adults to hold on to. Join us in the discussion and...
196. The Second Act: Health and Wellness, Home Ownership, VanLife, Making Money and More
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So much has happened in our lives since our last life episode that we decided to give y'all an update. Tune in to hear what's going on with us!
Mentioned in this episode:
Money Mindset Financial Coaching: website, podcast, Instagram, YouTube
Munk's Motors: website
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195. Live UTI Free Ltd. and Women's Health with guest Saoirse Nash
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This week's guest Saoirse Nash shares her personal story of living with a long-time chronic UTI and the struggle to get the necessary testing and treatment. Saoirse is a director, content contributor and patient liaison at Live UTI Free Ltd., a globally recognized women's health research and education organization.Â
Saoirse's work is focused on supporting women in accessing appropriate treatment and testing, particularly for pelvic and bladder health. Through her past and present health struggles Saoirse has become incredibly passionate about helping p...
194. Period Education and Women's Bodies Explained with guest Amy Orr
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Do you remember sex ed from your school days? Did you actually learn anything? Is sex ed even taught in schools anymore? If it is, its days are likely numbered in this political climate. It turns out lack of adequate, comprehensive sex education is universal. In this week's episode we talk to someone who is doing something about this in her community. Our guest, Amy Orr, is working to educate and empower young people to open up the conversation and break the...
193. BANNED BOOKS SERIES: The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid
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This month's selection is The Last White Man by Mohsin Hamid. Published in 2022, The Last White Man is the fifth novel by the British Pakistani novelist and consultant Mohsin Hamid. Written as an extended allegory, it tells the story of an unnamed town in an unnamed country whose white inhabitants have all begun to change skin color from pale to brown. The novel explores themes of race and whiteness as constructs, loss and mourning, and conspiracy theories.Â
The Last White Man is a...
192. Ending Poverty is a Policy Choice with guest Devon Gray
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Despite being one of the wealthiest nations in the world, poverty continues to be a seemingly unsolvable issue in the United States. But is it really unsolvable? This week's guest, Devon Gray, argues that poverty is a problem that can be solved. In this episode, we speak with Devon about possible solutions that could put an end to poverty.Â
Devon Gray is the president of EPIC (End Poverty in California) which aims to end poverty in California by elevating the voices of p...
191. "Travel is the university of life." with guest Anika Pavel
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In this episode we speak with guest Anika Pavel about her memoir Encounter with the Future, chronicling her journey from childhood in communist Czechoslovakia to her experience as an immigrant to her life now as a writer. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! Every life tells a story, and Anika's is no exception. Tune in to hear for yourself!
Where to find Anika Pavel's work:
Website: www.anikapavel.com
Instagram:...
190. Redefining Self After Indoctrination with Guest (and Super Fan) Susannah Cragwick
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In this episode, we have the genuine pleasure of chatting with our Super Fan Susannah Cragwick! After all of the mutual admiration, we dove into Susannah's incredible story of redefining herself after growing up in a high control, conservative religious environment, adjusting to living in a foreign country where she doesn't yet speak the language, and discovering her true Goddess energy. Joy truly abounds in this discussion - you don't want to miss it!
Susannah Cragwick is a writer, poet, artist, and...
189. BANNED BOOKS SERIES: Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
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Welcome to the 2nd installment of our Banned Books Series! This month's book is Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, a 2003 novel that Atwood described as speculative fiction rather than pure science fiction because it doesn't deal with things we can't yet do but goes beyond the amount of realism she associates with novels.Â
Oryx and Crake is one of the most-banned books by school officials in the U.S. due to its adult themes and occasional pornographic material. Tune in to our d...
188. News Shows & Talking Heads: How to Be a Better Consumer of News with guest Jasmine Styles
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Given the amount of mis- and disinformation in the news it's increasingly important that we make smarter decisions about the news we consume and where we get it. But how do we do that? Our guest, journalist and anchor, Jasmine Styles talks to us about what we need to keep in mind when figuring out where to go for accurate information.
Jasmine Styles has been helping write the first draft of history as a news anchor and reporter for more than a...
187. Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography with guest Robert Rosen
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Porn's influence is everywhere - just take a look around. But what is it like to work in the porn industry as a writer, to have a view behind the curtain. Robert Rosen's book Beaver Street: A History of Modern Pornography gives the reader a view that isn't often discussed. Tune in to hear about Robert's experiences behind the scenes.
Robert Rosen is the author of the international bestseller Nowhere Man: The Final Days of John Lennon. Over the course of a...
186. The Inauguration Episode: Trump and Authoritarian Populism
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In many ways, the country (and possibly the world) is trying to make sense of the 2024 election and what lies ahead. We’re doing the same. Join the postmortem and let us know how you’re processing Trump’s reelection.Â
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Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have learned, how the conversation affected you. You can reach Raquel and Jennifer on IG @madnesscafepodcast or by email at madness...
185. BANNED BOOKS SERIES: All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto by George M. Johnson
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Welcome to the 1st installment of our Banned Books Series! In this episode, we discuss George M. Johnson's All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manifesto. This is a beautiful and important book. Tune in to hear our reactions to and understanding of All Boys Aren't Blue. Afterwards, let us know your thoughts about the book.Â
George M. Johnson (they/them) is an Emmy nominated, award-winning, and bestselling Black nonbinary author and activist. They have written on race, gender, sex, and culture f...
MINISODE: For Everyone Who Wears A Mask
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Sometimes a poem or a piece of writing just speaks to you. In the first book of our Banned Book Series, All Boys Aren't Blue, George M. Johnson talks about Paul Laurence Dunbar's We Wear the Mask - a poem that has significant meaning for Raquel.Â
Share with us a poem or piece of writing that has impacted you!
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184. Get to the Subconscious Root Cause of Your Symptoms and Behaviors: Rapid Transformational Therapy with guest Chloe Jimenez-Peters
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Have you ever wondered why you react in certain ways or why you have particular feelings or aches and pains? It turns out that a lot of it is based in childhood. It's our subconscious blueprint. Although there are a number of helpful techniques to uncover our blueprint, one very helpful tool is rapid transformational therapy (RTT). Our guest this week, Chloe Jimenez-Peters, is a Transformational Hypnotherapist and Trauma Informed Coach who works with women worldwide to rapidly identify and transform the subconscious blueprint...
MINISODE: Blake Lively & Justin Baldoni: Not Man Enough
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Regardless of whether you are tuned in to popular "news", chances are pretty good that you've heard something about the Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni saga. We dive in with our opinions about this debacle in this minisode. What are your thoughts about all of this?
Mentioned in this episode:
Eve: How the Female Body Drove 200 Million Years of Human Evolution by Cat Bohannon
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183. Madness Cafe Strikes Back: Our Project 2025 - Banned Books Series
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In this week’s episode we’re telling y’all about one of the ways that we are striking back at Project 2025 - we’re doing a banned book series in 2025! For each month of the coming year we’ll discuss a book that has been banned.
In hopes that y’all will join us in this reading journey, the list of all of the books in the series below.
January - All Boys Aren't Blue: A Memoir-Manife...
MINISODE: Black Trad Wives - Yay or Nay?
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We're trying something a bit different here at Madness Cafe - minisodes! These are a chance for us to pop in from time to time when we feel the urge to chat a little about a timely topic in the zeitgeist. Our very first minisode is about Black trad wives. We have opinions! (Shocker!)Â
What do you think about Black trad wives?Â
DM us on Instagram (@madnesscafepodcast) or email us (madnesscafepodcast@gmail.com) and let us know!
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182. Ethical Non-Monogamy, Swingers and Polyamory: Could The Lifestyle Be Right For You? with guest Lauren Hayes
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What is ethical non-monogamy? Is it the same as polyamory? Are we talking about swinging? We're talking about all that and more with Lauren Hayes, a relationship coach specializing in supporting ethically non-monogamous (ENM) couples, including swingers and the ENM-curious. You might be surprised about what you learn in this episode.
Lauren Hayes, trained in both life and relationship coaching, helps couples navigate and engage the swinging and non-monogamous community in the healthiest of ways. Her approach aims to help couples build...
181. The Normalization of Hatred and Antisemitism: Escape From Dachau with Susan Servais
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How much do we really know about our parents, grandparents, and our family history? How do they fit into the backdrop of history as a whole? Susan Servais' mother Kathe Mueller Slonim gave her family the gift of her story in the book Escape From Dachau: A True Story of Survival, Courage, and A Daring Escape in the Face of Unthinkable Evil. This book is a memoir couched in history that reads like a novel. Tune in to hear our conversation with Susan about...
180. The Truth About Immigration and H-4 Spouse Visas - Book Chat: Golden Handcuffs by Varuni Sinha
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In this week's episode, we discuss Varuni Sinha's memoir, Golden Handcuffs: An Immigrant's Pursuit of Happiness. Varuni, a New York-based writer and multimedia producer, describes her book as a story of love, strength, and resilience written with the intention of spreading peace and harmony. Golden Handcuffs is all that and so much more; it's the true story of what so many South Asian (and other immigrant) women endure in America - legal immigrants held down by 21st century laws that threaten their right to...
179. "My father is my perpetrator." with guest Cindy Benezra
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Sexual abuse is objectively a difficult topic. Even more so when the predator is your father. Cindy Benezra knows this all too well; her predator was her father. In her memoir, Under the Orange Blossoms, Cindy shares her story, along with how she healed, in the hopes of helping others.Â
Behind the accomplished author, speaker, entrepreneur, philanthropist and advocate is a sexual abuse victim that is passionate about bringing awareness to the impact of sexual trauma through meaningful conversations and system-changing discussions. K...
178. Pleasure, Play & Psilocybin: Microdosing for Maidens, Mothers & Crones with guest Leslie Draffin
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Magic mushrooms, plant medicine, psilocybin - what came to mind when you read those words? If you grew up in the 80s, "just say no" probably popped up. But are all drugs bad? Can their powers be used for good? Sometimes, yes. Specifically, psilocybin.
We talk about this (and so much more!) with guest Leslie Draffin, a trauma-trained somatic coach, psychedelic microdosing guide & breath and meditation teacher with a special focus on helping women learn the language of their body. She helps m...
177. Our Reactions to the 2024 Election: "The majority of the country is more comfortable with the devil they know than the leader they don't."
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After a few days of processing the results of the election, we talk through our feelings about what happened, what's to come, our fears and hopes, and our plans going forward. The conversation doesn't stop here, and it doesn't stop with us; after you listen, please share your thoughts and feelings. Community is going to help us through this. You're a part of this community and we want to hear from you.
We're in for a long ride and we need all...
176. Book Chat: Our Time Is Now by Stacey Abrams
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We read and discussed Stacey Abrams' Our Time Is Now before the results of the 2024 election were announced. We were excited and hopeful and wanted to share Stacey's message, information and talented wordsmithing with everyone. We're in a very different emotional space right now, but we still want everyone to read Our Time Is Now. We stand by our view that Stacey Abrams' book is vital and important. And necessary. The truth remains that we aren't taught everything about our system of government and...
175. "Campaign joyfully. Show gratitude deliberately. Celebrate liberally." Run to Win with guest Christina Reynolds
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Return guest Christina Reynolds, Senior Vice President of Communications and Content at EMILYs List, is back to talk about the book that she co-wrote with the President of EMILYs List Stephanie Schriock - Run to Win: Lessons in Leadership for Women Changing the World. Timely topic, no? But trust that the lessons in the book are for all women looking to lead and make change whether that's as a business owner, head of household, or future president of the United States. Listen to the...
174. Sexual and Creative Energy - Where Can I Get More Of That? with guest Gao Motsemme
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So many people walk through life wearing a mask, disconnected from themselves. How can we drop the mask and reconnect? According to this week's guest, Gao Motsemme, we have to get to the core of the issue and connect to source. That's how we get to the sexual and creative energy that the patriarchy is so afraid of. That's how we connect to the queen within and let her thrive!
Gao Motsemme is a mother of three who emerged from the ashes...
