Today we’re going to talk about family estrangement, and the impact it undoubtedly has. 

Our guest, Maggie Frank-Hsu, is a poet, essayist and editor from San Diego who runs Estranged, a Substack newsletter devoted to exploring parent, child and sibling estrangement with a focus on understanding, not blame. Her poetry has appeared in Whale Road Review, Pidgeonholes, and Beaver Magazine. She received her masters from the Columbia School of Journalism, and her reporting has appeared in Business North Carolina, Gourmet, PublishersWeekly and smithsonian.com. A former ghostwriter, she’s currently at work on her first book, a memoir. 

Maggie and I have a little bit in common in that we are both estranged from our fathers. And maybe we were abandoned, too. Maggie has done her work and research on family estrangement, and comes at it from a place of non-judgment. Listen in, and be sure to subscribe to her wonderful 'stack.

https://maggiefrankhsu.substack.com

https://instagram.com/maggiefrankhsu

https://maggiefrankhsu.com

Full episodes are available to paid subscribers of A Sassy Little Substack. Subscriptions start at $5/mo or $40/yr. For more information, visit A Sassy Little Substack.

The podcast is written, produced and edited by Sandra Ann Miller.  If you are interested in becoming a guest, please visit the Contact page at SassyLittlePodcast.com.

Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs

For a full transcript, please visit https://asassylittle.substack.com

Full episodes are available to paid subscribers of A Sassy Little Substack. Subscriptions start at $5/mo or $40/yr. For more information, visit A Sassy Little Substack.

The podcast is written, produced and edited by Sandra Ann Miller.  If you are interested in becoming a guest, please visit the Contact page at SassyLittlePodcast.com.

Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs

Probably one of the best documentaries on cults is the recent Max, four-part docu-series, "Breath of Fire". The series (which waves plenty of red flags throughout) follows both the high-control organizations of Yogi Bhajan (his face used to grace the box of Yogi Tea) and Guru Jagat, founder of RA MA Institute. How did good people get from doing Kundalini yoga and wanting to make the world a better place, to finding themselves in abusive cults? Gaslighting on both sides of the yoga mat takes place. Listen in.

https://stephaniesarkis.com/

https://www.facebook.com/StephanieSarkisPhD

https://www.instagram.com/sarkisphd/

Full episodes are available to paid subscribers of A Sassy Little Substack. Subscriptions start at $5/mo or $40/yr. For more information, visit A Sassy Little Substack.

The podcast is written, produced and edited by Sandra Ann Miller.  If you are interested in becoming a guest, please visit the Contact page at SassyLittlePodcast.com.

Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs

You can find Rebecca at:

The Hot Desk  on Substack

@the_hotdesk on Instagram

http://www.rebeccalow.co 

Full episodes are available to paid subscribers of A Sassy Little Substack. Subscriptions start at $5/mo or $40/yr. For more information, visit A Sassy Little Substack.

The podcast is written, produced and edited by Sandra Ann Miller.  If you are interested in becoming a guest, please visit the Contact page at SassyLittlePodcast.com.

Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs

In all fairness, when I came up with the 'Just Us' concept to close out Q4 of 2024, I was coming from a place of deep optimism. Well, F me completely, right? LOL. (Insert crying emoji here.) But we can't let ourselves lose our place, our grace or our happiness because of things outside of our control. So, along with everything is easy and being so lucky (because, in so many ways, we are), let's get ourselves ready for anything good! xo

Full episodes are available to paid subscribers of A Sassy Little Substack. Subscriptions start at $5/mo or $40/yr. For more information, visit A Sassy Little Substack.

The podcast is written, produced and edited by Sandra Ann Miller.  If you are interested in becoming a guest, please visit the Contact page at SassyLittlePodcast.com.

Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs

Sanyu Estelle is a Claircognizant ("clear knowing") Soothsayer ("truth teller") that is also known as "The Word Witch" because of her deep love for word origins (etymology) and word culture (philology). These natural inclinations are bolstered by a 15+ year practice of Daoism, as well as a 10+ year relationship with Ifa, the indigenous tradition of the Yoruba people of now-Nigeria.

As a Soothsayer, Sanyu Estelle's gift is truth-telling. With 15 years of card reading experience and 25 years of public speaking experience, her readings are often listened to over many years by her clients. She is a "1st generationish" (long, but great story) US-American of Ugandan and Belizean descent born, bred and buttered in Los Angeles on land traditionally stewarded by the Tongva. 

You can find Sanyu at sanyuestelle.com, on Substack at GetAtTheRoot.substack.com and on Instagram @SanyuEstelle.

Full episodes are available to paid subscribers of A Sassy Little Substack. Subscriptions start at $5/mo or $40/yr. For more information, visit A Sassy Little Substack.

The podcast is written, produced and edited by Sandra Ann Miller.  If you are interested in becoming a guest, please visit the Contact page at SassyLittlePodcast.com.

Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs

Our guest this month is the creator of the wildly popular Substack, How Not to F*ck Up Your Face, where she give wonderful advice for the choices we believe we must face for our faces, necks and other visible parts, and delighting us with stories of her adorably precocious granddaughter, M. If you need more convincing this lady knows what she’s talking about, for 16 years she was the Beauty Editor of O Magazine. Wise, warm and witty, Val is a delight to read, and is even better in person (and for a listen).

You can find Val on Substack at valeriemonroe.substack.com.

To get the full ep, please become a subscriber of A Sassy Little Substack. Details in the footer.

Full episodes are available to paid subscribers of A Sassy Little Substack. Subscriptions start at $5/mo or $40/yr. For more information, visit A Sassy Little Substack.

The podcast is written, produced and edited by Sandra Ann Miller.  If you are interested in becoming a guest, please visit the Contact page at SassyLittlePodcast.com.

Music: Shower Beer by GG Riggs