Love Bites

On the day they first met at a New York restaurant, Jill's first day working the front of house was chef Joe's last day in the back. He was fresh out of a rough relationship; she a ballet dancer twirling her way around New York City. Twelve years later, they're the wife-and-husband team of Joe and MissesDoe, an intimate restaurant on 1st Street and catering company in New York City where Jill rules the bar and Joe the kitchen.

They're the kind of fiery couple you wanna be, their relationship forged from long days joined at the hip. What have they learned in their twelve years building a business on their own? How do they separate work time from home time? Where do their differences clash, and how have they strengthened their union?

Take out your notebooks, because serious #relationshipgoals await in the first of our Power Couples series.

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In 2009, the percentage of single women in the United States rose above 50% for the first time in history. The median age of first marriages dramatically rose from twenty and twenty-two years old--which it had been steadily for centuries to the 1980s--to twenty-eight. Beyonce's singing about it, countless books celebrate it, and women are living proudly independent more and for longer than ever.

Being a single woman in today's world can be empowering! Or, it's just life! Or... it can be really hard.

On today's show, Jacqueline is joined in the studio by fellow media ladies Jen Doll, Erin Fairbanks, and Lindsey Rupp, to discuss the intricacies of moving through the world solo. Then, returning guests Jamie Feldmar and Jane Alison and Lonely Hour Podcast host Julia Bainbridge join via some audio tracks, which the in-studio ladies listen to and share: How does being single affect our social interactions during weddings and holidays? Our fiercely ambitious creative work lives? And what would out lives look like if we choose to forgo love... indefinitely?

Have a listen as one seriously dynamic group of ladies hashes it all out.

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When we discuss family love, we refer to biological families by default. But what about foster family relationships? What does it take for them to succeed, and who suffers the most when they fail? On today's show, we welcome Regina Calcaterra, the co-author of Girl Unbroken and the memoir Etched in Sand. Regina shares how the bond between her four siblings--born of separate fathers and the same mentally ill mother--lasted through years of abuse, displacement, and movement into and out of the foster care system, to where they share healthy lives and relationships as adults.

And before we get to that, we discuss Ben's impending move to Portland, Oregon, for a stint in Portland Center Stage's world premiere of Astoria. How do he and his gf plan to weather the storm? How does Jax plan to run the show in his absence? What can listeners expect as we transition out of being a dating show and into becoming a relationship show? And what do we really want out of our lives between now and Ben's return?

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How do the relationships we form with our siblings shape us as adults? What happens when we don't identify with the roles our parents assign us within our sibling group? And how do our relationships with our siblings change as our parents age? On today's show, Jacqueline's sisters Jessica and Maggie Raposo join to share stories about how growing up as a team of four siblings affected their growth into adulthood, and the relationships they've developed to this day. How do varying ages, professions, and roles within the family unit shape memories and personality traits? Why is the sibling bond one of such lifelong strength and struggle? Tune into find out, in the fourth of our series exploring family love.

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When a job, a relationship, or a tradition ends... how do you know how to properly mourn it? When do you lean into the grief, and when do you pick yourself up, brush yourself off, and start all over again?

Today, we welcome performer Lindsay Benner to the show to discuss how the recent loss of her father has affected her life and work. And we share our own little forms of loss and grief recently, too, and how the patterns of our lives shift as we struggle through them. Where do we find sustenance, comfort, and love? How do we perform lives that require us to be under a spotlight when it's hard to smile? How can we #givelove when our hearts are hurting?

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On today's show, we take a look at the idea of feeling safe.

First, in light of last week's election results and the flood of emotions many of us are feeling because of it, we spend a little time checking in on how we're doing, where we are, and what we need right now. Then, on how we can show a little extra love to those who need it, and what signs of love we've seen in the past week, despite all the anger and pain in circulation.

After the break, we're joined by Jane Alison, the novelist and author of the memoir The Sisters Antipodes, for the second of our shows studying relationships with family members. Her stunning memoir tracks an unorthodox childhood following her parents' befriending another couple with two similarly-aged daughters, and then switching partners. How did growing up on opposite corners of the globe from her father and stepsisters affect her understanding of romantic relationships, family, and self-identity? How did writing the memoir -- which often paints Jane and the family that surrounds her in alternatingly sympathetic and brutally honest shadows -- affect their adult relationships? Does she regret bringing her story to light on the page?

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Our relationships with our parents are fraught with complication. There is just too much – for better or for worse – we can inherit from them. Even if they're ceaselessly loving. Even if they're largely absent from our lives. Even if we resist.

On today's show – the first of our five-week exploration of familial love– we welcome author James Rebanks of The Shepherd's Life and The Shepherd's View. Recently in town from the UK, Jacqueline met up with him in a Lower East Side park to ask him five questions about the tough realities of living as a shepherd in the northwest corner of England. What they've taught him about love for his land, love for his work, and for the father and grandfather who had been working that same job on that same land before him. What he expresses eloquently gets at the heart of what we're pondering as we study how we love our grandfathers and fathers in this episode. Have a listen, and then call someone you love.

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"Timing isn't everything, but it sure as hell is a lot."

We've debated variations of that sentence often over the last year, questioning its weight as a dating cliche and the effect it's had on our relationships woes. Today, we discuss how it's woven its way into Jax's current dating mire: basically, how when you're dating three men, life is all about timing, for the good and the bad of it. She's got some explaining to do, and some decisions to make.

Then we're joined by burlesque dancer Velvetina Taylor, who talks to us about the spicy world of seduction. How did she fall into the romance of the field, how does she keep herself safe within it, and what can she teach us about how to tease and seduce in our own intimate little worlds?

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We are all about using every tool out there to build our strongest selves and most loving relationships. So can we use the ancient practice of tarot to gain insight into our ever-changing inner selves? How can the cards offer guidance, wisdom, comfort, and challenge? What about the practice does pop culture misrepresent, and what does tarot have to offer even the greatest of unbelievers?

On today's show, tarot reader and author Sasha Graham shares how her experience with tarot has helped her to nurture and guide clients from all walks of life. How the lessons on the cards can inspire everyday moments, including the meals we make (like matching the Nine of Pentacles with a molten lava cake recipe for one!) and the relationships we build? Then, as Ben and Jax are working at very different places in their quest for lasting love, she turns cards for them, applying their lessons to two very specific conundrums.

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What are our best travel memories with romantic partners? Sexiest? Most frustrating? What part does travel play in our hopeful romantic futures? And what do our desires – highbrow, lowbrow, and everything in between – say about who we are and how we love?

On today's show, Ella Morton – co-author of ATLAS OBSCURA: An Explorer's Guide to the World's Hidden Wonders – joins to discuss some of her book's most mysterious and romantic offerings. What weird and fascinating food and love destinations are out there for us? And what has traversing the globe seeking out weird wonders done for her love life? And before we even get to that, how do we start on the road to romance if no otherworldly sparks are igniting? As J gets back into the dating world, marching boldly forward even if her health hasn't fully returned, can she date a guy (or, this week, um, three), when her body doesn't have the physical energy to make magic happen? For the healthiest among us, how to we finagle romance from slowly-burning embers? Tune in, as we light 'em up.

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