MODERN ATHENAS

Debra Ginsberg knows most everyone assumes that if you are a waitress or waiter you are just passing through before you move onto a real career. But as Debra tells us in her book, waiting, being a waitress is a career. From details of a restaurant's nightly theatre, to personal moments of victory, and everything in between, Debra takes us into the world of the kitchen, the wait staff, management, and of course, the customer.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
1:37 The Tip
7:33 Structure of the Kitchen
12:27 Waiting as a Profession
19:32 Mentors: Belinda
24:02 Relationship with the Chef
27:46 Customer Service
33:35 The Theater of Waiting
39:50 Debra’s Son, Blaze
44:31 Out of Context
48:43 Burnout
53:17 Debra Walks Away
58:16 Final Thoughts and Next Episode

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In an unassuming stucco building on a quiet piece of the Hudson River in upstate New York, there is a general store with a small pub in the back. The locals call it the Little Chapel on the River. Author Gwendolyn Bounds introduces us to all the "parishioners" and the two generations of the Guinan family who keep it feeling like home in Garrison, NY. The pub becomes Wendy's new community after 9/11, when she locates from lower Manhattan to Garrison.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
1:24 Garrison, Guinan’s & The Little Chapel on the River
8:01 September 11, 2001 and the Move to Garrison
13:41 The Guinan Family
22:40 Wanting to Belong
33:13 509ers
37:08 When You Know You Are a Part of a Community
40:39 Characters: William Fitzgerald and Ed Preusser
46:45 Stealing Time
49:25 Final Thoughts and Next Episode

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This episode is the first of a series that focus on women that contribute to our personal toolkit: ways to navigate life’s challenges, tips on how to find those people who you can lean on and guide you, inspiration to persevere through challenges, how to be brave, courageous, and never quit.

In The Bridge Ladies, Betsy Lerner brings us into her mother's bridge group, a group of women who have been playing bridge together every week for fifty-five years. The women have crossed through the decades together, watching each other's children be born, grow up, and have families of their own. Now, as the women move into the next phase of their lives, they are confronting the deaths of their spouses, their own mortality, and what the fifty five years of weekly bridge games mean to each of them.

INDEX
0:00 New Series of Episodes
2:56 Intro to The Bridge Ladies, Debby’s Personal Story
6:10 Demographics
10:20 The Pot Roast Friendship
14:25 The Bridge Club - Logistics
19:06 A Mother’s Critique
22:27 Jackie’s Lunch
25:55 Choosing a Husband
33:47 Maintaining Family Traditions
41:16 Reflecting on Death
46:00 Maybe It is Just Bridge After All
51:55 Final Thoughts and Next Epsiode

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In this podcast, we will be discussing the book Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II, by William Stevenson. We meet Vera Atkins, a British spy. Vera’s work has never been given the same spotlight as that of other spies or resistance fighters who were part of the war effort. Perhaps that is because she was a woman in a man’s world, or perhaps it is due to a controversy that surrounds her involving the collapse of one of the networks of spies in France. Either way, what there is no controversy about is that she was one of the most important Allied spies and that she was indirectly and directly responsible for the training and success of many of the resistance fighters in German-occupied France.
On a more humorous side note, it is also believed that Vera is the basis for the Miss Moneypenny character in Ian Flemming’s James Bond novels.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
1:41 F-Section and the Controversy
7:10 The Controversy
14:16 It Takes a Special Breed
18:08 Connections
22:00 Biuro Szyfrow (Cipher Bureau)
30:19 Battle of Taranto
32:35 Adapting to Your Environment
36:02 Making Decisions
40:42 Courage
43:27 Final Thoughts and Next Episode

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We have explored the stories of many Modern Athenas throughout history. In this podcast, we thought we would take a bit of a different approach and talk about the book Feminist Fight Club, by Jessica Bennett. The book started as a monthly huddle of a group of women in a friend’s apartment burning off steam about their frustrations with their sexist male co-workers.
Jessica blends the stories of the group with some research, statistics, and advise in a humorous way that empowers women to take on the sexist behavior and to destroy the self-sabotage that we engage in on a daily basis.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
1:39 The Enemy: The Stenographucker
7:56 The Enemy: The Lacthater
15:05 The Saboteur: The Doormat
23:45 The Saboteur: The Credit Defaulter
29:01 The Saboteur: The Womenemy
34:42 The Saboteur: The Burnout
40:48 The Saboteur: The Nervous Rambler
46:15 The Trap: Bitchy, Bossy, Too Ambitious
51:25 The Trap: She’s Too Nice To Lead the Team
56:14 Verbal Tripwire: The Over-Apologizer
1:00:16 Final Thoughts and Next Episode

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In this podcast, we will be discussing the book An Improbable Friendship, by Anthony David.
Friendships can happen in the most unlikely of places, in the most unlikely of times. Like romance, it is hard to predict who our friends will be, and even harder to ignore forces that make a friendship blossom. Such is the case of Ruth Dayan, an Israeli Jew, and Raymonda Tawil, a Palestinian Christian. If you asked either of the women if they thought when they first met after the Six Days War in 1967 that they would be lifelong friends, both would laugh and then make a dig at the other’s culture and politics, while professing their admiration for each other. That is their friendship—born out of conflict and forged through decades of turmoil and heartbreak, the two women have a deeply rooted respect and love for each other that transcends borders, religion, and nationalism. Each of them a power broker in a male-dominated society, their intertwined stories are ones of strength and determination. These Modern Athenas demonstrate that no matter a woman’s identity, we all want to create meaning and purpose for ourselves and in our world.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
1:17 Overview of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
3:18 Ruth Dayan
8:!5 Raymonda Tawil
13:40 1967: Their Paths Cross for the First Time
18:52 April 1973: Kamal Nasser
21:39 1974: Ruth Travels the World on Behalf of Maskit and the World Craft Council
23:25 The Tree Planting in the Peace Forest of Neve Shalom
26:59 The Two-Staters
28:36 Secret Backchannel
34:37 Rabine is Assasinated
40:04 Ruth Meets Arafat: 1999
41:45 Raymonda’s Power
43:15 The Jordanian Funeral
44:37 The End of Arafat
46:38 The Walls
48:27 The Book
51:05 Outro and Next Episode
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Esme Raji Codell's book, Educating Esme, is about her first year teaching fifth grade in a rough and tumble area of Chicago. Esme takes the reader along during the summer before her teaching career starts, as she accepts a position in a new public school. Esme has the tireless energy of all young, new teachers and a deep-rooted belief that no matter what, it is the students that matter. As you listen to her classroom tales, you can’t help but draw parallels between Esme and her classroom, and new leaders and their teams in the workplace. The lessons are the same, and the results are predictable: leaders succeed when they own everything about their job and their team, and the team succeeds when the leader is engaged and the team is invested in the mission.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
1:54 Why Did They Hire Me?
6:32 The Fairy Tale Festival Proposal
10:54 The Late Night Calls
18:37 Reframing and Finding Creative Solutions
33:13 Inventors
37:12 Greek Gods
39:50 Cajun Christmas
42:36 Read Aloud Time
45:03 We Aren’t Here to be Liked
48:43 Teacher’s Meetings
52:46 When the Team Doesn’t Perform
56:02 Storytelling Festival
1:01:31 How Do I Know I Am Doing It Right?
1:03:06 Outro and Next Episode

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In this podcast, we will be discussing the book "A Nurse’s Story: Life, Death, and In Between in an Intensive Care Unit", by Tilda Shalof. A Nurse’s Story is Tilda’s part memoir, part thought-provoking discussion about her life as a Canadian Intensive Care Unit nurse and the challenges and rewards that come with the job. The book also tells heart-breaking stories and far rarer triumphs that come with working in the ICU. Through it all, Tilda makes you feel as though you are right there with her, experiencing each moment, and re-hashing each hard decision and case after the patients have long since left the unit.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
1:51 Why Did I Become a Critical Care Nurse?
9:25 Starting Out in the ICU
28:37 Family and Friendships, How they can and cannot support you
33:15 LIfe in the ICU
42:21 Emotional Detachment
46:31 Choosing Life or Death: Decisions of a Patient and a Family
50:52 Outro and End of Season 1

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In this podcast, we will be discussing the book “Canyon Solitude,” by Patricia C. McCairen. Canyon Solitude takes the reader through Patricia’s journey of self-discovery as she leaves her life of comfort and stability and heads West. She lives a life of adventure out west, drifting through the high plateaus of Colorado, learning how to be a river guide down many of the most dangerous and beautiful rivers, and, through it all, she demonstrates why sometimes in life, it is better to leave the safety of the known for the adventure and uncertainty of the unknown. Like all Modern Athenas, Patricia pushed aside the critics and followed her dream. She set her raft afloat down the river and, through her rafting, discovered that not only could she survive, but that she could thrive. Her inner strength, determination, and courage remind us all that in life, you have to keep taking risks and moving forward to new adventures because the true rewards are found beyond the edges of your comfort zone.

INDEX
0:00 Intro and Background of the Book
2:03 Letting Go of Stability
6:17 The Calling of the River
13:57 Support vs. Resistance To Big Decisions
19:10 Setting Off on the Adventure
26:23 What It’s Like to be Alone
32:30 Social Awkwardness and Anxiety
37:34 Embracing Fear
40:23 Downfalls of Dependency
45:13 Women River Guides: Value of Brains over Brawn
48:39 When Everything Goes Wrong
52:34 The End of the River, Beginning of Freedom
57:42 Outro and Next Episode

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In this episode, we are joined by a guest, Alekzandra, or Alleigh, Thoms. Alleigh is co-host Sonja’s niece and an artist who enjoys drawing, painting, sculpting and writing. She is about to enter her second year at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Alleigh recently self-published a book of poetry entitled "If the grass can hold its ground, so can I" that addresses mental illness and other challenges faced by college women today, such as sexual assault. Her hope is that the unapologetic spotlight of her words on these issues that have been kept in the darkness for far too long can inspire dialogue and hope.

INDEX
0:00 Introduction
1:31 Poem: a beginner’s guide to getting up in the morning
6:18 Poem: How’s tricks?
11:45 Poem: no rest without love
16:11 Poem: the tango misogyny
22:54 Poems: Long Live Lexapro / To F
33:53 Poem: The Gospel of the Sun
36:09 Closing Questions
41:00 Outro and Next Episode

Buy Alleigh’s book: http://www.lulu.com/shop/alekzandra-thoms/if-the-grass-can-hold-its-ground-so-can-i/paperback/product-23158026.html

Connect with Alleigh on Instagram @bitter_feminist

Visit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.
Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenas
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