Two Old Bitches: Stories from Women who Reimagine, Reinvent and Rebel

There could be no greater gift to Screen Bitches than finding the HBO-Max series Hacks, starring Jean Smart. We brought together three of our most dedicated Old Bitch streamers – Malaga Baldi (literary agent), Aruna Rao (women's rights thinker and consultant), and Debbie Zimmerman (head of Women Make Movies and world-recognized expert on women and media) – to explore what is so powerful and ground-breaking about 69-year old Jean Smart's mesmerizing portrayal of an aging comedian (think Joan Rivers) whose Las Vegas career is stalling. In pairing Smart with a young comedian – played by Hannah Einbender – who is sent to freshen up Smart's material, we see the way women of different generations confront and embody the sexism and ageism of the entertainment world. As Megan Garber wrote in The Atlantic, this is a genre-defying series, part psychodrama, part satire, sometimes an intergenerational character study and other times a classic workplace comedy. We all agreed that Emmy-winning Smart offers a "Smart-a-licious" portrayal of aging. As Debbie noted, "for God's sake, how often do you see a woman in her sixties get laid on television?"

You can see Hacks on HBO-Max. It's a subscription service, so you'll have to pay. You can watch the first episode for free on YouTube. And, as you listen to the podcast, you'll hear excerpts of Smart's biting and self-effacing humor throughout.

Let us know if you've seen movies, streaming series, podcasts or other media that you think offer unique representations of gutsy, defiant older women. Write us at [email protected] and maybe you, too, can be a Screen Bitch!

Prepare to be utterly astounded as you listen to our conversation with Isa Infante! This self-described "life force," follows her heart and her values, wherever they take her. That means challenging good ole boys in Tennessee by running for mayor of Knoxville and as the Green Party candidate for governor. It means passing by a bar, hearing bluegrass music, and deciding to start a women's bluegrass band, even though she could only play three chords. It means deciding, at 63, to go to law school. At 79, she is considering her next move. Three years ago, after decades in Tennessee, she decided that living in the mountains felt claustrophobic, googled "low-income senior housing on the beach" and re-located to the North Shore of Massachusetts, now waking up every morning to see a vast ocean that moves constantly. We can only imagine how the shifting sand and surf will inspire Isa's next adventure.

Music credits:

Melody Walker/Front Country, Mixtapes

Rebecca Frazier, 40 Blues

Sierra Hull, Black River

When do you turn to books? Sometimes for escape (mysteries, anyone), sometimes for the joys of fine literature (Matrix by Lauren Goff or Haiku Mind by Patricia

Donegan), and yet at other times for knowledgeable counsel. In this episode, two badass women authors talk with us about the recent books that their life experience led them to write and share with others. In Why Are There Monkeys? radio personality, comedian and cancer survivor Brooke Jones, 70, captures her near death, laugh-out-loud "Question and Answer" session with God. Executive coach Bonnie Marcus, 72, draws on her 25-year corporate career to write Not Done Yet! a defiant guide to navigating gendered ageism in the workplace for women over 50. Curious about what they have to say about the divine and the workplace? We were. Listen in to what we heard.

"What I want all of my work to do is expand the definition of who Indians think they can be and how they think they can be in the world and their space for all of that -- all of the things that we can dream of."

Activists Jennifer Finley and Julie Cajune, members of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai tribe in Montana, are willing to risk being called Bad Indians for the sake of this liberating vision. In fact, the two longtime friends and creative collaborators named their latest play, a series of conversations between two older women –not unlike them– Bad Indians, playfully preempting any backlash to the characters' stories of tragedy, injustice, humor, "failed romances, violent harassment and the criticism of others" in their community. Their earlier collaborations include Heart of the Bitterroot, a collection of Salish and Pend d'Oreille women's stories available on CD and the one-woman show, Belief that Julie performed in New York two years ago. Julie is also a celebrated educator who was pivotal in introducing indigenous history and stories to Montana schools' curriculum. (See Season 5 Episode 5 for more about Julie.) Jennifer is a gifted poet ("My Hands Have Vertigo") and just completed a novel, "He Was Beautiful." Not only did we have a chance to talk with Julie and Jennifer, but they graced us with a performance of an excerpt of Bad Indians. Tune in, sit back and enjoy the show.

Music for this episode is from Scottish flautist Gary Stroutsos "Night Chants". Gary also performed the music for Julie's 2019 production of "Belief." We also offer a short clip from the Women Warriors Song, a protest song created and performed by Salish women in memory of the thousands of missing and murdered indigenous women in the U.S. Northwest and Canada.

If you are committed to 'choosing your own adventure' you'll want to tune in immediately to TOB's conversation with Tammi Leader Fuller, the effervescent co-creator of Campowerment. After three decades as an award-winning television producer (at The TODAY Show, NBC News, CBS News, America's Most Wanted, and EXTRA TV), Tammi left television in 2013 to partner with her college professor mom and her brand strategist daughter on designing a sleep-away-camp-like experience for women of all ages. Thousands of women campers have now experienced this four-day transformative retreat, powered by play, where women (like her) can re-ignite their lives. She's the party guest who can always come up with the next interactive game, the author of Dish and Tell – stories about how women struggle to juggle all that life throws their way – and a firm believer in the power of sisterhood. Tammi told us how amazed she was to be reinventing herself again at age 62. Join our conversation to hear about her journey and the joys she has on offer as her in-person Campowerment experiences are starting up again in November 2021. And check-out their online community with its many expert-led monthly offerings where women learn together and connect.

Check out Campowerment and learn more about how to re-discover who you want to be as you grow up!

Tammi's book, Dish and Tell: Six Real Women Discuss How They Put Themselves at the Top of Their To-Do List (2006) is available on Amazon

Just before the pandemic shut down live performances across the world, the American soprano Claron M. McFadden appeared with pianist Alexander Melnikov at London's Wigmore Hall to rave reviews for "an exhilarating and unorthodox show" and her "breathtakingly beautiful" voice. Having listened to her recordings, we wish we could have been there. From Handel and Bach to modern and contemporary classical music and jazz, Claron is one of the most versatile singers of her generation. In music and in life, she is a fearless but not reckless risktaker who follows her curiosity and trusts her intuition to gamble with all sorts of possibilities. She studied voice at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York and traveled to Amsterdam with intentions of remaining for a year. She is still there 40 years later, noting that, in Europe, "people see her first as a human being and not as a black person." At 60, Claron is one of a very few vocalists "singing at [her] level of intensity." In a life of going "after all that called to her," she harbors only three moments of regret and those are mostly about not having managed a situation better. Enviable. Claron is also a founding member of a cultural group Naked Bitches. Curious? Listen to our lively, laugh-filled conversation with Claron to learn more. And listen to her gorgeous recordings on Spotify, Amazon Music and other platforms. For more information about her, checkout her website.

Feminist thinkers, activists and authors Idelisse Malavé, 74, and Joanne Sandler, 70, created and host Two Old Bitches, a podcast featuring conversations with women in the second half of life whose perspectives and experiences disrupt what it means to be "old" and reclaim what it means to be a "bitch." Over the past six seasons they have welcomed edgy progressive activists, a zen priest, performers, filmmakers, visual artists, scholars, a chef, journalists and writers, politicians, and more. These women make their own rules – whether it's about politics, love, sex, art, work, family or fashion. They haven't stopped rebelling, re-imagining and reinventing themselves. If anything, they are bolder with age. In this their seventh season, Joanne and Idelisse share more older women's stories that explode myths about gender and aging and re-define what it means to be a woman at any age. Joanne, former Deputy Executive Director of the UN Development Fund for Women-UNIFEM), co-wrote Gender at Work: Theory and Practice for 21st Century Organizations. Idelisse, a public interest lawyer, manager and consultant, authored two books, Mother Daughter Revolution and Latino Stats, the latter with her daughter. And just for the record, by B.I.T.C.H., they mean: Being In Total Charge of Herself.

"The world tells women-of-a-certain-age to be invisible, be innocuous with quiet voices. We've got news for you, world…WE'RE DONE WITH YOUR BULLSHIT!" These are the words that appear when you pull up the Crones of Anarchy website (https://cronesofanarchy.com) and the spirit that infuses the 18,000+ members on the Facebook group of the same name. We – Two Old Bitches – were fortunate enough to connect directly with one of the founders, Heidi Woordhuis, and hear first-hand about the journey to create a space where older women can speak their minds and be as abrasive and vulnerable as they want. We loved every second of our conversation with Heidi and especially, her explanation that she and her partner, Ruby, chose the title Crones of Anarchy because "an older woman raising her voice is sheer anarchy!" Bask in the defiant joy of the Crones, check out their website and Facebook group, and don't hold back!

Imagine your life as a perpetual learning journey where you grow braver and more transcendent as the years pass. That is how Trudy Berlin has lived. She is the 98-year-old host of "The Ladies Room with Trudy Berlin", a weekly discussion group for women over 70. She started it twenty years ago and when the pandemic hit, the group went virtual. The Washington Post christened Trudy "the 'Oprah' of senior citizens" at the Adolph & Rose Levis Jewish Community Center in Boca Raton, Florida. In her nineties, she continues to live with undiminished excitement, appreciation, openness and yes, fun. Trudy has written all her life –she went back to school at 39 to study literature and poetry at Sarah Lawrence— and during the pandemic "went back to [her] books and studies," realizing, "I have so much more I want to say." Trudy reminded us of a Thoreau quote warning that most people die "with their song unsung." We trust that Trudy's determination to continually perfect and amplify her song, bringing a vibrant group of older women along with her, will inspire you to turn up your own volume!

And to read more about Trudy and The Ladies Room, check out: https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/2021/02/03/jewish-oprah-florida-lonely/