Quick update on the Ruby Franke story wherein everyone throws everyone else under the bus. Kevin Franke says he and Ruby were separated! He has been in "a fog" for the past year. Her sisters call her a narcisscist who should be put away forever and her sister-in-law just says Ruby IS NOT her cup of tea. My takeaway? Everyone in this story is awful in their own special awful way.

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Thank you to Jessica Grose for joining me on today's adventure. BUY HER BOOK. She is a national treasure. Screaming on the Inside was just released in paperback.

We used a very brief clip from ABC News. Their coverage of this story is impeccable. You can read more here.

Transcripts of this episode are available to paid subscribers of my Substack, Over the Influence.

I mentioned my new book, The Sicilian Inheritance. It is available for pre-order now.

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Laura Ingalls Wilder probably couldn’t have imagined the multi-million dollar media empire that would emerge from her books. From the television show to prairie chic dresses to dolls to tin cups bearing her name, Laura is a brand, a business and, dare we say it, an influencer. Her stories have spawned industries large and small, both directly and indirectly for nearly a century. In this very special episode from the new podcast, Wilder, Jo discovers how the fantasy of a simple prairie life got sold to millions around the world.

Go deeper: 

Stay at the Prairie House Manor in De Smet, SD

The Queen’s Treasures 

Melissa Gilbert’s Modern Prairie 

Stephanie McNeal on the Nap Dress

Sara Petersen’s Momfluenced

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@WilderPodcast on TikTok

@Wilder_Podcast on Instagram

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Jack Kerouac but make it a girl with braids. Carrie Bradshaw, but without the sex, and also braids. An American Icon. An American Odyssey. American propaganda. Violently so, in some cases. Laura Ingalls Wilder is evergreen. For better or worse. Since the first Little House book was published in 1932, generations of readers have flocked to Laura’s cozy stories of the Ingalls family settling the Western frontier. The series inspired a TV show, pageants, and entire fashion lines. Behind this franchise is a woman who experienced almost a full century of American history. She’d made her first trips in a covered wagon, and eventually flew on a jet plane. Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life and legacy remain as powerful, mesmerizing, controversial, and violent as the America she represents. In a country currently at odds with itself and its history could there be a better time for an exploration of this woman? Listen to Wilder on the iHeartRadio App or wherever you get your podcasts. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-wilder-112847598/

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Are more women having affairs? Or are they finally just talking about it? Throughout history, women have been stigmatized, ostracized, and so much worse for committing adultery—while men have too often been given a pass. But the truth is that women have the same wants, needs and desires as men despite cultural assumptions. Hosted by journalist Jo Piazza, this groundbreaking podcast series features real women of different ages and backgrounds telling the stories of their affairs, many for the first time. After five years of reporting on marriage in the wildly popular Committed podcast, Jo is now uncovering the other side of monogamy and finding some surprising answers about the motivations behind female infidelity – from sex, to empowerment, to self-esteem, and even love.

In She Wants More, Jo explores the double standard of cheating, unpacking the guilt, shame, and the expectations placed on women. She has candid conversations with women about the affairs that have either strengthened or broken their marriages that will make you feel like you're eavesdropping on an intimate conversation between two friends. These stories will make you question everything you thought you knew about desire, monogamy, and marriage. Listen to She Wants More on the iHeartRadio app or wherever you get your podcasts. https://www.iheart.com/podcast/1119-she-wants-more-107769177/

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But it is coming. We decided that maybe Jo's birthday isn't the most impactful day for women to shut down the Internet and truth be told we also got cold feet since we've seen a lot of failed internet strikes this summer. But don't worry, we picked a new day for all of us to shut it the f*ck down. In the meantime Jo did a guest appearance on Bridget Todd's podcast "There Are No Girls on the Internet" talking about a strange corner of the Instagram influencer world dedicated to #tradwives, women who channel the false nostalgia of the fifties in order to promote the patriarchy and keep women in a dark and subservient place.

Stay tuned at the end of the episode when we announce the actual Women's Day Off the Internet. It's a good one.

And happy birthday to Jo!

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The social media influencer has officially replaced the plucky girl journalist as the heroine of choice in women's fiction. The latest and most hilarious example of this is Jenny Mollen's new novel City of Likes, a wickedly funny story about a woman just like us who gets sucked into the maddening web of a mom influencer. Jo got to hop on Jenny's podcast "Third Wheel" this week to chat all about influencers, female friendship, the attention economy and Mormon momfluencers soft swinging with each others husbands. It's everything you want to listen to while you ignore your kids this weekend.

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Jo and Glynnis are making a new show and they need your help...

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Holly Frey, host of Stuff You Missed in History Class, sits down with Kris McDaniel and Andi Gordon, two winners of Seneca Women to Hear: Search for the Next Great Female Podcasters

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As women’s rights are eroding in the United States, our Women’s Day Off (the Internet) is becoming increasingly necessary. While we plan it, we take one more look at Iceland as a model for how to build a better society for everyone and particularly for women. Luckily we don’t have to go too far back this time. We can look at the women who are there right now–specifically Iceland’s first lady, Eliza Reid. In her book, Secrets of the Sprakkar, she tells the stories of extraordinary Icelandic women to illustrate how the country became a leader in gender equality. Jo and Eliza sat down together to talk about the book and how being a mom in Iceland is just different than in the US. With paid paternity leave, less guilt, less judgment, and a strong sense of sisterhood, there’s so much we can learn from Eliza and her country.

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