”Always leave while you’re still having a good time!” - Joanne Sandler
“If it pleases me, I will.” - Idelisse Malavé
Stephen P. Williams - Are You Stephen’s People? | S8 E01
Ellen Bravo: Standing Up | S7 E10
Red-Boots Kickass Bitch and Wisdom Hag | S7 E09
Two Old Bitches/StoriedLives | S7 E08
Sari Botton - The Oldster | S7 E07
Screen Bitches – Why We Love Hacks | S7 E06
Isa Infante - Of Course I Can! | S7 E05
Julie Cajune & Jennifer Finley – “Bad Indians” | S7 E03
Heidi Woordhuis - Crone of Anarchy | S6 E10
Call Your Girlfriend Podcast Summer of Friendship - Two Old Bitches | S6 Bonus Episode
A Guided Meditation | S6 Bonus Episode
Trudy Berlin - A 98-Year-Old Work-in-Progress | S6 E09
Bodhisattvas & QuaranQueens | S6 E08
Srilatha Batliwala - Granny Sri | S6 E07
A Feminist Parable: "But My Neighbor Is Fasting" by Srilatha Batliwala | Bonus Episode
Sonoko Sakai – Salary Woman No More! | S6 E06
Screen Bitches - What We’re Watching | S6 E05
Dina Bursztyn - ArTchaeologist | S6 E04
Politics and Possibility | S6 E03
Ruth Strassberg – Stranger in a Strange Land | S5 E10
Cynthia Madansky - Always Avant Garde | S5 E09
What Else Is There but Pleasure? | S5 E08
Chiemi Karasawa – Sacred Reciprocity | S5 E07
Joanne’s Obsession - An Unforgettable Story of Sexual Harassment at the United Nations | S5 E06
Julie Cajune – The Sum of Her Stories | S5 E05
Lucero Gonzalez – The Feminist Who Could | S5 E04
Tish and Snooky Bellomo – Aging Disgracefully (Founders/owners of Manic Panic) | S5 E03
Mother’s More Than a Day | S4 E10
Hrag Vartanian - Serious, Playful and Radical | S4 E09
Tracy Hyter-Suffern - Quite a Handful | S4 E08
Sharon Louden - Radical Generosity | S4 E07
Michaela Walsh - The Next Adventure | S4 E06
Renata Joy - Pure Joy! | S4 E05
Bitches Know - How to Totally Avoid Jet-Lag Forever! | S4 E04
Joy Kane - If They're Buying It, I'm Teaching It | S3 E10
Houry Geudelekian - The Original Houry! | S3 E09
Hendrica Okondo - Born, Bred and Wed in Nairobi | S3 E08
Maya Wiley - The Possibilist | S3 E07
Emma & Idelisse - To A Beloved Buddha Mom | S3 E06
Betsy ‘La Guapa’ Gude - Fearless Adventurer | S3 E05
Luxor Tavella - Icon of West Broadway and Soho | S3 E04
Janice Zarro Brodman - Sex Rules! | S3 E03
Freida Williams and Diane Scanlon - What’s This Song Good For? | S2 E10
Inca Alexandrina Mohamed - My Life Is My Art | S2 E09
Sondra Lee - As I Was Saying | S2 E08
Malaga Baldi - No One is Watching | S2 E07
Kathy Brew - Unfurling Like A Spiral | S2 E06
Socorro Reyes - Harvest Time | S2 E05
Jaune Evans - Weaving and Spinning | S2 E04
Ana Falu - I Am What I Am! | S2 E03
Dodo Berk - Age Is A Number, and Mine is Unlisted | S1 E10
Radhika Balakrishnan - I Want To Know What They Know | S1 E09
Alta Starr - Everything Is Already All Right | S1 E08
Carol Jenkins – Serial Adjustments | S1 E07
Elaine Finsilver – The Cracked Plate | S1 E06
Noeleen Heyzer – Through the Eyes of Experience | S1 E05
Behind The Scenes: The Bitches Tell All!
Jane Summer - Finding Her Story | S1 E04
A Very Special Holiday Message From The Bitches
Katherine Acey - Will the Elders Please Stand? | S1 E03
Sandra Garcia Betancourt – I Am the Point | S1 E02
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.
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.
“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.
Two Old Bitches co-hosts and friends, Joanne Sandler and Idelisse Malavé, were invited by the wonderful and popular Call Your Girlfriend podcast to have a conversation about their decades long friendship. As part of a series, “Summer of Friendship” CYG asked a few of their favorite podcasters — we’re honored! — to tell them how they met, times their friendship has been stretched, and how they grow together.
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.
Jaune Evans was originally ordained as a priest in the White Plum Lineage by Bernie Glassman and Taizan Maezumi Roshi in 1983 at the Zen Community of New York. She is now a priest and senior teacher in the Bay Area Everyday Zen lineage of Zoketsu Norman Fischer, and leads the Heart of Compassion Zen Sangha in Point Reyes, California.
Surprise! Despite being at higher risk, older folks have weathered this past year in better spirits than younger people, according to recent studies. Well, maybe it’s not such a big surprise given our breadth of experience and, uh-hum, wisdom. For Two Old Bitches, it’s certainly been a crucial topic of conversation since the first lockdowns in March 2020. We’ve also explored how COVID affected what we eat (sourdough bread has been an essential for these Two Old Bitches!), streaming preferences, newfound hobbies, relationships and our notions of the future. We’ve gathered gems and inspiration from these conversations with wise older women.
Listen to Sri's beautiful reading of a parable she wrote called "But My Neighbor is Fasting." It's a story about an act of kindness that taught Sri what it means to be extraordinary. And thanks to Sri for sharing this powerful story.
At 69, Srilatha Batliwala is a feminist grandmother to her four grandchildren and also sees “grandmothering” as a metaphor for how she operates in the world of feminist and social justice movements. Building on decades of activism and prolific writing as a feminist scholar – from her work with tens of thousands of women in village and slum communities in India to holding prestigious positions and fellowships at foundations, universities and transnational women’s rights organizations – Sri is dedicated to mentoring younger feminists and movement builders.
What are we talking about when we talk about “reinventing” ourselves? Our conversation with writer, teacher and Japanese home cooking guru, Sonoko Sakai, reveals how failure is a pathway to discovering long-standing passions and new opportunities. After two decades as a successful film buyer and producer, Sonoko confronted financial and career loss. To heal, she discovered “putting my hands in flour was the most therapeutic way.”
“What have you been watching?” “See anything good lately?” are questions many of us routinely ask each other, especially during the pandemic. A trusted recommendation for a movie and, for some of us even better, a series with many seasons is cause to celebrate. How often, though, do you hear of a good movie or series about, for, or by older women? Not often. So when we heard about the film “Let Them All Talk” at the end of 2020, we asked book agent Malaga Baldi, Debbie Zimmerman who heads Women Make Movies and Emmy-nominated former TV producer and wellness and lifestyle coach Renata Joy to join us for a conversation about it and other films and series featuring older women.
Exploring the idea of creating an intentional living community for creatives, and the Hudson Valley, led us (Idelisse and Joanne) to the small town of Catskill, NY where we were enchanted to find an "ArTchaeological Museum" in the window of the Open Studio on Main Street. Its owner Dina Bursztyn, 72, is a visual artist and writer. We were transfixed by her gallery filled with whimsical found art assemblages, sculptures, ceramics, art books, drawings and paintings. Dina's work was described in a New York Times review as “original work that defies reigning art world fashions.” Born in Argentina, Dina, a would-be writer, came to New York after college and was surprised to discover that she was a ceramicist who excavated strange creatures at the bottom of the mugs she was crafting. It was just the beginning of her inventive art practice.
How do we respond to this political moment? Pessimism is tempting and optimism may feel foolhardy, yet a sense of possibility fueled by hope makes enduring sense to us. After the Biden/Harris victory, we turned to long-time activists, Lecia Brooks and Lisa Veneklasen to tap into their wisdom and clear-eyed assessment of what we’re facing and what’s possible in the struggle for overdue and drastically needed social and political change. For the past 16 years, Lecia has worked at the well-known Southern Poverty Law Center, a regional and national catalyst for racial justice, most recently as Chief of Staff. She plays a key role in their work to expose and dismantle white supremacy and nationalism. Almost 20 years ago, Lisa founded Just Associates (JASS) and recently stepped down from her role as Executive Director.
With “thousands of grandmothers' voices and stories” in her head, Ilana Landsberg-Lewis, a Canadian labor and human rights lawyer and passionate women’s rights advocate, started the “Grandmothers on the Move” podcast over two years ago. Fifty-three engaging episodes later, she’s already succeeded in her goal to “kick old stereotypes to the curb” through conversations with astonishing older women. Ilana worked at the UN Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM) for many years before joining with her father in 2003 to co-found the groundbreaking Stephen Lewis Foundation to partner directly with community-based groups confronting the HIV-AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa. She is an ardent mother who sees motherhood as “an emotional reality and a political identity.” (Yes!) And at 55, Ilana is “happily getting older.” Don’t you want to know why?
"When I'm wearing matte, it's like 'I dare you to come closer!”
So warns feminist activist Houry Geudelekian in this episode on the joys, power and history of lipstick...at any age. Join us to hear Houry, feminist economist Radhika Balakrishnan and writer Sandra García Betancourt talk about their and our own checkered histories wearing lipstick --or not. People have colored their lips for at least 5,000 years. It began as an emblem of aristocratic status for women and men equally. Over time it became the province of sex workers and then marching suffragists as an act of defiance and solidarity. And today? Our guests make the connections between feminism and lipstick, suggest the best shades as we age, and share many other musings and magic about painted lips. And we finish with some wisdom from the inimitable AOC about how "beauty is an inside job."
