In Walks a Woman
Podcast Description
Welcome to “In Walks a Woman,” the podcast where we look at history and literature from a female perspective. Join Sonja Czarnecki, history teacher, and Dr. Vanessa Eicher, life-long lit nerd, both moms and seasoned educators, as we go down well-worn historical and literary pathways with new questions about the female experience and how the stories of our past and in our fiction frame women's lives today. Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/InWalksaWoman and follow us on Instagram @inwalksawoman
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast primarily focuses on themes of female representation in historical and literary contexts, examining works like The Odyssey and engaging with topics such as women's roles in classical literature and historical narratives, with episodes analyzing Margaret Atwood's The Penelopiad and the romantic complexities of Abelard and Heloise.
We explore ideas from a woman’s point of view. Think of us as the critical-thinking crossroads of literature, popular fiction, storytelling, history, feminism, anthropology, and pop culture. At the center of it all are these 2 questions: do we create stories, or do stories create us? Either way, since stories influence us, can we change stories that cause harm? Sonja and Vanessa, experienced teachers of history and literature, make the pod educational, engaging, and relatable. Support us on Patreon: patreon.com/InWalksaWoman and follow us on Instagram @inwalksawoman
Please Note: The internet was not playing nice on the day we interviewed Polly, and though we tried several strategies, we could not totally resolve some technical difficulties. That being said, as you listen, you’ll hear that Polly’s warm authenticity and her lovely personality just totally outshine the tech issues.
No woman totally escapes the fact that she lives in a body made for making other humans. Whether she wants to have kids or not, her body and the society she lives have agendas. Polly Rosenwaike’s moving collection, LOOK HOW HAPPY I’M MAKING YOU, explores the challenges of deciding whether to become a mother, the obstacles to becoming a mother, and the the learning curve of adapting to motherhood.
Named one of the Best Books of 2019 by Kirkus Review, Glamour, and an Editor’s Pick on Amazon, Rosenwaike’s empathetic and beautifully-written collection offers a window into the lives of a dozen women who couldn’t know what awaited them, from trying to get pregnant and stay pregnant, to the hard-earned lessons of what day-to-day mothering involves for each of them.
Join Sonja and Vanessa as they ask Polly about her creative process, how she came up with the concept of the collection, the nitty gritty of working with an editor, what she thinks of first when she writes, how she chose the collection’s clever title, and her literary influences. As we do with all our visiting writers, we ask Polly about a story that shaped her, and we just loved what she shared–you won’t want to miss it!
Along the way, Sonja and Vanessa cast themselves back into the misty past, reminiscing about pregnancy and shiny-new motherhood, and Vanessa confesses that she sucked at breastfeeding.
REFERENCES:
If you do not have a favorite local bookstore, remember that you can always order online from Lawrence Kansas’s beloved bookseller, The Raven Bookstore. Here is a link to Polly Rosenwaike’s LOOK HOW HAPPY I'M MAKING YOU.
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