Here it is, another year. Are you ready? We are. We look forward to our new group of twelve women, and the collaboration for the next twelve months. We want this to be a year when we embrace our lives even more fully, feel our feelings, and navigate with grace the twists. Another year to celebrate our aging, honor our past, and look to the future with curiosity and wonder. How do we start? We start with a conversation with the indomitable Indrani Goradia. On this week’s Twisting the Plot Podcast...
Jan 11, 2022•51 min
What is a creatrix, you might ask? According to Stephanie Raffelock the word creatrix is defined as “a woman who makes or creates things.” Stephanie suggests that creatrix may be a good replacement for crone when it comes to selecting an archetype for women to age into. We love the idea of a woman continuing to “make things” beyond the biological clock of fertility. Stephanie Raffelock herself is a creatrix. She is a storyteller and writer who published two books after she was 50. Creatrix Risin...
Jan 04, 2022•42 min
Here’s a question to ponder. “Can you love yourself in a hostile world?” This is the question Dr. Thema asks on this week’s podcast. “We have to shift the individual, but we also have to shift the world in which the individual is living, so that we’re not constantly having to push back against these messages but that we can change the larger story, that we’re all worthy and deserving.” Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis is a psychologist, a professor at Pepperdine University, a minister, a dancer, and a sla...
Dec 28, 2021•52 min
Who knew getting older could be so funny? In the 1960’s gerontologist Robert Butler told us that thinking back over our lives is therapeutic. He termed his method of reminiscence, “Life Review”. Through a life review, experiences from the past, particularly the unresolved conflicts, can be resolved and reintegrated into our life experience. There is also substantial research pointing to the benefits of humor. Humor has been found to lower blood pressure, increase pain threshold, and improve the ...
Dec 21, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Dr. Ellen Albertson calls herself the Midlife Whisperer. But on this week’s Twisting the Plot Podcast, she speaks up loud and clear. Dr. Albertson has “more degrees than a thermometer” and she’s confronted major plot twists in life. For years she followed all the rules and roadmaps. She had a successful career, got married, raised children, worked hard to stay thin and attractive and did a lot of people pleasing. But after life threw her a few curve balls, she devised a set of new rules to follo...
Dec 14, 2021•51 min
Kwavi Agbeyegbe has a mission. She wants to make women over 50 aware of their potential and value. As a life coach, she started by asking 50 women who were over 50, from all over the world, to describe themselves. Over 80% of the women she talked to reported feeling invisible. The women don’t see themselves represented in the media. They feel erased, insignificant, and not a vital to the cultural conversation. Kwavi is out to change this narrative. She is beginning by asking questions. 50 questi...
Dec 07, 2021•42 min
At 75 years of age, with life of plot twists that include physical, emotional and relational challenges, Ronda Tamerlane has decided it’s time to tell her story. Ronda’s 12 in 12 2021 project is to write her personal memoir. Listen to this week’s Twisting the Plot Podcast as Ronda talks with us about how writing her memoir is giving the opportunity to take on new perspectives, let go of resentments, deepen her connection to the many roles she has played, and the many lives she has led. As a reti...
Nov 30, 2021•43 min
We are so often bombarded with negative messages about aging that it makes us not want to do it. We don’t want to get older. But what if aging could be a process that’s creative, intuitive and deepening? What if getting older was a creative act? On this week’s Twisting the Plot Podcast, we speak with three 12 in 12 group members about how their experience in the year-long program has given them opportunities for flow, nourishment, and connection. Maddi Cheers, Nadya Trytan and Aleka Artemis Munr...
Nov 16, 2021•55 min
Here’s a question to ponder. “Can you love yourself in a hostile world?” This is the question Dr. Thema asks on this week’s podcast. “We have to shift the individual, but we also have to shift the world in which the individual is living, so that we’re not constantly having to push back against these messages but that we can change the larger story, that we’re all worthy and deserving.” Dr. Thema Bryant-Davis is a psychologist, a professor at Pepperdine University, a minister, a dancer, and a sla...
Nov 09, 2021•52 min
Who am I anyway? Twisting the Plot’s Twelve in Twelve Program asks each participant to bring all of herself to the year-long experience. Together as a group, we invite the shadow self, the wise ones, role models, inner guides, mentors, avatars, nemeses …. all are welcome. By the time one gets to our age there are a multitude of selves to encounter. Somedays our virtual 12-member group feels like a filled stadium. Listen to this week’s Twisting the Plot Podcast where two 12 in 12 members, Christi...
Nov 02, 2021•57 min
What does it mean to be resilient? How does one overcome tough challenges and yet continue to inspire? On today’s podcast, we hear from Aleka Artemis Munroe, who lives with serious physical disabilites. A member of Twelve in Twelve 2021, Aleka discusses her struggles with her body, and shares the tools she uses to get through that include mindfulness, acceptance, creativity, and an incredible sense of humor. She is the creator of Compasspoints: maxims for clearing the chaos in our cages, and is ...
Oct 26, 2021•56 min
What is a creatrix, you might ask? According to Stephanie Raffelock the word creatrix is defined as “a woman who makes or creates things.” Stephanie suggests that creatrix may be a good replacement for crone when it comes to selecting an archetype for women to age into. We love the idea of a woman continuing to “make things” beyond the biological clock of fertility. Stephanie Raffelock herself is a creatrix. She is a storyteller and writer who published two books after she was 50. Creatrix Risin...
Oct 19, 2021•42 min
Picture this: you’ve come to a crossroads. It’s time for a change. But, which way do you go? Where do you start? How do you start? In our 12 in 12 program, twelve women meet for twelve months, with each woman starting out in a new direction. Each creates a project of her own design and begins work on it, supported by the group. They decide where to start, and what comes next. How? By constructing individual roadmaps to follow for the year. Each woman’s roadmap envisions a path as well as the ine...
Oct 12, 2021•39 min
Lori McAndrew has been waiting for a long time. But now she waits no more. At 57 she is pursuing her doctoral degree which she plans to finish when she is 60. Listen as Lori shares her journey to this point, the struggles, the obstacles, the triumphs and… the waiting… Lori, a Twisting the Plot 12 in 12 group member, discusses her project: a dissertation on ageism. There’s a lot to talk about, and it’s all worth the wait. Bio Lori McAndrew is a Licensed Mental Health Counselor in the state of New...
Oct 05, 2021•45 min
Last week we talked. This week we act. After last week’s episode, we asked ourselves, could we do this thing called psychodrama over Zoom for a podcast? We decided to give it a try. Listen as Cecilia participates in a psychodrama facilitated by Heidi Landis and supported by Greta Schnee, Marianne Franzese and Cara Connors. Together we explore the technique called future projection. Yes, future. Even at our age. Take a listen for something entirely different. Heidi is Licensed Creative Arts thera...
Sep 28, 2021•50 min
Psychodrama, “the psyche in action,” is an experiential form of psychotherapy where our inner and outer impulses can be explored through enactment. Heidi Landis is a trainer, educator, and practitioner of psychodrama. On this Twisting the Plot Podcast she explains that psychodrama is a kind of group therapy utilizing dramatic techniques and helps individuals understand themselves, communicate better, and imagine how else things could be. Heidi tells us that psychodrama gives us the chance to war...
Sep 21, 2021•39 min
We are entering the last third of our 12 in 12 2021 year. Twelve women, working together for twelve months, each woman creating a project of their own choice and design. With each other, we are learning, growing, sharing and creating. Together, we are facing our pasts, embracing obstacles and envisioning new futures. We are supporting each other. We are challenging each other. We are doing more than getting through, we are doing more than managing change, we are the change makers. And, we are ha...
Sep 14, 2021•1 hr
Life is filled with many twists and turns, but eventually, if you follow your heart, you find yourself exactly where you are meant to be. This week we spoke with someone who is exactly where she is meant to be; Rebecca Dudley, Children’s Book Author, Architect, and Activist. When Rebecca and her husband moved to Chicago from Seattle, they missed going to see the North West Ballet production of The Nutcracker with costumes by the late Maurice Sendak. As a gift for her husband, Rebecca decided to ...
Sep 07, 2021•40 min
Every now and then, Cecilia and Hannah wonder, “are we there, have we made it, can we finally call ourselves adults?” It just seems like we’ve been waiting for decades for that certificate of achievement, or that special feeling that lets us know we’ve made the grade. Yes, we are in our sixties and still asking ourselves, What does it mean to be an adult? So this week on our Twisting the Plot Podcast we talk with Julie Lythcott-Haims, who wrote Your Turn: How To Be An Adult . A former corporate ...
Aug 31, 2021•49 min
How do you bloom? Are you an annual or a perennial? Do you bloom late? Are you still sprouting? Or are you waiting, held inside some bulb that is planted deep within the earth, for your time? Today we talk to Yvonne Marchese, host of Late Bloomer Living Podcast. Yvonne believes midlife can be a time to step into a new experience, learn new things and, well, bloom again. She calls herself a “serial pivoter.” She is an actress, storyteller, photographer, wife and mother. We are so happy to connect...
Aug 24, 2021•37 min
Get ready for something different. Cindy Gallop doesn’t do status quo. After years as a leader and change-maker in the advertising business she has moved on to new projects. At 61, Cindy shares that her life course is guided by a series of serendipitous accidents. Her current accidental mission is to help us all learn about, explore and talk about…sex. MakeLoveNotPorn aims to help us all uncover our sexual potential. Cindy explains that there are two coincidental issues preventing us from knowin...
Aug 17, 2021•52 min
When we think about women's invisibility over 50, we rarely consider women’s bodies in their purest form, naked. We have been taught to look away with shame, fear, even disgust. This week, we spoke with photographer Jocelyn Lee about her new book Sovereign . Throughout her career, Jocelyn has been photographing women in the nude, documenting how the body and our sense of ourselves changes throughout our lives. Sovereign is a collection of portraits depicting women age 55 and up. These women, cap...
Aug 10, 2021•46 min
Nikki Giovanni has a gift for making the everyday extraordinary. She is an American poet, commentator, activist and educator. She has published multiple poetry anthologies, children’s books and spoken word recordings. In the 1960’s she was dubbed “the poet of the black revolution.” She was an activist in the civil rights movement and an inspiration for the Black Arts movement. She has won 7 NAACP Image awards, the Langston Hughes Medal, and was the first recipient of the Rosa Parks Woman of Cour...
Aug 03, 2021•58 min
When the pandemic hit New York City, internationally acclaimed designer Rebecca Moses turned to her art for comfort, imagination, and connection. She put a post on Instagram asking women to write about their pandemic experience, letters from the heart. In return, she would paint their portrait. And the “Stay Home Sisterhood” was born. To date, over 410 women from all over the world have shared their stories and seen themselves through Rebecca’s eyes, a remarkable gift. Rebecca also volunteered t...
Jul 27, 2021•54 min
Over fifty, we often feel the desire for something more, something new. But to get there, we have to clear out the weeds and thorn bushes of old beliefs, expectations, and fears so that we can make space for new possibilities. This week we spoke with Kathy Lockhardt, founder of Flourish Farms, who did just that, both physically and metaphorically. At 59, Kathy had a dream to reclaim a long-overgrown field on the family farm and turn it into a truck garden. Her family was doubtful that it could b...
Jul 20, 2021•53 min
Who knew getting older could be so funny? In the 1960’s gerontologist Robert Butler told us that thinking back over our lives is therapeutic. He termed his method of reminiscence, “Life Review”. Through a life review, experiences from the past, particularly the unresolved conflicts, can be resolved and reintegrated into our life experience. There is also substantial research pointing to the benefits of humor. Humor has been found to lower blood pressure, increase pain threshold, and improve the ...
Jul 06, 2021•1 hr 9 min
Every now and then, Cecilia and Hannah wonder, “are we there, have we made it, can we finally call ourselves adults?” It just seems like we’ve been waiting for decades for that certificate of achievement, or that special feeling that lets us know we’ve made the grade. Yes, we are in our sixties and still asking ourselves, What does it mean to be an adult? So this week on our Twisting the Plot Podcast we talk with Julie Lythcott-Haims, who wrote Your Turn: How To Be An Adult . A former corporate ...
Jun 22, 2021•49 min
Sometimes, the best plot twists come from reaching back into our pasts. Over 40 years ago, Hannah and Cecilia lived in New York City, in apartments on the same floor, just down the hall from each other. Our 73rd Street apartments were tiny and close. We could even hear each other’s conversations through an airshaft. Hannah lived with our dear friend Sza, and Ceil lived with our old friend Donna. It's been decades, but we decided to reconnect with Donna. Take a listen to this week’s podcast where...
Jun 15, 2021•53 min
Get ready for something different. Cindy Gallop doesn’t do status quo. After years as a leader and change-maker in the advertising business she has moved on to new projects. At 61, Cindy shares that her life course is guided by a series of serendipitous accidents. Her current accidental mission is to help us all learn about, explore and talk about…sex. MakeLoveNotPorn aims to help us all uncover our sexual potential. Cindy explains that there are two coincidental issues preventing us from knowin...
Jun 08, 2021•51 min
In today’s podcast Hannah and Cecilia take time to reflect on what we have learned from recent podcast guests. One of the joys of our Twisting the Plot podcast is getting to meet some truly incredible people. Whether they are caregivers, educators, artists, mothers, aunts, friends…they all have a story to tell. What we had not anticipated is how listening to these stories would affect us. This week we thought we would talk about a few recent conversations that have done just that. First, we disc...
May 25, 2021•21 min
