Podcasts

Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti and writers for the website talk with the women and men making news in New York, Washington, D.C., and other cities around the world. Thanks to Ian Herman for his wonderful piano introduction.

Charlene Giannetti

Episode 10: Dr. Phyllis Goldberg and Dr. Rosemary Lichtman Talk About Millennials

03/12/2018

Dr. Phyllis Goldberg and Dr. Rosemary Lichtman are co-authors of Whose Couch Is It Anyway: Moving Your Millennial. More than 20 million millennials are still living with their parents, although older millennials in their mid 30s are beginning to reach milestones typically related to adulthood – buying homes, getting married, and having children. Drs. Goldberg and Lichtman talk about how this age group is evolving, what obstacles remain, and how families can handle having an adult child move home.

I’ll Be Your Blue Sky – Evocative and Heartfelt

03/10/2018

On the weekend of her wedding, Clare Hobbes is having second thoughts. Her fiancé, Zach, seems like a great catch. He’s handsome, a law school star from a wealthy family. She thinks she loves him, but red flags keep popping up. He’s really, really into Clare. If she reads a book, he wants to read it, too. If he’s invited to a friend’s house and Clare decides not to go, he stays home, too. He seems determined to dominate every part of her life, leaving her breathless, and not in a good way. “Sometimes I think he won’t be satisfied until he climbs into my head and lives there,” she tells her mother. He also keeps reminding her that he will never be happy if she doesn’t agree to marry him. Rather than love, Clare begins to feel obligated to stay with Zach, an attitude she knows will certainly doom the marriage.

Marisa de los Santos

While Clare’s mother, Viviana, and her surrogate mother, Cornelia, try to be supportive, Clare manages to find courage from an unexpected source, an elderly woman she has never met before. Edith Herron, staying at the same hotel where Clare’s wedding is scheduled to take place, shares a bench with the young woman and slowly draws her out. Clare tells Edith things she hasn’t shared with her mother, like times that Zach has seemed out of control and she feared he would hurt her. “No one should live with someone who scares her,” Edith tells Clare. That afternoon, Clare calls off the wedding. 

Three weeks later, Clare learns that Edith has died and left her a house called Blue Sky House. “An almost total stranger talked you out of your engagement to the wrong man and then gave you a safe place to go,” her mother says. “Unbelievable.” Clare needs such a space since Zach refuses to believe their relationship is over and keeps calling and texting, some of his exchanges threatening.

In between Clare’s story, we learn more about Edith. If she was able to talk with Clare about true love, it was because she had such an experience. Edith’s husband, Joseph, was her soulmate, someone who loved her and who met her needs without being overbearing or possessive. Joseph’s only failing was dying too soon, leaving his widow behind to mourn his absence. Yet Edith was a formidable woman and she soon found her calling, a mission that would touch the lives of many other women when they most needed that help. Let’s just say that Edith would have fit in very well with today’s #metoo movement, one reason she was able to so clearly see what Clare’s future would be if she stayed with Zach.

Clare moves into Blue Sky House and also renews her friendship with Dev, someone from her childhood that she once thought she would marry. Before too long, the two are delving into Edith’s past, trying to understand who this woman really was and how she came into Clare’s life at exactly the right time. 

Marisa de los Santos writes beautifully, her characters never wooden, their conversations never stilted. Edith’s story unfolds during the 1950s; Clare’s in present time, yet in each case the descriptions are period perfect and evocative. The mysteries surrounding Edith’s life unfold slowly and are poignant, yet satisfying. 

Marisa de los Santos’s photo: credit to Tisa Della-Volpte

I’ll Be Your Blue Sky
Marisa de los Santos

WAT-CAST: Shannon Walker Talks About Northwest Battle Buddies, Service Dogs, and Helping Veterans

03/05/2018

On January 28, a woman was not allowed to board a United Airlines flight from Newark to Los Angeles with her emotional support animal, a Peacock named Derek. It was the proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back. (No one has attempted to board with a camel yet, but who knows?) According to an article in USA Today, the number of comfort animals flying on United jumped from 43,000 in 2016 to 76,000 last year, prompting an avalanche of complaints from passengers.  United and other airlines will now require additional documentation for customers traveling with an emotional support animal or a psychiatric service animal. In addition to providing a letter from a licensed medical/mental health professional, customers will need to provide a veterinary health form documenting the health and vaccination records for the animal as well as confirming that the animal has been trained to behave properly in a public setting. (There have been reports of passengers being bitten by so-called emotional support animals.)

What’s getting lost in all this is that many people who need service and emotional support animals, primarily our veterans, are running into discrimination. Shannon Walker heads up Northwest Battle Buddies, a nonprofit that provides free service dogs for veterans with PTSD. These dogs are professionally trained and gifted to combat veterans at no charge. Shannon talks with Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti about Northwest Battle Buddies, the differences between actual service dogs, and what needs to be done to clear up the public’s confusion. Click to listen.

For more information and to donate to Northwest Battle Buddies, go to the organization’s website and Facebook page. 

Shannon Walker’s photo courtesy of Northwest Battle Buddies.

Episode 9: Shannon Walker Talks About Northwest Battle Buddies, Service Dogs, and Helping Veterans

03/05/2018

Shannon Walker’s Northwest Battle Buddies is a non profit with an important mission – partnering veterans suffering from PTSD with professionally trained service dogs that can help these men and women regain their freedom and independence. Shannon and her team  work to help the men and women who have given up so much for our country. She talks with Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti about Northwest Battle Buddies and what needs to be done to clear up some of the confusion about service vs. emotional support animals. 

WAT-CAST – Karetta Hubbard and Lynne Revo-Cohen Talk About Sexual Harassment

02/26/2018

The headlines keep coming, forcing another high level executive to resign after women come forward alleging sexual misconduct in the workplace.  Karetta Hubbard and Lynne-Revo Cohen, launched NewPoint Strategies more than 30 years ago and built a reputation for helping corporations deal with serious issues, including sexual harassment and sexual assault. Along with Chris Kilmartin and Gwen Crider, they have been sharing their expertise with our readers in a series called “Toxic Culture.” In this podcast, Karetta and Lynne talk with Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti about a topic that continues to dominate the news. Click to listen.

Top photo: Bigstock

Episode 8: Karetta Hubbard and Lynne Revo-Cohen Talk About Their Series, Toxic Culture

02/26/2018

Have we reached a tipping point with sexual harassment? Karetta Hubbard and Lynne Revo-Cohen come to this discussion from a unique point of view. For more than 30 years, they have been advising companies on important workplace issues, including sexual harassment and sexual assault. They have been writing about the topic for Woman Around Town in a series titled “Toxic Culture.” In this podcast, they talk with Woman Around Town’s Editor Charlene Giannetti about how the workplace has evolved since they began their work, how the #metoo movement is forcing change, and what needs to happen next. 

WAT-CAST: Linda Lajterman Talks About Life After You and 19 Daniel Highway

02/12/2018

Four years ago this month, Linda Lajterman’s son, Danny, died from a drug overdose. A month after his death, she wrote a Facebook post warning other families to be more vigilant. Her message was clear: “If it could happen to my family, it could happen to yours.” The response was overwhelming. She received messages not only from her New Jersey community, but also from people all over the world, a signal that the drug epidemic was widespread. She wrote a book, Life After You: What Your Death from Drugs Leaves Behind, which she hoped would scare teens and young adults to stay away from drugs. Once again, she heard from many people who credited the book with turning around many lives. The Lajterman’s experience is the inspiration of a feature film, 19 Daniel Highway, which will be directed by George Valencia, and star David Zayas, Florencia Lozano, and Judy Reyes. Charlene Giannetti, who published Linda’s book through her company, WAT-AGE Publishing, talks with Linda in this podcast interview. Click to listen.  If you’d like to make a tax deductible donation to the film, click here.

Alafair Burke Asks How Loyal Should The Wife Be?

02/10/2018

Alafair Burke’s new novel, The Wife, has so many twists and turns it’s like trying to keep track of a runaway train. The story starts out innocently enough – girl (Angela) meets boy (Jason) during a dinner party in the Hamptons. Angela’s company is catering the event; Jason is a guest. A single mother with a son, Angela is not looking for a relationship, let alone a husband. But soon enough, they are married and living in Manhattan.

Jason seems like an incredible catch, a well known economics professor at NYU who, thanks to a bestselling book, becomes a media star. Angela, on the other hand, has a troubled past. The last thing she wants is to be thrust into the spotlight. But Jason’s meteoric rise provides her and her son with a lifestyle she never thought possible, so she manages to adjust, content to play the wife behind (way behind) the successful man. The tragic events that shaped her past are slowly revealed, adding to the anticipation and suspense.

All that comes apart when Jason is accused of inappropriate behavior by a college intern. One allegation might have been dismissed, but when another woman comes forward, Angela must face the possibility that she never really knew the man she married. He proclaims his innocence and there is enough about his denials to keep her in his corner. Others, however, are not so forgiving. He loses his media job and then his professorship. With his legal bills mounting, he and Angela may lose everything they have.

Burke has a talent for constructing plots that are believable and keep the reader guessing until the end. She also manages to weave into her stories topics that are dominating headlines and social media. With one of her previous novels, All Day and a Night, the role DNA evidence plays in convictions was a theme. In The Wife, it’s sexual harassment, making this novel a timely addition to our reading list.

The Wife
Alafair Burke

Alafair Burke’s photo by Deborah Copaken Kogan

1 2 3 4 5 6 17