Women Doing (word) Wizard-ing

We started a podcast channeling 19th century feminists

Co-host Joanna and I posing near the giant Troubaour Recording Studios sign

If I didn’t grab you with “19th century feminists” I’m sure that The Woman’s Bible is going to seal the deal to get our podcast on your list of weekly appointment listening. Ha! I get it. What does a dusty ol’ book have to do with all the insanity going on right now and does the world need another podcast?

Yes the world needs more podcasts/videos/films/books/games/music/photos/blogs/zines. Have you seen the vile brobro stuff that is totally acceptable and mainstream now? We’ve got to crowd the market(s). Progressive people have more fun and make cooler sh*t. We’ve got a firehose too, ya know.

I wrote up an example comms plan in my last post. It’s not perfect (yet), but I stand by the idea that culture and entertainment is an essential component of opposition. Everything doesn’t have to be a direct political/news thing. A lot of folks are doing that work. There’s opportunity on the periphery, showing and not just telling people different ways to think, to consider, and even imagine, how things could be.

Or in our case - why some things might be the way they are and maybe some new ways to think about it.

Elizabeth Cady Stanton was 80 years old when she published part one of The Woman's Bible in 1895 and 82 when the second part was published in 1898. Just sayin - this is good for your longevity.

A Delightful Backstory

Joanna and I have known each other since forever. Like preschool age even though I didn’t go to preschool. We went to the same Catholic church and she was a grade above me in school. We both left this little village after graduation and got to travel, live, and work in other states and even countries before our individual paths led us back to the area. It is obviously destiny that we’ve reconnected.

We canvassed together last fall so after the election we were WTF-ing like many other people. We talked about what we should DO. We’re hip to and participating in calls and demonstrations and other stuff like trapping friends and family members in impassioned, circular tirades, but we meant do in the sense of what to do with all the ragey energy so it doesn’t melt our sweet souls.

I was talking to my sister probably about about our nieces and then the incoming infiltration of Christian Nationalism and how ridiculous, yet terrifying religious fundamentalism is. She told me that in pre-internet times, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and her pals cut out passages in the bible that had to do with women and wrote responses and analysis of how they were incorrectly translated or interpreted. “Yeah” she told me, “It’s in a book: The Woman’s Bible.”

Then I said SHAZAAM! And thank you, because I am always polite and deferential to my darling sister.

After taking a look at the book, I realized someone had already done the work of calling out flawed source material. 130 years ago. And it was a bestseller.

The Bible teaches that women brought sin and death into the world, that she precipitated the fall of the race, that she was arraigned before the judgment seat of heaven, tried, condemned and sentenced. Marriage for her was to be a condition of bondage, maternity a period of suffering and anguish, and in silence and subjection, she was to play the role of a dependent on man's bounty for all her material wants, and for all the information she might desire on the vital questions of the hour, she was commanded to ask her husband at home. Here is the Bible position of women briefly summed up. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Well that sounds familiar, no?

An old book written by smart, sassy (and yeah, privileged) women of the victorian age, broken up in neat chapters, and referencing another book that most people are at least aware of - seemed like a perfect framework for a serialized audio project. Ideal for two broads looking for a creative outlet that may also have a touch of usefulness. Joanna was in!

The Podcast

We’re calling it Biting All The Apples because we love fruit and knowledge and we’d never not eat something just because a snake said so.

Available wherever you do your podcast listening

No, we are not feminist scholars, historians, or religious experts. Do you want a lecture or do you want to hear us stumble over biblical terms, strain to remember what we learned in catechism, and fall down multiple rabbit holes?

That being said, we’d love to hear from feminist scholars, historians, and religious experts. And, really - anyone that knows adjacent works or people, bloggers, or YouTubers that could be good resources or collaborators. We’re open to it!

Just us gals in the early days (a month and a half ago) home studio

To be fair, this isn’t our first time performing together, we have experience lip synching to David Lee Roth in front of my grandmother’s huge circular art deco vanity mirror. That’s enough to go on right there. Total pros.

And if you’re still like ehhhh bible stuff is not my thing. Here’s a little something Stanton said (130 years ago):

So long as tens of thousands of bibles are printed every year, and circulated over the whole habitable globe, and the masses in all English speaking nations revere it as the word of god, it is vain to belittle its influence. - Elizabeth Cady Stanton

Thanks so much for reading! Hope you’ll give us a listen. New episodes on Fridays!