Circle Time: A Book Club Podcast Lauren Chapman, Michelle Phillips, and Olivia Marelic

Welcome back to another Circle Time! In this episode, Lauren shares from Negotiating with the Dead: Writers on Writing by Margaret Atwood. We put on our English class hats and talk about our ideas about writers, our experiences with fiction vs nonfiction, and get a little existential about being human and our desires to be remembered. Whew!

Olivia begins this conversation by giving an overview of what this book is about and who this book might be written for (probably not for us). We then dive into a discussion about qualities that make up a "life partner" and how those traits may be overlooked by some people because of smaller annoyances or distractions in the initial dating phase. We talk about how awkward and weird dating is or can be, but how necessary those parts are to form relationship with someone. We try to differentiat...

We keep unpacking Communion with a deeper discussion of queerness and how it doesn't go away, even when you're in a straight-presenting relationship. Further, we discuss the experience of reading bell hooks' work and how truly impactful it is.

Book three in bell hooks' series on the big-L Love. This book spells out the challenges women face in finding and keeping love in a patriarchal society. From identifying "feminist" men who would never actually date a feminist, to challenging the idea that women are inherently nurturing, bell hooks gives us a lot to chew on. This episode gives an overview of the book, touching on multiple topics and concepts. More on queerness and hooks' impact in next week's episode!

Join us for this discussion about garden(ing), hyperawareness of where our products come from, and The Honorable Harvest. This conversation toes the line between existing in a consumer culture and existing harmoniously in nature. Is this even possible? How do you balance between these two contexts? Can these two things exist in harmony? Jump into the conversation with us!

Michelle has deemed it the "woo woo" bible because this book has got ALL the wisdom about spiritual growth; shared through themes of nature, folktale and female archetypes. There will probably be many Circle Times on this book because there's so much to cover. This episode continues the conversation on anger and forgiveness from our last two episodes. The book presents a surprisingly similar philosophy: forgiveness is for yourself, not so much for the one who did the harm. And according ...