Debra Ginsberg knows most everyone assumes that if you are a waitress or waiter you are just passing through before you move onto a real career. But as Debra tells us in her book, waiting, being a waitress is a career. From details of a restaurant's nightly theatre, to personal moments of victory, and everything in between, Debra takes us into the world of the kitchen, the wait staff, management, and of course, the customer. INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book1:37 The Tip7:33 Structure of the Kitchen12:27 Waiting as a Profession19:32 Mentors: Belinda24:02 Relationship with the Chef27:46 Customer Service33:35 The Theater of Waiting39:50 Debra’s Son, Blaze44:31 Out of Context48:43 Burnout53:17 Debra Walks Away58:16 Final Thoughts and Next EpisodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation.

In an unassuming stucco building on a quiet piece of the Hudson River in upstate New York, there is a general store with a small pub in the back. The locals call it the Little Chapel on the River. Author Gwendolyn Bounds introduces us to all the "parishioners" and the two generations of the Guinan family who keep it feeling like home in Garrison, NY. The pub becomes Wendy's new community after 9/11, when she locates from lower Manhattan to Garrison.INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book1:24 Garrison, Guinan’s & The Little Chapel on the River8:01 September 11, 2001 and the Move to Garrison13:41 The Guinan Family22:40 Wanting to Belong33:13 509ers37:08 When You Know You Are a Part of a Community40:39 Characters: William Fitzgerald and Ed Preusser46:45 Stealing Time49:25 Final Thoughts and Next EpisodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation.

This episode is the first of a series that focus on women that contribute to our personal toolkit: ways to navigate life’s challenges, tips on how to find those people who you can lean on and guide you, inspiration to persevere through challenges, how to be brave, courageous, and never quit.In The Bridge Ladies, Betsy Lerner brings us into her mother's bridge group, a group of women who have been playing bridge together every week for fifty-five years. The women have crossed through the decades together, watching each other's children be born, grow up, and have families of their own. Now, as the women move into the next phase of their lives, they are confronting the deaths of their spouses, their own mortality, and what the fifty five years of weekly bridge games mean to each of them.INDEX0:00 New Series of Episodes2:56 Intro to The Bridge Ladies, Debby’s Personal Story6:10 Demographics10:20 The Pot Roast Friendship14:25 The Bridge Club - Logistics19:06 A Mother’s Critique22:27 Jackie’s Lunch25:55 Choosing a Husband33:47 Maintaining Family Traditions41:16 Reflecting on Death46:00 Maybe It is Just Bridge After All51:55 Final Thoughts and Next EpsiodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation.

In this podcast, we will be discussing the book Spymistress: The True Story of the Greatest Female Secret Agent of World War II, by William Stevenson. We meet Vera Atkins, a British spy. Vera’s work has never been given the same spotlight as that of other spies or resistance fighters who were part of the war effort. Perhaps that is because she was a woman in a man’s world, or perhaps it is due to a controversy that surrounds her involving the collapse of one of the networks of spies in France. Either way, what there is no controversy about is that she was one of the most important Allied spies and that she was indirectly and directly responsible for the training and success of many of the resistance fighters in German-occupied France. On a more humorous side note, it is also believed that Vera is the basis for the Miss Moneypenny character in Ian Flemming’s James Bond novels.INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book1:41 F-Section and the Controversy7:10 The Controversy14:16 It Takes a Special Breed18:08 Connections22:00 Biuro Szyfrow (Cipher Bureau)30:19 Battle of Taranto32:35 Adapting to Your Environment36:02 Making Decisions40:42 Courage43:27 Final Thoughts and Next EpisodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation!

We have explored the stories of many Modern Athenas throughout history. In this podcast, we thought we would take a bit of a different approach and talk about the book Feminist Fight Club, by Jessica Bennett. The book started as a monthly huddle of a group of women in a friend’s apartment burning off steam about their frustrations with their sexist male co-workers. Jessica blends the stories of the group with some research, statistics, and advise in a humorous way that empowers women to take on the sexist behavior and to destroy the self-sabotage that we engage in on a daily basis. INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book1:39 The Enemy: The Stenographucker7:56 The Enemy: The Lacthater15:05 The Saboteur: The Doormat23:45 The Saboteur: The Credit Defaulter29:01 The Saboteur: The Womenemy34:42 The Saboteur: The Burnout40:48 The Saboteur: The Nervous Rambler46:15 The Trap: Bitchy, Bossy, Too Ambitious51:25 The Trap: She’s Too Nice To Lead the Team56:14 Verbal Tripwire: The Over-Apologizer1:00:16 Final Thoughts and Next EpisodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation!

In this podcast, we will be discussing the book An Improbable Friendship, by Anthony David.Friendships can happen in the most unlikely of places, in the most unlikely of times. Like romance, it is hard to predict who our friends will be, and even harder to ignore forces that make a friendship blossom. Such is the case of Ruth Dayan, an Israeli Jew, and Raymonda Tawil, a Palestinian Christian. If you asked either of the women if they thought when they first met after the Six Days War in 1967 that they would be lifelong friends, both would laugh and then make a dig at the other’s culture and politics, while professing their admiration for each other. That is their friendship—born out of conflict and forged through decades of turmoil and heartbreak, the two women have a deeply rooted respect and love for each other that transcends borders, religion, and nationalism. Each of them a power broker in a male-dominated society, their intertwined stories are ones of strength and determination. These Modern Athenas demonstrate that no matter a woman’s identity, we all want to create meaning and purpose for ourselves and in our world. INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book1:17 Overview of the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict3:18 Ruth Dayan8:!5 Raymonda Tawil13:40 1967: Their Paths Cross for the First Time18:52 April 1973: Kamal Nasser21:39 1974: Ruth Travels the World on Behalf of Maskit and the World Craft Council23:25 The Tree Planting in the Peace Forest of Neve Shalom26:59 The Two-Staters28:36 Secret Backchannel34:37 Rabine is Assasinated40:04 Ruth Meets Arafat: 199941:45 Raymonda’s Power43:15 The Jordanian Funeral44:37 The End of Arafat46:38 The Walls48:27 The Book51:05 Outro and Next EpisodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation.

Esme Raji Codell's book, Educating Esme, is about her first year teaching fifth grade in a rough and tumble area of Chicago. Esme takes the reader along during the summer before her teaching career starts, as she accepts a position in a new public school. Esme has the tireless energy of all young, new teachers and a deep-rooted belief that no matter what, it is the students that matter. As you listen to her classroom tales, you can’t help but draw parallels between Esme and her classroom, and new leaders and their teams in the workplace. The lessons are the same, and the results are predictable: leaders succeed when they own everything about their job and their team, and the team succeeds when the leader is engaged and the team is invested in the mission. INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book1:54 Why Did They Hire Me?6:32 The Fairy Tale Festival Proposal10:54 The Late Night Calls18:37 Reframing and Finding Creative Solutions33:13 Inventors37:12 Greek Gods39:50 Cajun Christmas42:36 Read Aloud Time45:03 We Aren’t Here to be Liked48:43 Teacher’s Meetings52:46 When the Team Doesn’t Perform56:02 Storytelling Festival1:01:31 How Do I Know I Am Doing It Right?1:03:06 Outro and Next EpisodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation.

In this podcast, we will be discussing the book "A Nurse’s Story: Life, Death, and In Between in an Intensive Care Unit", by Tilda Shalof. A Nurse’s Story is Tilda’s part memoir, part thought-provoking discussion about her life as a Canadian Intensive Care Unit nurse and the challenges and rewards that come with the job. The book also tells heart-breaking stories and far rarer triumphs that come with working in the ICU. Through it all, Tilda makes you feel as though you are right there with her, experiencing each moment, and re-hashing each hard decision and case after the patients have long since left the unit.INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book1:51 Why Did I Become a Critical Care Nurse?9:25 Starting Out in the ICU28:37 Family and Friendships, How they can and cannot support you33:15 LIfe in the ICU42:21 Emotional Detachment46:31 Choosing Life or Death: Decisions of a Patient and a Family50:52 Outro and End of Season 1Visit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation.

In this podcast, we will be discussing the book “Canyon Solitude,” by Patricia C. McCairen. Canyon Solitude takes the reader through Patricia’s journey of self-discovery as she leaves her life of comfort and stability and heads West. She lives a life of adventure out west, drifting through the high plateaus of Colorado, learning how to be a river guide down many of the most dangerous and beautiful rivers, and, through it all, she demonstrates why sometimes in life, it is better to leave the safety of the known for the adventure and uncertainty of the unknown. Like all Modern Athenas, Patricia pushed aside the critics and followed her dream. She set her raft afloat down the river and, through her rafting, discovered that not only could she survive, but that she could thrive. Her inner strength, determination, and courage remind us all that in life, you have to keep taking risks and moving forward to new adventures because the true rewards are found beyond the edges of your comfort zone. INDEX0:00 Intro and Background of the Book2:03 Letting Go of Stability6:17 The Calling of the River13:57 Support vs. Resistance To Big Decisions19:10 Setting Off on the Adventure26:23 What It’s Like to be Alone32:30 Social Awkwardness and Anxiety37:34 Embracing Fear40:23 Downfalls of Dependency45:13 Women River Guides: Value of Brains over Brawn48:39 When Everything Goes Wrong52:34 The End of the River, Beginning of Freedom57:42 Outro and Next EpisodeVisit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcastThanks for listening and sharing in the conversation

In this episode, we are joined by a guest, Alekzandra, or Alleigh, Thoms. Alleigh is co-host Sonja’s niece and an artist who enjoys drawing, painting, sculpting and writing. She is about to enter her second year at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota. Alleigh recently self-published a book of poetry entitled "If the grass can hold its ground, so can I" that addresses mental illness and other challenges faced by college women today, such as sexual assault. Her hope is that the unapologetic spotlight of her words on these issues that have been kept in the darkness for far too long can inspire dialogue and hope. INDEX0:00 Introduction1:31 Poem: a beginner’s guide to getting up in the morning6:18 Poem: How’s tricks?11:45 Poem: no rest without love16:11 Poem: the tango misogyny22:54 Poems: Long Live Lexapro / To F33:53 Poem: The Gospel of the Sun36:09 Closing Questions41:00 Outro and Next Episode Buy Alleigh’s book: http://www.lulu.com/shop/alekzandra-thoms/if-the-grass-can-hold-its-ground-so-can-i/paperback/product-23158026.html Connect with Alleigh on Instagram @bitter_feminist Visit www.modernathenas.com for links to all episodes. Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play or YouTube. Send us feedback or leave a review! Thanks for listening.Follow us on Twitter/Facebook @modernathenasFollow us on Instagram @themodernathenaspodcast