How Long Have You Lived?

Hi ya'll,

I coincidentally stumbled over the podcast ​Wiser Than Me​ and I thought…Okay, before I share my thoughts, I'll give you a few facts:

Wiser Than Me:

• is a podcast hosted by actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus (yes, her from the 1990s successful TV show Seinfeld). 

• On the show, launched in 2023, Louis-Dreyfus interviews women older than her (the guests are typically 70+ years old) on their lived experiences and earned wisdom. 

• Louis-Dreyfus created the show to counter-balance the trend of iconic women disappearing from the public eye as they age. In the first episode, she explains that this struck her while watching a documentary about Jane Fonda. "It is just stunning to me that old women are so easily dismissed and made invisible by our culture," she says. Jane Fonda later became the first guest on the show.

• On the list of guests are: author Isabel Allende, actor Fran Lebowitz, author Amy Tan, actor Sally Field, fashion designer Vera Wang, singer Patti Smith, zoologist Jane Goodall, politician Nancy Pelosi, designer Diane von Fürstenberg and more.

[Source: Wikipedia]

Anyway, reading about the programme, I thought, "Yeah, this sounds interesting," and honestly, I thought I'd just listen to an episode or two, jot down a few lines about it, and then that was it.

But here's what happened. I listened to the interview with Jane Fonda and I went: "Oh, Wow! This is not just famous Fonda handing out her celebrity memories." No, what I was listening to was a wise woman who was sharing with us her life experiences. As in: real-life experiences, seen from a mature point in her mid-eighties. 

Here's a taste from the beginning of the show, where Fonda starts out quoting T.S. Eliot's poem Little Gidding from his poem series Four Quartets:  

We shall not cease from exploration 

And the end of all our exploring 

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time

"It's a quote", Fonda says, "that I use at the beginning of [the chapter] "Act Three" in my memoir." "Act Three" is when Fonda turned 60 and what she discovered at this time in her life was this: you spend your life exploring, and you realise that when you reach your 60s you go back to your girlhood and you become everything you were supposed to be. I.e. the person that you really are, but who you didn't have access to at the time because you were trying to be what other people thought you should be." Now there's something to reflect on!

The podcast Wiser Than Me is like sitting by a campfire getting valuable lessons and insights from the elder females in the tribe—the wise ones who can see things that are not yet visible to you and who can put their acts into a bigger perspective than you are able to do at this time in your life.

I believe sharing everyday wisdom in a circle, where people of all ages gather, is extremely valuable. You say it takes a village to raise a child, but I say a village is what we all need one way or another. However, as the campfire gatherings have disappeared in our modern world, we need to seek them elsewhere. I recommend you tune in to Wiser Than Me. I know that I'll be listening to more than just a few episodes - and I'm glad the list is long! Also, I'm thrilled about the host, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who's an absolute gem; fun and deep, asking interesting and quite personal questions which give the production a solid nerve.

How long have you lived?

Thanks for reading!

Until next time - Majken xx

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It's FEMiNOMENAL!_is a blog on WOMEN within the field of History - Writing - Culture. All texts, videos, etc., are about women and/or created by women or by a team strongly represented by women. WHY? Because overall, a female approach only gets a little airtime in this world, and we need to change this. Welcome and thank you for joining.

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