Radio Curious

Have you ever been curious about the difference between the male brain and the female brain?  Well I have, for a long time.  This week Radio Curious speaks with neuropsychiatrist, Dr. Louann Brizendine, founder of the Women’s Mood and Hormone Clinic at the University of California at San Francisco.  In 2006 she wrote a book called, “The Female Brain,” and in 2010 she wrote “The Male Brain,”–very different books about very different genders of our human species.

The interview with Dr. Louann Brizendine was recorded March 21^st, 2011.

The book she recommends is “The Emperor of All Maladies,” by Siddhartha Mukherjee.

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In 1988, rather than comply with an ecclesiastical summons issued by then Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, now Pope Benedict XVI, to move to Chicago and give up his work on Creation Spirituality in Oakland California, Matthew Fox, a Dominican Priest, left the Dominican Order, remained in Oakland, and established the University of Creation Spirituality.   Matthew Fox is the author of 28 books and most recently published “The Hidden Spirituality of Men:  Ten Metaphors to Awaken the Sacred Masculine,” and is our guest on this edition of Radio Curious.

Matthew Fox first visited Radio Curious in 1999 when his book “Sins of the Spirit, Blessing of the Flesh: Lesson for Transforming Evil, in Soul and Society,” was published.  So, when we came across “The Hidden Spirituality Men,” the latent curiosity of Radio Curious about spirituality was awakened.

Fox and I spoke by visited again, by phone from his home in Oakland, California on January 11, 2011.  Our conversation, which explores male and female spirituality, began with Matthew Fox distinguishing spirituality, faith, religion and dogma.

The book Matthew Fox recommends is “Walt Whitman: Shamanism, Spiritual Democracy and the World Soul,” By Steven B. Herrmann.

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Join us for part two of an interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta to revive newborn babies who are unable to breathe.  In this two part series we discuss  current and traditional midwifery practices in India’s rural countryside. For part one and more information on Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal, visit our first interview here .

This second interview with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal was recorded in the studios of Radio Curious on September 6th, 2010.

The book Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal recommends is, “Anila’s Journey,” by Mary Finn.

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Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal is an obstetrician and gynecologist living and working in rural India and an organizer of the Jeeva Project, which in part, studies an indigenous midwifery practice that uses the placenta to revive newborn babies who are unable to breathe.  In a two part series we discuss  current and traditional midwifery practices in India’s rural countryside.

Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal is the Managing Trustee of Tathapi, a small center for ‘Women and Health’ Resource Development in India, where she has lived for over 3 decades.  In the 1980s Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal provided medical relief to victims of the Union Carbide gas leak in Bhopal.  She later collaborated with women members of a landless laborer’s union to run “Zaroori Dawai ki Suvidha” – “essential medicines facility,” a local village medical co-operative.  She is the author of “In Our Hands,” and the editor of two books, “Her Healing Heritage,” and “Na Shariram Nadhi,” – “My Body is Mine.”

In 2007 Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal was the recipient of the Chingari Award for Women Against Corporate Crimes, which is given annually to a woman activist who has taken up the cause of a community fighting corporate criminal activity in India.   Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal grew up in California and is now citizen of India. This, the first of two interviews with Dr. Mira Dakin-Sadgopal was recorded in the studios of Radio Curious on September 6th, 2010.

The book Dr. Dakin-Sadgopal recommends is, “Anila’s Journey,” by Mary Finn.

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If you have been sexually abused as a child, or know someone who was, listen to this edition of Radio Curious with host Barry Vogel and Susan A. Clancy, Ph.D, author of “The Trauma Myth:  The Truth About the Sexual Abuse of Children – and Its Aftermath.”  This conversation discuss’s the myth of when trauma of child sexual abuse takes place, how and the abuse is perceived by the victim, and the effects of denial, minimization and blame, and how this issue within the Catholic Church is not being resolved.  Susan A. Clancy, Ph.D. is currently the Research Director of the Center for Women’s Advancement, Development and Leadership at the Central American Institute for Business Administration in Nicaragua.  This interview was recorded on April 12, 2010, with Susan A. Clancy Ph.D. from her home in Managua, Nicaragua.

The books she recommends are “Happiness: A History” by Darrin M. McMahon, and “In The Woods,” by Tana French.

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For millennia when couples were not able to conceive and bear their own children their options were somewhat limited, and not at all available if the complication was on the females parts.  And, these matters still are not much discussed even among the couples themselves.  However in the past decades medical science has developed in vitro fertilization which can accommodate the egg for the intended mother, or from another woman, and the sperm from the intended father, or from another man, depending on what is needed. The fertilized egg can then be placed into a ‘surrogate’ mother who can take the pregnancy to term and deliver the baby for the parents. The many issues surrounding surrogacy form the conversation in this edition of Radio Curious.  We visit with Dr. Katie Dow, who has studied issues of surrogate parenthood in preparation of her doctorial dissertation in anthropology at the London School of Economics. Katie Dow joined us in the studios of Radio Curious in Ukiah, California on March 8th, 2010, and began by explaining what constitutes surrogacy.

The book Katie Dow recommends is “A Meaningful Life,” by L.J. Davis.

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The fundamental human drive to procreate and reproduce our own kind is also a ticking clock. The female biological clock, though varying woman to woman, as we know, more often than not unwittingly controls root emotions and family life. As many women’s choices in life have widened and changed in the past half century their clocks still tick. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with Jody Gehrman, writer of “The Ticking Clock,” and actress/researcher Deborah Edelman. Their play is based upon material collected in interviews and surveys with over 150 women; mothers, non-mothers, adoptive mothers, surrogates, pregnant teenage women and more, and queries how their clocks have shaped their lives.

This interview was recorded on January 29th 2010 in the studios of Radio Curious in Ukiah, California. I began by asking Jody Gehrman to explain the play and how the interviews were collected.

The book that Jody Gehrman recommends is “Nocturne,” by Diane Armstrong.

The book that Deborah Edelman recommends is “The Omnivore’s Dilema,” by Michael Pollan.

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The development of the large human head and broad shoulders provide many evolutionary benefits for our species but also require assistance for a safe birth, sometimes presenting life threatening complications in the birth process. Yet gorillas, our 300-pound primate cousins, give birth without assistance in approximately 15 minutes. In this edition of Radio Curious we visit with pediatrician Dr. Mark Sloan, author of “Birth Day: A Pediatrician Explores the Science, the History, and the Wonder of Childbirth.” In this conversation Dr. Sloan explains how our transition from being four legged creatures to two legged ones has forced us to cope with unique physical and cultural differences. We explore what some of the benefits of cesarean deliveries can be as well as the possible, but unverified consequences this birth form present.

This interview was recorded on July 3, 2009 speaking with Dr. Sloan from his home in Santa Rosa, Californa. The conversation began with an explanation of why the human birth process was more difficult than in other primates.

The book Dr. Mark Sloan recommends is “The Discovery of France” by Graham Robb.

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Taboos associated with menstruation limit public discussion of a primary event in the lives of more than half of the human population of the world. And even more limited is the conversation about a young woman’s menarche, or first menstrual period. Rachel Nalebuff, our guest in this edition of Radio Curious, is an eighteen year old woman passionate about breaking taboos associated with menstruation and the author of “My Little Red Book,” an anthology of stories about first periods, collected from women of all ages, around the world. She examines these very personal stories from the larger picture of gender politics and self image. In this conversation we discuss what brought a young woman (Rachel started collecting stories at 13 years old) to choose to publish such a book and how she believes we can bring periods from being taboo into the arena of acceptable discourse. Speaking with Rachel Nalebuff from her home in San Francisco, California on May 29, 2009, we began with her thoughts about why menstruation is seldom discussed.

Rachel Nalebuff, the author of “My Little Red Book,” will enter Yale University in the fall of 2009 . The book Rachel Nalebuff recommends is “A Heartbreaking Work Of Staggering Genius,” by Dave Eggers.

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