Jo's Boys: A Little Women Podcast

Latest Episodes:

Chapter 38: On the Shelf with Willa Fitzgerald Oct 06, 2023

Show notes

Who better to chat with us about this Meg-centric chapter than Meg herself? On June 28, 2023, before the SAG-AFTRA strike, actor Willa Fitzgerald chatted with us about Meg's marital woes and her own time playing Meg in the 2017 Masterpiece adaptation of Little Women. You can see Willa this fall in Netflix's The Fall of the House of Usher, the thrillers Desperation Road and Strange Darling, and Ethan Hawke's Wildcat. She’s also starred in MTV’s Scream, USA’s Dare Me, and Amazon's Reacher. True heads will also remember her turn as Kitsey Barbour in The Goldfinch. In 2012, Willa graduated from Yale, where she studied psychology for three years before—luckily for all of us—changing her major to theatre studies.

Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Chapter 37: New Impressions with James Frankie Thomas Sep 22, 2023

Show notes

Bestie of the pod James Frankie Thomas is BACK this week, on the heels of the release of his critically acclaimed debut novel Idlewild, to discuss Laurie and Amy's newfound romance, in which Amy wields the reins and the whip and Laurie delights in submission. We also offer our official statement on Kylimothée's public début at the Renaissance World Tour. Our cover art is by Mattie Lubchansky. It interpolates the cover art for Bethany C. Morrow's book "So Many Beginnings: A Little Women Remix," with permission from Macmillan Children's Publishing Group. It also interpolates the cover art for Hena Khan’s book “More to the Story,” with permission from Simon & Schuster. Our theme music is Mozart's Piano Sonata No. 16 in C Major. This episode was edited by Antoinette Smith.

Chapter 36: Beth's Secret with Hannah Seo Sep 08, 2023

Show notes

Beth's Secret: Strong contender for gloomiest lingerie brand of all time. As Beth and Jo head to the seaside to convalesce, science and health journalist Hannah Seo joins us to break down the history and utility of the beach as medicine.

Hannah was recently a fellow for the Well Desk at the New York Times, reporting on science, health, and the environment. Their work can be found in Wired, Scientific American, and the Walrus, among other publications. They're a graduate of New York University’s science, health and environmental reporting program.

Scrap Bag: Enigmas with Alice Rutkowski Aug 25, 2023

Show notes

An Alcott protagonist even more trans than Jo March? It's more likely than you think. Lou's 1876 sensation story "Enigmas" features a young man who's hired to spy on another young man - a man who is short and delicate and rather young-looking, all things considered. (See where this is going?) Our spy is swiftly overtaken by sexual attraction to the man he's been hired to report on. Before the story's over and the spy is unmasked, Alcott will take the gender binary and fold it into a Mobius strip.

Here to dive deep into this delightful bit of Alcottiana is Alice Rutkowski, chair and associate professor of English at SUNY Geneseo. She often teaches the courses Literature and the Civil War, the Queer Nineteenth Century, Safe Zone Train-the-Trainer, Feminism and Pornography, and Major Authors: Melville, among others. Her research centers on the Civil War and Reconstruction as well as queer theory and trans politics. In 2013, she founded the LGBTQ Issues Working Group at SUNY Geneseo, and she's the coordinator of the college's Safe Zone Network.

Chapter 35: Heartache with Jake Maia Arlow Aug 11, 2023

Show notes

This is the chapter. Jo. Laurie. Heartbreak. Longest episode in our podcast's history. Let's go.

Our guest is Jake Maia Arlow, author of multiple novels, including the Stonewall Honor Book Almost Flying and the Indie Bestseller How to Excavate a Heart. Their newest novel, The Year My Life Went Down the Toilet, is available now!

Chapter 34: A Friend with Andrew Leland Jul 28, 2023

Show notes

Jo gets really into true crime and starts writing cool horror stories. Professor Bhaer, the Ana Mardoll of the 19th century, accuses her of Causing Harm through her writing and suggests she take up a new career as a street sweeper.

This episode could have been an hour-long anti-Bhaer hate rant, but our special guest, Andrew Leland, instead leads us into a wide-ranging discussion about the history of #OwnVoices, the morality of Murderinos, and blindness as metaphor. Andrew is the author of the memoir The Country of the Blind, published July 18 and available now from Penguin. He’s been an editor at the Believer since 2003, and he’s taught at Smith College, UMass-Amherst, and the University of Missouri. You can visit him online at andrewleland.org.

Chapter 33: Jo's Journal with JP Brammer Jul 14, 2023

Show notes

Jo narrowly skirts a marriage proposal by jetting - or carriage-ing - off to the Big Apple! There, she settles into boarding house life and gets to know her roommates: a couple of jerks who trash her fashion sense, a cultivated old spinster who takes her out to shows, and (sighs, groans, wailing and gnashing of teeth) Professor Bhaer.

Here to walk us through it all is JP Brammer, a.k.a. Hola Papi! JP is a writer and artist from Oklahoma, now based in Brooklyn. Since he started his advice column Hola Papi! in 2017, he’s answered thousands of letters and written a memoir-slash-guide-to-life called “Hola Papi: How to Come Out in a Wal-Mart Parking Lot and Other Life Lessons.”

Chapter 32: Tender Troubles with Katie Heaney and Lindsey Weber Jun 30, 2023

Show notes

This week on As the March Sisters Turn: Laurie's ready to pop the question. Jo would really rather he didn't--not least of all because she's sure Beth is in love with him. Why else would she gaze at him through the window all the time, sighing longingly? What a tangled web!

Here to help us with detangling are acclaimed author Katie Heaney and journalist Lindsey Weber, co-host of Who? Weekly. They both hail from a long-running Little Women groupchat, in which Lindsey is Jo and Katie, somewhat reluctantly, is Beth.

Chapter 31: Our Foreign Correspondent with Susan Stryker Jun 16, 2023

Show notes

Amy March's Hot Girl Summer is in full effect! This week, for Amy's whirlwind tour through Europe and flirtatious encounters with the dashing Fred Vaughan, we're joined by legendary trans scholar Susan Stryker. Dr. Stryker is professor emerita of gender and women's studies at the University of Arizona. She is a founding editor-in-chief of Transgender Studies Quarterly and the author of numerous books, including Transgender History. You can also see her onscreen in Netflix's Disclosure and FX's Pride.

Scrap Bag: Little Women in Anime with Lio Min Jun 04, 2023

Show notes

Hey, hey, let's go, Wakakusa monogatari! In this episode, we explore the ways Little Women and Louisa May Alcott have been represented in anime, from the long-running children's TV serials of the 80s and 90s to Louisa May Alcott's more recent turn as an anime heroine.

Our guest and guide for this episode is Lio Min, author of the novel Beating Heart Baby. It was named one of the best books of 2022 by BuzzFeed, Publishers Weekly, BookPage, Kirkus Reviews, and the Chicago Public Library. Lio's writing has appeared in Nylon, Fader, Catapult, and many more. They’ve interviewed all of your faves: Mitski, Japanese Breakfast, Rina Sawayama, Caroline Polachek, and Soccer Mommy, to name just a few.

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