Madness Cafe

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Content warning: In this week's episode, we share our thoughts about The Epstein Files. This is a heavy topic riddled with powerful emotions. Please take care of yourself and prepare yourself however you need to in order to listen. Or sit this one out if that is what is best for you.  Support the show Be part of the co...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Although this week's guest, Melissa Tiers, focuses professionally on coaching the unconscious mind via hypnosis, she speaks passionately and often on social media about issues near and dear to our hearts here at Madness Cafe; specifically, patriarchy, decentering men, and how we've all been primed to act (and, yes...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! The next book in our Banned Books Series is Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. Published in 1993, this near dystopian, post-apocalyptic allegory explores themes of adaptation and change, environmental and social breakdown, survival and resilience, and hyperempathy and interconnectedness. Tune in to hear our discussion...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Cheri Bergeron always knew that motherhood was in her future. Indeed, she made it her mission to become a mother. Cheri chronicles all that she went through on the way to motherhood in her memoir Mission Motherhood: Writing A New Fairy Tale of Love and Family. Tune in to this candid discussion to learn about all that our gu...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! According to Psychology Today, parasocial relationships are "one-sided relationships in which a person develops a strong sense of connection, intimacy, or familiarity with someone they don’t know, most often celebrities or media personalities. These relationships exist only in the mind of the individual, who experience...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! "Dry January", "Sober Curious", "taking a break" - does any of this sound familiar? Many of us have questioned our relationship to alcohol, whether because of a rough morning after a night of debauchery, just because, or for any number of reasons. Our guest, Suzanne Warye, had her own reasons f...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! We've talked about consent and autonomy in relation to a number of topics on the show, but this is a bit different - unsolicited advice. We don't usually think about consent and autonomy in this regard but maybe we should. We dive right into how to handle receiving unsolicited advice and what to consider when temp...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! The 1st book in our 2026 Banned Books Series is Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Whether you've read the book or not, many of us know the story of Little Women. In this episode we go beyond the story told in the pages of Little Women to discuss Louisa May Alcott, how Little Women was influenced by her own life, the e...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! In this week's episode friend of the pod Tiffany Mazurek is back! This time she joins us to talk about retirement - current reality, dreams, possibilities, and underlying money stories. True to form, we're candid and vulnerable about our reality and fears around money and retirement. After tuning in, join the disc...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! This week's episode is chock full of our musings about life and the things on our minds. Tune in to hear what we're thinking about these days - from last minute pivots to what to do for the next 50 years. Support the show Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts about this episode, what you may have le...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Our guest this week, N.G. Avant, is an award-winning indie author who made the leap into fiction after working in municipal politics. Her first series, Capital City, grew out of her experience in politics. She joins us to discuss her new book Nexus, which is the first book in her new series, Witchy Women. This series contin...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Ah, rest - arguably most of us don't get enough of it. Did you know that sleep is only one way to rest? In fact, there are 7! Tune in to find out what the 7 types are and why they're important. Photo by Baptista Ime James on Unsplash Articles referenced for this episode: https://www.apa.org/topics/mental-health/se...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Dear Martin by Nic Stone stands as the final book in our 2025 Banned Books Series. Dear Martin tells the story of a Black teenager trying to work through the effects of being racially profiled by the police. But that's only one part of the story; there's quite a bit packed into this concise, tightly written book....

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! By now, just about everyone has commented on the New York Times OpEd piece "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?". Well, now it's our turn. Tune in to hear our thoughts about the saga. Mentioned in this episode: - "Did Liberal Feminism Ruin the Workplace?" https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/06/opin...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! It's time for another installment of our Banned Books Series! This month we're discussing Almost Perfect, winner of the first Stonewall Award for Children's & Young Adult Literature, written by Brian Katcher. This book follows Logan, a high school senior, as he works through his feelings about his friends...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! In this post-Roe world of fewer states with legalized access to abortion care women are forced to travel to get the healthcare that they need and want. Our guest this week, Rev. Erika Ferguson, founded an organization that helps women make that journey - Tubman Travel Project, a first-of-its-kind travel model for reproducti...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! So much of the popular lore around midlife leads us to believe that it's just a slog to endure. And, honestly, so many women in midlife feel like that's true. But it doesn't have to be this way. Our midlife years can be full of vibrancy, joy, passion and reinvention. How do we make that happen? Our guest Carl...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! When someone is harmed, whether by an individual or a system, the harm is often holistic - meaning the effect of the harm is not contained to one area of that person's life. That said, it makes perfect sense that the justice and healing be holistic as well. But what does that look like? How is that put into practice? I...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Women's rights are being dismantled in so many ways around the world. One place where this dismantling has happened in the extreme is Afghanistan. In this week's episode we talk Cara Cruikshank about how some of the women in Afghanistan are surviving, maintaining their humanity, and maintaining connection.  As a w...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! What is the purpose of education, of schooling, of the school system? How was the American education system developed? What were the reasons behind how and why certain practices and programs were put into place? How were Black and Native children considered in the system? In Original Sins: The (Mis)education of Black and Na...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Jesse Andrews' Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is the next installment of our Banned Books Series. It has been banned and removed from library shelves for sexual explicitness, profanity, and degrading content. Tune in to hear our review of the book. Support the show Be part of the conversation by sharing your thoughts a...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! Resistance movements are happening all over the world. Some are in their infancy, and some have been in existence for decades. Case in point, Iran. Our guest this week, Zolal Habibi, joins us to talk about Iran's women's rights and human rights resistance movements. Her connection to the movement and her work to s...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! What can we learn from myths, archetypes, and goddesses? Specifically, what can we learn from the goddess Inanna? And what does Carl Jung have to do with any of this? This week's guest, Mari Castle, joins us to discuss it all, and then some.  Where to find Mari Castle: Website: www.breathwork9.com Email: Mari.breathwor...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! In this month's installment of our Banned Books Series, we discuss Shaun David Hutchinson's YA novel We Are the Ants. Tune in to hear our thoughts on the book. Have you read this book or any of Hutchinson's other books? What did you think? Let us know - join the discussion! Support the show Be part of the con...

Join the conversation by letting us know what you think about the episode! What effect does an absent father (whether physically or emotionally) have on children, specifically daughters? We explore this topic with this week's guest Dr. Susan Schwartz. Susan E. Schwartz, Ph. D. trained in Zurich, Switzerland as a Jungian analyst and appears on podcasts and presentations at Jungian conferences...