Well, Here We Are

It’s December which means it’s time for our annual made for TV Christmas movie party. This year we’re exploring the significance of movies where women return to their small hometown for the holidays. Everyone knows Christmas can’t be celebrated in the big city!  The movies we watched this year are:  The Christmas Contract (2018) Poinsettias for Christmas (2018) Hope at Christmas (2018) Christmas P...

In this spookiest of seasons, we're here to discuss real life frights and what draws us to (or repels us away from) horror. Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say hello on our socials (but be nice): Instagram Check out additional resources on our website . Over These Walls by Hope and Social is licensed under a Attribution...

The theme of today, and every day!, is friendship. In this episode Hannah and Suzanne air some grievances and celebrate some accomplishments. Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say hello on our socials (but be nice): Instagram Check out additional resources on our website . Over These Walls by Hope and Social is licensed under...

In this Feminist Book Club episode, we read Jessica Valenti's 2024 book Abortion: Our Bodies, Their Lies, and the Truths We Use to Win. Want to learn more about Jessica Valenti? Follow her substack ! Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say hello on our socials (but be nice): Instagram Check out additional resources on our w...

In 2025, Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan reprised their roles from  When Harry Met Sally for a Superbowl commercial  and  co-presented at the Academy Awards, also referencing their movie together. What makes the legacy of this almost 36-year old film endure and how do we look at that legacy differently in what some scholars refer to as a "post-romantic" age?  Suzanne monologues, Hannah encour...

This year's According to Hallmark episode features 8-different cinematic masterpieces, all which incorporate magic and/or fantasy elements. We're talking snow globes. We're talking time travel. We're talking not one but TWO ice sculptures come to life. Is Christmas actually the most magical time of the year? And what does magic do for the women protagonists in these films? Movi...

It's spooky season! And we're reviewing the ghoulish tale of a woman with a decorative taste that doesn't align with the aesthetic of her vacation home. How terrrrrrrifying! If you'd like to donate towards a food and supply distribution center in Western North Carolina you can do so here: https://donate.mannafoodbank.org/  To find other ways to help or just learn what's go...

Congratulations, Lord Elgin! You've won the prize of being a historical figure that Hannah would fight if she could. Listen to get on our scrappy side and learn how why most excuses institutions make for NOT repatriating artifacts (looking at you British Museum) are a whole bunch of bunk. Related episodes you may enjoy include Hansplaining: A Beginner's Guide to Provenance and Confrontin...

Warning! Consider yourself warned! Suzanne's audio sounds like she is talking through a tin can in a separate room maybe underwater on a submarine. But Hannah's dulcet tones come through loud and clear. Listen for Hannah! Tolerate Suzanne! (Suzanne is writing this just to be clear.) Gasp! What is this? Another episode? Hannah and Suzanne introduce a new series to the show that is guarant...

Hannah's in Seattle! And Suzanne's never seen the 2005 Pride and Prejudice . So...let's drink sparkling rosé and watch it I guess? And if this episode sounds like two women hunched around one microphone...that's because that's what we did.  Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say hello on our socials (bu...

On this episode of the  Well Here We Are  Feminist Book Club, Hannah and Suzanne discuss Roxane Gay's book of essays  Bad Feminist. Are Hannah and Suzanne bad feminists? Bad at being feminists? Or bad at being bad feminists?  Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say hello on our socials (but be nice): Instagram Check out add...

Merry Christmas, happy holidays, and come roast these small town boys with us! Hannah and Suzanne watched 11-Hallmark or Hallmark-adjacent films that featured small town boys. Are all these men condescending beige blobs whose primary goal appears to be antagonizing the women they love? Or can love truly be found in the small town?  Make sure to listen to the end (or just skip there, we're not...

Experts? Not quite. But two ladies that have done some solo traveling and have thoughts? Yes we are and yes we do.  It's cold, wet, and rainy where Hannah and Suzanne live, so they take 30 minutes to reminisce about time spent solo traveling in warmer times.  Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say hello on our socials (but...

Please note: This podcast episode was originally recorded in July. And then the audio files proceeded to live on one of the hosts computers for several weeks, unperturbed.  A long long time ago, Suzanne asked Hannah what she thought was a rhetorical question: Had Michelangelo ever seen a human woman? The joy of having a friend who is an expert in art history means that the rhetorical is made factu...

Two years ago, Hannah and Suzanne familiarized themselves with the central arguments of The 1619 Project and encouraged our listeners to do the same. In this episode, they continue that project and discuss the legacy of The 1619 Project by briefly discussing the Hulu series of the same name and then sharing two case studies connected to places they call home.  Want to give us some dollars? We&apos...

By George, they finally did it! Today Hannah & Suzanne conclude their first go of their Most Austentatious series by getting into Austen's first published work, Sense and Sensibility .  They talk theme. They talk motif. They talk about Colonel Brandon being *gasp* 35-year old man! Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say...

Friend of the pod Lucy (a woman so iconic she only needs one name) joins the pod to discuss food insecurity in the US. Hannah and Suzanne ask some questions, make some mistakes, and then learn from Lucy about what it means to ensure people have food today, tomorrow, and for a lifetime. Some of the resources we mention in today's episode: Feeding America - search for food banks and other resou...

2022 was a dumb, dumb, year and there are certain things that need to stay in that year where they belong.  Things get real at one point and Suzanne cries. Hannah provides some stellar metaphors.  Want to give us some dollars? We'll allow it . Link goes to a donation platform on our website. Come say hello on our socials (but be nice): Instagram Check out additional resources on our website ....

In this very special  According to Hallmark  episode, we welcome friend and queer media expert Sarah Schab to the pod. Together, the  Well Here We Are  team watched 10 made for TV or streaming Christmas films that featured a queer couple.  How do these films engage with queer identity and do any of them pass our newly established Schab Test?  Movies Watched: The Christmas House (2020, Hallmark) Ch...

In recent weeks, several public figures including our 45th president, Kanye West, and NBA player Kyrie Irving, have made outright antisemitic statements or recommended antisemitic content in very public forums. It has sparked a national conversation about the present state of antisemitism in the United States. And! like most topics, fully understanding the contemporary issue requires that we step...

"Problem with no name," you call it Betty? We know its name, and it's the patriarchy.  The long awaited (and long delayed) first episode of our Feminist Book Club series. Familiarity with the book is NOT required to glean all the Betty goodness (and do some good 'ol balanced critiquing of historical figures).  Come tell us you missed us via our socials! Twitter | Instagram Over...

Content note: There are a few audio clips from movies throughout the film. Some contain swears.  In Suzanne's neverending quest to analyze the rom-com to within an inch of its life, she has stumbled upon a subgenre of contemporary rom-coms she has dubbed the Sad-Millennial Rom-Com. She introduces Hannah to this subgenre (and really bums everyone out in the process) and offers her solution as...

Warning! One of the hosts was drinking an iced beverage and you can occassionally hear the clink of ice cubes. Just imagine you are listening to this pool side and drinking your own cold beverage.  In another much anticipated Most Austentatious/Stream or Skip? crossover event, Hannah & Suzanne turn their attention to Netflix's new adaptation of "Persuasion" and ... it's bad...

Warning! We recorded this podcast over the course of three different days (lol, we know) so our audio quality is ALL OVER THE PLACE but we find our way in the end.  It's the crossover event that all of you have waited for! "Stream or Skip?" meets "Most Austentatious" as we provide our review of "Fire Island," a new-ish Hulu film written by and starring Joel Kim B...

Look. Fanny Price is rarely mentioned in the top-5 Austen heroines (a feat, seeing as Jane Austen only completed 6 novels) but in this ep we try to give her her due. Witness Hannah & Suzanne as they work hard not to scream "EDMUND BERTRAM CAN GET BENT" every 2-5 minutes.   Check out the other books we've covered in the "Most Austentatious" series: Pride and Prejudice |...