We’re not posting an interview this week, so we can give ourselves a little break. Instead, we thought we’d post some thoughts on what we’ve learned this year from the show.
Thanks for listening, and Happy Holidays!
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about being transgender. Last week took a first look at the issue of traditional gender roles, and this week we expand the exploration of gender to look at identity.
Our guests today, Jamie, Doe, and Bree are all transgender. Jamie is a transgender man, Bree is a transgender woman, and Doe is a non binary gender fluid person. These three are also polyamorous, but that’s not the focus of this episode. If you’d like to hear about their romantic relationship, we’ll be posting that portion of the interview for Patreon subscribers, and you can find it on our patreon page, at patreon.com/together.
These three are so on the cutting edge of transparency and self awareness that it’s exhilarating just being around them. I think you’re going to love this one. Enjoy the show.
Also, please be sure to check out our sponsors for today’s episode: Little Bird, the independent diamond & engagement ring experts. The best way to buy an engagement ring is with a bird's eye view. You can find them at littlebirdtoldyou.com
Today's episode is our first interview about gender roles.
Of course this goes for women as well. Gender is without question one of the most unexamined and yet prevalent boxes that we all stuff ourselves into. Some might say that gender itself is biologically dictated, and that may be true or it may not, but either way, the roles and the behaviors that we expect to associate with our genders are subjective.
Our guests this week, Maia and Travis, allow us to take a gentle first look at the issue of gender. These two have a marriage that follows a fairly nontraditional structure, but it’s nothing that you haven't heard of before. What's instructive about these two is the ease with which they each take on their nontraditional roles in the family. More importantly it’s the genuine happiness and satisfaction that they take from living life the way they want that we can all learn something from.
If you’d like to learn more about Maia and Travis, you can check out their website at:
http://bitteshop.com/, their online children’s store focusing on sustainability and small batch artisinal brands. Maia’s very well known Pinterest profile can be found at: https://www.pinterest.com/maia_mcdonald/
And don’t forget to check our sponsor for today’s episode: Little Bird, the independent diamond & engagement ring experts. The best way to buy an engagement ring is with a bird's eye view. You can find them at littlebirdtoldyou.com
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today's episode is about keeping marriage simple. Chris and Jen, our guests today, met in an unusual way, but their marriage itself follows a structure that many would consider to be the traditional American marriage (whatever that actually means). But that does not mean that their relationship goes unexamined. These two run a website that helps people recover from break ups. And that means they’ve given a lot of thought to what causes relationships to fail, and inversely, what causes them to succeed.
What works for these two is keeping things simple. Sometimes we just create too much drama for ourselves. There’s a lot of wisdom in knowing when to let that go.
If you’d like to learn more about Chris and Jen, you can find their website at https://www.exboyfriendrecovery.com/. I’ll put a link to their site in our show notes.
And don’t forget to check our sponsor for today’s episode: Little Bird, the independent diamond & engagement ring experts. The best way to buy an engagement ring is with a bird's eye view. You can find them at littlebirdtoldyou.com
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about sex in a Christian marriage. You may recall that several episodes back, my guests shared that they had managed to reignite the passion in their marriage following childbirth by using a technique that they had learned on podcast called One Extraordinary Marriage. Well, I reached out to the hosts of that podcast, Tony and Alisa DiLorenzo, because I wanted to get the information from the source. We don’t agree on everything that we discuss in this episode, but we had a great time talking about it, and these two have some very useful insights into how to come to terms with sexuality within the Christian context. And since we don’t have very many Christians on this show talking about their religion, I’m very excited about this one.
You can learn more abuot Tony and Alisa at their website: https://oneextraordinarymarriage.com/
Be sure to check out our sponsors for today’s episode: Little Bird, the independent diamond & engagement ring experts. The best way to buy an engagement ring is with a bird's eye view. You can find them at littlebirdtoldyou.com
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today's episode is our Thanksgiving episode, and it’s about managing family dynamics around sexuality. Sammy and Sandeep are a gay couple, and both of them initially faced immense pressure from their families to deny their sexuality. But each of these two in their own ways stood for both truth and for family. What happened is astounding. These two have a lot to teach us about unconditional love. I hope you can take a little bit of this with you home to your family this holiday season.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Be sure to check out our sponsors for today’s episode: Knock Knock, makers of the Fill In The Love collection of fill-in-the-blank journals, postcards, and letters that you can use to express your love to anyone. You can find their website at knockknockstuff.com. Their collection is really cool. I think you’ll dig it.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about compromise. Is it necessary? This episode is part two of an interview with our guests from last week, Robert and Morgan. In part one we discussed orgasmic meditation, and Robert and Morgan’s nonmonogamous relationship structure. Today, we’re exploring their idea that compromise is unnecessary in a relationship, and we’ll tackle whether that’s a substantive or semantic question. This is a good talk, and I think you’ll enjoy it. That said, you might want to go back and listen to part one to get some context.
As I mentioned in the last episode, Robert also wrote an article for us a while back called “She Gave Me Permission To Sleep Around,” which tells another aspect of their story. You can find it here: http://together.guide/gave-permission-sleep-around/.
If you’d like to learn more about Robert, you can find his business consulting and personal coaching website at: http://kandellconsulting.com/.
And Be sure to check out our sponsors for today’s episode: Knock Knock, makers of the Fill In The Love collection of fill-in-the-blank journals, postcards, and letters that you can use to express your love to anyone. You can find their website at knockknockstuff.com. Their collection is really cool. I think you’ll dig it.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
If you’d like to learn more about Robert, you can find his business consulting and personal coaching website at: http://kandellconsulting.com/.
Today's episode is about keeping the passion alive after childbirth. Listeners have been asking me lately to inquire with my guests about what happens to sexual intimacy after childbirth. Our couple today, Jamie and Jessica Rhodes, share how they met young, fell in love and got married early, and jumped into parenthood quite quickly. They have a lot to say about maintaining the passion.
We're going to be rejiggering are patreon page to make it more of a community in the next couple of weeks. I mention that because our conversation about sex and intimacy with Jamie and Jessica continues after we cut it for this episode. If you'd like to hear the rest of this interview, let me know and I'll post it for the patreon community.
If you’d like to learn more about Jamie and Jessica, check out their podcast. It’s called The Parenting Rhodes, and you can find it on iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/parenting-rhodes-jess-jamie/id1131033556?mt=2
And Be sure to check out our sponsors for today’s episode: Knock Knock, makers of the Fill In The Love collection of fill-in-the-blank journals, postcards, and letters that you can use to express your love to anyone. You can find their website at knockknockstuff.com. Their collection is really cool. I think you’ll dig it.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
We’re experimenting with releasing only one episode per week and that schedule starts next week on Monday, so don’t be surprised!
Today’s episode is a recap with our good friend Dr. Michelle Wang. Dr. Wang works with couples in San Francisco in some very interesting and fun ways: you can learn all about her on her website: http://www.drmichellewang.com/.
Let us know what you think of these recaps and of our new schedule. We love hearing from you. You can always email me at host@together.guide.
If you like what we’re up to here at Together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about the thorny issue of how we know when a relationship is right and how we know when it’s wrong. As you may know from listening to the show, I don’t often interview experts, but today’s guest–Jodi Stein–is so genuine, and she has so much hard won insight into these questions, that I just couldn’t resist posting her interview. I think you’re going to enjoy this one.
If you’d like to learn more about Jodie, you can find her website at: www.jodiestein.com.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
We’re trying something new this month: recap episodes with our good friend Dr. Michelle Wang. Now that we’ve passed 70 episodes, we wanted to go back and review some of our earlier shows, and this seems like a fun way to do it.
Dr. Wang works with couples in San Francisco in some very interesting and fun ways: you can learn all about her on her website: http://www.drmichellewang.com/.
Let us know what you think of these recaps. We love hearing from you. You can always email me at host@together.guide.
If you like what we’re up to here at Together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is part 2 of an interview with Samantha and Dylan. Part one was mostly the lovely story of how they met. This episode focuses more on how they manage criticism, conflict, and the differing cultural views of their friends and family. If you haven’t heard part1, you might want to go back and listen for context, but this discussion does stand on it’s own.
If you’d like to learn more about Samantha, you can find her website at www.samstrand.com, where you can see her recent work, and the collaboration she references in the show.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about culture shock.
We don’t like to face our prejudice. It’s a concept that carries uncomfortable implications about our moral compass, and yet we all have preconceptions that we hold with us. The art, in some sense, is to be aware of our preconceptions, and not allow them to dominate experience.
Our guests today come from two distinct american cultures: Dylan is a Marine Sergeant from a small town in PA, and Samantha is a gallery artist who comes from Berkeley, CA. These two fell in love and they got married, but as you can imagine, love was the easy part. Managing their preconceptions, and merging their cultures was the real work.
If you’d like to learn more about Samantha, you can find her website at www.samstrand.com, where you can see her recent work, and the collaboration she references in the show.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
We’re trying something new this month: recap episodes with our good friend Dr. Michelle Wang. Now that we’ve passed 70 episodes, we wanted to go back and review some of our earlier shows, and this seems like a fun way to do it.
Dr. Wang works with couples in San Francisco in some very interesting and fun ways: you can learn all about her on her website: http://www.drmichellewang.com/.
Let us know what you think of these recaps. We love hearing from you. You can always email me at host@together.guide.
If you like what we’re up to here at Together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about a decision that we all seem to face, but about which there is no perfect answer. Should we break up, or should we work through the challenges? There can be no perfect answer because we can never know what else might have been. The best we can do with that puzzle is finally just to choose, and then do our best to empower our choice.
But that is so much easier said than done, and particularly so when we’re looking in from the outside. Because choosing whether or not to leave someone you love is not only impossibly difficult, the answer is also bound to leave us with more questions.
That’s the issue that our guests today are exploring. Rachel and Tom are in love, and yet as they both say, that’s not enough. Earlier this year, Rachel wrote a story about her conflicts with their love affair that gained quite a lot of attention. It’s called Sleeping With A Gentrifier, and you can find it here: https://thebolditalic.com/sleeping-with-a-gentrifier-cba85a9ce7a3#.i4i57rdjn. In that story she ultimately chooses love in the face of her internal conflict. But fast forwarding to the recording of our interview, they’re back the crossroads.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about the deeply important drive to claim our personal independence.
Our very charming guests, Jeanne and George Chan - have been together for a long time, and to the outside world, their love affair probably seems storybook perfect. This is in part because Jeanne runs an extremely well known lifestyle blog called Shop Sweet Things, that often features necessarily gorgeous images of her and their family. Jeanne also founded Harlow and Grey, a beautifully curated modern party goods store.
The thing about running brands like these, is that by design, the imagery portrays the happiest and most perfectly manicured sides of life. But as we all know, there is no such thing as a challenge-free love affair. And that fact came to a head with these two in a way that profoundly changed their relationship. It’s such a lovely and in some ways a counterintuitive story that we decided to pair it this week with an interview on Wednesday about a different couple who are currently in the process of deciding whether to stay together or break up. The two interviews capture distinct phases of a process that we’ve all faced, and remains a mystery to most of us.
If you’d like to learn more about Jeanne, check out her blog: http://shopsweetthings.com/, and her modern party goods outlet: https://harlowandgrey.com/.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about political differences.
We’ve all had political differences with the one’s we love. This is one reason Thanksgiving visits can be such a notorious challenge: dealing with your crazy uncle and his views on the election is an eternal struggle. But what happens when those differences are right under your roof with your life partner? That’s the question we explore today. Erica and Theo found that they were on opposite sides of a political divide in this year’s Democratic primary. They learned a lot about one another by exploring those differences, and we get to hear the whole story.
This is part two of our interview with Erica and Theo. In part one we heard about how their love affair began on the rebound. If you haven’t heard that episode, you might want to go back and listen for context, but this conversation does stand on it’s own.
If you like what we’re up to here at Together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Welcome to Episode 69!
Today’s episode is about the rebound.
We’ve all heard the standard advice: getting together on the rebound is a recipe for disaster. But what if it can actually a good idea? And what is a rebound, anyway?
Our couple today answers these questions and more as they tell their story: The Double Rebound Love Affair. If you’re going to have a rebound, this is the way to make it work.
In other news, we’re trying something new this month - we’re switching during October to a Monday, Wednesday, Friday format. On Fridays we’ll be posting recap episodes with a special guest, Dr. Michelle Wang. In these episodes, Dr. Wang, Producer Char, and I will all chat about an episode from our archives, and maybe even answer listener mail. Let us know what you think of our experiment - we always love hearing back from you. You can email me at host@together.guide, so don’t be shy!
If you like what we’re up to here at Together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is part 2 of an interview about race, gender, and privilege. Today we’ll also learn the reaction that Marvin and Kamala faced when they decided to hyphenate their last names.
If you haven’t listened to Tuesday’s episode, you should definitely do that, as our conversation on privilege will make a lot more sense if you do.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
We're back from our two week break. Thank you for hanging in there with us!
This week’s episodes are about race, gender, body image, privilege, and the social pressures of choosing a name. I think you'll really enjoy this one. Let us know what you think!
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
We’re posting an episode today that serves as something of a contrast to our show on Tuesday. Today’s couple couldn’t be more different from Tuesday’s in many respects, but they’re equally successful as a couple. By that I mean they’re in love, they’re committed, they’re making their relationship work, and they’re living exactly the marriage that they want to live.
Rather than give any more away, I’ll let them tell the story.
You can learn more about Candice on her blog: http://www.theorgasmiclife.com/blog/
You can learn about Adam and his coaching practice at: http://www.adamgordoncoaching.com/
And here is a link to the wedding vows that Candice and Adam mentioned on the show: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbSGUkvIopk
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about a small town catholic courtship in the early 1960’s. Living in our respective cultural bubbles, as we all do, we don’t often consider how relationships are lived by those right next door to us. There’s nothing shocking about this interview–some in fact, might consider the stories we’re about to hear to be perfectly normal. Simplistic, even. But for me, at least, this interview serves as a look at a kind of relationship structure that I just don’t have very much experience with. And that may seem ironic to you, because this is an interview with my very close Aunt and Uncle, Barb and Dave. But while we are family, they’ve lived a life that is utterly different from my own, and so I find their story fascinating. Enjoy the show!
In other news, we’re launching a radio show based on the podcast, and we’re looking for questions from listeners about relationships. If you have a question or you’d like some advice about your relationship, give us a call and leave a message at (415) 483-5112.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about the personal charm guru who botched his marriage proposal. It’s a fun story, and one I’ve been trying to record for a while, so I’m very excited to be releasing today’s interview with Jordan Harbinger and Jen Liao.
If you’d like to learn more about Jordan, you can find his podcast, “The Art Of Charm” on iTunes, and his website is www.theartofcharm.com.
In other news, we’re launching a radio show based on the podcast, and we’re looking for questions from listeners about relationships. If you have a question or you’d like some advice about your relationship, give us a call and leave a message at (415) 483-5112.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!
Today’s episode is about recovering from infidelity.
This is part 2 of an interview with Kristen and Kourosh about the infidelities that almost took their marriage under. The story get’s really good in this episode, as we learn how these two saved their marriage by doing the one thing that everyone says never to do.
If you’d like to learn more about Kristen, you can find her extremely popular fashion and lifestyle blog at http://www.stylenik.com/.
In other news, we’re launching a radio show based on the podcast, and we’re looking for questions from listeners about relationships. If you have a question or you’d like some advice about your relationship, give us a call and leave a message at (415) 483-5112.
If you like what we’re up to here at together, please consider supporting our crowdfunding campaign at patreon.com/together - we’re on a mission to crush shame, and we’re just getting off the ground, so every penny helps. Thank you!