Best Of: Allison Russell / The Evolution Of Female Bodies

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 7 October 2023

⏱️ 53 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Musician Allison Russell talks and sings about the physical and sexual abuse she endured from her racist adoptive father — and about how she learned she was worthy of being loved. Her new album is The Returner.

David Bianculli reviews Wes Anderson's adaptations of Roald Dahl short stories, now on Netflix.

Also, Cat Bohannon talks about her new book Eve, which explores the development of the female body-- from its ability to produce milk to why women menstruate — and why women's bodies for so long have been left out of biological and medical research.

Transcript

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0:00.0	I'm Peter Sagole, NPR is very serious, mostly.
0:03.8	It treats newsmakers with all due respect, almost all the time.
0:07.3	It brings you the most important information about the issues that really matter, usually,
0:11.6	and it never asks famous people about things they don't know anything about, except once
0:15.7	in a while.
0:16.7	Join us for the great exception.
0:18.6	Listen to Weight-Way Don't Tell Me, the news quiz from NPR.
0:27.6	Today, Alison Russell, a powerful singer who has written dramatic songs with catchy melodies
0:38.3	about being abused by her white racist adoptive father, her biological father is black.
0:44.6	She's sometimes escaped by sleeping in a park or cemetery.
0:48.4	She'll sing in our studio and will play tracks from her new album, The Returner, which
0:52.4	has songs about reclaiming her body.
0:55.2	Also, Kath Bohanen will talk about her new book Eve, which explores the development of
1:00.0	the female body, from its ability to produce milk to why women menstruate, and why women's
1:05.8	bodies for so long have been left out of biological and medical research.
1:11.0	And David Biancouli will review West Anderson's adaptations of role-doll short stories, all
1:16.7	four are now streaming on Netflix.
1:20.8	That's coming up on Fresh Air Weekend.
1:24.2	In Argentina won the World Cup, it meant so much to so many people, but there's one person
1:29.3	in particular for whom it meant everything.
1:32.4	Soccer legend Leonel Messi.
1:34.4	In the last cup, a bilingual podcast series, I explore why.
	...

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