Why the f*** didn't we sit on Mrs Claus's lap and Wikipedia needs to update her resume

I'm doing a season 2! The Dear 7th Grade series is going to explore my 7th grade journals. A look back at adolescence in the Midwest in the 90s during the time of My Two Dad's, The Real World, and My So Called Life

Tris Beezley grew up in Indiana. She's a drummer, vocalist, and artist and appeared on season 2 of VH1's "Rock N Roll Fantasy Camp" We talk about her experience coming out as transgender in her tiny hometown of Wilmot and how accepting her family was while the community was not. If you wish to contact Tris email me at jessica@flowfeelfilms.com. If you need immediate support contact the Trevor Project 1-866-489-7386 available to talk 24/7/365.

This week I talked to colleague Haley Padilla about her experience growing up in Kansas. We talk about the importance of a non CIS male space and how she found her way through Topeka to Chicago. Haley is a filmmaker and graphic designer. She loves creating and staring at a computer screen for hours. Whether it's designing a logo or making a call sheet, she's down. She's often likened to April Ludgate of Parks and Recreation.

In this episode my childhood friend Missy and I discuss so many topics about growing up in the Midwest. We cover our thoughts on being popular versus different and the phenomenon of Bloody Mary that we explored while other girls were chasing boys on the playground. Missy is a librarian in St Joseph county Indiana and is an avid animal lover.

Maryann grew up in Chicago but ended up in Michigan City IN. She was the cool mom, but far from traditional. Learn about my grandmother in this week's episode! Lots of throwbacks and even some tears 🥰

Join us this week as Laura Eyer and I talk self care and healing in the Midwest and beyond. Laura has worked in natural health and wellness for over twenty years. She grew up in Indiana where she began her first business helping people with yoga and massage therapy. After that, Laura and her family moved to South Dakota where she studied wellness and stress management.  Now Laura lives in Luxembourg city with her husband and two children. She teaches group yoga classes and private yoga therapy while enjoying life in Europe and hanging out with her children while they grow up.  You can find Laura at yogawithlaura.lu and yogaloft.lu **Note: adjust your volume about an hour in! Sorry for the technical glitch! Mercury is in retrograde**

Ashley Dowden joins us for a frank conversation from her basement where she eats cookies next to her cats litter box while she hides from her kids. We talk about our thoughts about growing up 6 years apart in the Midwest, being moms who fail, and of course we prank phone call an old friend.

Jill Stuck, owner of Storytown Improv in Chicago, talks to Jessica about How to be a Midwestern Woman. We talk about whether you can trust nice people, if it's ok if no one likes you, and the love language of pie. Performer, writer, and teacher Jill Olson Stuck is the founder and producer of Storytown Improv.  She is a graduate of the improvOlympic and Second City Conservatory programs, and has performed with iO, Second City’s Skybox Theater, Moving Dock Theater Company, Redtwist Theatre, and WNEP with Seven Deadly Plays and 365 Sketches.  She studied playwriting at The Chicago Dramatists, and her writing credits include Mayfly: A Collection of Short Plays, Left Unnamed (The 5th Annual Women’s Performance Art Festival with Stockyards Theatre Project), and Eleanor in American Machine and Other Works. Jill teaches with Dream Big Performing Arts Workshop, and The Laughing Academy, and has served as Program Coordinator for This Is ME and Child Whisperer for The Chicago Sketch Comedy Festival. She holds a BA in Theater Arts from Towson University, where she graduated Cum Laude.

This first episode introduces your host Jessica Hardy Kado and is an introduction to How to Be a Midwestern Woman.