The Girlfriends S6/E3: The Golden Age

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maintenance check. These decks are trained to help spot issues early and give you a run easy. Valveline, instant oil change wasly. On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait for hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle.

I chose option B. I'm Julie Piniero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space

where I can say yes without asking anyone else first.

I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita, trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. I survived nine months in captivity and I've spent my life exploring how other people survived what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files.

Every week I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stocked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts,

or wherever you get your podcasts.

“If you're a bookshelf and you're for you page or equally important to your personality,”

welcome home. Prociciety is a weekly podcast that's part book club, park group chat for anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and pop culture with your favorite writers, booktop creators, and plenty of

overthought opinions. Listen to Prociciety on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville, a battle for the future of America, plays out in one small town. The developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is our town. A podcast about what

“happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment and fights back.”

Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to our town, on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Novel. Hey you, it's Nell here. Before we start, I just want to give you a quick heads up. This episode includes references to depression and suicide. It's one of the more emotional

chapters in this story, but it's also about how injustice becomes a turning point in the stewardess's fight for change. If any of these themes feel difficult, you'll find links to mental health and support organizations in the episode description. Stepping into the lobby of the hotel Commodore is like entering an Italian courtyard. Light gushes through the glass roof, bouncing off the fronds of palm trees,

while water fountains tinkle in the background. It's serene, a haven from the chaos of New York City. But on a spring day in 1963, a group of airlines stewardesses are about to kill this chill. The Commodore hotel was right over Grand Central Station. I had my uniform, the white one, that you were with, the white pat and leather go-go boots if you wanted them. On this particular day, Pat Gibbs strives across the hotel lobby with several other stewardesses,

including Nancy Collins, head of their union. Part of the gang is also a legendary stewardess with a name befitting a town in a spaghetti western, dusty roads. We were all dressing pretty much the same, because we wanted to have consistency and our appearance. This group of stewardesses want to look like they've been copied and pasted. Put your legs in the same direction when you were sitting, put your hands on the table in the same direction. They're almost identical,

down to their wigs. These hairpieces that you used to put on top of your head,

and it was already done like that. We all had those, so we put them on. But this day isn't about revealing the incredible convenience of false hair. It's a publicity stunt. The identical stewardesses lined up on the hotel in front of members of the press, who had been summoned for the occasion.

The stewardesses are trying to look alike in every way, but there's one crucial difference

they're hoping isn't visible. They're ages. They range between early 20s and 36 years old. After getting into position, they turn to the reporters and ask them to guess.

“See who you can identify as 32, which one of these people's age 32 or how many are age 32?”

What is the point of this strange spectacle? Well, flashback to the year before. When 19-year-old Pat Gibbs is signing her contract to become a stewardess for American Airlines. When she puts pen to paper, she's signing up to a Faustian pact. There's a clause. It reads, "A stewardess employed by the company, honor after December 1, 1953, will not be retained in the employee of the company as a stewardess

after the last day of the month during which her 30-second birthday falls."

“By signing her contract, Pat's agreeing that when she turns 32, she will stop working as an”

air hostess. You'd have to accept the same thing if you worked at Northwest or most other U.S. Airlines. Transworld Airlines, though? They'd let you work until 35.

When I signed that document to quit at 32, I was only 19. I could never envision ever being 32 years old.

But why did American Airlines have an upper-aged limit only marginally more forgiving than Leonardo DiCaprio's dating preferences? According to American Airlines, automatic termination upon turning 32 was necessary because basic among the qualifications of stewardessing is an attractive appearance. The official line from American Airlines was, and I quote, "such an appearance ordinarily is found to a higher degree in young women." But in this space of her first year as a stewardess,

“something would happen to Pat that would make her realize that forcing someone to retire at 32?”

Well, it was pretty messed up. Hence, why she is ended up at a press conference, inviting the media to play the age equivalent of the price is right. The light bulb of a camera flashes, while dusty road says, "A Lolita, I'm not. But does that make me an old bag at 32?"

Particularly dusty was always one that could keep people laughing.

Could anybody guess? No one guessed the right people. Really? I don't recall anybody guessing that any one of the people in the press conference was 32, or older. The press are stumped. Dusty reveals her age, 35. The next day, photos of Dusty light up newspapers across the U.S., a writer notes that she's a shapely, 36, 24, 36, 5 foot 8, weighing 125 pounds with natural blonde hair. As far as the reporters were concerned,

someone in their mid-30s, well, she was indistinguishable from someone in their mid-20s, just as attractive in appearance. The press were satisfied, now the women just needed to convince the airline overlords. From the teams at novel and iHeart Podcasts, this is the Girl Friends. Season 6, Flight or Fight. This is your host speaking, Nell McShane Wolfhardt. . Episode 3, The Golden Age.

together, they travel to new places together. Back in the sixties, they even shared hotel rooms.

“And they also have a sort of collective trauma bonding, because, as anyone who's been on an airplane”

nose, passengers hit stewardesses with demands and insults like their human piniatas. When you go into the galley, that's where you could blow off. When you go out there, you go, "Oh, can I get you anything else to drink?" And they go, "Yes, I want more wine and you go back in the galley and you say asshole and two A, once more wine." So we're going to have to open a whole new bottle, just for one damn glass. In her early days of flying,

there's one stewardess in particular, Pat likes to hang out with in the galley.

The first time I met her was when I was assigned as a reserve flight attendant to fly with her,

“and I knew she was the most senior stewardess in my base. And so in the beginning,”

I was, you know, leery, I called her Miss Davis. And she said, "I'm Anne." And she just lit up. I mean, she was like so engaging, so friendly. So she and I hit it off. We became friends, because she was really in to like model airplanes. And so was I. Wow. We would meet for lunch and compare our little male airplanes. The model airplanes are a symbol of how Anne and Pat are different from other

stewardesses. They're a plane geeks. I shared with Anne that I really wanted to be a pilot, and that I became a stewardess because I couldn't be a pilot because they weren't hiring women. She said, "Yes, she knew that because she did learn to fly a little bit from this pilot that she had dated." She told me, "You want to be a pilot, you can be a pilot, Pat, because you

can do anything you decide you want to do." American Airlines wouldn't hire its first female pilot

until 1973. But the fact that Anne had the hoodspud to learn how to fly of it, it's inspiring. And Pat also looks up to Anne because she's a seasoned flight attendant. She's one of the women who began working for American Airlines before 1953 when the age limit was put in place. These women are allowed to continue working past the age of 32. These attendants with more than five-year service have the honor of wearing gold wings

pinned to their lapel instead of the regular silver ones. So Anne commands even more reverence as far as Pat was concerned. But one day their manager Ed Trapp has a different reaction to Anne's badge. I was with Anne. We were standing in the stewardess lounge area and he said, "An, you know what,

“you should wear silver wings to match your silver hair." I thought, "Wait a minute, that is so”

demeaning that he treated her that way. Her hair was not gray, it was silver." And it was very attractive. Pat starts to get accustomed to these ages from marks aimed at Anne. She hears another one when they were working together on a plane. So when we got on the plane, it was in St. Louis, the passengers were boarding and they said, "Oh, what's this, a mother daughter team?" There were lots of comments like that. And Anne just blew it off.

Pat follows Anne's lead. Pretending the comment doesn't bother her. The flight takes off as normal. Then coffee and tea service begins. And one of the passengers starts asking for Pat. They didn't want and to serve them and they want to meet to serve them the young one, the new one. It's awkward, but Pat goes over and says, "How can I help you?" appeasing assholes on board, major part of the job description.

But what happens next is the first for Pat.

that we needed to prepare for gear up landing. So Anne then told me, and I said,

“"A gear up landing?" Oh no. That's when the gear won't come down. That's basically the crux of”

your landing. If the gear is up, that means you're going to be landing on the belly of the plane. Owing to a mechanical error, the plane is going to have to land. Not on its wheels, but with the fuselage right on the tarmac. New phobia just dropped. And because this is an old-style aircraft, it doesn't have inflatable slides. Just canvas ones that are stored in the plane. Deploying them takes a lot of effort and assistance

from passengers. I mean, a very complicated way to evacuate the plane. Two Pat freaking out.

“That means we have to get people to help us. She said, "Yes, you are going to get four men,”

strong men." I said, "How will I know if they're strong?" She said, "By looking at them." I said, "Well, what do I tell them?" She said, "Well, you tell them that the captain's advised us that we have to prepare for an emergency landing."

When I went up to the front to start doing this, the first two guys I talked to said,

"Well, we don't want to talk to you, Sina. Senior. Stewart is up here." Really? Nobody wanted to talk to me, then. They all wanted the experienced stewardess. They wanted the one with this over hair. Right. I wanted her to tell me what to do too. Yeah, sure. I was just as afraid as they were. In the midst of this chaos, and is a beacon of calmness. She briefed every person on the plane, including me, telling me what to do. I said, "I'll do whatever

you tell me too. Just tell me." Everyone is prepared. Four burly dudes poised to bring out the slides. But in a twist of good luck, the gear comes down and it's a smooth landing. Not an emergency after all. They hit the tarmac. And walked down the aisle and everybody was clapping for her because they felt like she single-handedly made the gear stay down. And that's when I started realizing the age thing was a problem.

Everybody wanted this silver hair person on the plane. I saw that. It's the rumblings of an epiphany. Maybe being older and more experienced actually makes you a better stewardess, and maybe these age limits that are just baloney. It was like, "Well, we have to change this because I saw how people reacted to Anne." That was kind of a wake-up call for me.

“Well, a brand of international host this meets you on the airplane. Should we dress like this?”

Hey TV Watcher, circa the year 1966. You've switched on to see this saucy commercial from brand-if international, and now defunct airline. In which a stewardess, initially wearing a fishbowl style helmet designed by Emilio Pucci, begins to slowly peel off her clothes. When she brings your dinner, she'll be dressed this way. First the bubble helmet, then a coat, then a jacket, then her wraparound skirt, each layer revealing a new outfit. From a shift dress to a top and

hair empaths, it's a sort of space-aage Russian doll strip tease. After dinner on those long flights,

she'll slip into something a bit more comfortable. She never gets naked. She doesn't even show

an upper thigh, but it's extremely suggestive. The kind of ad that if it came on during family time,

success. By mid-1966, brand-if reported a 50% increase in revenue in the previous year.

By the way, the ad was called "The Air Strait." You buy brand-if international. It believes that even an airline hostess should look like a girl. There's so much to say about this one, but I don't want to forget the point out that even an airline hostess should look like a girl. This was a very controversial ad because we would get on the plane and I remember many passengers would get on and say to us, "Oh, are you going to do a strip for us?" These ads really promoted such a

“sexualized environment on the plane. That's why everybody thought you had to be”

young and female. They didn't want anyone to think that you could possibly

do an air strip if you were 33. God forbid, only young girls can do air strips. Only girls can do air strips, but can only girls calm down a plain load of people in an aircraft that's about to crash into the tarmac in a literal waking nightmare? When I flew with Anne, I saw that. You can get old and still do this job. And I think the airlines didn't want you to ever know you could be able to do the job if you were old.

After the close call emergency landing, Pat works a flight. This time, without Anne. She walks onto the plane and in the moments before the passengers are ushered to their seats, Pat checks the oxygen tanks. She slides some food trays into their cubby holes, she counts the cans of coax they have to offer. And then some more crew come aboard. The pilots, men. They have gray hair. They're allowed to do their job until they turn 60.

They disappear into the cloistered cockpit, slamming the door behind them. Then, it cracks open,

“and a disembodied voice echoes out through the cabin. Hey girls, where's my coffee?”

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for their steed. So trust the instant oil, change that starts without the lead. Now the lean instant oil change. Change wisely. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and health captive for nine months. I survived, and I spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

“I'm Elizabeth Smart, and these are the survivor files. You just remember,”

this low taunting voice next to my ear saying shut up, don't say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed, and I just started screaming. They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's taken from them.

Their story is about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. On the new podcast, Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait for hours for the next bus, or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose Option B. I'm Julie Bignetto, and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where

I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word solita,

trading the pity for possibility. Every time I tried to be alone, I kept meeting people, and they were like, "You smiled at us, not a lot of people smile around here." It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is, and not the lies you're

version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran, or you're too nervous to book

your first trip, I hope you listen to Solita. On the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you

“get your podcasts. If you're a bookshelf and you're for you page or equally important to your”

personality, welcome home. This is Pro's Society, the weekly podcast that's Partbook Club, part group chat for thought daughters, pop culture obsessives, and anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. I'm Ely Rallow, and every week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet, and the conversations everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. I'm obsessed. So it was us. From best-selling authors

and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. So if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters, and that is of Trojan Horse, whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of

“readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro's Society”

on the iHeart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Bartown is small taters by most standards, right? But to the people who grew up here, it's everything. What happens when a quiet tenancy town becomes the front line in a battle over the future of America? The developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land in the area. The first thing you see when it pops up is pioneers in Appalachia,

but they weren't just planning houses. We need cities on a shining hill that exemplifying and body with Christian way of life. Stop right there. Is that normal? A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment. God need men to rule, great, and decides to fight back. Do not use my hard work to sell your bullsh*t. They're not just opposing what's being planned for here. Our hometown is not a test to. They feel like they're

standing in opposition to an entire administration. Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to our town on the iHeart Radio App, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

An incredible thing happened in the course of reporting this series. One third of all the people

we interviewed had some variation of the name Patricia. Well, I'm Pat Gibbs. Yes, I'm Patricia Ireland. You can call me Pat. Pat suit, Jackie. How did they all become Pat? I don't know. Is the funny is common name? So, now meet Mary Patricia Lafay Inman, Mary Pat, and how to distinguish her from all the other paths. She describes herself as someone with grim determination. But for me, what stands out is Mary Pat's incredible ability to laugh at the most horrifying

things. She is the embodiment of the idea that tragedy plus time equals comedy. And in Mary Pat's career as a stewardess at Northwest Airlines, there were plenty of laughs read tragedies.

But in the start in 1958, it was just exciting. I always wanted to fly. I mean, I always wanted to travel

adventure, meeting new and different people, cultures, and becoming a flight attendant or a stewardess was my avenue. Mary Pat flew out of Seattle all around the world. She loved it. But of course, such a glamorous job came with trade-offs. Yes, we had to sign a form that we would retire where my brother 32. And when you're 20 years old, you think 32, that's long time ago. And young people say, well, why would you ever do that? And as Nora Efron said, that's just the way it was.

The writer Nora Efron also said, I hope you will find some way to break the rules and make a little trouble out there. And I also hope that you will choose to make some of that trouble on

“behalf of women. Do you remember the point at which you started to think, hold on a second? This isn't right.”

Oh, when my roommate had to retire, Alice McCabe, she was beautiful. She had beautiful blue eyes and perfect skin and a wonderful personality. And a good slide at 10 o'clock. I could not believe

Hello. What's wrong with this issue? After turning 32, many

audiences left their airline altogether. While others went to work in the reservations department. Yes, I felt bad. They liked being a flight attendant. And now they're grounded. Yeah. So that was like an awakening for you. Yes. Because of the injustices, she was witnessing like the forced retirement of her roommate. Mary Pat got more and more involved in union work in her 20s. And top of her trouble making agenda, getting the age limits scrapped.

To fully understand this scene of when the stewardess is decided to push back against the age

“caps, you need to zoom out. In the 1960s, there's a new man in the White House. He speaks with a”

Massachusetts troll. Has a jawline so sharp you could cut butter with it. And has a family that looked so perfect. They might as well have been made in a lab. It's President John F. Kennedy. JFK was elected in the midst of huge social movements. Even if he was worried it might isolate him from conservative members of his own party, he couldn't ignore the mood of the country. There were that tireless campaigns by African Americans for civil rights.

100 years of delay affairs. His president Lincoln, Queen of Slaves, yet their hands are not fully free. The second wave feminist movement, I must say I am a strong believer in equal pay for

equal work. And another piece of this revolutionary pie was a crusade against

“age discrimination. All Americans are to be afforded equal rights and equal opportunities.”

So, in March 1963, the youngest president ever elected writes this memorandum, where he explicitly states that older workers should not be discriminated against due to their age. That means they're considered equal to younger candidates buying for the same job. A year later comes executive order 1-1-1-4-1. It prohibits age discrimination by federal contractors in the United States. And you know who's a federal contractor? The airlines. They rent out their planes to the Air Force.

And with all this, the sturdises spy an opportunity. On a cloudy September day in 1965, the sound of grim determination rings out over Washington. It's a tap of three inch heels, as Mary Pat and 16 other sturdises climb the stairs of Capitol Hill.

“They're walking towards something called a congressional subcommittee hearing.”

Basically, a formal meeting for members of the government to hear about issues relevant to Americans.

The politicians can use what they find out in order to create policies and laws. This time, it's a hearing on problems faced by aging workers. The hearing's been called because Congress is deciding whether to create a nationwide law against age discrimination. And because the sturdises had already had a bunch of media exposure campaigning against age discrimination, they're invited to testify.

So we were all in uniform and they were taking our pictures. I thought you weren't allowed to wear your uniform. We weren't. And our picture was smeared all over the newspapers, and we didn't have our hats on. So we were afraid we were going to be fired. On this day, the sturdises are hoping that the lawmakers will agree.

The airlines age caps are wrong. If they do, it could mean the government abliding the airlines to rehire those forced off the planes and allowing the others to work past the age ceiling, changing the working lives of the 13,000 sturdises who are employed in the U.S. at the time and countless more in the future. The team of hatless sturdises passed through enormous marble columns

under the Rayburn House office building and come face to face with the three male members of the U.S. House of Representatives subcommittee on labor. It was a contrast 70-year-old man and anywhere from 25 to 32-year-old women just in their uniforms. One of the sturdises and attendance over the age of 32 is Alice, Mary Pat's roommate.

The hearing begins with Colleen standing in front of the men and explaining that American

airlines, Northwest, Southern and TWA all have fixed age limits. Colleen tells the panel,

“"Should this practice of terminating sturdises because of age be allowed to continue?”

We are speaking of a potential of 10,000 unemployed unskilled women seeking employment in their middle to late 30s. This is not their desire. They prefer to continue to fly to continue in their chosen profession." She says, "The airlines are violating executive order 11141. They are federal contractors." But Colleen says, "This executive order is a toothless tiger. There's no way

to enforce it." So, let's amend the Civil Rights Act to protect against age discrimination, too.

It's a thoughtful proposal, which Colleen delivers with a plumb. Representative James Geohara responds, "We are delighted. We don't usually have so many pretty spectators in the audience." Another among the men on the panel is James H. Sure. A balding military veteran with eyebrows so bushy seems like his hairs are migrating from his head to his brow. What was this lawmaker interested in? Asking the women to parade around.

He even asked one sturdist, "Would you be good enough to have the members of your group stand

so we can visualize the dimensions of the problem?"

Oh, yes. So, we all stood up in our great beauty and they were able to see us all, like a walkway, you know, like a model walkway. How did that make you feel? Well, we hoped we were making progress.

“That's why we were there. Right. If this is what they need to get this done, we'll give it to them.”

Yeah, right. We have to do it right. Yeah. Colleen Bowland gestures to the group, including Alice, and says, "A great many of these girls will be terminated because they will be too old within months." Representative Schuyer is shocked. What the airlines tell us that these pretty young ladies are ready for the slag heap? Colleen quips. Apparently so. Then Representative O'Hara seems to confirm what Colleen is saying. He'd done his research.

He quotes an anonymous airline executive about why they want young women. "It is the sex thing, pure and simple. Put a dog on an airplane and 20 businessmen are mad for a month." The particular breed of dog the airline rep is referring to? That would be a woman in her mid-thirties. One thing I find interesting about this hearing is that the women aren't saying, "Hey, why do we need to be pretty anyway? Work transportation workers?"

Nope. As they strut in front of Congress, the point they're making is, "You can still be pretty even when you're 32." Here we have this beautiful girl, and she's 32 and she's being retired. That was the best example we had. At some point, Representative Schuyer pips up again. He says, "I for one would oppose to my dying breath, the principle that a woman is less attractive, less alluring, and less charming

“after age 29 or 32 or 35." I think my colleagues on this committee will agree.”

Representative James G. O'Hara chimes in and says, "Especially if we want to be re-elected." Oh, he recognized the female vote. Very good at fighting the silver lining in that very shadow of it. But Representative O'Hara does bring a different angle to the discussion. He says, "He flies a lot." It's a big flex in the 1960s.

He's like Sturodises work at breakneck speeds, and clearly are not employed merely to stand or sit around looking beautiful. Representative Hathaway concludes. The services in question can be performed by people who are 40, 50, and perhaps 60 years old. By the end, it seems like this panel of Congressmen understand that the stewardess is. Mr. O'Hara, thanks Colleen. For bringing to our attention what I believe to be the most

obvious case of age discrimination and employment that any of us probably have ever come across. It does not matter if that particular stewardess may be the most intelligent,

on the whole airline when she reaches that birthday she is out.

“Despite the weird moment when the stewardesses had to parade around like show ponies,”

it seems that these men recognize their struggle and might actually help them. How did you feel walking away from that hearing? We hope we did some good. We hope we open some eyes. At that point that's all we had. The women pose for photos on the steps of Congress. You can see the glimmer of optimism in their

million-watt smiles. Maybe these men will take action. Now Mary Pat just needs to wait to see.

Mary Pat returns to work and talks with other stewardesses about the battle against age discrimination and they're all elated, right? Not exactly. Some women told me their mother was adamantly against the feminist movement and they followed suit, they were afraid to disagree with their mother. 32 is too low to be flying. It's a job for a girl between 20 and 25, maybe 27. In this incredible news clip from the 1960s, a few stewardesses are asked if they think the age

“caps should be scrapped. The majority opinion? No. Firstly, I think they should be retired at 32.”

What? Well, about that age, your girls are beginning to get tired of flying and the

their attitude to the people change and sometimes they become crabbier or irritable. So part of the battle was with the airline, part was with the public, part was their peers, which side will the congressmen take? Mary Pat and her rebellious band of stewardesses waited and waited. But nothing ever happened. No laws were amended, nothing to help prevent age discrimination. The stewardesses were trying other angles too,

like pressuring the airlines through bad press. Think of the, can you guess my age? Fabulousity stunt. But the airlines still didn't budge. In 1967, there was the passage of the age discrimination in employment act, but reading it, Mary Pat sees that the law only protects workers between the ages of 40 and 65. Had the age minimum been 30, rather than 40, that single change would have altered the career trajectory of thousands of stewardesses.

As it was for the stewardesses, including Mary Pat's roommate Alice, the law was useless. No one must go into take up the issue. So yes, that's the way it is, but

“well see, you know, no one's going to fight for it. I mean, you must have felt this”

heart and man, man and power. The inactivity of men in power, it can have deadly consequences. Valveline, instant oil change presents wisdom from the road. Summer means wide open spaces in a whole lot of extra miles. Last place you want your engine to give out is halfway to nowhere. Out here, low oil or a weak battery is just an ambush way to happen. That's why every oil change at Valveline instant oil change includes at 18-point maintenance check. These texture trained

to help spot issues early and give you a run, easy, but the need best to totally look change wisely. On the new podcast, Sonita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait for hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering me a ride on his motorcycle. I chose option B. I'm Julie Bignero and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where

I can say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita,

trading the pity for possibility. Every time I try to be alone, I kept meaning people, and they were like, "You smiled at us, not a lot of people smile around here." It's when you're alone that you're most receptive to the world as it is and not the lies you're sold about it. It can be a time where you push your limits, change your mind, or wake up to a new version of yourself. So whether you're a solo travel veteran or you're too nervous to book your

get your podcasts. When I was 14 years old, I was kidnapped and held captive for nine months.

I survived and I spent my life exploring how other people survive what should have destroyed them.

“I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files. You just remember”

this low taunting voice next to my ear saying shut up, come say anything. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable. I knew if he woke up. Without a doubt, he was going to hurt me. I started feeling that there was someone at the end of my bed and I just started screaming.

They are abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. But these aren't stories about what's

taken from them. There's stories about what it takes to make it out alive. Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. And the conversations, everyone can't stop having. I'm going to have to look up this story. From best-selling authors and your favorite book talk creators to the latest pop culture moments, nothing is off the table. So if you can hide some real messages inside compelling characters,

then that is of Trojan Horse. Whether you're looking for literary deep dives, smart pop culture conversations, or a community of readers who love to think a little too much, you're in the right place. Listen to Pro Society on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. See you between the pages. Bartown is small taters by most standards, right? But to the people who grew up here, it's everything.

“What happens when a quiet Tennessee town becomes the front line in a battle over the future of America?”

The developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land in the area.

The first thing you see when it pops up is pioneers in Appalachia.

But they weren't just planning houses. We need cities on a shining hill that exemplify and embody the Christian way of life. Stop right there. Is that normal? A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social experiment. God need bedroom! Great! And decides to fight back. Do not use my hard work to sell your bull and not just opposing what's being planned for here. Our hometown is not a test too.

They feel like they're standing in opposition to an entire administration. Guess you didn't move in on a bunch of dumb hillbillies now, did you? Listen to our town on the I-Hart Radio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you've ever felt weird, like you didn't totally fit into a group, you know how special it is when someone else matches your freak.

“That's what bonded Pat Gibbs and her friend Anne Davis. They were different from the other”

stewardesses. I remembered that there was something wrong with a carburetor, and I said, "Well, I could help you out on that, because I think I can take one apart and show you how to repair it." And she said, "I know how to do that. I changed the oil in the car. I take care of the carburetor. That's why I really identified with her. Because I said, "Oh, I do the same thing. I take her of my car. I changed the oil." You know, she wasn't shocked when I told her I had

a motorcycle." She said, "Oh, that's cool. I'd like to ride one." Anne had a maturity that Pat didn't see that often in her colleagues. Because she was one of the few women who started at the airline before 1953 and were allowed to work past the 32 age ceiling. But apparently fellow stewardesses, people in management, even passengers kept reminding Anne that she was too old to do her job. They kept on her about her age, and she was really good friends

with one of the main instructors at the charm farm, stewardess college, who convinced her to stop flying and take a job at the stewardess college. So she did. One day Anne calls Pat to tell her the news.

candidly about it. And I said, "Well, I don't know why you should because everybody on the planes,

“they want to see you. They want you there." But she definitely felt pressured into it.”

She did not want to stop flying. When Anne arrived at the stewardess college, again, she called Pat. I said, "Oh, what classes are you teaching?" She said, "I'm not teaching. I'm like the superintendent of the supply room." I said, "What?" She said, "Yeah, I'm not teaching. They have me handling the supplies." It was after that. I guess she just kind of got

very depressed and she checked herself in to a mental hospital, I guess.

Anne went to an institution called the All Saints Episcopal Hospital, a characterless building in Fort Worth. We don't know what kind of treatment Anne received back then. But in that era, depression was commonly tackled with a mix of medication and electric shock therapy. The drugs had all kinds of side effects, including in severe cases, a lifelong inability to sit still, making people jerk around and grunt. The shock therapy was also often

administered without muscle relaxants, meaning people could seriously hurt themselves when they thrashed from the electric currents. We don't know what went on for Anne, but shortly after she checked in there, that received another call. I don't remember exactly who called me,

“but that's how I found out. She had killed herself and had died in her hospital room.”

Everybody that knew her was shocked because it was such a great loss. The person calling also wanted to let Pat know that Anne had left her something. Anne had left these model airplanes and a note that they were to be given to me. I felt sad but very happy that she thought enough of me to give me the airplanes. I mean, it was kind of like nobody wanted to talk about the fact that she had killed herself.

And I sure a sec knew at that point why she had because of the way she was feeling just old, worthless, all because flying was her life. In the reporting of this series, we were really hoping to learn more about Anne to color in the outline of her as a person that we learned from Pat. Pat didn't know all that much about Anne's history and she was looking for answers to. The assistant producer on the series, Bella, managed to find

some distant relatives of Anne. Thank you for calling. No one is available to answer your call at this time. We called and called. Please do let me know if you have some time to talk. I'd really love to speak with you about your mother's cousin. Please leave a message and I'll return your call. But no one picked up or returned our calls. It was deflating seeing that Anne Davis's legacy had all but disappeared. Still, we kept searching for any information. And we did find some documents online.

I tell Pat what we discovered about Anne's life. Actually Anne's first name was Margaret,

so she was Margaret Anne Davis. Bella discovered that Anne was working as a stenographer for a medical dental association in El Paso. It seemed to us just from reading these by graphical details that she must have been quite an independent person. She had aged 22. She's working as a stenographer and she goes and changes careers and gets a job as a flight attendant.

“And it lives independently with the roommate. I think that's a good analysis of the situation”

because she was more like a very strong, focused woman that you would want to emulate when you met her in New York personality. You thought, "I want to be like her." She's confident. She's self-assured. She can do anything. I was shocked when I found out that she had killed herself

And when you feel worthless and alone, anybody be depressed. Pat, I know that you didn't know

“exactly how old Anne was when the two of you worked together. But when we found her that's”

a certificate, we discovered that she was only 47 when she passed away. 47, that's really young. Well, kind of distraught that people don't value older individuals in our society. And it is shocking to me because she had a lot more to give. And the fact that she was only 47, I look back and think, "G, 47, that's really young." As time went on after Anne's death, Pat left the sad stage and fully embraced a new emotion,

anger. And she set herself a goal to rally the other surdises to make the airlines

scrap the age limits for good. I saw it as something that we absolutely had a responsibility to do, as women.

“The Girl Friends Flight or Fight is produced by novel for iHeart Podcasts. For more from novel,”

visit novel.audio. This podcast is hosted by me, now McShane Wolfhardt. The senior producer and writer is Sasuke Kale. Our editor is Joe Meek. The assistant producer is Bella Saltyel, production management from Shari Huston and Joe Savage, fact-checking by Fendell Fulton, sound design mixing and scoring by Daniel Kempson, original music by Shulto. The Girl Friends theme was composed by Nicholas Alexander, with vocals by Gina Walters,

music supervision from Nicholas Alexander and Sasuke Kale. The series our work was designed by Christina Lien Cool. novel's director of development is Selena Mehta. Willard Foxton is our creative director of development. Max O'Brien and Craig Stracken are executive producers for novel. Katrina Norvel and Nikki E. Torre are the executive producers for iHeart Podcasts and the marketing lead is Allison Cantor, special thanks to Carrie Lieberman and Will Pearson.

On the new podcast Solita, we share the messy reality of traveling alone as a woman. I can wait for hours for the next bus or this random dude is offering the right on his motorcycle. I choose option B. I'm Julie Biniro and I travel by myself because it's a rare space where I can

say yes without asking anyone else first. I'm on a mission to reclaim the word Solita,

trading the pity for possibility. Listen to Solita on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or ever get your podcasts. I survived nine months in captivity and I've spent my life exploring how other people survived what should have destroyed them. I'm Elizabeth Smart and these are the survivor files. Every week, I'm with survivors who live through the unthinkable, abducted, stalked, controlled, and nearly silenced. These are stories about what it takes to make it out alive.

Listen to the survivor files with Elizabeth Smart on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. If you're a bookshelf and you're for you page or equally

“important to your personality, welcome home. Pro Society is a weekly podcast that's part book club,”

part group chat for anyone who thinks pride and prejudice and love island deserve the same level of discourse. Each week, we're connecting the dots between books, the internet and pop culture, with your favorite writers, booktops creators and plenty of overthought opinions. Listen to Pro Society on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. Our hometown is not a test tube. 90 miles northeast of Nashville,

a battle for the future of America plays out in one small town. The developers with right wing ties have purchased hundreds of acres of land. We need cities on a shining hill. This is our town. A podcast about what happens when a small town becomes the site of a social

Listen to our town on the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.

“Hi, I'm Nalmick Shane Wolfhart, host of The Girl Friends, flight or fight.”

You can access seasons 1 through 5 of The Girl Friends, and each episode of The Girl Friends,

flight or fight 100% ad-free and one week early through the iHeart True Crime Plus subscription,

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Plus, and subscribe. This is an iHeart Podcast, guaranteed human.