Dear Abbie - The Non-Advice Podcast

I would like this podcast to start a conversation with women of all ages, convictions and styles of life – wherever situated on the gamut of experience. In principle, there is no bar to men joining in, since how one defines women has a lot to do with what it means to be a man. But it is women I invite to pull up a chair at this virtual café table and put their questions and views into the conversation. Abigail L. Rosenthal is Professor Emerita of Philosophy, Brooklyn College of The City University of New York. She is the author of A Good Look at Evil, a Pulitzer Prize nominee, now appearing in an expanded second edition and as audiobooks. Dr. Rosenthal writes a weekly column for “Dear Abbie: The Non-Advice Column,” (www.dearabbie-nonadvice.com) where she explores the situation of women. She thinks women’s lives are highly interesting. She’s the editor of The Consolations of Philosophy: Hobbes’s Secret; Spinoza’s Way by her father, Henry M. Rosenthal. She’s written numerous articles that can be accessed at Academia.edu .

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Dear Abbie - The Non-Advice Podcast

Tragedy

October 13, 2021 • Abigail L. Rosenthal • Season 1 • Episode 3

0:00 | 4:06

About tragedy: I think of a Lakota woman I knew. . .

What kind of hand have we been dealt as women today and how can we best play it? It's a large question that's always lurking in the background and since the answers aren't obvious, I find women's lives to immediately be suspenseful and interesting, don't you?

Wait a minute? Who am I? I am Abigail L. Rosenthal, Professor of Philosophy emerita of the Brooklyn College of the City University of New York and while my advice has always been not to take my advice, I do write a weekly blog I call Dear-Abbie the Non-Advice Column.

And so, dear listener, I invite you to pull up a chair at this virtual cafe table no matter your gender, age, convictions, or style of life.

About tragedy: I think of a Lakota woman I knew. She was descended from a nineteenth-century chief whose name is well known. When she stood or walked, she was straight as a birch tree — the kind of straight you cannot learn from balancing books on your head. It was my impression that the inner woman was like that too.

She was not afraid of men or situations and she was arresting to look at but – despite a fair number of applicants — she found no partner in life. The man who would have complemented such a woman just wasn’t there. Bury my heart at Wounded Knee. In his place were all the demoralized, defeated and brutal candidates for her affections, not one of them what he should have been. She did not pity herself. But she did not look elsewhere than the X where history had planted her. Her life marks that spot. Her story is tragic.

Thanks so much dear listener, if this added value to your life, I'd be happy if you subscribed. You can find me at www.abigailrosenthal.com. I've written a book called a Good Look at Evil. and if that's not too scary for you, you can buy it on Amazon. Another book is called Confessions of a Young Philosopher, and this is forthcoming soon, with Illustrations.