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Wild & SublimeTeen idols with Gunn and GomezSend us a textPodcasters Adrienne Gunn and Elizabeth Gomez talk with Karen about teenage celebrity crushes and how they informed their adult sexual life in this entertaining yet insightful episode.We're part of the Lincoln Lodge Podcast Network. Get tickets for our Saturday, Dec 9 show in Chicago! In this episode:Adrienne Gunn - humorist and podcaster Elizabeth Gomez - writer and podcasterKaren Yates - sex educator, performer, energy workerDon’t Ruin This for Me podcast with Adrienne and ElizabethTruth or Dare episode with KarenFree download! Get the guide...2023-11-3046 min
Don't Ruin This For MeCOCKTAILBelieve it or not, we know what’s been missing in our lives and it’s flare bartending and straight, white dudes. That’s right, this week we’ve got a perfectly balanced mix of alcohol and testosterone as we travel into the world of bartending with Tom Cruise and the 1988 flick Cocktail. Obviously there was only one man to call for for this episode and that's Chicago cocktail icon Danny Shapiro, founding partner of Scofflaw Group. So pour yourself a drink and join us for everything it takes to succeed in the hospitality industry, plus that time Elizabeth was paid...2023-08-231h 19
Don't Ruin This For MeTHELMA AND LOUISEIt takes a lot of chutzpah to grab your bestie’s hand and drive your Thunderbird off a cliff rather than succumb to the injustice of being a woman stuck in a man’s world. Honestly, Thelma and Louise might just be our forever heroes. To talk all about this iconic road trippin’ opus to female friendship and feminine rage, we knew just who to call -- our very own Team Tuff Muff pals and iconic besties Amanda Myers and Julia Thiel. Join us for everything friendship, bike miles, and the essential question: if the car’s going off the clif...2023-08-161h 18
Don't Ruin This For MeTRUTH OR DAREIn 1991 Madonna was at the height of her fame, traveling the world on her Blonde Ambition tour and filming her documentary Truth or Dare. It’s impossible to hear “Madonna” and “Blonde Ambition” and not immediately think cone bras and sex-sex-sex. But rewatching the film, it became clear to us that “sex” for Madonna was much more about performance and provocation than true intimacy. So we brought intimacy coach Karen Yates to the pod to help us parse out the differences between sex and intimacy, consent and communication, and to answer Adrienne’s burning question: why are all the middle-aged men...2023-08-091h 10
Don't Ruin This For MeFAST TIMES AT RIDGEMONT HIGHOf Fast Times at Ridgemont High, our hometown boi Roger Ebert said, “Stacy’s sexual experiences all turn out to have an unnecessary element of realism, so that we have to see her humiliated, disappointed, and embarrassed. Whatever happened to upbeat sex?” Clearly Rog never had sex with a high school boy! It is disappointing! Humiliating! Embarrassing! This week we’re reliving all our high school sexual horrors with high-kickin’ Chicago comedian Amy Sumpter and talking everything abortion. Shout out Planned Parenthood! We see you!
CW: dating high school boys, abortion 2023-08-021h 09
Don't Ruin This For MeFAMEWhat’s more hopeful than watching a bunch of teenagers pursue their creative dreams? Maybe middle-aged ladies continuing to pursue creative dreams against mountains of rejection, the demands of motherhood, and literally all odds??? That’s right folks, this week we went all the way back to 1980 and the high school of performing arts with FAME. Our guest, Corrbette Pasko, is not only a writer, actor, and producer, she’s also a performing arts grad and a full-on expert in tenacity. Join us for a great discussion about teaching creativity, hustle, DIY culture, and how the hell you keep going...2023-07-261h 21
Don't Ruin This For Me9 to 5It’s a helluva corporate fantasy: oppressed coworkers join forces to kidnap their terrible boss and take over the company, increasing productivity and worker satisfaction by a zillion percent! So goes the classic film 9 to 5 featuring all-star gems Dolly Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda. These tenacious (and hilarious) gals got us thinking about the role of capitalism in our own lives. To help us diagnose society’s corporate ills, we brought back to the pod comedian and trans activist Dina Nina Martinez-Rutherford, who’s putting her money where her mouth is as a newly elected alderperson in Madison, WI. 2023-07-191h 06
Don't Ruin This For MeMOMMIE DEARESTIt’s summertime in Chicago and our favorite four-letter word is CAMP. Yes, the kids are away so pour yourself a vodka and settle in for MOMMIE DEAREST, a film about an aging Hollywood actress trying to stay relevant while smacking around her adopted kids and screaming iconic lines like: NO WIRE HANGERS! EVER! To help us dig into why CAMP and QUEER go hand in hand, we brought in an expert. David Cerda is the co-founder and artistic director of Hell in a Handbag Productions, a Chicago-based theatrical group formed to celebrate and preserve the art of high ca...2023-07-121h 02
Don't Ruin This For MeROCKY IVYO, ADRIENNE!!! That's right, it's ROCKY IV week on Don't Ruin This for Me! Rocky's got it all—feats of strength, middle-aged athleticism, the particular melancholy of an aging body—and we've got the perfect guest to help us unpack the Apollo-Drago-Rocky of it all. MALICE WITH CHAINS (aka Alice Gleason), is a star soccer player and Windy City Roller OG, here to drop all the tea on body slamming bitches and Elizabeth's origin story as a founder of Chicago's roller derby. 2023-07-051h 07
Don't Ruin This For MeTRUE ROMANCENo joke, our girl Elizabeth Gomez once thought TRUE ROMANCE was the epitome of, well, romance. But, oops, cringe, Quentin Tarantino’s first screenplay is actually chock full of his worst impulses regarding race, women, and violence. This week we welcome back to the pod the hilarious comedian Maya Haughton to help us figure out why we so often mistake intensity for love and what it really means to be a ride or die.
CW: violence, gender based violence, misogyny, extreme racism
Theme Music courtesy of Matt Oakley2023-06-281h 13
Don't Ruin This For MeLEGENDS OF THE FALLLEGENDS OF THE FALL has been hailed as “an unforgettable portrait of the twentieth century man,” but let’s be real, we’re not here for all that 1900s toxic masculinity—we’re here to talk about Adrienne’s SEXUAL AWAKENING!!! This week we welcome queer writer and storyteller (and fellow Brad Pitt enthusiast) Jeremy Owens to help us answer this very important question: What if your whole entire vision of romance is based on a Brad Pitt movie you saw when you were fourteen????????
CW: suicide, murder, war, ptsd, white saviourism, some violence with a bear
Theme Mu...2023-06-221h 00
Don't Ruin This For MePAMELA ANDERSONWe’re kicking off the season with Elizabeth’s all-American icon: PAMELA ANDERSON. Rockstars and Playboy bunnies, tiny eyebrows and wedding bikinis, a stolen safe and the origin of the celebrity sex tape—Pamela’s story has got it all. But what is it about Pam that Elizabeth loves so much? Is it perhaps all the—ahem—bad boys? Tune in for a serious debate over Tommy Lee’s hotness and stay to find out what we really learn about love from glorifying toxic men.
CW: sexual abuse, physical abuse
Theme Music courtesy of Matt Oakley2023-06-211h 04
Don't Ruin This For MeBFF FOREVERIt’s the season finale and we’re talking about the wind beneath our wings: FRIENDSHIP. Possibly some tears were shed, and not just about this week’s film BEACHES, starring Better Midler as, well, basically Bette Midler, and prissy Barbara Hershey as her BFF Hillary who dies in a series of large hats and deep breaths on a beach because otherwise how would we explore the depths of their friendship??? Come for our off-key singing and stay for a discussion about how a good friend can change your whole entire life.
CW: viral cardiomyopathy 2022-03-161h 13Don't Ruin This For MeWE LOVE DIRTY DANCINGNobody puts Dirty Dancing in the corner. OR DO THEY? This week we have THE TIME OF OUR LIVES discussing everything Baby and Johnny with transgender actress and activist Delia Kropp, but don’t worry, it’s unanimous, Dirty Dancing totally rules. Our kingdom for a summer gyrating around with Patrick Swayze! Join us as we break down the surprisingly woke depiction of class and privilege, white lady activism, abortion, and, le sigh, FIRST LOVE.
CW: abortion, gyrating teens2022-03-0258 minDon't Ruin This For MeWOW, DATING WAS ALSO TERRIBLE IN THE 90s!Take a deep breath and hold it because it’s time for Waiting to Exhale! This movie has the best of everything the 90s had to offer: Whitney Houston! Angela Bassett! Oversized suits! A soundtrack by Babyface! It’s all about Black female friendship and what women talk about when they talk about love. To helps up unpack the fuckbois, this week we’ve got Karen Hawkins (@chiefrebelle), Publisher and Editor-in-Chief of the Chicago Reader, founder and head rebelle at Rebellious Magazine, and podcaster at Of Course I’m Not OK and Feminist Erotica.
CW: drug use, abortion2022-02-231h 04
Don't Ruin This For MeRUN, FORREST GUMP APOLOGIST, RUN!When did it become cool to hate Forrest Gump?? Because way back in 1994 this film won all the Oscars and had people sobbing into their popcorn over Forrest’s love story with the one and only JENNNNNAAAAYYYY. But is the film actually racist? A flippant take on disability? Emotionally manipulative? It’s maybe all of those things and our girl Adrienne is so scared you’re gonna cancel her because she still loves it.
CW: war, death, AIDS, drugs use2022-02-1557 minDon't Ruin This For MeCARPE DEEZ NUTZDead Poets Society, a teen drama about conformity versus creativity and the poems of many, many, many, many, many, many long-dead white guys. For a movie this white and this male, we knew we’d need to bring in an expert mansplainer to make sure we understood it all, so today we welcome James Beard Award winner and Chicago Reader food critic, Mike Sula, to talk about the creative life, inspiration, and most importantly, the feelings of white men. Apparently, they have them! CW: suicide
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Listen on Youtube...2022-02-0957 min
Don't Ruin This For MeMEN DOING THE VERY LEASTWho doesn’t want to watch a couple of middle-aged guys get high all day and muck up everything they touch? Well, Adrienne Gunn for one. But Elizabeth promises that the stoner classic CHEECH AND CHONG’S UP IN SMOKE is gonna teach us all about the power of friendship and give us a peek into why she’s our fav fun-loving, wild AF, enneagram 7 bae. This week we welcome Chicago comedian Soli Santos to talk about making comedy while female, party culture, and Cheech Marin’s 100% hot bod.
CW: drug use
Listen on Amazon Prime...2022-02-021h 05Don't Ruin This For MeTHE PROBLEM WITH JOHN HUGHESHow did the patron saint of the 80s teen flick John Hughes get away with being so, well, rapey? Yes, that’s right folks, it’s time for SIXTEEN CANDLES, a movie about the horrors of high school: stolen underpants, foreign exchange students, sixteenth birthdays, and date rape. This week we welcome Wokefield’s resident lesbian Taylor Maughon to talk compulsory heterosexuality, sexual harrassment, and dreaming of that perfect guy.
CW: date rape, racism, sexual harrassment
Listen on Amazon Prime / Audible
Listen on Youtube2022-01-261h 03Don't Ruin This For MeWORST QUALITY CRABThe Joy Luck Club, a movie where four daughters try to understand four immigrant mothers and come to realize that whether you’re in China or America, motherhood, womanhood, it all just fckn sucks. This week we welcome Dennis Lee, a Korean-American food journalist to chat about the fruitless battle that is trying to understand your parents and…dun dun dun…FAMILY SECRETS!
CW: suicide, matricide, generational trauma
Listen on Amazon Prime / Audible
Listen on Youtube2022-01-191h 06Don't Ruin This For MeWHAT'S YOUR DAMAGE?What better way to start season two than with the original mean girls, HEATHERS? We’re talking all about toxic friendship, addictive love, 80s fashion, high school power structures, and a simpler time when school shootings were satirical.
CW: suicide, school shooting, fat shaming
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Listen on Youtube2022-01-1239 minDon't Ruin This For MeWokefield Season 2 Trailer!Get ready for Season 2 of Wokefield! Comedians Elizabeth Gomez and Adrienne Gunn re-watch some of the most influential but also cringiest movies from the 80s and 90s and talk about how they completely fucked up our ideas of what it means to be a woman in America!
Listen on Amazon Prime / Audible
Listen on Youtube2022-01-0603 min
I Love Funny Women!Gah, White Women Love An MLM w/ Elizabeth GomezA comedian accused of "sexual misconduct" gets booked at the local comedy club and Dina & Lalita have a lot to say about it. They also cover Rep. Joyce Beatty getting arrested, the floods in Europe, Shower Heads, Big Goldfish a Dutch kid who's parents want their space...so they send him to space with Jeff Bezos and possibly the worst Trump impression in history.This week Dina Nina talks to Chicago comedian, derby girl, podcaster, writer and bad ass lady. She and I chat about her and Adrienne Gunn's Sweet Valley High podcast "Wokefield" whic...2021-07-1930 min
Don't Ruin This For MeEpisode 13: BONUS EPISODE: Help! I Married a Monster! - Sweet Valley HighThe Wakefield twins have arrived in London for their summer internships and next thing you know there’s a murder and Jessica’s DATING A WEREWOLF. It made us think about our own relationships and for this very special bonus episode, we’ve got no guests at all, just the two of us talking about what happens when you accidentally marry a monster. It’s our most vulnerable discussion yet--marriage, divorce, parenting, friendship, plus a special look back at our favorite moments this season. Written and hosted by Elizabeth Gomez and Adrienne Gunn. Produced and engineered by JW Basilo...2021-02-0359 minDon't Ruin This For MeEpisode 12: Winston Egbert is Dead and More Sweet Valley Epilogues - Sweet Valley HighIt’s ten years into the future and that scheming (but irresistible) trollop Jessica Wakefield has stolen her sister Elizabeth’s fiance (and sentient basketball jersey) Todd Wilkins and is about to marry him herself! Elizabeth’s fled to New York to nurse her broken heart and plot her revenge. Sounds pretty good, right? HAHAHAHAA WRONG. Unfortunately good ol’ Francine Pascal showed up to write the final word on Sweet Valley herself and let’s just say . This week we welcome bestselling author and ghostwriter Rachel Bertsche to the pod to talk about the art of ghostwriting and the legacy of...2021-01-271h 13Don't Ruin This For MeEpisode 11: Sex! Sex! Sex! - Sweet Valley High We’re finally leaving high school behind and joining the Wakefield twins at Sweet Valley University! Join us for a front row seat to Jessica’s deflowering and Elizabeth’s relentless struggle with the freshman fifteen. We’re telling tales of losing our own virginities--key word: WATERBEDS--and welcome the fabulously sex-positive Anita Mechler, archivist, entrepreneur, painter, and retired roller derby baby, to talk about the feminist sex seminars she attended before popping her cherry. Written and hosted by Elizabeth Gomez & Adrienne Gunn. Produced and Engineered by JW Basilo for Shame The Devil Media. Copyright 2021. All rights reserved.2021-01-201h 08Don't Ruin This For MeEpisode 10: Somebody Get this Girl an SSRI!Get right on outta here with those All-American good looks and shiny red Fiat, Wakefield twins! It’s time for some good old TEEN ANGST. This week we welcome to the SVH universe the patron saint of teenage depression, songstress Lynne Henry. Girl, we love your bad hair, baggy clothes, and nary a will to live! Join us as we welcome writer Taylor Maughon and revisit our own teenage depression, current battles with self-esteem, and discuss the creative process and a question that’s been bugging us for years—are all artists narcissistic assholes?Wokefield is writte...2021-01-131h 14Don't Ruin This For MeEpisode 9: This is Your Brain On Drugs - Sweet Valley HighIt’s finally here!! The most formative book of Adrienne’s youth, the one where disabled hero Regina Morrow gets dumped by Bruce Patman, does one line of cocaine, and falls over and dies! This week we welcome to the pod comedian, actor, writer, teacher, and Chicago legend Kelsie Huff to discuss why she thinks these books are “hot garbage” and what we did or did not put up our noses in high school. We’ve got some alcoholic parents and some alcoholic tendencies, so buckle up, there’s a lot to unpack. Wokefield is written and hosted by Eli...2021-01-061h 11Don't Ruin This For MeEpisode 8: There’s a Ho in this House - Sweet Valley HighIn Sweet Valley, cheerleading is a matter of life and death. New girl in town Annie Whitman dreams of joining the squad but--oops!--this fifteen-year-old has a reputation and our favorite sociopath Jessica Wakefield says NO SLUTS ALLOWED. Jessica will do whatever it takes to keep Annie off the squad, even if it drives Francine Pascal to her most irresponsible plot twist of all time. This week we welcome storyteller and Chicago LGBT Hall of Fame inductee Kim Hunt to help us figure out, just how slutty do you have to be to be called a slut? What’s sl...2020-12-301h 05Don't Ruin This For MeEpisode 7: Gemini Twins - Sweet Valley HighYou guys, Jessica finally gets a personality and its BROWN HAIR. And of course the pitch perfect 80s dream of becoming a model at the mall. Because representation is important, this week we welcome poet, sk8erboi, and straight white guy Tim Stafford to the pod to talk about influencer culture, branding yourself, frenemies, and basically how Sweet Valley is no Lyons, IL. And then for the first time, Wokefield’s resident astrologer Zane Biebelle breaks down how the sun, the moon, and the stars have influenced the Wakefield twins—of course those hoes be Geminis!—and how our own bi...2020-12-161h 03Don't Ruin This For MeEpisode 6 - Stranger Danger - Sweet Valley HighUh, hello, 911? Elizabeth Wakefield’s been kidnapped by a mentally ill hospital orderly! Join us as we relive Elizabeth’s thirty-six hour horror, tied to a chair in the only shack in Sweet Valley, while Jessica wears bikinis and poses in the mirror and Todd flexes his muscles. This week we welcome writer and performer Archy Jamjun to the pod and drop him right into the SVH universe in a new game we invented where he has to survive as the only queer person of color at Sweet Valley High. CAN HE DO IT???Written & Hosted by Eliz...2020-12-0947 minDon't Ruin This For MeEpisode 5: Sex on the Beach (Sort of) - Sweet Valley HighJessica’s dating an older man. How do we know he’s older? HE HAS A MUSTACHE. On this episode we welcome Alissa Rowinsky Wright, SVH super fan and mother of twins, to help us figure out--are all twins this codependent? Because after Jessica stays out < > Elizabeth is a wreck, running around taking tests for her sister and being a maniac until even Todd has had enough. 2020-12-0246 minDon't Ruin This For MeEpisode 4 - Revenge Body - Sweet Valley HighAfter being blackballed by Pi Beta Alpha, resident fat girl Robin Wilson runs around the SVH track and only eats lettuce leaves to transform herself into this year’s Miss Sweet Valley. (Because, you know, she always had a pretty face.) In this episode we welcome transgender stand-up comedian, actor, and entrepreneur Dina Nina Martinez to talk about body image, shaming, and reinventing ourselves.Hosted by Elizabeth Gomez and Adrienne Gunn. Produced and engineered by J.W. Basilo for Shame The Devil Media. Recorded at Que4 Radio Studios, Chicago.Follow us online @wokefieldpod and @shame.th...2020-11-1846 minDon't Ruin This For MeEpisode 3 - Chicks Before Dicks - Sweet Valley High911 Jessica is finally dating Sweet Valley stud Bruce Patman and Elizabeth is apoplectic. Jessica does a lot of dulling her sparkle to make Bruce happy and in this episode we welcome Chicago storyteller and queer icon Jeremy Owens to help us figure out how you know if you’re in an abusive relationship, when it’s okay to cockblock your sister, and should you tell your bff if their boyfriend is trash? Then stay tuned for our very own SVH fan fiction where Bruce embarks on a very steamy romance with...sorry, you’re gonna have to listen to find o...2020-11-1157 minDon't Ruin This For MeEpisode 2 - Secrets Secrets Hurt Someone - Sweet Valley HighEnid’s got a secret and ohhhhh gurl, it’s a doozy! In this episode we welcome Chicago comedy legend and TWIN (!!!) Maya Haughton to help us figure out 1) are all twins this terrible and 2) why is gossip just the best? #Wokefield #SweetValleyHigh #ShameTheDevil Wokefield is produced and engineered by J.W. Basilo. Production copyright 2020, Shame The Devil Media. 2020-10-2857 minDon't Ruin This For MeEpisode 1 - The All-American Girl - Sweet Valley HighEpisode 1: The All-American Girl
If you know anything about the Wakefield twins it’s that they wear matching lavaliers and are a perfect size six. In this episode we welcome pop culture phenom Kim Nelson to help us break down what “...spectacular, all-American good looks...” means (TRANSLATION: WHITE?) and if Jessica is a sociopath, why do we all want to be her???
#Wokefield #SweetValleyHigh #ShameTheDevilWokefield is produced and engineered by J.W. Basilo. Production copyright 2020, Shame The Devil Media. 2020-10-2850 min