Being Alone: Views from a Mormon Feminist & Poet Nikki Giovanni
Season 19: Episode 14
We are pleased to announce that since we first aired this episode, we were awarded a Gabriel Award, from the Catholic Academy for Communications Arts Professionals.
On this episode, we explore different ways of being alone, in all its glory and its pain. Stephanie Lauritzen is a Mormon and a feminist. Her solitude comes from feeling shut out of a church she believes is dismissive of women.
For information on our guests and more...
Celebrated poet Nikki Giovanni cherishes her alone time and explains why in a conversation that covers everything from her friend Rosa Parks, to Weekend at Bernie's, to really expensive beer.
First up, someone who is feeling a little too alone. Last year, Stephanie Lauritzen sparked headlines all over the world with an event called "Wear Pants to Church Day." It's an issue for some Mormon women; while wearing pants isn't expressly forbidden, Stephanie and many others say it really isn't okay within the church. 
Today, Ms. Lauritzen has more than a dress-code on her mind. She says issues of equality in the Church of Latter Day Saints -- the Mormon church -- go a lot deeper than what-to-wear. Ms. Lauritzen's story is one that exists in most religions of the world. It's about feeling alone, and a little lonely, in your own community.
Later on the programme, Nikki Giovanni is a celebrated poet and civil rights activist. In one of our most memorable interviews of the year, the truth-teller tells us why she loves being alone.
Hear Nikki Giovanni reading her poem about food and lust, "Still Life With Apron"
Finally, Barry Martin and Edith Macefield formed an unlikely bond. She was the elderly woman who refused to sell her house to developers, even as they started to build a giant shopping centre around her. He was the man in charge of that construction site. And for two people with apparently opposite goals, they saw things remarkably eye-to-eye.