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The Happy Grownup

Hal Rubenstein
The Happy Grownup
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  • Ruth Reichl Knows How to Make Life Delicious
    I’ve always thought that eating is the most fun you can have with your clothes on. Well, it’s not so bad with your clothes off either. But for as much as I’ve enjoyed and I’m grateful for a career writing about both food and fashion, food does something that fashion doesn’t. It engages all of your senses. I’ve never understood anyone who just eats to live. I mean, like, what’s wrong with you? For me, having a passion for what sustains and soothes us is just one of life’s great delights.And there is no one, absolutely no one, who writes about this big love with more relish, passion, warmth, insight, and more consistent and healing joy than Ruth Reichl. Though Ruth is probably best known to many as the former legendary and mysteriously dressed restaurant critic for the New York Times, and later as the editor-in-chief of Gourmet magazine. You have to read Ruth when she is writing just feet from her kitchen or strolling through a green market to be swept away by her unabashed delight being inspired by the sight of a ruby red rhubarb or chopping up her own steak to make hamburger meat.It’s not just that her writing makes you hungry. She reminds you of the wonder of nature, of the incredible alchemy of cooking, of the immediate satisfaction of creating something delicious and then the magic that happens when you share it with others. Reading Comfort Me With Apples, Garlic and Sapphires, and Tender at the Bone. Damn, I even love the book titles. You can’t help but be seduced by her into believing that food is an endless and uplifting adventure. And if it results in any longing, it’s only because you are not sitting at her table when she serves you her carbonara. I am just tickled that she is here with me this week.
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  • Linda Ellerbee
    Linda Ellerbee is possibly the smartest, slyest, news journalist television has ever produced. Speaking with a strong Texas twang abetted by a wry, salty edge and just enough rasp you can imagine her singing Jazz in a cocktail lounge, Ellerbee’s superior storytelling, forthright delivery and wicked smarts made for riveting television on such landmark shows as Overnight and Nick News. Her fearless honesty and knowing insight into how to navigate daily life with logic and just enough humor to pull you though insured that her books, like the can‘t-put-down And So It Goes, would be best sellers. In no time, you realize you can trust her about everything, plus you wish you could meet her for coffeeEllerbee is retired now and that’s the media’s loss. However, we’ve been great friends for 40 years, and that’s my gain, so I want to share my good fortune with you Just listen to Linda’s illuminating attitudes concerning retirement, health, news, family, fun, joy, giving back, and best of all, why she doesn’t believing in wasting time because none of us know how much more of it we’ve got left. Prepare to be fascinated. Linda Ellerbee is this week’s guest on The Happy Grownup podcast.
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  • Encore: Beth Ann Hardison shows us why independence is always in season
    Today I opened Instagram to see Beth Ann Hardison, one of the first black models, agency owners, and prominent advocate for diversity looking spectacular and beaming magnificently at age 82 in her Gucci gown at the Gucci show in Milan, the label for which she is a brand ambassador.Beth Ann was one of our first Happy Grownup interviews, and listening again to her insight, wit. unapologetic arrogance and matter-of-fact-damn-she’s-smart attitude got me so excited, that those of you have not yet heard her need to stop whatever you are doing and get inspired by the most independent person I have ever met. Beth Ann no longer walks a runway, but baby, she still deserves a spotlight as maybe the Happiest Grownup I knowListen. Enjoy. Learn.
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  • Suzanne Lerner's Got it Togther
    You may not know this week’s guest, but after our podcast you’ll probably wish Susanne Lerner lived across the street. She’s a is smart, a savvy entrepreneur, and, even better, she is street smart – in Yiddish you would say she has “seichel." A savvy entrepreneur, who began her clothing company Michael Stars with her husband, and after her his passing has continued to run the 40 year old label on her own with clever ingenuity, energy and clarity that defy the date on her birth certificate. She is logical, she is pragmatic, fearless in a “why-don’t-I-just-do-that” kind of relatable way and has the gift that all New Agers should aspire to when venturing anywhere alone, she enjoys her own company.   But what I admire most about her is that she has used her success to create platforms that mentor and inspire youth and organizations which empower women, expand voting rights and even elevate men.  Maybe it’s the upcoming Jewish holidays that have me thinking this way, but she’s what I’d call a real “mensch”. She’s one of the good ones.  I can’t wait for you to meet her.    
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  • The Will and Grace of David Kohan
    Have you ever met anybody who doesn't want to be cool? I mean, you might as well be searching for a Wooly Mammoth. No such person exists.But what makes somebody cool? Well, you can have incredible style like Zendaya, incredible looks like Chris Hemsworth, or incredible talent like Bruce Springsteen. But for me, the coolest people have always been anyone who can make me laugh. Growing up, I didn't want to be an athlete like Sandy Koufax or a brooding idol like Montgomery Clift. I wanted to be Dick Van Dyke because I thought everything he did was funny without being a clown. I don't think there is any greater gift than to have that power, which is probably why I'm so enamored of today's guest, David Kohan.When I was on the board of Live Out Loud, an organization devoted to helping LGBTQ youth, I asked a quartet of students who were being awarded college scholarships to name the one person who had made the greatest difference in our culture. Almost all of them cited either a politician with a vision, back when we still had some of those, gay rights advocates or heads of charities. However, one student stood there wincing and bewildered by the response of his fellow honorees. Noting his apparent dissension, I asked his opinion, at which point he perked up with that knowing grin that people have when they're confident that everyone else has missed the obvious. Will and Grace, he replied, with a hint of ‘duh’ in his tone. Will and Grace made all the difference, not just because they made me laugh, but because that laughter helped save lives. Those two guys who created that show, they should get medals. The other honorees nodded in agreement because they knew he was right. David Kohan, along with his writing partner, Max Mutchnick, created Will and Grace.David and Max didn't just save lives. They changed our culture by creating a quartet of friends who were equally funny, clever, socially aware, romantically damaged, ever hopeful, often petty, occasionally jealous, but always loving and always loyal. Straight or gay, that's exactly how you want your life to be. Because it proves that regardless of the challenges from inside as well as out, with the right attitude and the right friends, everyone can be happy. Is it any wonder I'm crazy about David Kohan?
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About The Happy Grownup

A podcast in celebration of New Aging. Award winning journalist Hal Rubenstein talks with men and woman embracing the opportunities, obstacles, elation and relevance to be discovered in life after 50.
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