WEBVTT - Skyline Drive: The Truth According to Jean 0:00:00.480 --> 0:00:03.840 Hey there, podcast listeners, It's Mango here and over the 0:00:03.920 --> 0:00:07.160 next few weekends, we are revisiting season one of my 0:00:07.280 --> 0:00:11.880 show Skyline Drive, and today we are up to episode two. 0:00:12.160 --> 0:00:15.120 So in this episode, I'm going to introduce you to Jeane, 0:00:15.400 --> 0:00:18.560 who is one of the coolest people I've ever met, 0:00:18.720 --> 0:00:21.279 and I say that as someone who's met a ton 0:00:21.360 --> 0:00:25.160 of cool people. Jeane has this fascinating life growing up 0:00:25.200 --> 0:00:28.840 in Brooklyn. Her parents were Communists, she gets out of 0:00:28.880 --> 0:00:33.120 a bad marriage, and now she's in her seventies and 0:00:33.240 --> 0:00:36.160 she has decided to turn to astrology for some help 0:00:36.200 --> 0:00:40.400 with romance. She really is so wonderful, and I actually 0:00:40.440 --> 0:00:43.960 connected her with an astrologer named Janelle, who spoiler alert, 0:00:44.479 --> 0:00:47.479 kind of blew her mind. We also talk in this 0:00:47.520 --> 0:00:51.000 episode to an anonymous therapist who secretly uses astrology in 0:00:51.040 --> 0:00:53.960 her practice, which is insane to me but also kind 0:00:54.000 --> 0:00:56.520 of incredible. I really hope you enjoy it, and I 0:00:56.560 --> 0:01:00.320 hope you stay tuned for episode three next Sunday. 0:01:10.400 --> 0:01:17.720 Warning. The following show includes discussion of escorts, drugs, septagenarian tinder, eclipses, 0:01:18.120 --> 0:01:22.200 star powered therapy, and Donald Trump's former former former lawyer. 0:01:22.640 --> 0:01:27.200 For listeners with Victorian sensibilities. Please keep a fan and 0:01:27.240 --> 0:01:30.039 smelling salts nearby. 0:01:34.160 --> 0:01:38.399 So, I guess my biggest question is am I ever 0:01:38.480 --> 0:01:40.959 going to have sex with somebody again? 0:01:47.280 --> 0:01:50.000 We're sitting in Jean Lebec's third floor apartment right off 0:01:50.000 --> 0:01:53.480 the ninety third street stop in Bay Ridge. Jean is 0:01:53.520 --> 0:01:56.920 a former teacher, just like my mom, roughly the same age, 0:01:57.000 --> 0:02:01.520 seventy four, but Jean's a New York City before. She's 0:02:01.560 --> 0:02:03.640 got that city girl edge. 0:02:04.360 --> 0:02:07.680 My name is gean Ane Lebec and I am a storyteller. 0:02:09.720 --> 0:02:14.120 The sex question. It's big for Jean because she was 0:02:14.160 --> 0:02:17.240 married for forty one years and she expected to stay 0:02:17.280 --> 0:02:20.360 married forever. But right before the city went into lockdown, 0:02:20.680 --> 0:02:23.680 her marriage dissolved, and it's taken her about three years 0:02:23.680 --> 0:02:24.440 to get to this point. 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:27.880 Jesus, I don't want to marry anything. I'm not looking 0:02:27.919 --> 0:02:29.639 for that, and I don't want to live with anybody. 0:02:29.720 --> 0:02:30.720 I'm not looking for that. 0:02:30.960 --> 0:02:36.680 But she is craving something, some form of intimacy. 0:02:36.960 --> 0:02:37.280 Okay. 0:02:37.320 --> 0:02:40.120 So my daughter is my biggest support and fan, and 0:02:40.160 --> 0:02:44.080 when I've told her these stories about you know, guys who. 0:02:43.960 --> 0:02:45.560 Just really want to sex text to you. 0:02:45.680 --> 0:02:47.840 They don't really want to go further than that, all 0:02:47.919 --> 0:02:50.480 the weird men that I have had a date with 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:55.040 just Okay, here's where we're at right now. I think 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:58.520 what you need to do is call of inness court service. 0:02:58.600 --> 0:02:58.720 An. 0:03:05.080 --> 0:03:08.799 That's right. It's early on a Saturday morning. I am 0:03:09.040 --> 0:03:12.440 barely awake, haven't even had my cup of coffee, and 0:03:13.160 --> 0:03:17.519 I'm pretty sure I'm hearing her right, Like, is this 0:03:17.639 --> 0:03:21.560 sweet seventy four year old woman really asking permission to 0:03:22.760 --> 0:03:23.639 hire somebody? 0:03:24.800 --> 0:03:27.960 You're there and it's a very clear cut relationship, you know, 0:03:29.240 --> 0:03:30.760 hire them for four hours. 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:35.360 I don't know if an astrologer can help with that. 0:03:36.720 --> 0:03:38.840 I don't know if any astrologer has ever been asked 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:42.640 whether it's the right time to hire an escort. But 0:03:43.880 --> 0:03:48.800 we're about to find out. From Kaleidoscope and iHeart Podcast, 0:03:49.400 --> 0:04:30.760 I'm Monga's Shatika thear Welcome to Skyline Drive Chapter one, 0:04:32.600 --> 0:04:36.799 pound Cake and Chemo. So let's talk a second about 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.640 Jean's question and questions like these. 0:04:40.279 --> 0:04:44.320 Well, I ever have a partner that feels safe and secure? 0:04:44.680 --> 0:04:47.080 Why do scorpios get such a bad wrap? 0:04:47.240 --> 0:04:50.280 I'm kind of curious how many dogs I will have 0:04:50.440 --> 0:04:51.039 in my life? 0:04:51.240 --> 0:04:54.000 Is it insane to consider trying to be a stand 0:04:54.080 --> 0:04:55.320 up comedian as a. 0:04:55.240 --> 0:04:57.040 Man who is rapidly balding. 0:04:57.920 --> 0:05:01.440 Will any of my hair e grow back? That's what 0:05:01.520 --> 0:05:04.600 the show was supposed to be, finding people with questions 0:05:04.640 --> 0:05:07.680 I'd never think to ask, pairing them with an astrologer, 0:05:07.880 --> 0:05:11.159 then generally having a good time. And I was going 0:05:11.240 --> 0:05:14.600 to take this anthropological view of it all like stand back, 0:05:14.920 --> 0:05:20.039 watch without judgment, try to understand and enjoy. But just 0:05:20.080 --> 0:05:22.000 as our production was about to get off the ground, 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:24.240 I travel to Queen's to get a reading from a 0:05:24.320 --> 0:05:28.280 random astrologer. And that astrologer he warned me that my 0:05:28.400 --> 0:05:32.360 dad's health would soon take a drastic turn. Within twenty minutes, 0:05:32.440 --> 0:05:34.960 my dad had emailed me that a cancer had spread 0:05:35.000 --> 0:05:40.200 through his liver. So now a few days later, I'm 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:51.680 in Kanye's, Georgia. Kanye's is mostly famous for being a 0:05:51.720 --> 0:05:55.000 speed trap on the road between Atlanta and Athens, and 0:05:55.160 --> 0:05:57.200 my parents settled here because my dad took a job 0:05:57.240 --> 0:05:59.720 down the road a few years back. But there's a 0:05:59.720 --> 0:06:02.520 little else that would have drawn them here, Like there 0:06:02.520 --> 0:06:07.000 are strip malls and waffle houses, banks, targets, and then 0:06:07.040 --> 0:06:09.559 these quiet, winding roads that veer off it with names 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:13.080 like Christian Circle. The doctor's office is tucked away on 0:06:13.080 --> 0:06:15.560 one of these winding roads, and we're waiting for the 0:06:15.640 --> 0:06:18.320 doctor in a little exam room. It's actually the way 0:06:18.360 --> 0:06:22.920 my dad wants it. All of us here, my mom, sister, me, 0:06:24.040 --> 0:06:26.200 and I'm a little surprised when the doctor walks in 0:06:26.720 --> 0:06:27.480 and he's Indian. 0:06:28.760 --> 0:06:32.880 So the pathology report still says preliminary. 0:06:33.520 --> 0:06:35.080 I didn't know that they had more of us out 0:06:35.120 --> 0:06:39.520 in conyers. I like him immediately. He seems to really 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:42.120 know and care about my dad, and he's concerned for 0:06:42.200 --> 0:06:46.640 us too, But when he starts, it's clear the news 0:06:46.680 --> 0:06:47.159 isn't good. 0:06:48.640 --> 0:06:55.960 Show that then Dialima was started by small tumors, numerous tumors, Bawns. 0:06:56.200 --> 0:07:00.240 It turns out it's an aggressive small self cancer, going 0:07:00.279 --> 0:07:01.520 to need an aggressive response. 0:07:01.839 --> 0:07:05.600 The painting is okay, but your disease is behaving way too. 0:07:06.080 --> 0:07:07.080 Now it's wonderful. 0:07:08.120 --> 0:07:12.160 I've turned on my voice recorder, not for podcasting, but 0:07:12.240 --> 0:07:15.560 because I'm feeling lightheaded, uneasy about how much of this 0:07:15.640 --> 0:07:19.800 information I will retain, and so far it sounds like 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:21.239 the chemo can only do so much. 0:07:21.960 --> 0:07:24.280 Why did I say it's not that great news? 0:07:24.280 --> 0:07:26.960 Because small si lung cancer is notorious not. 0:07:26.840 --> 0:07:28.720 To stay in control with chemotherapy. 0:07:29.280 --> 0:07:31.640 It goes away, but it comes right back. 0:07:32.640 --> 0:07:37.720 So not a good diagnosis at all, but very treatable 0:07:37.800 --> 0:07:39.000 in its current situation. 0:07:39.160 --> 0:07:42.080 This whole thing is basically cancer. Whack them all. You 0:07:42.080 --> 0:07:45.040 can bat the cancer back, cheer a little, and then 0:07:45.120 --> 0:07:49.080 start again until time runs out. The only time I 0:07:49.120 --> 0:07:54.160 smile is when my dad asks timidly, oh, yes. 0:07:54.520 --> 0:07:57.720 I've heard that, medical Mario and I. 0:07:57.640 --> 0:08:02.720 Can help with And I remember my friend Howard when 0:08:02.720 --> 0:08:05.120 his dad got cancer. Howard got him a pound cake 0:08:05.200 --> 0:08:08.320 loaded with THHC and they spent the night laughing as 0:08:08.360 --> 0:08:12.880 his dad shared memories along with these ridiculous life goals, 0:08:12.920 --> 0:08:15.760 like how his one regret as a young man in 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.400 China was that he'd never taken a shit on the 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:23.280 doorstep of the French embassy. Anyway, I daydreamed a little 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:26.800 about sourcing some edibles and playing my dad's favorite records 0:08:26.800 --> 0:08:30.160 as we chat through the night before I hear this. 0:08:30.760 --> 0:08:33.760 You really don't want Eellly parents to be dealing with 0:08:34.200 --> 0:08:35.760 metastatic cancer. 0:08:36.559 --> 0:08:38.520 Three hundred miles away. It's just not. 0:08:39.040 --> 0:08:42.280 Invariably, no matter how smold the treatment goes as lonely marts. 0:08:48.880 --> 0:08:51.240 In the best case scenario, we'll get three to four 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.640 more years with my dad. That's if the treatment takes. 0:08:55.280 --> 0:08:58.280 It's something to hope for, but it's more likely we'll 0:08:58.320 --> 0:09:01.200 get three to four months. The thing is there's no 0:09:01.360 --> 0:09:04.080 time to waste. A nurse wheels my dad to a 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.240 different wing to begin the chemo immediately. My mom is 0:09:07.240 --> 0:09:10.400 trying to be brave, but she's still dazed. I tug 0:09:10.400 --> 0:09:12.840 at her arm and hold it as we walk to 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:17.120 the car. Everything is daunting, but it also feels manageable. 0:09:17.880 --> 0:09:21.760 So instead of worrying, I focus on our wish list. 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.920 My dad still speaks some Portuguese from his childhood in Goa, 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:29.240 and I know he wants to see Lisbon. I know 0:09:29.280 --> 0:09:31.760 he wants to see his grandkids more. He wants to 0:09:31.760 --> 0:09:34.520 see my sister get married. So I'm thinking, what can 0:09:34.559 --> 0:09:37.680 I do? What money do we need? How can I 0:09:37.720 --> 0:09:42.120 move my schedule around? Four months is not a lot 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:46.480 of time, but I'm going to make it feel like enough. 0:10:02.320 --> 0:10:04.200 Chapter two, Secrets and Lies. 0:10:07.080 --> 0:10:09.400 I lived in a family with a lot of secrets. 0:10:09.880 --> 0:10:12.400 Secrets are the thing that shaped Jean and I have 0:10:12.400 --> 0:10:14.960 a feeling it's what's driven her to tell these beautiful, 0:10:15.320 --> 0:10:20.920 unvarnished stories about herself. Inside her place, past the entry 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:24.040 and the kitchen doorway and the hallway lined with photos, 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.640 there's a living room filled with vintage furniture stuff you'd 0:10:28.640 --> 0:10:32.920 cover it from your favorite thrift store. Jeane tells me 0:10:32.960 --> 0:10:35.920 to sit anywhere, make myself comfortable, and so I do, 0:10:36.760 --> 0:10:39.960 first on this bright, beautiful sofa, and then on an 0:10:39.960 --> 0:10:42.840 ottoman just a little closer, doer. 0:10:43.800 --> 0:10:45.880 I grew up right here in Brooklyn, matt and bay Ridge, 0:10:45.880 --> 0:10:48.840 Wet and Crown Hearts, which is now a groovy, groovy. 0:10:48.480 --> 0:10:49.120 Place to live. 0:10:49.160 --> 0:10:54.120 But during those days it was a hard working Irish Catholic. 0:10:53.720 --> 0:10:56.000 Neighborhood, and we were the only Jewish families. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.640 Kids playing marbles by nickel con, hanging out on studs, 0:11:01.800 --> 0:11:04.440 running around the neighborhood until the lamp posts flicker and 0:11:04.559 --> 0:11:07.600 you just know it's time to raise home. It all 0:11:07.640 --> 0:11:10.880 sounds so idyllic, but her childhood was also cloaked in 0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:13.960 something darker because of her parents' political leanings. 0:11:14.640 --> 0:11:17.040 We lived this kind of life of secrets and lives. 0:11:17.520 --> 0:11:20.840 They couldn't tell anybody they were American Communists. They couldn't 0:11:20.880 --> 0:11:23.199 tell anybody they knew Julison Ethel Rosenburg. 0:11:24.600 --> 0:11:33.319 It runs for me, oh refresher on Julius and Ethel Rosenberg. 0:11:33.760 --> 0:11:38.480 Julius Rosenberg, a Taurus and Ethel Rosenberg A Libra met 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:41.120 and fell in love at the Young Communist League. 0:11:41.400 --> 0:11:44.640 When Torus and Libra got together in a love affair, 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:48.720 it can be the unification of two halves of a whole. 0:11:49.320 --> 0:11:52.440 Julius had a steady job working for the Army Signal 0:11:52.480 --> 0:11:56.000 Corps as an engineer, but he was fired for being a. 0:11:55.920 --> 0:12:00.959 Socialist Communism what is it? 0:12:01.960 --> 0:12:05.319 Who are the apostles of a system that attempts to destroy. 0:12:05.040 --> 0:12:07.840 The American way of life? 0:12:07.920 --> 0:12:11.240 In the nineteen forties and fifties, a communist panic swept 0:12:11.240 --> 0:12:15.920 across America, set off by a Scorpio named Senator Joseph McCarthy. 0:12:16.520 --> 0:12:19.959 McCarthy was known for his wild and sensational attacks. 0:12:20.200 --> 0:12:25.200 The Scorpio zodiac sign concerns itself with beginnings and endings 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.520 and is unafraid of either. They also travel in a 0:12:28.559 --> 0:12:32.000 world that is black and white and has little use 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:32.559 for gray. 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:37.719 At the time, Hollywood directors, prominent politicians, and government insiders 0:12:37.760 --> 0:12:41.560 were terrified for their lives and careers In nineteen fifty, 0:12:41.600 --> 0:12:44.360 the couple was put on trial for passing atomic secrets 0:12:44.400 --> 0:12:48.400 to the Soviets. The Rosenbergs claimed innocence, but they still 0:12:48.400 --> 0:12:52.079 got the electric chair. The man who prosecuted them, a 0:12:52.200 --> 0:12:56.559 twenty three year old pisces named Roy Kohane. One witness 0:12:56.559 --> 0:12:59.520 from the trial, tried to take back his testimony. He 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:01.760 said the reason he lied on the stand was because 0:13:01.880 --> 0:13:04.160 con had threatened to lock up his wife and make 0:13:04.240 --> 0:13:05.480 life hell for his family. 0:13:06.559 --> 0:13:11.240 Many people associate pisces with dreams and secrets as a 0:13:11.360 --> 0:13:17.000 mutable sign ICs holds, adaptive, fluid, and sheep shifting qualities. 0:13:20.400 --> 0:13:23.120 Anyway, back to Gene, it makes sense that her family 0:13:23.200 --> 0:13:25.319 hid the fact that they were close with the Rosenbergs, 0:13:25.320 --> 0:13:27.560 but that wasn't the only secret they were hiding. 0:13:28.280 --> 0:13:32.600 My sister's gay Being gay during those times was really 0:13:33.240 --> 0:13:34.640 a horrifying thing. 0:13:35.160 --> 0:13:37.560 And I remember when she told me she was gay. 0:13:38.200 --> 0:13:40.280 I thought this was the greatest thing I ever heard, 0:13:40.480 --> 0:13:42.240 and she was like, you can I tell us so 0:13:43.080 --> 0:13:43.800 nobody can. 0:13:43.640 --> 0:13:47.920 Know about this, Like being Communist, being Jewish, being gay 0:13:48.160 --> 0:13:51.640 was just another thing she couldn't talk about. As she's 0:13:51.640 --> 0:13:53.959 telling me about her past, it makes more sense why 0:13:54.040 --> 0:13:58.360 Jean's welcomed me in. Why she's agreed to talk. The 0:13:58.440 --> 0:14:01.359 thing is a total romantic. 0:14:02.320 --> 0:14:06.160 One of my favorite stories that I told was the 0:14:06.200 --> 0:14:09.120 time I had my first orgasm. I had been married, 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:12.720 I had a baby, and still didn't know my own body. 0:14:13.120 --> 0:14:15.520 It's the nineteen seventies and Gina is in her twenties, 0:14:15.600 --> 0:14:18.439 a single mom with a kid. She had briefly been 0:14:18.440 --> 0:14:20.800 married to her high school sweetheart, and now she's working 0:14:20.840 --> 0:14:24.200 at this daycare center where she has this colleague named Mona, 0:14:24.640 --> 0:14:27.320 and they are a lot alike. They're both putting themselves 0:14:27.320 --> 0:14:29.760 through school in the evenings. They both have little girls 0:14:29.760 --> 0:14:30.920 that are the same age. 0:14:31.520 --> 0:14:34.920 We formed this friendship with each other, and then one 0:14:35.040 --> 0:14:37.680 night we went to see this movie and we're sitting 0:14:37.720 --> 0:14:39.960 in the car and she looks at me and says, 0:14:40.680 --> 0:14:42.640 you know, I really feel like kissing you. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:49.600 I said, so kiss That kiss was like fireworks. 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:54.000 I mean, Mona and I had been intimate, but I 0:14:54.080 --> 0:14:55.040 never had an orgasm. 0:14:56.000 --> 0:15:00.560 After this orgasm, she put on candles and everything, and 0:15:00.640 --> 0:15:01.440 she looked at me and. 0:15:01.360 --> 0:15:04.479 She said, you know, Sweedie, you could do this anytime 0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:06.920 you want. I mean, the whole idea of that kind 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:11.480 of power, and so I begin to be kind of 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:14.160 a crazy masturbator, you know, I would like go through 0:15:14.160 --> 0:15:16.280 my job at the daycare center, and it was lunchtime, 0:15:16.400 --> 0:15:21.680 NiFe went back, and so it was this whole description 0:15:21.960 --> 0:15:25.160 of just feeling giddy with this kind of new fountain. 0:15:26.200 --> 0:15:30.360 No Mona would move away not long after leaving the city, 0:15:30.400 --> 0:15:33.320 but it wasn't long before Jean would fall in love again. 0:15:33.640 --> 0:15:35.920 In fact, in some ways, her next love would hit 0:15:35.920 --> 0:15:39.480 her even harder. Here's a story she told at the Moth. 0:15:40.040 --> 0:15:42.280 It's assembly day and I am so nervous. 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:45.320 My class is putting on a play for the entire school, 0:15:45.560 --> 0:15:49.120 and I'm walking down the auditorium the center aisle carrying 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.720 all these props. And takes my hand to help me 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:57.600 navigate up the stage steps, and my hand melts into his, 0:15:58.120 --> 0:16:02.200 and his hand melts into mine. Our fingers linger, never 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:06.160 wanting to let go. And as Miss Hall crosses the 0:16:06.200 --> 0:16:09.000 stage to go to the piano and kids are getting 0:16:09.040 --> 0:16:12.360 their assembly seats and the ring is beating against the window, 0:16:12.640 --> 0:16:13.960 we fall madly in love. 0:16:15.360 --> 0:16:17.920 Geane and that teacher I don't want. They get married, 0:16:18.520 --> 0:16:21.920 raise their daughter together, and then a son too. They 0:16:21.960 --> 0:16:27.000 become grandparents together and then one morning, forty one years later. 0:16:27.600 --> 0:16:30.320 Over coffee, said I'm. 0:16:30.200 --> 0:16:33.360 Leaving her husband came clean about another woman he'd been seeing, 0:16:34.280 --> 0:16:36.680 But it wasn't long before Jean realized there were more. 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:41.160 He was having copious amounts of affairs. It was almost 0:16:41.160 --> 0:16:44.600 like a house of cards fell down. He's an expert 0:16:44.680 --> 0:16:47.680 con man. He swept me off my feet. It was 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.400 almost like that love that you know you think you're 0:16:50.400 --> 0:16:52.720 never ever going to find again, and then it all 0:16:52.840 --> 0:16:54.440 just kind of crash and I had to kind of 0:16:54.440 --> 0:16:55.560 weed through the betrayal. 0:16:56.000 --> 0:16:58.240 It didn't take much detective work for Gane to realize 0:16:58.240 --> 0:17:02.440 he'd been cheating since the start of their relationship, with friends, colleagues, 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:07.200 random women along the way. Jean was heartbroken. She still is, 0:17:07.800 --> 0:17:09.520 and it's tainted the way she looks at the. 0:17:09.520 --> 0:17:13.600 Past because I see a happy family, but I think, 0:17:13.920 --> 0:17:15.520 was he involved with this woman then? 0:17:16.400 --> 0:17:17.520 Or who is he involved with? 0:17:17.600 --> 0:17:21.600 Then? Jeane is done grieving. She no longer wants to 0:17:21.640 --> 0:17:22.640 look backwards. 0:17:22.960 --> 0:17:26.480 What is this next journey about for myself? Because I 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:28.840 feel like I'm at the brink of something. I just 0:17:28.880 --> 0:17:29.960 don't know what the break gets. 0:17:30.440 --> 0:17:32.960 I don't know what something is The truth is, Jean 0:17:33.080 --> 0:17:36.720 does not believe in astrology. She's had opportunities before to 0:17:36.760 --> 0:17:40.040 have her chart read, but she's never really seen the point. 0:17:40.440 --> 0:17:42.919 You know. My sister was into astrology, but you know, 0:17:43.040 --> 0:17:45.159 we all thought it was bullshit, you know, and I 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:48.640 always thought, like, please have a glass of wine, relax, 0:17:48.880 --> 0:17:51.040 it's more meaningful than this. 0:17:51.440 --> 0:17:54.960 But that was then Today, at seventy four, Jean recognizes 0:17:55.040 --> 0:17:58.520 how precious her time is over and over. She tells me, 0:17:59.040 --> 0:18:03.240 I've got ten years, ten good years to drink in 0:18:03.560 --> 0:18:06.480 all the richness of life already. 0:18:06.080 --> 0:18:08.560 Joes, you lyin't even down. 0:18:09.280 --> 0:18:12.840 And if there's any chance that astrology can unlock that secret, 0:18:13.760 --> 0:18:18.080 she's open to it. Oh and there's still the matter 0:18:18.119 --> 0:18:34.400 of the escorts. More on that after the break. Chapter three. 0:18:35.160 --> 0:18:36.040 Wheels that Work. 0:18:37.960 --> 0:18:40.040 You know, I don't think humans hang on two things 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:43.239 that don't work, Like the wheel is awesome, like we 0:18:43.280 --> 0:18:46.480 still use it. We don't say, oh, this wheel is 0:18:46.520 --> 0:18:49.720 out of date, Like, no, it's functional, right. So that's 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:51.760 the same thing with astrology, Like we don't study this 0:18:51.800 --> 0:18:53.000 stuff because it doesn't work. 0:18:59.320 --> 0:19:01.320 Over the summer, my friends and I started the search 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.440 for a house astrologer for this show. We thought hard 0:19:04.440 --> 0:19:08.720 about using Doctor Kamar, but I was reluctant. Looking back, 0:19:08.760 --> 0:19:12.520 it's obvious why Doctor Kamar's predictions had set off a 0:19:12.600 --> 0:19:15.720 chain of events that I just needed to compartmentalize away 0:19:15.720 --> 0:19:19.960 from this show. I needed a different experience, and Janelle 0:19:20.000 --> 0:19:25.720 Belgrave is definitely that. She is sunny and relentlessly encouraging, 0:19:25.840 --> 0:19:28.359 and the first time I chatted with her, I was 0:19:28.400 --> 0:19:31.800 smiling the whole time, like I love the way she 0:19:31.840 --> 0:19:35.400 peppered the conversation with this secret knowledge of just how 0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:36.840 pervasive astrology is. 0:19:37.480 --> 0:19:40.359 If you don't think there are multi billionaires using astrology 0:19:40.400 --> 0:19:42.560 to get ahead, let me tell you something. They're out there. 0:19:43.080 --> 0:19:45.240 I mean, that's what my whole show was supposed to 0:19:45.240 --> 0:19:48.600 peek into, but it was actually something more than that. 0:19:49.520 --> 0:19:52.240 As my little team of skeptics here talked about the production, 0:19:52.640 --> 0:19:56.440 we decided that using Janelle almost seemed faded. Like when 0:19:56.440 --> 0:19:59.119 Mary Amitra set out to find an astrologer for the show, 0:19:59.560 --> 0:20:02.760 they dependently made lists and somehow not only did they 0:20:02.760 --> 0:20:05.560 both find Janelle, but they both had her as their 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.679 top choice. So we chalked it up to destiny and 0:20:08.840 --> 0:20:13.720 rolled with it. Janelle's real New York too. She's from 0:20:13.800 --> 0:20:29.760 Queen's and her parents are immigrants from Panama. Janelle's doesn't 0:20:29.760 --> 0:20:32.400 sugarcoat things. So when I asked her about the birthdate 0:20:32.480 --> 0:20:36.840 for the show and the show's timing, well let's just 0:20:36.880 --> 0:20:40.080 say she was less optimistic than doctor Kamar, who told 0:20:40.080 --> 0:20:42.000 me this show was going to be a mega hit. 0:20:42.640 --> 0:20:46.400 So you guys said that it was May sixteenth, nine 0:20:46.480 --> 0:20:53.159 thirty nine am in Brooklyn, New York. Correct, Yeah, yeah, right, okay, okay, 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:58.200 So you guys are a torres sun, a cancer rising 0:20:58.440 --> 0:21:03.240 moon in Sagittarius. You guys planned this right under an eclipse, 0:21:03.600 --> 0:21:08.520 which is really interesting, not necessarily bad, but eclipse energy 0:21:08.520 --> 0:21:09.960 can be very volatile. 0:21:10.320 --> 0:21:14.159 Right, I guess I've got a temper my expectations. But 0:21:14.880 --> 0:21:18.480 even when Janelle's prepping you for a turbulent time ahead, 0:21:18.880 --> 0:21:20.520 I like how she's still encouraging. 0:21:21.400 --> 0:21:24.200 You're starting under a lot of retrogrades and that's okay, 0:21:24.520 --> 0:21:25.879 but you just have to know that you can have 0:21:25.960 --> 0:21:28.680 to be patient use that to your benefit. 0:21:30.800 --> 0:21:34.440 Now this isn't aside, but last year I started giving 0:21:34.560 --> 0:21:37.520 monsterra plants away to people who have been going through 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:41.760 hard things. It is a super instagrammable plant, but that's 0:21:41.800 --> 0:21:45.920 not why I like it. The monster is unusual. If 0:21:46.000 --> 0:21:50.680 left in the dark, exhibit something called negative phototropism, where 0:21:50.720 --> 0:21:54.120 all the new stems will actually grow into the darkness. 0:21:55.320 --> 0:21:58.080 It's a clever trick. In the jungle, darkness signals the 0:21:58.119 --> 0:22:01.520 presence of a larger tree, so the monster trusts that 0:22:01.720 --> 0:22:04.399 it can lean into the shadows and pool all of 0:22:04.400 --> 0:22:08.360 its energy into climbing that trunk because it believes sunlight 0:22:08.400 --> 0:22:14.480 will come. I like that reminder because I've needed that reminder. 0:22:15.080 --> 0:22:17.680 And that's what's so great about Janelle. The beauty she's 0:22:17.680 --> 0:22:21.000 found in reminding people that hope still exists. 0:22:22.240 --> 0:22:25.400 There's always hope in the darkest moments of our life. 0:22:25.920 --> 0:22:27.520 And when you look back and say, yeah, there was 0:22:27.520 --> 0:22:29.399 that some person that came to me that day and 0:22:29.440 --> 0:22:30.960 said something, and that was the thing I needed to 0:22:31.000 --> 0:22:34.160 get to the next day, and that next day was miraculous. 0:22:35.280 --> 0:22:37.159 There's a joy in pairing up a couple you have 0:22:37.200 --> 0:22:41.280 a good feeling about. Jane is so clearly yearning, and 0:22:41.680 --> 0:22:44.600 I wanted to witness what magic might come out when 0:22:44.600 --> 0:22:47.520 you put Jeanne and Janelle and all their. 0:22:47.440 --> 0:23:08.120 Stars and their stories in a room together. Chapter four. 0:23:08.720 --> 0:23:12.800 You don't want to waste a minute. It's months before 0:23:12.840 --> 0:23:15.280 I see Gene again. We are sitting in her apartment. 0:23:15.600 --> 0:23:18.840 This time it's my producer, Mitra and me, and we've 0:23:18.880 --> 0:23:22.920 set up a consult with Janelle. But twenty minutes in, 0:23:23.080 --> 0:23:26.760 everything is going wrong. Sound waves are flashing across laptop, 0:23:27.000 --> 0:23:31.359 but apparently it hasn't been taping. Worse, the backup recorder 0:23:31.440 --> 0:23:34.919 got jammed and then our batteries died. It's like this 0:23:35.000 --> 0:23:38.400 taping is jens. Of course, Janelle doesn't miss a beat. 0:23:39.000 --> 0:23:41.960 She makes a crack about eclipses and the universe, showing 0:23:42.040 --> 0:23:44.800 us just how real astrology is, and she reminds us 0:23:44.880 --> 0:23:47.280 that if we've tried this a few days from now, 0:23:47.880 --> 0:23:52.280 everything would have gone smoothly. We all laugh, but we 0:23:52.400 --> 0:23:52.920 try again. 0:23:53.680 --> 0:23:55.880 Okay, so where should we start? 0:23:56.119 --> 0:23:59.480 In my head, I'm screaming escorts. We've got to talk 0:23:59.480 --> 0:24:02.359 about s courts. If you listen to the tape from 0:24:02.400 --> 0:24:06.600 fifteen minutes ago, it is all static, but what you 0:24:06.640 --> 0:24:09.960 would have heard, what I wish we still had was 0:24:10.000 --> 0:24:13.680 the discussion and wear it again. Before Jean had even 0:24:13.720 --> 0:24:18.320 said the word escort, Janelle basically said, Jeane, your chart 0:24:18.440 --> 0:24:20.720 is telling me that you're meant to go enjoy yourself. 0:24:21.359 --> 0:24:24.840 The universe wants you to enjoy yourself. So go on dates, 0:24:24.880 --> 0:24:27.760 go on hikes, go have sex, go do the things 0:24:28.080 --> 0:24:34.160 that feel fun. But I don't have that tape because 0:24:34.480 --> 0:24:38.280 I started this show in an eclipse, and somehow it's 0:24:38.320 --> 0:24:41.600 easier to tell myself that to make that the excuse 0:24:42.080 --> 0:24:45.080 than to stop Gene from taking the conversation in the 0:24:45.119 --> 0:24:46.760 direction she needs it to go. 0:24:50.080 --> 0:24:52.720 I have been feeling like I'm on the edge of something, 0:24:52.800 --> 0:24:54.600 but I don't know what that looks like. 0:24:54.720 --> 0:24:57.840 Huh, I gotcha. Okay, So I actually want to take you 0:24:57.920 --> 0:25:01.560 back to your last new moon that you had. So basically, 0:25:01.560 --> 0:25:03.480 this is just to show you that there's no such 0:25:03.560 --> 0:25:06.199 thing as like linear time in astrology. So when we 0:25:06.320 --> 0:25:09.160 are at a new moon phase in our life, it's 0:25:09.200 --> 0:25:12.760