GenX Women are Sick of This Shit!
GenX Women are Sick of This Shit is a nostalgic nod to the humans of GenX. Each episode, co-hosts Megan Bennett and Lesley Meier have a long, rambling, ADHD driven conversation about GenX history and pop culture using their own lives and experiences as the backdrop. The podcast is a creative project inspired by the Facebook group 'GenX Women are Sick of This Shit', created by Megan Bennett in 2023. "Five Minutes of Fame" stories and "Dear GenX Women" letters are sent in by listeners and members of the Facebook group and are shared with consent. The original Facebook group is a mosh pit of menopausal women talking about all things GenX culture and life in the 70s, 80s and 90s as well as being a GenXer today. GenX Women are Sick of This Shit is part of Latchkey Kids Media, LLC where we make things we like because we want to. Copyright 2024, Latchkey Kids Media, LLC
GenX Women are Sick of This Shit!
S2E5:Puppies, Periods, and Pac-Man Cereal: An After School Special
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What do breakfast cereals, women's health concerns, and government overreach have in common? They're all part of the rich tapestry of Gen X experiences that Megan and Lesley explore in this wide-ranging, authentic conversation.
The episode opens with exciting puppy news as Megan introduces her new emotional support puppy, Olive! Lesley transparently shares her recent postmenopausal health scare, walking listeners through her experience seeking prompt medical care. The good news? Everything turned out benign. The more important message? Women's health matters, and places like Planned Parenthood provide critical services for those without insurance or primary care access. (PS Lesley does know that 'Waiting for Godot' was written by Samuel Beckett - she does not have to hand in her theater kid card.)
Who died this week? The promoter of the Foreman Grill! (And Professional Boxer!) RIP George Foreman.
Shifting gears, the hosts address disturbing trends in civil liberties, focusing on a Venezuelan soccer player seeking asylum who was detained without due process. Their passionate discussion highlights concerns many Gen X women share about government overreach and the protection of basic rights. Shout out to the beloved Chatterbox Jazz Club! (Don't be an asshole people.)
The conversation then dives into breakfast cereal nostalgia in all its sugary glory. From Wheaties boxes featuring Olympic heroes to character-branded cereals like Mr. T and Pac-Man, the hosts explore how cereal marketing exploded alongside mothers entering the workforce. Remember those miniature cereal boxes that transformed into cereal bowls? Or the excitement of digging for plastic prizes that sometimes ended up stuck to your ceiling? These shared memories illuminate how convenience foods shaped our generation and continue to influence food culture today.
Throughout it all, Megan and Lesley maintain their signature blend of humor, vulnerability, and no-nonsense commentary that makes listeners feel like they're catching up with old friends. Whether discussing serious health concerns or debating which cereal was most likely to "cut your face open," their authentic connection shines through.
Share your own cereal memories! Tell us about your fave
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I'm Megan Bennett, I'm Leslie Meyer and this is Gen X. Women Are Sick of this Shit.
Speaker 2:Hi Leslie, Hi Megan, how are you? I am fabulous.
Speaker 1:That question just gets more loaded every time we have one of these podcasts.
Speaker 2:I know like what am I supposed to say? I don't know the real answer, the real answer, but functionally in this moment, other than being a little sleepy, I'm good. It's Sunday morning.
Speaker 1:It is Sunday morning. This is a fun Sunday morning. I'm glad I get to spend it with you. Oh you gave me all the warm fuzzies.
Speaker 2:It's true, I'm glad you're spending it with me too, and I know you're giving up a lot right now.
Speaker 1:I have a puppy.
Speaker 2:Because you have a special friend at your house. I do.
Speaker 1:I got a puppy yesterday. I feel really special. It's my emotional support puppy. What is your puppy called? My puppy's name is Olive Olive. She's sweet. She's nine weeks old. She slept very well last night and I didn't, but that's okay. I was just waiting. I was like she's going to get up any second.
Speaker 2:Oh the old mom hypervigilance kicks right back in.
Speaker 1:It's like having a baby.
Speaker 2:Just flips and you're like what's wrong?
Speaker 1:Any second she's going to wake up, oh my.
Speaker 2:God. Yeah, I think that's half the reason that we want our kids to move out eventually is that we can sort of pretend they don't exist anymore, Like in the kindest, most loving way. But that switch is incredibly difficult to turn off internally.
Speaker 1:It's really hard. Once there's another living being dependent upon your existence, you do have, at least for me, with mine out of the house. Now there's still sometimes those moments where I'm like I wonder did she make it home? Okay, you know, and then I'll hop on my phone and make sure that she's always supposed to be but sure but once I know she's either at her boyfriend's house or her place, I'm fine, I can sleep, yep.
Speaker 1:And then I got a puppy and then you got a puppy yep, so got up sunday morning, came over, saw you and half my pajamas you look great.
Speaker 2:Thanks, so do you you look great for a new mom. Oh thanks. Did you ever get some of those like bizarro backhanded compliments? You look great for a new mom, oh you just gave birth.
Speaker 1:Oh you look amazing your hair looks great there's somebody who just rolled out of bed. When was the last time?
Speaker 2:you showered. I'm like shower Shower. We don't do that shit as an infant. We don't bathe anymore. How do I leave it alone long enough?
Speaker 1:to go into the shower. No, you don't, you don't, you don't you don't Okay.
Speaker 2:we have a point today.
Speaker 1:We are doing an after-school special. I mean in as much as we ever have a point with our. We get to make up the rules so we can do anything we want. These are our rules.
Speaker 2:Our show that is hyper-specific to our own experience.
Speaker 1:Yes, so this one is a little bit less structured than the others.
Speaker 2:Yes, which is funny, it's an after-school special, that's right. And we're going to be talking about I'm going to put the show notes up at the front here we're going to talk about two, maybe two things. Definitely one thing breakfast cereals breakfast cereal because I just ate breakfast before we got started, and then we also talked about book fairs. Yeah, so let's go last we might get there we might get there.
Speaker 1:If not, we'll tack it onto the back end of something else.
Speaker 2:For sure, and then we have just some life update stuff. So let's start there. You want to talk about the life update stuff? Last episode last, when last we met, I was having a little bit of a medical issue some postmenopausal bleeding and so called right away and got all the appointments. We have a miraculous same day women's clinic on the north side of Indianapolis and they were able to get me in in like three days and I went for an ultrasound. All of the people who assisted me every step of the way were wonderful. Nobody was stressed about anything. So I did my ultrasound and went and sat down for like two minutes and then met with the doctor, nurse, nurse practitioner. But the new step up, probably that one. We're going to say that.
Speaker 1:I was going to get there at some point.
Speaker 2:Thank you, I appreciate that that and we had a quick conversation and whenever, just like the findings of the ultrasound, uh, we went ahead and did a biopsy that day, which was unexpected. So just in terms of like what you might run into while you hit, your mic this happens. Yeah, um, oh. And my ultrasound in my brain.
Speaker 2:I was imagining a pregnancy ultrasound yeah, you know, like, yeah, like on your belly transvaginal baby up in there and I was like oh all right, okay, I'm gonna make out with this for a while, I guess, uh, hey, a little to the right just in terms of and like, not comfortable, right, because you're like trying to get at specific parts. Right, I'm gesturing.
Speaker 1:You're just jamming it in there Doing other things, so it's a lot of like. Did they have you in stirrups? You were in stirrups too, like the whole thing, oh yeah, lovely.
Speaker 2:So I mean great. Yeah, I'm glad it's. You're trying to get views of like both of your ovaries and your uterus. Sure, Things look different after the menopause. Everything shrinks a little bit In case you didn't know. We've got a whole episode we do. Clitoris just fine, in perfect shape. That's not what I was there for, but I know that we're hanging in Excellent, excellent, so got all that done. The bean Was not necessarily expecting the biopsy that day, but it was sort of like.
Speaker 2:I could make another appointment and come back, which seemed dumb, described that really well. It is, you know, like pop a little like thin thread up through your cervix, not comfy. And they're taking a little tissue sample, also not comfy, but knocked all that out and I think it was. That was on a Friday, so I probably got the results back like it was Wednesday or Thursday, so pretty quick. Yeah, everything's fine.
Speaker 1:That's awesome.
Speaker 2:Everything was benign which is great.
Speaker 1:I know you were, I know.
Speaker 2:Well, we were all worried and it's, you know, it's 6%, right. Like with all the like information that I did have, I was down to like 6% or less, right, you know, and some might have even said like 1% to 2% chance, but your brain fixates on the 6%, 6% seems like a lot of percent when you're dealing with that absolutely and from our generation, like many of the vaccines that are available now for young people to prevent uterine cancer.
Speaker 2:We didn't have that the viruses associated with that uh didn't exist for us, I think they've raised the age now to like is it 40?
Speaker 1:I think so.
Speaker 2:So yeah, so had they done that a few years ago we would have been fine but now we're like, yeah, outside of the range, right, um for that, and just like there is a tiny. You know, I think my grandmother had a fairly large uterine tumor growth and in her older age, like in her late 70s, early to mid 80s, and she elected not to. You know they were pretty sure it was benign, but she's she wasn't.
Speaker 1:In her 80s she was like yeah, I don't want to mess with those lady exams and that kind of thing.
Speaker 2:Um, and she lived to be 93, so 99% sure it was not a cancerous thing, but we also didn't experience the negative consequences of that, if it was Right. So just you know, yeah. And then my mom died when she was really young. So also not a lot of medical history in terms of lady things, right?
Speaker 1:So you just kind of hang on to that and wait to get the news and your mind does all kinds of bad things and you go to bad places and I'm glad that that was all for not all for not, and we also have sort of like a baseline for what things look like right now should I be bleeding? Oh, that's really good.
Speaker 1:You know what I mean so they're like you have a comparative yeah, and you had just started well, not just started, but you had recently started hormone replacement therapy, so that, yeah, had something to do with it, right, like we think probably like bleeding outside of the first six months is considered unusual okay so I have been on it for six months.
Speaker 2:It's not unusual to have bleeding in that first six months, but what we think, based on the results and all of that, is just like my progesterone was a little bit too low. Okay, so we've upped that and, should I have any other issues, you are going to sleep like a baby too.
Speaker 1:Progesterone is lovely.
Speaker 2:So we're going to up that and then see how things go. Okay, good, there you go.
Speaker 1:Good PSA just go do the things, go do the. It's not that it's fun. Nobody wants to go do it.
Speaker 2:Nope, and I just paid my bill right, so it's money. Yeah, depending on your insurance coverage.
Speaker 1:But women's, we have to do these things. We've got to take care of ourselves.
Speaker 2:And if you don't have health insurance and you don't have a primary care physician right now, like, these are the life-saving services that Planned Parenthood can provide to you and you can get in there for an appointment for a very low fee. They offer lots of financial support, like they provide vital life-saving care for women. Yep, absolutely.
Speaker 1:So go there. My daughter actually went to play parenthood in new york and because she just birth control issues, she wanted to get an iud. She got that then then expelled that which apparently is like can happen um you know, I guess if it, if you have your first period and it comes shooting out, then you're probably not a great candidate for it. So now she's got, she went back to shooting out.
Speaker 2:That's a very good one, sorry, g. Thanks for the info.
Speaker 1:But she went back in and they gave her like we don't have it in Indiana as far as I know. But she said it's like a hair tie, like this little hair tie thing that just goes, pop it right up in there and it's like ninety, nine percent and what I know.
Speaker 2:I just like float around up in your space.
Speaker 1:See, we don't have it here, it's all magic we have like frontier medicine in indiana. So I don't know, at best right now, magic medicine and we're allowed to have.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so anyway, not dissing my medical care was amazing. Thank goodness for having all of the women that I had. Yeah and there. You know, there may or may not be some people who may or may not be actively advocating against women's health right now. Oh, there are oh there are, without naming names and using threats and intimidation against doctors who provide vital life-saving care, and lawsuits and all the things Yep, yep.
Speaker 1:So support those people who support women, and that's great. We do recommend also menopauseorg as a resource. If you are having any issues, you need a provider. You don't have a provider. There is a provider list on that website. Yes, there's so many, so many good resources. If you just have questions of like what the fuck is happening to my body, it is a really good resource, and I think there is a Canadian version yes, that's what I was and a European version.
Speaker 2:If you are questioning the validity or the accuracy of resources in the United States, which you should right now Sure yeah.
Speaker 2:Because information is getting removed from pages all the time, Although we have no reason to believe that menopauseorg has been affected in that way. There is the British Menopause Society and the National Health Service in the UK has a lot of information up there. Of course you're not going to be able to find providers through there, but they do have accurate information. They have the same thing in Canada. God bless the people in Canada who are quickly saving pages from the CDC as quickly as they are getting pulled down.
Speaker 2:So there are places where information is being saved. Yep, there's our activism for the day.
Speaker 1:I am so glad for you, though, and for me, because I'd be very sad without you, lady fucking suck, wouldn't it?
Speaker 2:it would, and then we would have to talk about do you know what? This podcast would be like with just me. You would be talking, awful, and then it would be like like like where I was gonna fill in, and then you would just sit and you'd be like hi, leslie, leslie pause, uh-huh, uh-huh and then at one point you would like be me, maybe you would like switch seats and you would like be going back and forth. This is a whole pinter play. I think we're writing right now. Who are you waiting?
Speaker 1:for, oh my god, I just give myself a marionette.
Speaker 2:It's a single person waiting for Godot, but you're like playing yourself and the voice in your brain, which is me. Rabbit holes, Rabbit holes.
Speaker 1:I'm telling you, I'm this close to crazy. I can carry on a full conversation with myself, but I'd rather not. Yeah, it's more fun this way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I think so. It's more unexpected. You don't know what's going on in our mouths when we're together.
Speaker 1:Nope.
Speaker 2:Hey.
Speaker 1:Megan yes, ma'am who died this week, well, so Last-.
Speaker 2:No, it was this week.
Speaker 1:This week, last week, I am trying very hard to stay off of social media and out of the news, so I was surprised to learn that two days ago Mr George Foreman, the boxer, passed away.
Speaker 2:But we don't know him as a boxer. We don't really know him as a boxer. I mean, we knew he was a boxer, but we never saw him box.
Speaker 1:It wasn't like you know, he just wasn't our generation.
Speaker 2:No, yeah. When was George Foreman born? Watch box 49. 1949.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so he was pretty much. I suspect he was probably 26 years older than my grandmother or younger than my grandmother, we would have been pretty young when George Foreman was out there beating people up, but us 90s college age kids know him for what Well, you tell me, because I will admit I never owned one, but I know that you skirted some rules.
Speaker 2:We did. This should go in the infomercial. Oh my gosh, yeah, in the world of infomercials. Being a college student in the very early 90s we had the invention of the foreman grill and there were.
Speaker 1:I'm looking at pictures right now. There were very many there were very many very many variations.
Speaker 2:It had just come out so it was like a really small. It could maybe hold two patties okay. So so we would use this thing right. Oh, does this say vintage, Vintage George Foreman grilling machine? This is exactly what I had in my dorm and it had this little plastic drip tray and you could cook a burger on it Now? Did they clean that before they put it up for sale? Yes I mean, but literally, this is what we're talking about, these things.
Speaker 1:That's what it looks like clean. That's it there you go they.
Speaker 2:so we would skirt many because you weren't allowed to have open flame or open cooking devices in your dorm. But we all know that sometimes you need some snacks, you need a burger. We had microwaves. We could do like mac and cheese. I had a panini machine. Those came out kind of at the same time when was I in college, 91. So we could make little girl cheese sandwiches or, upon occasion, burgers. I don't think it lasted longer than my freshman year because the reality was they were a fucking pain in the ass to clean I mean it looks like it would be.
Speaker 2:Yeah, these weird little forks that you had to like push the grease off of and you can't immerse it in water and like grease is going everywhere, like it's disgusting, um, but this is why did it make a good burger. Yeah, I mean, it just cooked things. You know, it's just like an electric grill, so you just close. It Could have been a waffle iron. You probably could have slapped a burger in there too, and it would have worked out okay.
Speaker 1:Oh, there you go, it would be the same.
Speaker 2:Just, yeah, just flip it over halfway through, but they were. I mean, I think the thing that we most remember about these really were the fucking infomercials I mean, he was cooking everything everything was cooked on a foreman grill.
Speaker 1:It's everything. Later they had, like they had stands.
Speaker 2:They were like you know you could, oh, like big girls, look at that.
Speaker 1:Oh, they're still on amazon you too get a george foreman, good lord grill-y grill Grill.
Speaker 2:So then one might wonder why you just don't fucking buy a grill Right At this point, because you love George?
Speaker 1:Foreman.
Speaker 2:You do. I'm getting myself a George.
Speaker 1:Well, and then I think there was this feeling, right or wrong?
Speaker 2:Producer Tim is showing us the schematics. I don't need to know any of this information.
Speaker 1:The George Foreman grill is 27 and a half inches by.
Speaker 2:How does this one work? I don't know why Wasn't there?
Speaker 1:like this feeling, though, that it was healthier. That was how it was sold.
Speaker 2:But they would just kind of tilt it and so the grease just slides off, Like okay. I mean, the same thing happens when you're grilling the grease drips down into your grill.
Speaker 1:But whatever your bratwurst is still going to be fat filled, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Nitrites and nitrates.
Speaker 1:It's filled with cancer, you're still going to die. Eat it, but look they throw some asparagus on there and everything, some onions and carrots, throw it in there. It's delicious, it's so good.
Speaker 2:Apartment approved my it's a good fucking thing. Oh, I guess that's true. Yeah, if you got like a little balcony, okay, george, I'll give you that RIP. I hope your estate makes money forever. I hope so. On the girls.
Speaker 1:I think George Foreman had lots of children. Am I making that up? No, I think you're right. So maybe they're going to live off of the millions and billions of dollars that, george Foreman, how many? Twelve oh?
Speaker 2:that's pretty good. I said ten.
Speaker 1:I just found that knowledge in the back of my brain that he had lots of kids.
Speaker 2:Does he have a lot of kids?
Speaker 1:Wow, okay, I can't remember what I had for dinner.
Speaker 2:They're all lovely. Look at them.
Speaker 1:Well, they're rolling in.
Speaker 2:George Foreman real money. We don't know that for sure. Well, we don't. We don't know what they got, but they are all lovely.
Speaker 1:So that's who died this week. Well, I think that's sad and he has many, many children and hopefully they will all live well off of the George Foreman grill and many other things, his, his whole legacy, legacy, yeah.
Speaker 2:We don't have a good conclusion to this it was mostly just about the girls and he died and I was like man, that is there. Gen.
Speaker 1:X women are sick of the shit is supported by Lylas Love you Like a sis, a Gen X women's social club. What's Lylas, Megan? Lylas is our off platform off the books of faces, off all of the other traditional social media. It is our space and place for Gen X women to come together, have conversations, meet each other. It's a social club.
Speaker 2:It is a social club. It's a membership-based club. Memberships are $10 a month. That does help support us in growing the platform. We purchased a platform that would host a network of women so that you could come together and meet each other in real time.
Speaker 1:In a safer space than a traditional social media platform and a much more personal space. So what do we do there, Leslie we?
Speaker 2:host movie nights where we live stream some of our favorites as they are available to us for group watches of films from the 70s, 80s and 90s. We host a space for a monthly book club. We host trivia nights once a month we have a live text chat prizes even four prizes.
Speaker 2:That's true, um, we, the space, is able to host like weekly text chats so that you can kind of check in in real time with people. I would say the critical difference between kind of what this space is and any other social media space that I've experienced is that it is active.
Speaker 1:You will have to engage in it or be engaged in it by other people, so it's not like a passive consumption thing, it's like making connections, yep, and if that's what you're looking for the opportunity to meet other people, to find people who are maybe in the same similar spaces as you are.
Speaker 2:Like-minded, same time phase of life, navigating all of those transitions.
Speaker 1:Then, this might be the right place for you, so check out Lylas. You can learn more about it at genxwomen podcom.
Speaker 2:So, before we talk about fun certainly yes, let's talk about shit that we are sick of. Oh, the list keeps growing. The list is growing moment by moment, mentally.
Speaker 1:Day to day, every time I turn on the TV or, hour by hour, read the New York Times or God forbid, look at social media. Leslie, you know what I'm sick of? Tell me what you're sick of today, megan. I am so sick of the fact that now, apparently, due process is something that we're just not going to do anymore.
Speaker 2:It does not exist. Don't need it. Good luck. Don't need it. Don't get searched at an airport.
Speaker 1:Be careful at the airports. Apparently, due process isn't a thing anymore, where there was a gentleman who was a soccer player from Venezuela, who left Venezuela because he literally was being tortured by their government, comes to the US, gets registered for asylum the right way, the right way, the right way. Uh, he then gets um. The alien enemies act means that somebody can come into his house, the fbi and or and or. They can come to your house without a warrant. Yeah, they think that you are an alien enemy which is not like aliens like you know it's not that kind of alien they can go to your house.
Speaker 1:They can yank you out of your house. They can send you to an el salvadorian prison, yes, without ever going to see a judge. Yeah, prove that. That is, in fact, who the heck you are like. You are really a criminal so this guy they claim that he is a member of a of a venezuelan gang. He is not. He is a soccer player.
Speaker 1:He has a tattoo that they claim is a, a tattoo that you would have as a member of this gang. It is not. The tattoo artist has signed an affidavit saying that no, it's a soccer tattoo, dude Right. And he's now in a El Salvadorian prison and no one knows how to get him out. No one knows anything Like he, just he's been disappeared. And this is where we are.
Speaker 1:This is where we are right now, and it makes me so furious because, if we've done away with due process, there is literally nothing protecting anybody who is an American citizen.
Speaker 2:Absolutely not.
Speaker 1:I mean not that that means that anybody else should have to go through that either. It just means like when the gloves are off, man, the gloves are off.
Speaker 2:So, here, we are and don't say anything disparaging about the current administration I'm starting to get worried about that if you are traveling, no shit airlines and they choose to inspect your devices you have to get a burner phone.
Speaker 1:so to go overseas, seriously, yeah, that's where we are anyway. I don, I don't want to harp on it, it's just something I'm really fucking sick of. This is just getting worse and worse and I don't know what we do. I don't know what happens. Keep talking about it. We keep talking about it until they.
Speaker 2:Dear listeners, if we're not here one week, if we ever have to miss an episode, we will announce it Please.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, please find us in the El Salvadorian prison or the.
Speaker 2:ADHD camp that we'll be. Yeah on the organic farm. On that note, anyway, that was a bummer, sorry. It's important. We need to keep talking about it.
Speaker 1:Similar to talking about like things on a local level, like where the truth isn't the truth anymore and facts can be sort of invented and things can be selectively shared by someone who lives in our city, who is an influencer, who set up the bartender, she and her friends came into the bar.
Speaker 2:They misgendered the bartender, they misgendered a couple of other people.
Speaker 1:Yep, they said some really shitty, nasty things and were told to leave. And then she came back with her little maga hat on and filmed, filmed everything and was then asked to leave again because.
Speaker 2:And then selectively shared right and selectively shared that part, as if to generate outrage and to get attention. Uh, for, and her business, which is no longer available on the Internet as of this moment, and, of course, indianapolis being the fantastic place that it is, has rallied around that bar.
Speaker 1:Especially that Mass Avenue area. They put out a statement. It was lovely to see that it was awesome.
Speaker 2:And we were down there on Mass Ave yesterday hanging out and it's the same welcoming place. Yeah, it has always been, as long as you're not an asshole.
Speaker 1:Yeah, don't be an asshole, don't be an asshole.
Speaker 2:That's the key Like we don't give a shit and you have to, like, make an effort to be an asshole.
Speaker 1:You really do, because it's not like I swear if that person would have just walked in the first time with a dumb hat, like that, I mean they.
Speaker 2:I mean you would have probably gotten some looks, because there would be sort of a curiosity about like why you realize we have trans flags and you know all the rainbows everywhere. Yes, like why would questions, but you're not going to be told to not be there, correct, correct?
Speaker 1:you had to create that environment yourself and they did this is happening more and more and we just have to stand by each other and and be the best allies that we can for everybody. Fuck yeah, sister, so huh shall we talk about? Let's talk about something more fun, shall we?
Speaker 2:Breakfast cereals of the 80s.
Speaker 1:We're going to escape back to the 80s and breakfast in the 80s. So we do this is the worst transition ever.
Speaker 2:It is really bad Basically. Here's the transition. I ate breakfast right before you got here and I had some cereal and I walked in and I said what if we talk about breakfast cereals of the 80s?
Speaker 1:And I said fuck yeah, because I love cereal.
Speaker 2:I was like sweet, and then we looked up cereals and then we had conversations about cereals.
Speaker 1:So what was so funny about freaking cereals in the 80s is, holy shit. Every brand, every TV show, every cartoon, every superhero, every whatever had a freaking cereal named after them. Yes, Like there was Mr T cereal, yes absolutely.
Speaker 2:That's all you need to know, so is Mr T cereal. We go way back. Like I'm a little bit curious. I'm certain there's a website somewhere about the history of cereal like, the development of dry cereals and cereals that are eaten with milk and the transition from like the 70s to the commercialism of the 80s, which we have talked about before. Like, when was the first like bed sheet with a character? Printed on it it was probably like Cowboys or Howdy Doody or something like that.
Speaker 2:But my early memories of eating cereal as a child, like we were a like raisin bran family I fucking love the fuck out of raisins. So I think I was made to eat healthy cereals, but because I loved raisins, I was like all about it.
Speaker 1:Did you ever put a little bit of extra sugar on raisin bran?
Speaker 2:I didn't. Okay, I would dump extra raisins in my raisin.
Speaker 1:Okay, well, the raisins are sweet, they are sweet, so that works.
Speaker 2:I think that that was some of it. I didn't extra sweeten it, but it launched from there. Yeah, I mean, this was not the other cereals that I remember from my childhood but that I didn't like were Wheaties. Oh, yeah, but the Wheaties were popular because they would just put there was like the athlete of the month or whatever that would be on the box of the michael jordans and the yeah absolutely uh mary lou retton was a wheaties girl, I think.
Speaker 2:Right, yeah yes, we were talking about whether or not oj simpson was on a wheaties box.
Speaker 1:Probably, probably there we go, don't know, probably p.
Speaker 2:Probably Pete Rose, I'm certain was on a Wheaties box.
Speaker 1:Yeah, 100% yeah.
Speaker 2:So maybe at some point they decided to stop doing that.
Speaker 1:We should probably look a little closer at some of these people before we start putting them on boxes, because you don't know, Like who knew what's going to? Happen. Oh, serena Williams, venus and Serena.
Speaker 2:Look at that, there's Mary Lou. Oh good, okay, so is this still a thing that they still put athletes on? I mean they must right these boxes even in the 2020s. Oh, simone Biles, what? There you go. Also tells you how long it's been box man, that was awesome look, michael Jordan, it function has not really changed in design.
Speaker 1:No, that logo is exactly the same, isn't?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 1:Oh, bruce Jenner Bless Fun.
Speaker 2:That's a whole other.
Speaker 1:Billie.
Speaker 2:Jean King Fuck, yeah, yeah, wheaties.
Speaker 1:Amazing, it is wild, that logo hasn't changed at all.
Speaker 2:Wait, wait, go down to the boxer, is that?
Speaker 1:Oh, that one's Mike Tyson, mike Tyson.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I like that you can get on a weedy's box, download the just the weedy's logo and create your own if you wanted to.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. We should make a weedy's box with our faces on it. So talk about a cereal that was iconic, but like we never fucking ate that yeah I never ate weedy's I never ate life.
Speaker 1:I don't care how many times somebody said mikey liked it. I was like I don't even know what this is, but I'm not eating it.
Speaker 2:But when you say that Life cereal, I know exactly what that box looks like.
Speaker 1:You sure do, and you can picture the commercial.
Speaker 2:Yes, so great marketing Way to go. Too bad, that was one of the Mikey's gone. Oh, Kroger still exists.
Speaker 1:One of the by Quaker, biggest advertising campaigns of all time, really Most successful advertising campaigns of all time.
Speaker 2:I wonder, why Isn't that interesting?
Speaker 1:Because you and I are still sitting here on a sofa. Talking about it, 40 years later, talking about it.
Speaker 2:So then we looked at, like this giant picture of all of the different cereal boxes in the world. I think this in the United States in the 1980s.
Speaker 1:So the cereal thing, like it, started with oatmeal, right Like oatmeal and like whoa Okay Shit, what was it? There was one that was like like a malted choco malt oh fucking cocoa wheats Well no, this was like like a malted choco malt, something fucking cocoa wheats well no, this was like a.
Speaker 2:Well maybe is it. Cocoa wheat was like I grew up eating the shit out of cocoa? Yes, it was a hot cereal. My mom, to make it palatable, would put a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the middle oh, that sounds nutritious so good Because, like cocoa eats was really, it was like almost molten, like you couldn't really if you cooked it the appropriate amount of time. It was like eating lava. So in order to get it cooled fast enough to eat before we, went to school, Leslie.
Speaker 2:It's time for cocoa lava Pretty much she would like put some ice cream in it and then it added like a little bit of vanilla flavor and it would cool it down and I would be eating it in the car on my way to school. Okay, all right, that was delicious.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think that was early. That was like you know, that stuff's been around for ages. That was in the late 70s, I remember, so I was probably 6, 7, 8 when I was eating that, but I bet you like that cereal is even older.
Speaker 2:I think that is like a cocoa wheat, because it's like cream of wheat cereal. Cocoa wheat's hot cereal. Yeah, this was what I would eat. Yeah, and that logo has been around forever too Since 1930, post cocoa wheat's has been the creamy hot cereal of choice, enriched with five vitamins iron, and with no added salt or sugar. No added salt or sugar, if y'all want to hire me to do some voice work for you. I'm happy to do so. It's delicious Cocoa Weets. It's delicious. It is delicious. I love that stuff.
Speaker 1:So that's been around for a blooming long time.
Speaker 2:And it kind of comes out of like I think of that as like porridge Right Right, yeah, old timey, old timey, old timey cereal.
Speaker 1:Old timey cereal. We had in Indianapolis. I don't know that we still. I don't know that it's still around, but there was two or there was one big cereal factory that's over by tell me this this feels like a like. I'm totally not making this up, I swear um, but they're like it's over by iupui or india, indiana indiana university at indianapolis is what it is now but it's on the other side of from where we?
Speaker 1:are yes, and it's on the west side big like metal, you know silos or whatever, and you would drive past it and it would smell like cooking cereal, like they were like cooking whatever okay, um, I know please look it up hand google.
Speaker 2:Okay, there was. There was Ciroline Manufacturing Company with India. Oh, interesting, it's on the state website. We're way off y'all, I'm so sorry. Fascinating Ciroline Manufacturing Company. In the late 1800s, railroads and new technology opened national markets to Midwest producers, including Indiana. A leader in corn products, joseph Ghent, patented operations and devices to mass-produce flaked corn. Gaff Ghent and Thomas Co began making cerealine flakes here circa 1880, a precursor to cold breakfast cereal. It was also used as a malt alternative by brewers.
Speaker 1:Kingmaker Foods is also in Indianapolis. They're up in Zionsville, so they make cereal.
Speaker 2:Evidently there's a reason why we're talking about cereal. There's a long history we can't get away from it in.
Speaker 1:Indianapolis. We can't get away from it. So okay, as a kid. So you were eating cocoa wheats. Yes, what was your?
Speaker 2:So you can tell we were a little granola Like. It was like raisin bran and cocoa wheats.
Speaker 1:You were a little crunchy crunchy, that kind of stuff.
Speaker 2:But then my brother came along.
Speaker 1:Okay.
Speaker 2:And then my mother had two children. All that went out the window because we had the invention of cinnamon toast crunch.
Speaker 1:Okay, which is that the one that will cut your face open uh, I don't know we can or is that the?
Speaker 2:who also has a fetish for cinnamon toast crunch. He loves it so much, or?
Speaker 1:captain, maybe it's captain crunch was the one that supposedly has a reputation for like, like cutting the inside of your cheeks probably.
Speaker 2:So chime in. Let us know, I did eat the shit out of some apple jacks. I think that was the sweetest cereal I have a oh God, Golden Grahams, Sorry my bad.
Speaker 1:I have a box of Apple Jacks in my cupboard right now.
Speaker 2:Do you really? I do, and I just saw.
Speaker 1:Sugar Crisps. Go by with the super sugar crisps with the little bear.
Speaker 2:I see that up there.
Speaker 1:Those were fun. Those look like little oats. For sure, for sure, they were super sweet, but they were really yummy, super sugar crisp by post.
Speaker 2:I like that that's amazing.
Speaker 1:Mine, the one that I miss right now that I I actually went looking for to see like please tell me this still exists is alphabets. Do you remember alphabets? I do so. That was a post cereal as well. Okay, gone, like you can't get it anymore, but I'm like I had a hunker. A hunker or a craving I was hankering for a hunk of alphabets.
Speaker 2:So that's it, though like hankering for a hunk of cheese, was that? Cheese yeah, and then the little piece of cheese.
Speaker 1:If we're gonna talk about after school specials, that we should probably talk, that's the truth.
Speaker 2:I think that was the same. Oh, okay, there's one. Do you remember Cookie Crisp.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 2:They look like little chocolate chip cookies right. That was there and there were like tons of cartoons. We talked about this on the Christmas episode with, like the Pac-Man Christmas, like everybody had a Christmas show in the 80s.
Speaker 1:Everybody has a cereal.
Speaker 2:So there's Pac-Man, batman, smurfs, the C-3PO's, the C-3PO's.
Speaker 1:Which is actually pretty clever. Did you like Trix? Uh, the one with the rabbit.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, tricks for kids. We didn't have it, but I do remember that, and tricks are for kids, yep.
Speaker 1:We ate so many tricks.
Speaker 2:There were people that had lots and lots of feelings about the monster cereals like the Boo Berry and the. Count Chocula and the Frankenberry. Those went away for a while and then were brought back early 2000s Like for Halloween right. Just a seasonal kind of cereal thing that would come out.
Speaker 1:There's a Donkey Kong cereal Rainbow Brite cereal I didn't have those A Gremlin cereal.
Speaker 2:Did you ever eat that?
Speaker 1:No, indiana Jones cereal. Really I can't imagine that. Look at that.
Speaker 2:Look, Harrison Ford's throwing a whip at you on that cereal box. He's like, so Whip it.
Speaker 1:We wonder why we're into like romanticine novels.
Speaker 2:now, as adults, you have a lusty Harrison Ford with a whip on the front of your breakfast cereal box.
Speaker 1:It's only one step away from erotica.
Speaker 2:Basically, you just read the back of that shit.
Speaker 1:you're like fetishes that are my, eat my that and the indiana cereal explains a lot.
Speaker 2:Oh, here we go so yeah, so inside your cereal cereal toys.
Speaker 1:Cereal toys were so fun, like the crap that was in the box yes um, the wacky wall walkers that, oh yeah, I remember that, those little, and they came in all kinds of different colors and they were little like octopusy guys, right, uh-huh, with all their little tentacles and they stuck to things.
Speaker 2:They were really gooey and supposedly you would like they would climb down your walls, but if you were a real asshole as a child, you would throw it and stick it to your ceiling, from whence it would never come down. And when it did, when you moved out of your house 35 years later and somebody finally had to tear that petrified thing down Eating their cereal, minding their own business, and it splashes into their bowl. It left the nastiest dark, greasy spot on your ceiling or walls.
Speaker 1:It's very specific, I do remember getting in a little bit of trouble for throwing a wacky wall walker at a wall.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's what they're for.
Speaker 1:The backs of the cereal boxes were always kind of fun too. Some of them would have puzzles and things like that.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 1:I remember you could send away for glasses, oh sure, like juice glasses. So many things With, like, your proofs of purchase.
Speaker 2:Just saying yes, I've eaten five boxes of your incredibly fortified sugary corn syrup.
Speaker 1:I almost still have my teeth.
Speaker 2:Look, you could get a free ET storybook album offer. The disappointing thing, I think, through the 80s, is that I as a child was very aware that the toys were getting shittier and shittier, so that by the time there was anything in the box like in high school even we'd gone to like pure junk. It's the same thing like the toys that used to be in happy meals.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I don't think there's anything good in boxes of cereal anymore. Is there? I don't think there is. I have no idea. It was also like a way for jack's thing, like you could get stuff out of cracker jack's boxes.
Speaker 2:They're actually like were good things in there. I mean, you know, if you're 10, it was an amazing toy right but they just kept getting worse and worse. Same thing with happy meal toys. Yes, I still get happy meals. Yes, they still have toys in them, but they're often just like kind of cardboard yeah, not, not what they used to, be for sure not at all. Do you look at? All those toys I know so like found a good picture of them. Oh, is that like a? There's a license plate for your bike.
Speaker 1:It looks like that's a. There's a CD Parachute, guy A record.
Speaker 2:Oh gosh, I remember those Little plastic dude with parachute. There is a whole day of fun happening with Parachute Guy.
Speaker 1:You were going to throw that thing into the air Until he gets stuck in a tree 45 million times. Everything is great.
Speaker 2:Parachute Guy, and then they used to have the. It'd be like the helicopter spinner thing.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the sticks yeah. You could really entertain us with some basic science Tiny little piece of plastic and a plastic. Oh yeah, oh, spoons Very good kind of plastic. Oh yeah, oh, spoons very good.
Speaker 2:Yep, get your own cereal spoon in your box. There are so many, they're amazing. There was nerd cereal look, oh good there were actual stuffies in there, stuffies, cabbage, patch, kid cereal. It goes on and on and on. Do you remember?
Speaker 1:the uh, the little. They still make them, but those little boxes, the variety packs, so you could try like different types of cereal.
Speaker 2:Yes, I always thought you were like the coolest family if you had those at your house. I functionally understand why my mother did not buy those, because they were insanely expensive, but I was like if we were cool, we had them.
Speaker 1:We would have that, so my grandmother always had them.
Speaker 2:And what was?
Speaker 1:cool is you? Well, the coolest part of it was you turn the box on its side or on its back right, and then it had a perforation on the box, on the top of the box, and you could open that. And then you just open the paper inside and you pour your milk directly into the box. What?
Speaker 2:Was it like wax? Like the paper was waxed?
Speaker 1:Yep, I didn't know that I don't know if they still do that, but that was yeah and it was on purpose.
Speaker 2:It wasn't like a thing that got discovered.
Speaker 1:You just like pop that little bad boy open and have your cereal on the go. I would have felt like the coolest human ever if I had been able to eat my cereal out of the tiny cereal box.
Speaker 2:That would have been awesome. Yeah, I have to check and see if those actually still are usable that way. But oh, there's old school count chocula box.
Speaker 1:Yep, they've updated that art a little bit you know somebody somewhere out there has that tattoo they should, I mean maybe somebody's got chocolate why?
Speaker 2:not. You should have that there we go um rice krispies yes, rice krispies treats did you make rice krispies? Yes, yeah those were really good, agreed. Uh, any other cereal based treats? I think that there were things that you could make out of fruit loops, sort of in the similar I haveops.
Speaker 1:I have a box of Lucky Charms in my cabinet too and there's a recipe on the back of that to make a Lucky Charms Rice Krispie treat thing Amazing With the marshmallow stuff.
Speaker 2:I think too, these cereals that we're talking about right now are in the same era as some of the microwavable breakfast foods. Yeah, we talked about like MicroMagic. I think there was also like a French toast stick kind of version. Oh, absolutely and like a pancake that you could do and there was like microwavable eggs in a box. It was gross.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I remember the French toast sticks, because then it came with like a little dipping sauce of like maple syrup, maple quotation finger maple Not really maple, Maple flavored corn syrup Delicious, delicious, delicious corn syrup. But yeah, so I remember that. And then you ate. I remember you saying that you ate those pastries, like those frozen.
Speaker 2:Fucking toaster strudels. Toaster strudelaster strudel my, it was one of my grandmother's favorite food groups. Should we always my children know about toaster strudels because they lived with my grandmother? We all lived together for the last like 15 years and she loved those things and so my kids learned like toaster strudel and you get the little plastic packet of frosting that goes on. So, they were little like babies, you know, one, two, three years old, and that was like a treat with.
Speaker 1:Grandma Jean, that's awesome.
Speaker 2:And so they know we always have toaster strudels in our freezer, Because every once in a while you're just like yep, small snack.
Speaker 1:We always had Eggos. We always had Eggo waffles.
Speaker 2:Oh, you're just like yep you small, we always had eggos.
Speaker 1:We always had. Oh, of course, yeah, frozen waffles always had. So good, we had um aunt jemima, um, uh, shit, uh, french toast, oh, frozen like frozen french toast and you would put it in the. You would put it in the toaster the same way that you do, like toaster, strudel or whatever, okay, and then get it out and then put a little bit of butter on it, and then my mom always put cinnamon and sugar on top. So this is why I'm Okay.
Speaker 1:This is why I weigh what I weigh. But here we are. But that was always delicious. I always liked that too. That was one of our favorites. And you always put a little bit too much butter, so that the cinnamon and sugar just sort of melts in there that sounds amazing, delicious, well, and just making like basic cinnamon toast just like toast, you know, buttered cinnamon sugar on top, yeah, that was like a whole situation.
Speaker 2:Yeah, hot pockets that a breakfast food frosted flakes were one of my favorites too oh, so they had to have bananas on it.
Speaker 1:You had to put bananas on your frosted flakes wow like banana breakfast was so influential.
Speaker 1:There was lots, there were so many options and I wonder, like why and when that happened, like what was it? Was it because yes. Our moms were now like having to go out and be in the world and do jobs and you know they weren't sitting at home, being able to make us like bacon and eggs and all that stuff. Right, they were on the go and they were like an explosion of single moms that were out there doing all the things For sure and life generally was like busier.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, just there were after school, the beginning, I think, of kind of like after school activities. Yeah, there was the beginning of like. I know I was a soccer player for a little bit, I was no great athlete. By any means You're not going gonna be on the weenies box, but there were kids who were like better at it. So the beginnings of like more practices for stuff and just more mental load in general for the home parent yeah, and so the marketing then was like hey, we see an opportunity.
Speaker 2:Your kids love these cartoons and all this just high fructose corn syrup. We're gonna get them a cereal that they'll eat easily in the morning. Here you go. You love pac-man, you're gonna love pac-man cereal, and sure it's a convenience thing and you can give your kids a hot breakfast. I was was looking at the great starts. Oh my God, which was like bacon eggs and potatoes all in a microwavable dish.
Speaker 1:You know that that did not. I'm sorry. Microwavable eggs you just lost me altogether.
Speaker 2:Should not do that.
Speaker 1:But you can. I am not on board with this at all.
Speaker 2:Eat it along with drinking your tab in the morning One of my mother's favorite beverages Tab.
Speaker 1:Tab and Diet Pepsi.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, so many things we could go down many rabbit holes All the competitions, the food contests that they would have, where you had to collect all the things to win the prize, to do this yes, we all know it was a scam. It was totally a scam. I don't know how much more we have to say about probably not cereals of the 80s. Tell us your stories. What was your favorite cereal growing?
Speaker 1:up.
Speaker 2:Oh my God, yes please, Do you remember a bizarre breakfast food that we can no longer find on the shelves? Is there something in your memory banks that the rest of the world needs to know about? Oh, corn pops. I just noticed because of the hat. Oh god, corn pops, you are so good. They aren't even hiding it too. They're called sugar corn pops.
Speaker 1:I know we're going to say the inside part on the outside oh yeah, You'll die, but it's delicious it's so good, so good.
Speaker 2:You're gonna love it, I. I do think it's funny that we've ignored the king vitamin box. I'm not looking at anything that's like it's really disturbing.
Speaker 1:Here's the thing, oh, wait vitamin I would have ignored that on the shelf too because who wants that? I'm not eating king vitamin number one.
Speaker 2:He's vitamin man and he's an old guy. What sort of like bizarre. Why great? Who said you know what the kitties love old?
Speaker 1:men, ew, and it's a Quaker oat product, oh bad.
Speaker 2:That's a terrible marketing decision. Boo, I did read, there's always more to say about cereal that with millennials the cereal had declined in terms of cereal consumption had declined.
Speaker 1:My Gen Z is all about it she'll.
Speaker 2:So I'm wondering if that's changing, because I think our household single-handedly kept cinnamon toast crunch in business for many years.
Speaker 1:Uh my, my, no milk. My daughter can put away some coco krispies like nobody's business right on.
Speaker 2:So I'm curious if that's still true, if there was just like a brief downturn, because, quite honestly, if you are a busy family or a busy person in any way, shape or form, you can eat a bowl of cereal and under three minutes flat and get the hell out the door I'm gonna blame millennials for killing off alphabets, then the whole generation.
Speaker 1:You're all fucking dead to me any millennials listening to this show.
Speaker 2:I'm so sorry.
Speaker 1:We still care about you. Please keep listening. You fucking killed off alphabets.
Speaker 2:This is how myths get born and it's true, forever. Oh, I don't blame you really. It's fine, they'll fight back, maybe.
Speaker 1:We'll see. You're just smarter, Send the comments. You're like you're just smarter and you just ate.
Speaker 2:Better than we did, that's all yeah, I mean maybe, maybe, but you missed out by not having alphabets. You did all right. We both said that at the same time. I don't think we're gonna get to uh, school-astic book fairs no we'll have to do that another day, but we can talk all about that and the glory of getting sent to school with your own money, in fact.
Speaker 1:I would say people should talk about their favorite books, Like we would love to know. Like mention your favorite Scholastic Fair memories? Yeah, that would be cool so that we can share them. That'd be fun.
Speaker 2:In that same vein, like there were other like sort of market opportunities for children where you get sent to school with your own money and you can buy things. They were often centered around very like US centric gendered holidays. Like there might be one for Mother's Day, there would be a Christmas one. It didn't matter if you went to school with people who didn't celebrate Christmas, everybody went to the Christmas market. Who didn't celebrate Christmas, everybody went to the Christmas market.
Speaker 1:So these like opportunities as young children to like go and spend money and make your own choices and manage your dollars At.
Speaker 2:Scholastic Book Fair, though Pick out. It was very special, yeah, very special.
Speaker 1:Well, we'll talk about it Awesome. In the meantime, yes, have a fantastic next week you too, sister. I hope it's great. Have a fantastic next week, you too, sister.
Speaker 2:I hope it's great. I'm glad that you are medically cleared for more of this wacky podcast bullshit that we can do together Me too. Take care of your health. We expect puppy updates on the reg. I will provide them. You have been listening to Gen X. Women Are Sick of this Shit. Hey Megan, hey Leslie. What do people do if they want to find us?
Speaker 1:Well, we have a website that people can find us on, and that is genxwomenpodcom. We also have a Facebook page. We have an Instagram account as well. We have a Facebook page. We have an Instagram account as well. We have a YouTube account where we put YouTube shorts and other little tidbits up there. We have a TikTok account.
Speaker 2:I don't talk the dick or tick the tock.
Speaker 1:You don't tick the tock, I do not, I barely talk the tick. But I did put a TikTok up. We're explaining the internet to people again. That's okay, though it's great.
Speaker 2:We need to know how the internet works.
Speaker 1:Can people buy merch? They absolutely can. We have a merch store on the website itself, and we also have an Etsy store too, which is pretty easy to find. It's just Gen X Women on Etsy.
Speaker 2:And if you are listening to this podcast, presumably you found it somewhere. And while you're there, give us a review.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let us know what you think, throw some stars at us. That'd be great. We'll take one, two, three, four or five, ooh, five, maybe ten. And also make sure that you are hitting subscribe so that you're notified whenever a new episode drops. Most important, we also have a five minutes of fame that I think we should tell people about too.
Speaker 2:Hell, yes, we want to know your stories, your five minutes of fame stories. You can send those stories in on the website or you can call 1-888-GEN-X-POD and leave your story for us and we will play it live in our next episode. Yep.
Speaker 1:We'll listen to it on a little red phone, just like batman that'd be cool.
Speaker 2:Let's get a bad phone. I think that's it. I think you're right.
