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Simon and Lee discuss how Lee's relationship with his parents is changing (or not) and Simon going through his Mother's writing.

Things they discuss: Jefrey is inbetween breakfasts, Lee's breakfast, brushing your teeth when you wake up, not talking about the science of brushing your teeth before or after breakfast, bacteria replicating at night in your mouth, water squirters, mouthguards at bedtime, sleep apnea, Lee not making breakfast because he's dead, Weekend at Bernie's, how the age of Lee's parents is manifesting itself, Jonathan Silverman, Andrew McCarthy, Brighton Beach Memoirs, the documentary Brats, Rob Lowe making sense, Molly Ringwald not appearing on the documentary, repeating stories as we age and how long between the stories (days, minutes), Lee's Dad's pool is leaking, the man dug or the man Doug, a cubic meter, ladling out water of a pool, elderly people exercising, how Lee's relationship with his parents is changing, being more anxious about them (and expressing it), dying of emptying a swimming pool out, the challenge of doing all of Netflix (Lee's Mum rising to it), South Korean dramas on Netflix, Atal Gwande's "Being Mortal" (the medicalisation of death), Simon going through his Mother's writing (by posthumous request of his Mother) and putting it off, journalling instead of diarying, "What will I tell the children?" (G.A. Ellis), talking about midlife-ing, the beauty of your lives being ahead of you and the flip side of that, thinking about life ending.

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net.

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Simon and Lee talk about the things they have learned from their enemies.

Things they discuss: Mars the planet and who owns Mars the confectionary thing, Lee's newfound love of stickers, Pema Chodron's "Living Beautifully", the people we don't like, Bob interviewing a student who talked about their nemesis, Lee getting the discards, the wisdom of Ru Paul, feeling happy at the misfortune of another, Simon's greatest teacher, gentle hints to help you get rid of people, being an outsider, Peter Kramer helping Lee with a bullying situation years ago, the force of personality to be an actor, teachers are not to be trusted and they know fuck-all (except the brilliant ones), the value of terrible things, imagining if Lee were still an actor, the directors Lee would have liked to have worked with (David Lynch), Simon would go with Terrance Mallick, Wild at Heart (by Lynch), Nicholas Cage before he was a little bit Nicolas Cage, not Blue Velvet, Willem Dafoe losing his head, David Lynch having lunch with some actors and getting a phone call from Dennis Hopper, Lee being a fancy human being.

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net.

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)

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Simon and Lee share a tricky conversation about the politics of representation.

Things they discuss: finding the note about the tricky subject, Lee extemporising, representation and optics, box ticking, Bayo Akomolafe and representation on slave ships, Simon's confusion about representation, the end game of the politics of representation, Guild HE report on "Understanding the lived experience of ethnic minority students in postgraduate research", the vitality of role models that we see ourselves in, visible markers of identity, female vice-chancellors and a patriarchal narrative, Lee goes all Derridean on us and getting to the point where the binary has been dismantled, gender-based violence in the UK and positioning women as chattle.

Get in touch with Lee and Simon at info@midlifing.net.

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The Midlifing logo is adapted from an original image by H.L.I.T: https://www.flickr.com/photos/29311691@N05/8571921679 (CC BY 2.0)