Robots, Robbery, And Addiction: Revisiting Three Of Our Favorite Conversations

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Cover of Molly Brodak's 2016 memior, Ayanna Howard, and Melissa Febos.

This week on "Two Way Street," we're listening back to three of our conversations with some of the bravest, most inventive women to ever step into our studio: writers Molly Brodak and Melissa Febos, and robotics engineer Ayanna Howard.

Last fall, Molly Brodak joined us to discuss her memoir, "Bandit: A Daughter's Memoir." She tells us about the first time she realized her father was a liar. He would go on to rob 11 banks outside of Detroit and become known as the "Super Mario Brothers Bandit" to the FBI and local news media. After his stint in prison, Brodak's father used her and her sister's social security cards to open credit cards. But despite all of the lying and stealing, Brodak tells us why she still loves her father.

Then we hear from author Melissa Febos, who spoke to us last April about her memoir, "Abandon Me: Memoirs." We dive into her past as a heroin addict, who despite her addiction, was a straight-A college student. Plus she tells us about her time as a professional dominatrix in a midtown Manhattan dungeon. We also talk about the long-term obsessive love affair Melissa had with a woman who treated her cruelly. It was at the end of this two-year long affair that Melissa came to terms with the fact that obsession and love are two very different things. She breaks that difference down for us on today's show. 

We close the show with a portion of our interview with Georgia Tech robotics expert, Ayanna Howard. As a young girl, she longed to be a scientist but was first put off by the barriers she found for African-American women in the sciences. Today, Howard is recognized as one of the leading authorities on robotics in the United States. Together we explore the best and worst case scenarios when it comes to artificial intelligence.