Forty Minute Features: That 70's Podcast

Emily Stansell's journey from avid collector of all things vintage to Cincinnati mod homeowner and now actress in a period "documentary" with her collection & home as the set

This week, with much help and encouragement from my new phenom editor Jillian Parks, I’m launching a new format within the Verbal Journal…ism umbrella called Forty Minute Features. I can’t think of a better first guest than Emily Stansell.

Before I ever met Emily, I wrote this piece for Cincinnati Magazine about a nearly unspoiled 1970’s home in Springfield Township:

Two years later, after Emily and her husband had invested some serious sweat equity into restoring the home to its original splendor, I wrote this story for the magazine:

Now, in 2023, Emily and I have reconnected again, this time after she sent me the link to Jolene: A Documentary, a film she made just for fun, about the daily life of a fictional 1970’s housewife. It made me, a child of the 70’s, laugh out loud in multiple places, but the best part of all is how she used her home, and all of the very cool, authentic, vintage things in it, as a backdrop:

This week, I talk with Emily about what it’s like to fully restore and live in what's essentially a time capsule, how she came up with the idea of making the film, why looking back on the simplicity of life in the 1970’s is especially appealing in 2023, and what projects are next up on her horizon. She embodies creativity at its finest!

Enjoy -

: )

SHOUT OUTS TO:

Jillian Parks, Editor

Alex Murtha & Rjght, Intro / Outro music (Horizon)

Emily Stansell, screenshots from Jolene