Margery Runyan, PhD

Margery Runyan, PhD

Twin Talk Podcast2023-02-07T14:22:04+00:00

Dr. Mercy interviews experts in the field of twins, twins themselves, other multiples, families of multiples, and experts in twin studies and families from all over the country. Search your favorite topics or simply start from the beginning. These recordings are educational to those interested in all things twin related. There are 70 episodes to choose from and discounts available for multiple purchases. Enjoy!

  • Cheryl and Meryl, female identical twins, are guesting on Twin Talk to provide all the details on the 2011 ITA conference taking place over Labor Day weekend in Branson, Missouri, the capital of western music.  At the conference, twins dress alike and enjoy their twinship thoroughly as do the spouses and children who accompany them. Cheryl and Meryl also have a message for twins. ‘We have to tell other twins to love each other and appreciate each other.  We never know, and you could lose your twin at any time.  We would just say enjoy your twinship.  Twins want to tell the world that we're different, but we're who we are and who we're meant to be.’ Cheryl and Meryl, identical twins, were born in Raleigh, NC on October 11.  They have no other brothers or sisters.  They live together.  They both have bachelor's degrees - were roommates in college.  They are both born-again Christians - Baptist by religion.  They believe that they were born twins because it was God's special assignment for them.  They are each other's gift from God.  These twins are very active in the International Twins Association and value their twinship from the heart of their hearts.
  • Dr. Mercy met Karen on Pine Island in SW Florida and fell in love with her strong spirit and work...
     
  • In 1984, February 24th, I Pamela sat straight up in my bed at 5 a.m. Within an hour of the phone call, two officers knocked on the door. Wayne my twin brother had been killed, shot dead by his buddy, an alcoholic, Vietnam Vet who lived in the basement of his mother country home. He had shot and killed him, because he had a flashback. I have forgiven him; he knew not what he had done. My life since then has been empty deep within. Perhaps in different mates over the years I have sought out someone to subliminally replace him. I still knew I was a twin, but no longer had one. In 1998 I discovered Twinless Twins Support Group International and was most blessed to be able to spend time with Raymond Brandt, founder of the group. Over the years past, I have lived in Southwest Florida for 12 years on the Gulf coast. Three years ago, I found myself moving back to Maryland to care for my mother and step father. In my spare time I ride and break horses and have a booth at the local antique mall. I often wish that Wayne could be here to help and of course think of him daily.
  • Dr. Mercy broadcasts her last Twin Talk show on World Talk Radio, reviewing her past guests and her own presentations over the year and a half that the show has been carried on World Talk Radio.  She mentions guests such as clinicians Dr. Jane Greer and Dr. Barbara Klein, physicians Dr. Kari Nardeau and Dr. Diane Powell, parapsychologists Dr. Sally Rhine Feather and Guy Playfair, dream expert Dr. Bob Van de Castle, twin moms with NOMOTC, and her own sister and mother. The twin sets who have guested are also memorable: Ana and Isa with The Power of Two movie, Sonya and Tonya facing cancer, Cheryl and Meryl, the Clark triplets, Lee and Jesse, Brenda and Linda; the twin sets seem to multiply! Dr. Mercy’s own presentations on numerology, astrology, dreams, synchronicity, symbolism, and twin myths fascinated the listeners.  She discusses her future plans and contacts. Bio: Dr. Mercy has been broadcasting Twin Talk weekly on Friday mornings since World Talk Radio recruited her and helped her create the show.  The show was live on air from April of 2010 through August of 2011 when Dr. Mercy decided to try different activities such as writing e-books on twins, traveling in Europe, living in Paris and forming a psychotherapy group in Aztec, New Mexico.  Her partner George Lane at 78 needs her attention, as do the Florida and Colorado homes. Twincerely, Dr. Mercy, broadcasting to twins and those who love us
     
  • Sally has been there and done that!  She was married with identical twin boys, divorced with the same twins as teens, and now living alone with her pets while the twins as young adults attend college together.  Sally will tell us how she fared within her various life styles and stages, how she mothered the twins during the phases of their development, how the twins helped her during the divorce, and how she is adjusting to life without them.  She will discuss how she has grown and matured as a mother of twins, as a woman, and as an individual.  If you are parenting twins, you will want to hear about Sally’s highs and lows, her successes and defeats, and her ways of coping during the stages of her full and fulfilling life.
  • This show will explore the actual experiences of two female identical twins during childhood, adolescence and adulthood.  Lee and Jesse will relate stories from their early lives illustrating their alikeness and differences, their comfort with other children, their position in the family, and the advantages and disadvantages of twinship.  They will also answer the questions: 1. How is it different to be the first born or the second born? 2. How do you see yourselves as different from each other? 3. How do your parents see you as different from each other? 4. How did you relate to each other in School? 5. What did you share?  Friends?  Belongings? 6. Did you have some secrets from each other and from the world? 7. How did your sister influence your career? 8. How did your twinship affect your view of health and wellness?
  • Dr. Mercy will discuss the experimental evidence for anomalous retroactive influences on cognition and affect, research recently published by Daryl Bem. Daryl J Bem is a social psychologist and emeritus professor at Cornell University. He received his PhD in 1964 from the University of Michigan and taught there before going on to join the faculty at Stanford, Carnegie-Mellon, Harvard, and Cornell. He had a distinguished career in psychology, then turned his attention to parapsychology; the self-perception theory of attitude formation and change has been named after him, and he was invited to co-author one of the core international psychology textbooks, known by generations of students as ‘Hilgard and Atkinson’.
  • Denise and Deanne live on opposite coasts, Denise in New York and Deanne in California. Has this geographic separation taken a toll on their twinship?  One twin was extroverted and sought the companionship of her peers; the other was closer to the family and sought approval there.  They were close in their younger years and supported each other in hard times.  How did they find themselves so far apart in adulthood?  What forces and factors shaped each twin?  How are they alike and different?  How do they communicate now in maturity?  Do they still think of each other as identical twins and how do they express this bond?  This twinship is a fascinating story of twins with primarily non-shared experiences. Their genes, aptitudes, intelligence, and interests are very similar, yet they have lived in two very different worlds both familiar to them from childhood.  Hear them discuss the choices they have made as women and identical twins.
  • Dolores Nick (74), grandmother of three sets of twins, will describe her experiences. In her words, ‘the identical boy twins Skyler and Spender (18) dress the same everyday. The boys elected to share a college dorm room and want to marry twins. The identical girl twins prefer to dress differently. Sierra and Savana (12), best friends, have been through a lot of medical problems. Sierra is a three time cancer survivor, first diagnosed at three and again at five and six, now cancer free. For both sets of twins, it's never "I" it's always "We;" there is sharing, no personal space, and always someone to play with and talk to. Shane and Shyanne, 10-month fraternal twins, are different as night and day.  They were "womb mates" and little else is the same. They don't interact much with each other, as of yet, but seem to look for each other if one is sleeping and the other is awake.  Shane was supposed to be the "vanishing twin"......but never vanished.  It's truly a remarkable miracle that he is here.’
  • Bio: Don and his identical twin brother Ronnie were born in Charleston, South Carolina, the youngest two sons of four brothers.  Their mother was raised in poverty and worked in the textile mills.  Later during World War II she worked in a munitions factory. Their father was a fighter pilot in the 8th Army during the war and flew numerous missions in Europe before being shot down over Italy near the end of the hostilities.  He was a prisoner of war until the Allies liberated Italy.  Don and Ronnie played in the cotton fields while their mother worked and later themselves worked in the fields of the southern farms.  They stayed with their father until his death from congestive hearth failure several years ago and then Ronnie died at 55 three years ago.  Don is finding his way back to life after a near death experience himself.  He has reunited with his brother’s ex-wife Theresa who is helping him regain his will to live. Program description:  Don has been resurrected from despair and near death.  He and Dr. Mercy met each other at Twinless Twins Support Group International during the 2009 annual conference in Denver.  They have since realized that they were destined to meet and create a deeply meaningful relationship as twins are here on this planet to do.  His love for his twin brother Ronnie ran wide and deep and he almost followed him into death and the afterlife.  Theresa’s loving care for both twins since the age of 15 brought him back to life on earth.  She found him near death in a hospital where his older brothers had abandoned him to die.  If Theresa can get away from her job responsibilities as an engineer, she will join us briefly on the show to discuss her experiences with these extraordinary twins.  Sometimes love IS enough.
     
  • Dr. Mercy and her guests will explore the topic of life stages and discuss whether twins have rites of passage that differ from singles.  The road of life is littered with surprising events when we know that nothing about us will ever be the same and seminal moments when we know that we must go forward because there is no turning back.  These benchmarks on the journey can be marked by rituals, holidays, chance meetings, life-long friendships, marriages, divorces, hospitalizations, incarcerations, spiritual awakenings, growth spurts, rituals, graduations, certificates, and deaths.  Are these states of transformation and maturation experienced in the same way by singles as by twins?  Do the same types of events precipitate change?  Is there an added complexity in the life stages of twins?  Tune in to hear the discussion. Biographies: Don is still visiting Dr. Mercy in Bokeelia, Florida, and he will return to the show for this episode.  He lost his twin Ronnie three years ago and then came very near death himself.  He believes that he has been given another chance at life.
  • Dr. Mercy is going to talk about her life as a twin and share her experiences with her twin  sister Malinda.   We have no special guests except those twins out in the universe who want to participate.  We may discuss spiritual awakenings, depths of despair, and ordinary memories of twinship.
  • Sandy and Dr. Mercy met each other at the International Twins Association convention in Tempe, Arizona.
  • Special guest Pamela Prindle Fierro is an author and mother of identical twins, Pamela sought to connect with fellow parents of twins for advice and companionship. She now writes and supports other families with multiples, to encourage them in their parenting journey. She's written and produced numerous Web features on parenting and home management. Pamela is the author of three books:
    • Everything Twins, Triplets and More (2012)
    • Your Pregnancy Devotional (2006)
    • Mommy Rescue Guide Twins, Triplets, and More: Lifesaving Techniques and Advice for Surviving Life with Multiples (2008)
  • BIO: Anne Sisson Runyan is a Professor in the Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati (UC) with a Ph.D. in International Relations from The American University. She additionally holds an appointment in Political Science at UC and a visiting appointment at the Centre for Feminist Research at York University, Toronto. She previously founded and directed women’s studies programs at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam and Wright State University (WSU).  A pioneer of feminist international relations and a recipient of  an Eminent Scholar Award from the International Studies Association, she is the co-author of Global Gender Issues and the co-editor of Gender and Global Restructuring. She has headed five academic departments and has directed international exchange projects. Dr. Runyan has taught graduate and undergraduate courses, including Transnational Feminist Theory, Feminist Political Theory, Feminist Research, Women and Politics, Gender and International Relations, and Gender and Globalization. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:  Dr. Mercy has been privileged to have exceptional sisters and parents.  Her mother Margery and younger sister Anne will guest on the program to share their experiences with the twins Malinda and Margery (Dr. Mercy) throughout their shared lives.  Dr. Mercy’s mother raised four girls in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband Richard who was a graduate of Cornell Law and brilliant labor lawyer. Mother Margery, herself raised in Cincinnati, is a graduate of Smith College and holds a master’s degree in library science.  She worked as librarian for the City of Dayton for many years and now at 90 she is happily supported by her friends at Bethany Village in Centerville.  Mother Margery is proud of her heritage and leadership within the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Magna Charta.  Her third daughter Anne is a professor at the University of Cincinnati and her fourth daughter Catherine is raising her two daughters and step sons in Columbus.  This is an Ohio family died in the wool.  How did Dr. Mercy end up outside Ohio?  Tune in to hear Dr. Mercy’s childhood story.
     
  • BIO: Anne Sisson Runyan is a Professor in the Department of Women's, Gender & Sexuality Studies at the University of Cincinnati (UC) with a Ph.D. in International Relations from The American University. She additionally holds an appointment in Political Science at UC and a visiting appointment at the Centre for Feminist Research at York University, Toronto. She previously founded and directed women’s studies programs at the State University of New York (SUNY) at Potsdam and Wright State University (WSU).  A pioneer of feminist international relations and a recipient of  an Eminent Scholar Award from the International Studies Association, she is the co-author of Global Gender Issues and the co-editor of Gender and Global Restructuring. She has headed five academic departments and has directed international exchange projects. Dr. Runyan has taught graduate and undergraduate courses, including Transnational Feminist Theory, Feminist Political Theory, Feminist Research, Women and Politics, Gender and International Relations, and Gender and Globalization. PROGRAM DESCRIPTION:  Dr. Mercy has been privileged to have exceptional sisters and parents.  Her mother Margery and younger sister Anne will guest on the program to share their experiences with the twins Malinda and Margery (Dr. Mercy) throughout their shared lives.  Dr. Mercy’s mother raised four girls in Cincinnati, Ohio with her husband Richard who was a graduate of Cornell Law and brilliant labor lawyer. Mother Margery, herself raised in Cincinnati, is a graduate of Smith College and holds a master’s degree in library science.  She worked as librarian for the City of Dayton for many years and now at 90 she is happily supported by her friends at Bethany Village in Centerville.  Mother Margery is proud of her heritage and leadership within the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Magna Charta.  Her third daughter Anne is a professor at the University of Cincinnati and her fourth daughter Catherine is raising her two daughters and step sons in Columbus.  This is an Ohio family died in the wool.  How did Dr. Mercy end up outside Ohio?  Tune in to hear Dr. Mercy’s childhood story.
     
  • Dr. Mercy has reached out to organizers and potential participants in the Twins Day Festival happening this weekend in Twinsburg, Ohio.  She is hoping to connect with people attending the festival during Twin Talk show time to discover what brings them to the festival, what do they love about it, and what experiences do they carry home into their lives.  The festival begins officially Friday, August 6 with a day of activities devoted to twins and their families.  The following two days are open to the public.  Anyone in the neighborhood of Cleveland may want to attend the weekend festivities including a parade Saturday morning, twin contests, and twin talent shows.  The festival is an ideal place for researchers to connect with twin subjects for cross-sectional and longitudinal studies, and booths at the festival are purchased by agencies for their research.  Dr. Mercy will discuss some of the studies during the show or later in the Twin Talk series.
  • Karey Baker is the mother of two 6-year-old twin boys who were diagnosed with Cystic Fibrosis.
  • This show will explore the actual experiences of two female identical twins during childhood, adolescence and adulthood.  Lee and Jesse will relate stories from their early lives illustrating their alikeness and differences, their comfort with other children, their position in the family, and the advantages and disadvantages of twinship.  They will also answer the questions: 1. How is it different to be the first born or the second born? 2. How do you see yourselves as different from each other? 3. How do your parents see you as different from each other? 4. How did you relate to each other in School? 5. What did you share?  Friends?  Belongings? 6. Did you have some secrets from each other and from the world? 7. How did your sister influence your career? 8. How did your twinship affect your view of health and wellness?
  • Pamela Daniel and Dr. Mercy met several years ago at a Twinless Twins conference in Denver, Colorado and became fast friends.
  • Dr. Nancy Segal, Professor of Psychology and Director of Twin Studies at the California State University, Fullerton, will be discussing her life time of research on twins. As a fraternal twin, psychologist and researcher, Dr. Segal has been uniquely positioned to perform ground-breaking studies on twins including her work at the University of Minnesota with twins separated at birth and reunited in adulthood and her most recent study on the development of Chinese twins adopted internationally both apart and together. Her other research has included the behavioral similarities of virtual twins (same age unrelated children raised together) and the behavioral consequences of twin loss. Dr. Segal is considered one of the foremost experts on the nature versus nurture controversy based on her quantitative studies of twins’ behaviors. Dr. Segal will be prepared to discuss the nature of twin relationships, twin development, twins accused of cheating at school, and twin relationships within the family. Dr. Nancy Segal has written seven books about twins.  Dr. Segal has authored approximately 250 scientific articles and book chapters in addition to her many books. A recent paper won a 2007 Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Foundation. She is also an Associate Editor of Twin Research and Human Genetics, the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies. She serves on the editorial boards of a number of journals, including Twin Research and Human Genetics, Evolution and Human Behavior and Human Ethology.
  • Dr. Nancy Segal, Professor of Psychology and Director of Twin Studies at the California State University, Fullerton, will be discussing How Identical are Identical Twins. Dr. Segal has written seven books about twins. Dr. Segal has authored approximately 250 scientific articles and book chapters in addition to her many books. A recent paper won a 2007 Award for Excellence in Research from the Mensa Foundation. She is also an Associate Editor of Twin Research and Human Genetics, the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies. She serves on the editorial boards of a number of journals, including Twin Research and Human Genetics, Evolution and Human Behavior and Human Ethology.
  • Dr. Mercy has heard from many twins that she would love the novel I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb, whose books have been popularized by the Oprah Book Club and the merits of his fictional style. The 40-year-old ‘hero’ is an identical twin whose brother has paranoid schizophrenia. The novel covers their childhood, family history (which includes twins), and his psychotherapy with a psychologist who helps him integrate these pieces of his psyche.  Dr. Mercy will be discussing the patterns of twinship attributed to the characters in the novel and their importance in the structure of the novel. Tune in and hear how Wally Lamb, a celebrated fiction writer and teacher, handles the twin theme. #1 New York Times Bestseller and Oprah Book Club selection: "Thoughtful . . . heart-wrenching . . . . An exercise in soul-baring storytelling—with the soul belonging to 20th-century America itself. It's hard to read and to stop reading, and impossible to forget."  — USA Today Dominick Birdsey, a forty-year-old housepainter living in Three Rivers, Connecticut, finds his subdued life greatly disturbed when his identical twin brother Thomas, a paranoid schizophrenic, commits a shocking act of self-mutilation. Dominick is forced to care for his brother as well as confront dark secrets and pain he has buried deep within himself—a journey of the soul that takes him beyond his blue-collar New England town to Sicily’s Mount Etna, the birthplace of his grandfather and namesake. Coming to terms with his life and lineage, Dominick struggles to find forgiveness and finally rebuild himself beyond the haunted shadow of his troubled twin. I Know This Much Is True is a masterfully told story of alienation and connection, power and abuse, devastation and renewal—an unforgettable masterpiece.   I Know this Much is True - Amazon
  • Diane is the grandmother of fraternal girl twins who are barely two months old.  This miracle pregnancy of her 24-year old daughter came as a marvelous surprise.  The twins were born healthy and named Lila and Nikita.  Diane has been instrumental in their care since the beginning; she has put her heart and soul into the health and well-being of the twins and their parents.  The father is a Navy Seal and expert sniper who spent several tours in Iraq.   This young family is struggling to care for the infants and make financial ends meet.  The grandmother has provided respite care for the beautiful twins whenever the mom and dad needed some time to relax.  She will discuss her role in this evolving situation and some of her feelings.  Dr. Mercy has done natal charts for the two twins and will discuss her findings with the grandmother during the show.  The natal chart according to Dr. Carl Jung reflects the soul's intention for this lifetime and may provide some insight into the destiny of these two tiny girls. Biography:  Diane is descended from Hungarian royalty and danced with several ballet companies when younger.  Her outer beauty reflects a powerful inner spirit and determination to live an extraordinary life.  Diane has raised four children from two marriages, one boy and three girls.  Two of her daughters have lost their lives: one to a drug overdose and the other to a rare disease.  These two daughters are still very deeply missed.  She is now married to a third husband who adores her and has helped her family in every way possible during the year since their marriage.  She is thrilled with the newly born twin granddaughters and has expressed that there may be a synchronicity between two grandgirls born and two daughters deceased.
  • In this lecture format, Dr. Mercy reports on Chinese fraternal twins adopted from the same orphanage and then reunited.

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