The Longest Shortest Time

LST Is Winding Down

Hey, it’s Hillary, and I’m here with big show news, which you can listen to here or read about below. But the gist is: The Longest Shortest Time is winding down, and our last episode will be in December.

But why?
In this week’s episode, Andrea talked to Cathy Guisewite, creator of the Cathy comics. One of the things they discussed was Cathy’s decision to stop making the comic in 2010, which Cathy told the New York Times was because her “creative biological clock” was ticking.

My friends, my own creative biological clock is ticking. When I look around at the landscape of radio, podcasts, and TV, I see two kinds of makers: those who work on a show for an entire career, and those who bounce from project to project. And deep down, I know I am the second kind of person. After nine years (almost a decade!) and over 200 episodes, I have decided that this year of The Longest Shortest Time will be its last. This is a decision that I have not taken lightly. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a really long time. And when I finally made the decision, it just felt right—a calm came over me.

I started this show at a very specific time in my life, when I was dealing with trauma after having a baby. My baby is almost 10 now, and the things that I want out of life and work have changed. Parenting media these days is also completely different than it was when I started this show. Back in 2010, it was really hard to find anything that felt real about parenthood. I wasn’t finding stories that felt like the version of parenthood that I was experiencing. Like, something that was really complicated and full of ups and downs and absurdity. So I felt like I was filling a void with this show. These days, nuanced parenting media is plentiful, so fear not—I’m leaving you in good hands.

There is lots more show to come.
Andrea is about to launch her 3-part series: A Single Woman’s Guide to Sperm Shopping. We’ve been talking about some version of this series ever since she joined the show, and I can’t wait to hear it. Then, after our usual hiatus between seasons, I’ll return on October 24th to host our final season. We’ll hear from some old favorite guests, as well as new ones. If you have any suggestions for past guests you’re itchin’ to hear from again, let us know!

This is not goodbye forever.
I’m not entirely sure what’s next for me, but right now I’m hoping to develop a project about middle school. If you’d like to contribute some thoughts to that, you can do so here. As for the LST archive, all of our episodes will remain intact right here and in our podcast feed.

Thank you.
I’m grateful to all of the people who helped to make this show one of the first professionalized podcasts, but especially to Andrea, who took the host torch with such grace and skill when I decided to step back as host two years ago. I wrote a post when that transition happened that sums up why I felt ready for a change back then.

One of the greatest thrills of making this show has been my connection with all of you, our listeners. You have generously shared your stories and proven that openminded discussion about parenthood and family is possible. I hope you’ll join me in celebrating all that we accomplished together over the last 9 years as we bring this chapter to a close.

Top image: An origami heart I made my daughter when I was in the thick of show production and travel. The back says, “Sashie, whenever we’re apart, my heart is still with you.”