The Longest Shortest Time

EPISODE #251: Managing Your Perimenopausal Rage

Feeling enraged lately? Dr. Kameelah Phillips gives us the facts about perimenopausal mood swings — and gets personal about her own. (Red lipstick while listening is not mandatory, but highly encouraged!)

EPISODE #250: When Rumors Spread Like Wildfire About the Fire Commissioner

Laura Kavanagh knew she would encounter challenges as the first female fire commissioner of the FDNY. But she didn’t anticipate the false rumors that she slept her way to the top — or the nastier rumors about her supposed pregnancy. Now, for the first time, she shares what was actually going on in her reproductive life when she ran the fire department.

EPISODE #288: Xyla vs. the FAA

Xyla Foxlin started flying as a teenager. By her twenties, she was piloting her own plane and building another from scratch. But when a private health crisis went public, she wound up in a battle with the FAA that could ground her for good.

EPISODE #226: The Insidious Power of Men Over Motherhood

Ali Yarrow thought her childbirth experience would be hers to guide. Instead, she found it was guided by the American obstetrics system — a model that was designed by men.

EPISODE #222: Cyndie and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Year

Cyndie Spiegel built a career on optimism — inspiring audiences with messages of hope and positive thinking. But in 2020, as she faced mounting struggles with family and health, she found that the affirmations she once preached were no longer working and she’d have to find a new way forward.

EPISODE #204: Breaking Cycles (and Chairs!) with Kulap Vilaysack

When comedian Kulap Vilaysack decided to resolve questions from her family history, she did it in the most extreme way possible: by directing a documentary about her own life.

EPISODE #196: What My Mother And I Don’t Talk About

This week, two different essays about the wounds our moms can leave us with — and what, if anything, can be done to start the healing.

EPISODE #183: Postpartum House Arrest

After Jessica gave birth to her first child, her own mother sabotaged her plans of postpartum bliss.