When I released the first SAVE Act episode with attorney Pat Schraff, I thought it was a one and done. We talked about names — what women have historically had taken from them, and what happens when your birth certificate no longer matches the name you have carried for forty years. The response told me we were not finished.

So this week I brought in Tera Coleman, counsel at Baker Hostetler, who practices in both state and federal courts and who has been turning this bill over the same way I have, trying to make it make sense.

I think it is fair to say that almost everybody agrees that fair elections are critical for our democracy. Only US citizens should vote (as it states in our constitution).

So why do we need the SAVE Act, when the numbers of non-citizens registering to vote are so very small but the risks associated with the the Save Act disenfranchising actual US citizens from voting is big.

We start the conversation with how elections actually work in this country. Who runs them. Where the states' authority ends and the federal government's begins. Tera walks through what is in the bill, and then through the part almost nobody is talking about — what it would ask of the people who work our elections.

Kansas comes up. So does the Department of Homeland Security. And the federal government having our personal voting data.

This is not a partisan issue-- the SAVE Act will effect all of us if it passes. Take a listen.

Listen to Part 1 with attorney Pat Schraff on what the SAVE Act would mean for married and divorced women.

Show Notes:

https://drloristevic.com/save-act-part-2-who-controls-your-vote/

It started with an offhand comment from my daughter: grown-ups need recess. We laughed — and then I couldn't stop thinking about it.

Because somewhere between the playground and now, the bell just quietly stopped ringing, and nobody told us we'd had our last one.

In this episode, I'm making the case that play, laughter, and curiosity are not the dessert of a well-run life — they're part of how human beings have always survived hard seasons.

I'll share why recess was never the same thing as gym class (and what an undiagnosed neurological condition taught me about the difference), what a real laugh actually does inside your body, why joy keeps showing up in hospital rooms and funeral luncheons, and three ways to bring recess back into an ordinary adult week.

No swing set required.

Show Notes: https://drloristevic.com/power-of-play-for-adults/

What if the person who needs care is the parent who abused you, the mother you have not spoken to in years or the spouse you were preparing to leave before the diagnosis?

We talk about caregiving as an act of love. But that leaves little room for the person who does not feel safe, the person who feels trapped or the devoted caregiver whose own health is beginning to fail.

In this episode, I talk about the family history an illness cannot erase, why guilt cannot become the care plan and what resentment may be trying to tell you.

We will also look at the different ways care can be provided—because making sure someone receives care does not mean you must provide every part of it yourself.

Before we judge the daughter who steps back or the spouse who says, “I cannot do this anymore,” we need to ask what part of the story we do not know.

Show Notes: https://drloristevic.com/what-if-i-dont-want-to-be-the-caregiver/