Content Warning: this episode discusses depression and suicide.

Childhood and adolescence can be tough for anyone. There’s so much to figure out. Author Rebekah Taussig (Sitting Pretty: The View From My Ordinary Resilient Disabled Body) had an extra challenge in that she was paralyzed from the waist down and in a wheelchair, the result of cancer diagnosed when she was a year old. After many years trying to make her disability okay for everyone else and seeing her paralyzed legs as ugly, Rebekah developed a depressive disorder. But as an adult, she had something of an awakening about disability, realizing that there wasn’t something deficient in herself, it was more an issue of living in an ableist world that refuses to provide access for everyone. Later, when Rebekah became a mom to a boy named Otto, she dealt with postpartum depression and issues of feeling that she wasn’t enough for him. Through careful work and support from her husband, Rebekah is in a good place now and here to tell a story that anyone could benefit from hearing.

Content Warning: This episode discusses suicide, self harm, substance abuse, and violence. You may have seen Isaac Fitzgerald in one of his frequent appearances on The Today Show, cheerfully sharing his latest enthusiastic recommendations for books. And the acclaimed author of the memoirs Dirtbag, Massachusetts and the forthcoming American Rambler really is a cheerful person. But it’s a long way from a stormy childhood in Massachusetts marked by drugs and alcohol from the age of 12, violent conflict between Isaac and his parents, and mental health struggles that ultimately led to his mother’s suicide. Through it all, however, Isaac was guided by a few pillars to lean on: the genuine love his parents had for him and each other throughout their lives, a love of literature that was always a presence in Isaac’s life, and a sense of community and working together with others to build a better life. Isaac Fitzgerald joins us to talk about his long road to a better life.

Content Warning: This episode discusses child abuse and rape.

Author Ashley C. Ford did not have it easy growing up. Her mom could be a lot of fun but could also be physically and verbally abusive and just not interested in carrying out the role of parent. She took Ashley to the dentist exactly twice in her childhood, failed to get medical problems addressed that have been with Ashley ever since, and lashed out in fury for reasons Ashley was desperately trying to understand. Ashley’s father went to jail for two rapes when Ashley was a baby, the two not meeting in person until she was in her thirties. Ashley’s story, told in the best-selling memoir Somebody’s Daughter and in this in-depth conversation, is one of making sense of a challenging family picture and working hard to understand where it all shows up in her own life as an adult with a marriage and a career.