On this week's 51%, we speak with the founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry, a registry and education network for those navigating divorce, difficult breakups, and other major life changes. Olivia Dreizen Howell founded Fresh Starts Registry with her sister, Jenny, after her own divorce left her feeling isolated and scrambling for basic items in 2019. What started as an online gift registry has expanded into a global education network with more than 100 divorce experts, support groups, and how-to guides.

Guest: Olivia Dreizen Howell, co-founder and CEO of Fresh Starts Registry

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. This episode also contains the track "I'm With You" by HappyWorldWithMochi.

On this week's 51%, we look back on some of our favorite conversations from 2025:  Dr. Heather Hirsch discusses the FDA’s decision to remove “black box” warning labels from hormonal therapies used to treat symptoms of menopause; Planned Parenthood President Alexis McGill Johnson explains how President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” blocks Medicaid funding for its clinics; and former CIA intelligence officer Christina Hillsberg makes the case for why women make better spies. 

Guests: Dr. Heather Hirsch, author of The Perimenopause Survival Guide; Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of Planned Parenthood; Christina Hillsberg, author of Agents of Change: The Women Who Transformed the CIA

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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On this week's 51%, we speak with Emory University Professor Miriam Udel about how a 20th Century movement of Yiddish literature strived to help Jewish children make sense of a tumultuous world and shape the future of Jewish culture. Udel’s latest book on the subject — including how some Yiddish stories helped to promote equality for young girls — is Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature. We also speak with therapist Laurel van der Toorn about how to address “holiday burnout.” 

Guests: Miriam Udel, Emory University professor and author of Modern Jewish Worldmaking Through Yiddish Children’s Literature; Laurel van der Toorn, LMFT and founder of the Laurel Therapy Collective

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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On this week's 51%, we hear from author Brianne Brinker, assistant athletic director at Union College, about her experience coming out and transitioning as a transgender woman in 2019. Brinker says “skating out of the vault” has allowed her to be her most confident self, and she considers finding herself to be her greatest accomplishment. Brinker reflects on her experience in her new book Skating Out of the Vault: A Trans Woman’s Escape from the Game of Masculinity.

Guest: Brianne Brinker, author of Skating Out of the Vault: A Trans Woman’s Escape from the Game of Masculinity

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio. Jesse King is our producer and host. our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. This episode also uses the track "LowLevA" by funny bunny.

On this week's 51%, we speak with Keene State College Professor Dr. Lisa DiGiovanni about "militarized masculinity," and the connection between authoritarianism, state violence, and misogyny. In her new book, Militarized Masculinity in Spain and Chile, DiGiovanni outlines how hyper-masculinity and the idolization of the military contributed to the rise of Spanish Dictator Francisco Franco in the 1930s and Chilean Dictator Augusto Pinochet in the 1970s. In both cases, DiGiovanni says backlash to social progress for women and minorities helped catapult these men to power. She also examines how the arts were used to resist or expose these regimes in their later years, and lays out the warning signs that other countries, including the U.S., should watch for. 

Guest: Dr. Lisa DiGiovanni, professor of modern languages and cultures and Holocaust and genocide studies at Keene State College, author of Militarized Masculinity in Spain and Chile: Remembering Violence Through Film and Literature

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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The Food & Drug Administration recently decided to remove "black box" warnings from the packaging of hormonal therapies used to treat symptoms of menopause. On this week's 51%, we speak with internist Dr. Heather Hirsch, founder of the Menopause Clinic at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachusetts, about the change. We also dive into Dr. Hirsch's new book, The Perimenopause Survival Guide, and discuss how to recognize what she calls the “evil little sister” of menopause and start treatment early. 

Guest: Dr. Heather Hirsch, board-certified internist and author of The Perimenopause Survival Guide: Make Sense of Your Symptoms and Build Your Personalized Treatment Plan

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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On this week's 51%, we speak with Allison Daminger, professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin, about her research into "cognitive" household labor, and how couples divvy up the planning, scheduling, and decision-making that goes into raising children and keeping a home. Daminger found that women were more likely to carry the brunt of cognitive labor in heterosexual relationships — even among egalitarian couples, and even if their partners worked as literal project managers at the office. Daminger explores why this is and compiles her research in her new book, What’s on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life.

Guest: Allison Daminger, professor of sociology at the University of Wisconsin and author of What's on Her Mind: The Mental Workload of Family Life.

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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On this week's 51%, we hear from pipa virtuoso Wu Man about her work with the famous Silkroad ensemble, and the group’s latest tour of "American Railroad," recognizing the immigrant communities that built the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad. We also hear a performance from Catskill, New York singer-songwriter Kendra McKinley, and chat about why she loves to write “music for smoking weed with your bra off.”

Guests: Wu Man, founding member of the Silkroad ensemble; Kendra McKinley, singer-songwriter

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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On this week's 51%, we recognize Veterans Day and speak with Edie Meeks, a veteran of the Army Nurse Corp who was one of roughly 10,000 nurses to serve in the Vietnam War. From 1968 to 1969, Meeks worked in the Intensive Care Units of the 3rd Field Hospital in Saigon and the 71st Evac Hospital in Pleiku. Now 81, Meeks shares memories of her service — and her struggle to adjust after coming home — in an upcoming episode of the PBS series After Action.

Guest: Edie Meeks, veteran of the Army Nurses Corp featured on PBS' After Action

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. This episode also contains the track "Dark Times" by Jangwa.

On this week's 51%, we speak with Dr. Elizabeth Boham about her new book Breast Wellness, and the various lifestyle factors that can contribute to breast cancer risk. Dr. Boham is a board-certified physician and dietitian who also practices functional medicine. In Breast Wellness, she discusses her own experience battling breast cancer in her thirties, and how a healthy lifestyle can support you before and after a diagnosis. 

Guests: Dr. Elizabeth Boham, Breast Wellness: Tools to Prevent and Heal from Breast Cancer

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. 

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