On this week’s 51%, we speak with author Joelle Kaufman about her new book Crushing the Cancer Curveball. After helping both her mother and sister battle breast cancer, Kaufman voluntarily sought a mastectomy in 2023 — only to be diagnosed with cancer the day before her surgery. Part memoir, part guidebook, Crushing the Cancer Curveball compiles Kaufman’s best advice on how to advocate for yourself as a patient, how to break the news to family and friends, and how to feel like you’re still living your life, even when you're fighting for it.

Guest: Joelle Kaufman, author of Crushing the Cancer Curveball: A Playbook for the Newly Diagnosed and Their Family and Friends

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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Before leaving office, former President Joe Biden declared that he considered the Equal Rights Amendment to be “the law of the land.” On this week’s 51%, we speak with Georgetown Law Professor Victoria Nourse about why the ERA has been in limbo for so long, what it would do, and whether it currently stands as the 28th amendment to the U.S. Constitution. We also stop by a local version of the People’s March in New York’s Hudson Valley, and remember the late activist and former Planned Parenthood President Cecile Richards.

Guests: Victoria Nourse, Ralph V. Whitworth Professor in Law at Georgetown Law; Chelly Hegan, president and CEO of Upper Hudson Planned Parenthood

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 journalist and author Pagan Kennedy about her new book The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story, tracking the life and work of Martha “Marty” Goddard, who invented the country’s first extensive rape kit system in the 1970s. The kit and process designed by Goddard and Louis Vitullo, a Chicago police sergeant, has allowed countless survivors of sexual assault to present evidence against their abusers in court, but it took a lot to get it going — and it has yet to reach its full potential. Kennedy gives us a glimpse at the woman behind the rape kit, and how we can make reporting easier for survivors today.

Guest: Pagan Kennedy, author of The Secret History of the Rape Kit: A True Crime Story

This episode discusses sexual assault and may be triggering for some listeners. If you or someone you love has been impacted by sexual abuse, the RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline is open 24/7 at 1-800-656-4673 and on its website. 

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 sit down the director of Safe Inc. of Schenectady to discuss the many risks faced by homeless youth, and what they’re doing as an organization to help combat human trafficking. We also learn about a New York law granting paid prenatal leave to pregnant workers. And our Dr. Sharon Ufberg chats with singer-songwriter Morley about her new album, Follow the Sound, and how her humanitarian work inspires her music.

Guests: Kevin Doherty, executive director of Safe Inc. of Schenectady; New York Labor Commissioner Roberta Reardon; Morley, Follow the Sound

This episode contains a conversation that touches on domestic violence, child abuse, and human trafficking. If you or someone you love has been impacted by these issues, help is available. The National Domestic Violence Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-799-SAFE. The National Human Trafficking Hotline is 1-888-373-7888, and the New York Office of Children and Family Services has a number to report child abuse at 1-800-342-3720.

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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A lot of Americans’ resolutions for the new year revolve around money, but could you hold off shopping for a full year? On this week’s 51%, we explore the concept of a “no-buy year” with Elysia Berman, a Brooklyn-based content creator tracking her journey away from excessive shopping toward financial savings. By challenging herself not to buy items she doesn’t need, like clothing and beauty supplies, Berman says she paid off more than $33,000 in debt in 2024 and confronted a shopping addiction that had been weighing her down for more than a decade. Berman shares her personal “no-buy” tips with us and reflects on how social media especially pushes women to shop.

Guests: Elysia Berman, digital creator; Dr. Shai Butler, Better. Not Perfect: From Hot Mess To Life Success

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. 

The state of Texas has sued a New York doctor for prescribing abortion pills to a Texas patient via telemedicine. On this week’s 51%, we discuss the case with Mary Ziegler, a law professor at UC Davis and a leading historian on the U.S. abortion debate. We also get some tips on how to destress around the holidays and speak with psychiatrist Dr. Judith Orloff about why empathy is important not just for our own wellbeing, but for that of our communities. 

Guests: Mary Ziegler, Martin Luther King Jr. professor of law at the University of California, Davis; Dr. Judith Orloff, psychiatrist with the University of California, Los Angeles and author of The Genius of Empathy: Practical Skills to Heal Your Sensitive Self, Your Relationships, & the World

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 the latest 51%, we speak with sociologist Gretchen Sisson about her book Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood. Sisson studies the relationship between abortion and adoption in the U.S., and is part of a team of researchers for "The Turnaway Study" at the University of California, San Francisco. In Relinquished, Sisson compiles a decade's worth of interviews with women who gave their newborns up for adoption through a private adoption agency. In unpacking how some agencies pressure (and rely on) struggling moms to relinquish their children, Sisson pushes back on the idea that adoption is an ethical alternative to abortion, and questions whether it's really a choice at all.

Guest: Gretchen Sisson, sociologist with Advancing New Standards in Reproductive Health at the University of California San Francisco, author of Relinquished: The Politics of Adoption and the Privilege of American Motherhood

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 journalist and author Julie Fingersh about her debut memoir Stay: A Story of Family, Love, and Other Traumas. Fingersh is the former executive director of the volunteer organization Boston Cares, and her journalistic work has appeared in The New York Times, O Magazine, and The Huffington Post. In Stay, she reflects on her decision to leave her career and become a stay-at-home mom, as well as the importance of mental healthcare and the cost of family secrets. 

Guests: Julie Fingersh, author of Stay: A Story of Family, Love, and Other Traumas

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. ------------

On this week's 51%, WAMC's Ian Pickus speaks with NPR Life Kit host Marielle Segarra about the importance of breast cancer screening, and her own battle with breast cancer as a woman in her mid-30s. We also speak with Dr. Niraj Sharma of Cardinal Spine & Pain Medicine about some non-surgical treatments for chronic pain, and the struggles faced by independent, small-town doctors. 

Guests: Marielle Segarra, host of Life Kit on NPR; Dr. Niraj Sharma, Cardinal Spine & Pain Medicine

You can listen to Life Kit's episode on breast cancer here. 

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 physician and author Dr. Alice Rothchild about her new memoir, "Inspired and Outraged: The Making of a Feminist Physician." Rothchild worked almost 40 years as an OB/GYN, taught at Harvard Medical School, contributed to the first edition of "Our Bodies, Ourselves," and co-founded an all-women’s practice in Boston in the late 1970s. In "Inspired and Outraged," Rothchild uses poetry to explore her transformation from a 1950s “good girl” to a fierce physician and activist. 

Guest: Dr. Alice Rothchild, author of "Inspired and Outraged: The Making of a Feminist Physician"

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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