When Jessica Slice was 28 years old, a bout of heat exhaustion triggered an underlying neurological disorder that led to permanent physical disabilities. In the 14 years since, Jessica met her now-husband David Yourdon and started a family. They talk to Anita about how their parenting experience has been one of adaptation and creativity — from learning how to separate their worth from external standards to accepting that all bodies have changing needs that require attention and care. They share the nitty gritty of their parenting life, with wisdom that’s relevant for all families.

Meet the guests:

- Jessica Slice, author of “Unfit Parent: A Disabled Mother Challenges an Inaccessible World"

-  David Yourdon, Jessica's husband 

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Buy tickets for our August event at Motorco, all about transformation!

Dig deeper:

Jessica's newsletter, Whatever What Is

It took Anita 12 years and five therapists to find someone who could help her tackle questions of racial and cultural identity. She meets two therapists of color working to make that kind of support more accessible. Sahaj Kaur Kohli, founder of Brown Girl Therapy, talks about approaching wellness from a more collectivist lens, and Jor-El Caraballo shares how he helps clients build tools for resilience in the face of systemic oppression.

Meet the guests:

-  Sahaj Kaur Kohli is a psychotherapist, the founder of Brown Girl Therapy and the author of “But What Will People Say?”

- Jor-El Caraballo is a therapist, the co-founder of Viva Mental Health and Wellness and the author of “Self-Care for Black Men”

Special thanks to Lisa R. Savage, Erinn Scott, Melody Li and Susan Chung for contributing to this week's episode.

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Please note: This episode originally published July 25, 2024.

Anita hands over the mic to Embodied’s intern, Nina Scott. After listening to our recent episode about country queers living in rural America, Nina became interested in exploring the Black queer South. Drawing from her own personal experience as a Black lesbian born and raised in the South, Nina speaks to an artist and an academic who are dedicated to contextualizing the experience of Black Southern lesbians.

Meet the guests:

- Shirlette Ammons is a musician, poet and producer

- Dr. Nikki Lane is an anthropologist, writer and assistant professor at Duke University

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Here are the academics Dr. Nikki Lane mentioned who are exploring the experiences of Black lesbians:

- E. Patrick Johnson

- Kemi Adeyemi

- Mignon Moore

Anita's been deep in romantasy land this year reading Fourth Wing & ACOTAR. And it's gotten her thinking about the skill required to make steamy sex scenes come alive on the page and out loud. She goes behind the scenes with two prolific erotica author-editors and a former producer for the audio erotica app Dipsea to figure out how the sausage — and the butt slaps — get made.

Meet the guests:

- Rachel Kramer Bussel has been published in more than 100 erotica anthologies, edited at least 70 others and is the author of “How To Write Erotica”

- Cecilia Tan has written science fiction and fantasy erotica for 30 years and is the founder of the publishing company Circlet Press 

- Selene Ross is a former audio producer for the popular audio erotica app Dipsea and an artist and musician with an MFA in fiction from Oregon State University, where she teaches podcast storytelling and writing

Special thanks to Megan Hart and Lee Suksi for contributing to this episode!

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Please note: This episode originally aired August 8, 2024.

Update: Some of Cecilia Tan’s stories are now free to read on a brand new erotica and romance reading site called Theo.

When you board a plane, flight attendants greet you with practiced smiles and seamless service. But there’s a lot of mental and emotional labor that passengers don’t see. Missy, a Hawaii-based flight attendant, takes Anita inside her world and shares stories from her close to five years on the job — from managing unruly passengers to dealing with medical emergencies. Travel journalist Natalie Compton also shares her reporting on the financial precarity some flight attendants face and how understanding more about their reality has changed the way she approaches air travel.

Meet the guests:

- Missy is a Hawaii-based flight attendant who is using only her first name since she's not authorized to speak on behalf of her airline

- Natalie Compton is a travel reporter for The Washington Post

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Dig deeper:

Natalie's reporting on the financial precarity of early-career flight attendants

Natalie's reporting on flight attendant training

Rae Garringer grew up on a sheep farm in rural West Virginia, and once they left for college and came out as queer, they weren't sure they could ever move back. They believed the story they’d been told: to thrive as an out, LGBTQ+ person, you have to live in a city. But when Rae did move back in 2011, they realized that story was a lie. Anita talks to Rae about making queer life work in the country — from navigating dating challenges to getting along with neighbors you disagree with. They also talk about Rae’s oral history project, podcast and book “Country Queers,” which documents queer, rural life in 21 states around the country.

Meet the guest:

- Rae Garringer is the founder and director of Country Queers, an oral history project and podcast, and the author of "Country Queers"

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What would you do if you knew your brain would stop functioning normally in just a decade? For brothers Ansel Dow (31) and Cosmo Hinsman (26), this isn't hypothetical. They carry a rare genetic mutation that makes frontotemporal dementia almost inevitable by their mid-40s. It’s the same condition that has altered the lives and personalities of their mother and five of her siblings. In conversation with Anita, the brothers reveal how this genetic legacy influences their most personal choices about love, friendship and building a meaningful life against a countdown.

Meet the guests:

- Ansel Dow is a community organizer and an advocate for more research into FTD

- Cosmo Hinsman holds a MFA in fiction writing

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Read "The Vanishing Family" from the New York Times here

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You can check out Climbing the Walls here.

Sex has no age limit. But having a robust intimate life well beyond age 65 comes with distinct challenges, particularly when you no longer live in the privacy of your own home. Anita talks with two people dedicated to making good sex possible for older adults, whether they are navigating dementia and living in a nursing home, or forging a new relationship with someone in their assisted living community. Sexuality educator Jane Fleishman and research psychologist Maggie Syme discuss the policy landscape affecting older adults’ sexual wellness and share stories from their day-to-day work building an intimacy revolution in elder care.

Meet the guests:

- Jane Fleishman is a sexuality educator who also identifies as an older adult

- Maggie Syme is a research psychologist

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You can check out Climbing the Walls here.

A new crop of children’s book authors are trying to help kids develop curiosity about their physical bodies. But how exactly do they turn fraught body politics into compelling children's stories? Anita gets answers when she meets Tyler Feder and Shelly Anand, the creators behind the books "Bodies Are Cool" and "Laxmi's Mooch."

Meet the guests:

- Tyler Feder, the author and illustrator behind the book “Bodies are Cool"

- Shelly Anand, the author of “Laxmi’s Mooch"

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Please note: This episode originally aired November 1, 2024.

Update: “Bodies Are Cool” is now available as a board book. 

You can check out Climbing the Walls here.

Sharing something special with you this week, it’s an episode of Other People’s Problems, from CBC. Normally, therapy sessions are totally confidential — but this podcast opens the doors. In this season, the host Dr. Hillary McBride explores the transformative power of psychedelics in a therapeutic setting. With her psychological expertise, Dr. Hillary leads clients through drug-assisted therapy, guiding them to new heights on their healing journeys. You’ll experience these real, unscripted sessions firsthand as they unfold, and get an unprecedented look at therapy using psychedelics and psychoactive drugs, demystifying this often misunderstood practice as a powerful tool in trauma recovery.

In this episode, we hear from Donovan, who has lived in fear and anger ever since he told the truth about being abused by his mother’s boyfriend and then felt betrayed by social workers who were supposed to help. Now, after several ketamine therapy sessions, Donovan can finally look back upon his child-self with care and calm and works to become the kind of adult he needed for his own children.

You can listen to more Other People’s Problems here.