In a perfect world, getting the health care you need wouldn’t require fighting for it. But in this week’s episode, both of our storytellers discover just how hard they have to push to get the treatment — and validation — they need and deserve.

Part 1: Cooper Joslin is determined to get a hysterectomy to finally stop the debilitating symptoms of endometriosis but all the doctors won’t seem to let them make decisions about their own body.

Part 2: As a PTSD survivor, Adrianne Frost assumes her dissociative episodes are simply part of living with trauma.

Cooper Joslin is a web developer, artist, and activist. They made their DC theater debut at Capital Fringe 2022 with their solo performance, Atemporal, earning a "Best of Fringe" designation from DC Theater Arts. Cooper has also performed at the Kennedy Center with Story District and off-broadway at Joe’s Pub in New York City with Generation Women. Their visual art has been featured in collections at the DC Commission of Arts & Humanities' I Street Gallery, the Rhizome, DuPont Underground, the DC LGBTQ Center, and As You Are. With a background in journalism, Cooper now uses their expertise to document the modern history of the transgender community through their growing oral history archive, The Trans Guide. Originally from Central Florida, Cooper now resides in Baltimore, with their wife, two cats, puppy, and a cherished queer chosen family.

Adrianne Frost is an awarding winning storyteller and performer. Most recently, she performed with Generation Women at Joe’s Pub, and has performed in Awkward Teenage Stories, Rejected, Two Truths And A Lie, Just One More Thing, and is a Moth Slam Champion. She began her own storytelling show in 2022 that runs every month at QED in Astoria called “New Tricks Stories”, in which all of the storytellers are over forty. @newtricksstories Originally from Louisiana, Adrianne Frost has been acting and performing for over 30 years. She has been seen everywhere from The Daily Show and Late Night With Conan O’Brien to the Law and Order franchise and the occasional independent film. Her true love is live performing and she has performed solo improv and her award-winning monologues all over New York City and at the Boston, Chicago and Orlando Improv and Comedy Festivals. Adrianne has written one book, I Hate Other People’s Kids (Simon & Schuster) and is featured in two anthologies, including the 2004 Signet Book of American Humor. She has written for several humor websites, including Mc Sweeney’s.

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