Forever: Stories about unbreakable bonds

This week we're sharing stories about love that stands the test of time, transcending illness, differences, and even death. In other words -- break out that box of tissues, y'all.

Part 1: Writer Alison Smith reconnects with her estranged father after he develops Alzheimer's disease. 

Part 2: Science journalist Peter Brannen mourns the loss of his mother while studying the earth’s biggest mass extinction.

Alison Smith is a writer and performer. Her writing has appeared in Granta, McSweeney’s, The London Telegraph, The New York Times, The Believer, Real Simple, Glamour and other publications.  Her memoir Name All the Animals was named one of the top ten books of the year by People and was shorted-listed for the Book-Sense Book-of-the-Year Award. Smith has been awarded Barnes & Noble Discover Award, the Judy Grahn Prize and a Lambda Literary Award. The grand-prize winner of 2017’s Ko Festival Story Slam, Smith portrays Jane Jacobs in the Amazon series The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel. She lives in Brooklyn, NY.

Peter Brannen is an award-winning science journalist whose work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, Wired, The Boston Globe, Aeon, Slate and The Guardian among other publications. His book, "The Ends of the World: Volcanic Apocalypses, Lethal Oceans and Our Quest to Understand Earth's Past Mass Extinctions," is soon to be released in paperback. Published by Ecco in 2017, it was a New York Times Editor's Choice and was named one of the "10 Best Environment, Climate Science and Conservation Books of 2017" by Forbes.

Note: This June, The Story Collider will be celebrating Pride Month by highlighting stories about the intersection of science and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer issues. Each of our five episodes this month will include one of these stories, and you can follow us on Twitter and Instagram this month as we also share highlights from our back catalog as well.

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