The Longest Shortest Time: A Women’s Health Show for Everyone

Today we bring you a special episode of Weirdly Helpful from one of our favorite podcasters, Zak Rosen. In this conversation, Zak talks to Rebecca Garza-Bortman about her love of “shenanigans,” or humor-driven chaos. Rebecca talks about how she works that chaos into parenting and listeners share their own family shenanigans. (Plus: Hillary shares one of her own shenanigans with Zak at the top of the show.) … More Shenanigans! • Check out Hillary’s book Weird Parenting Wins, which is chock full of shenanigans from you, our listeners! … • Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! • Follow us on Instagram • Sign up for our newsletter, where we recommend other parenting + reproductive health media • Buy books by LST guests (your purchase supports the show!) • Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

New parents know the feeling. You’re sleep-deprived, scrolling, and desperate to solve the problem with a baby product. One $2000 bassinet later, you feel bamboozled! Chabeli Carrazana, reporter for The 19th, uncovers the manipulative marketing strategies around baby-rearing.  … Recommendations from the archive • My very first episode is about struggling to get a newborn to sleep! Your Singing Really Interferes With My Going-To-Sleep Process • Another early one: My Newborn, the A**hole 😂 … Episode resources • Chabeli’s article: You’ll do anything for your baby. The algorithm knows how to exploit that. • Subscribe to Chabeli’s newsletter about mom guilt and consumerism • There’s tons of other great reporting on gender, politics, and power from The 19th … Get Wedlocked! I promise, if you love this show, you’re gonna love my original audiobook, Wedlocked. It’s basically a thriller about all of the things we cover on the podcast. Preorder now! … • Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! • Follow us on Instagram • Sign up for our newsletter, where we recommend other parenting + reproductive health media • Buy books by LST guests (your purchase supports the show!) • Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A marriage; a miscarriage. A divorce; a guy who looks (and smells) like a caveman. All in this epic love story. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on February 10, 2016 and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … • Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! • Follow us on Instagram • Sign up for our newsletter, where we recommend other parenting + reproductive health media • Buy books by LST guests (your purchase supports the show!) • Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Becoming a parent can make you more nurturing... but it can also make you meaner. Stand-up comic Ophira Eisenberg confesses her not-so-nice tendencies, and shares tips on how to heckle your haters. … Recommendations from the archive We have a bunch of stories from comedian-moms! Check them out. • Sona Movsesian Feels Like the World’s Worst Mom • Negin Farsad Tackles Her Daughter’s Unanswerable Questions • Casey Wilson on Mothering Without a Mother • Lauren Lapkus Answers Kids’ Unanswerable Questions … Get Wedlocked! If you like stories about women unleashing bottled up rage, you’re gonna love my new audiobook! Wedlocked is a feminist thriller with lots of blood, gaslighting, marriage trouble, and gynecology. Preorder now! … More from Ophira • Watch Ophira’s new special—I Used to be Nicer—on her website • Check out Ophira’s special about deciding to have a kid: Inside Joke • Ophira’s podcast: Parenting Is a Joke • Ophira’s book: Screw Everyone: Sleeping My Way to Monogamy … • Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! • Follow us on Instagram • Sign up for our newsletter, where we recommend other parenting + reproductive health media • Buy books by LST guests (your purchase supports the show!) • Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Frannie Griffin, an organic farmer running Hepzibah Farms in Alabama, shares the wild realities of raising a baby among pigs, chickens, goats, and coyotes. She recounts leaving psychology for farm life, falling in love and marrying there, then bottle-feeding rejected piglets while nursing her newborn. The conversation explores isolation, motherhood, physical independence, and her dream of a bigger animal-filled family.

Like many first-time parents, Sona Movsesian felt as if she was doing everything wrong. In this episode, she opens up about the challenges of conception and her C-section turning unexpectedly vivid — plus, how being Conan O’Brien’s personal assistant prepared her for raising toddlers. … Recommendations from the archive • More on the grueling reality of IVF: One Woman, 3 Kids, 15 Rounds of IVF • Another revealing C-Section story: A Childless Man Gets a C-Section  • Our series about discrimination against working moms: It’s a Real Mother … Episode resources • Sona’s books: The World’s Worst Mom and The World’s Worst Assistant • Sona’s (and Conan O’Brien’s!) podcast: Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend … • Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! • Follow us on Instagram • Sign up for our newsletter, where we recommend other parenting + reproductive health media • Buy books by LST guests (your purchase supports the show!) • Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Terry Gross, longtime public radio interviewer known for Fresh Air, reflects on choosing not to have children and how feminism and radio shaped that decision. She describes a recurring nightmare about a baby, awkwardness around holding infants, fading friendships with parents, and the practical role of childcare and timing in her life.

Carter Sherman, journalist who covers gender, sexuality, and youth culture, and author of The Second Coming. Conversation explores why Gen Z reports less partnered sex, how phones and social media reshape desire, the migration of sexual life into digital spaces like sexting and AI risks, and the impact of MeToo and Title IX rollbacks on young people’s sexual lives and safety.

Two friends try to figure out how to stay friends after one of them has a baby. The one without the baby hatches a secret plan. ⭐️ This episode originally ran on May 24, 2016 and is a favorite from the archives. We hope you enjoy, and we’ll be back next week with a brand new episode. … • Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! • Follow us on Instagram • Sign up for our newsletter, where we recommend other parenting + reproductive health media • Buy books by LST guests (your purchase supports the show!) • Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

After a panic attack nearly made him lose control on the highway, Mark Anthony Neal continued to bottle up his anxiety and pretend everything was fine. Years later, when he secretly started therapy, he unpacked how the pressures of Black masculinity led him to a mental health crisis. … Recommendations from the archive • A scholar’s take on why “colorblindness” is dangerous: How to Not (Accidentally) Raise a Racist • More on the stigma around therapy in the Black community: When Are You Gonna Be Normal Again? • A Black mom on raising a passing son: How Will They Know I’m Black? … Episode resources • Mark Anthony Neal’s book: Save a Seat for Me: Notes on American Fatherhood … • Join LST+ for community and access to You Know What, another show in the Longest Shortest universe! • Follow us on Instagram • Sign up for our newsletter, where we recommend other parenting + reproductive health media • Buy books by LST guests (your purchase supports the show!) • Website: longestshortesttime.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices