Ep.1667: Mothering Adult Children Ep.1668: Brilliant Disguise Wednesday, May 29, 2024

Kathryn interviews Author Judith R. Smith PhD.Recently featured in the NY Times and The Wall Street Journal, Dr. Judith R. Smith coined the term "difficult adult child” to describe the strain of dealing with issues such as serious mental health, chronic unemployment, and substance abuse disorder in one’s adult children. She brings to life the conflicts that arise for mothers who are confronted with the unexpected, burdensome, and even catastrophic dependencies of their adult children. Through real stories of mothers and their challenging adult children, this book offers relatable, provocative, and, at times, shocking illustrations of the excruciating maternal dilemma: Which takes precedence—the needs of the mother or of the distressed adult child? She is a New York City based psychotherapist, professor, and researcher on women’s issues as they age.Kathryn also interviews Author Susan Kellam.People like to think of themselves as capable of making rational decisions for their careers and personal lives – but life does not usually follow a straight line. Journalist Susan Kellam shares her memorable career covering, and helping shape, rock-and-roll history, interspersed with family memories as she searches for the reasons her brother took his own life at age thirty-nine. Her book is a reflective, entertaining, poignant, and moving look back at a remarkable life juxtaposed with one that was cut too short. She started her career at Rolling Stone magazine when typewriters were still being flung across offices. Eventually leaving the rock-and-roll world for straight journalism, she received a 1985 Folio Award for a three-part series in The NY Times, "Battling for a Prize: Radio Station License." Her work has also appeared in The Washington Post, Washingtonian Magazine, Congressional Quarterly, The Baltimore Sun, and numerous other places. The Obama administration tapped her to edit the Economic Report of the President for the four years of his second term; the Biden administration did the same for his first year.