Content Warning: This episode discusses racism, depression, and sexual abuse.

At a young age, author Maud Newton was warned by her grandmother about the mental illness that ran through her family history. She was also told wild stories: an ancestor tried for being a witch, a Marxist in 1900s Texas, a grandfather married 13 times. The stories she uncovered in her best-selling book Ancestor Trouble shed some light on those tales and revealed plenty of complexity and surprises. Meanwhile, Maud has had to deal with her own mental health problems as well as issues among the living: a virulently racist and authoritarian father, a stepfather who molested her, and a mother who persistently looked the other way. She has found a loving and supportive family later in life with a loving husband, his extended family, and a step-sister and step-daughter to whom she is extremely close. It’s a testimony to the power of looking for answers, understanding your roots, and knowing yourself.

Content Warning: This episode discusses violence, rape, and hate crimes. Long before he won the Kirkus and Pushcart Prizes for his memoir writing, before he started teaching creative writing at Harvard Medical School and hosting the popular podcast Vibe Check, Saeed Jones was a kid growing up in Texas and realizing he was different than most people around him. He was raised Buddhist, for one thing, and when the other boys were lusting after a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue, Saeed just thought she looked nice. His mom loved him very much and was pretty progressive but really struggled to accept that part of him, leaving Saeed pretty much alone to understand his identity and chart his own course. Which he did.

Content Warning: This episode discusses homelessness, child abuse, neglect, and sexual assault.

David Ambroz does not remember a time before being homeless with his mom and two siblings in New York City, cobbling together sleeps in train stations and emergency room lobbies, grabbing pizza crusts out of trash cans. It was an exciting life but not an easy one, especially given his mother’s schizoaffective disorder and physically abusive behavior. Eventually, he helped get himself and his siblings into foster care, which was often traumatic and abusive as well, especially when the state diagnosed his homosexuality as a disorder and tried to cure it. David learned from all of it, became resourceful, worked hard to make a better life for himself and even forgive his mother. Today, David is the author of the memoir A Place Called Home, a top executive at Amazon, recognized as an American Champion of Change by President Obama, a father, and a tireless advocate for kids in the foster care system.