I so much wanted to be a big, strong guy.

I think what the real lure for me was, this idea of being self-sufficient,

that I wouldn't need anyone else's care or protection.

I wanted to be that powerful.

This is death, sex, and money.

The show from WNYC about the things we think about a lot and need to talk about more.

I'm going to say.

Can we talk about menopause?

Yeah, let's do it.

Alison Bechtel went through menopause 10 years ago when she was 50.

I only know this because she writes about it in her latest graphic memoir, called The Secret to Superhuman Strength. It's a book all about her outer physical life and her inner emotional life, and the things she's noticed about getting older.

I'm starting to skip more and more periods as time went on until I didn't have anymore.

It's weird because you can't know when your last one is going to be.

You don't know technically until a year.

It's been a year since you've had a period.

So there was just this kind of sort of limbo period when you don't know what's happening. And for me, that

coincided with a lot of hot flashes, but worse than the hot flashes, just kind of, I just felt

crazy. I never had terrible PMS, but it was kind of like having

really bad PMS for extended periods. I just know I felt nuts. Were there moments where you

were like, can I trust this emotional reaction? Or is this because my hormones are haywire?

Yeah, I would overreact to things.

You know, another, a symptom that I would have when I was younger and I would have PMS would just be this feeling of self-loathing.

...