Hi everyone, I'm Susie Weiss, and I've noticed there's just simply not enough podcasts in the world. So I'm launching my own. Let's go. Let's go, baby. Second Thought is a weekly show about pop culture. The stuff everyone's been binging, arguing about, obsessing over. Here's the thing about heated rivalry. I mean, even the most devoted swifties, I think we can agree, not our best work. We'll be hosting thoughtful conversations with culture's most important figures. Talk about genius.

Talk about generational talent.

Coming to headphones near you on

April 17th with a first guest you won't want to miss. Available wherever you get your podcasts.

Hi, Courtney. Hi. So good to see you. Good to see you too. Thank you for thinking of me and inviting me for this. I'm so grateful.

Oh, well, as you both know, this one feels very personal to me and I pathologically love to be

helpful. So this is like, yay. Welcome to how to. I'm Courtney Martin. I'm one of the millions of people in this country who has a loved one impacted by dementia. In my case, it's my dear dad, one of my best friends on earth. I first started noticing signs almost a decade ago, but it took a while for our family to realize what was really going on and get a diagnosis.

Now, my mom, my brother, and I actually met with today's expert.

You'll meet her in a little bit to learn how to navigate this unpredictable and intense condition.

But I hadn't talked about this publicly until recently.

So I wanted to start by reading you a passage

for my Substack newsletter. I'm going to start writing more publicly about my journey with my dad.

I haven't done so for a long time out of respect for his privacy, and I will continue to care

for what I believe he would and wouldn't want put out in public, and will continue to be in

dialogue with my mom and my brother about that. But for the last few months, I've been sitting with a

question, is my silence publicly about my dad's illness and my experience of it protecting him,

or contributing to the silence, shame, and stigma that surrounds this wildly common disease.

I've been slowly coming around to thinking my silence is no longer serving me, or the potentiality that putting words to my father's loss of words could be healing for others.

All the daughters and sons and wives and husbands, the friends and neighbors who love someone whose brain is fading, whose very essence

is shifting, who requires new kinds of communication and care. The experience of my dad's

dementia for me has been one of profound loss, and also it has been the most important experience

right next to birthing and growing my children. Wow, I'm getting emotional of exploring the human condition.

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