Only Human

At 24, Max Ritvo has a lot going for him. He's a gifted poet with a teaching job at Columbia University and a manuscript that he's shopping to publishers. He's a new husband. He's a comic in a darkly funny experimental improv group. But he's also a cancer patient whose prognosis isn't good.

We’re often taught that sex can come with consequences. But is our fear of these risks making us alienate and punish people with sexually transmitted disease?

Peter Grinspoon spent years addicted to painkillers – as a successful physician who also prescribed them. He kept his addiction secret and often shared pills with his patients, until he was caught. In this episode, the author of “Free Refills” talks about his lifelong infatuation with drugs, and his eventual recovery.

Dr. Willie Parker, a devout Christian, refused to perform abortions early in his career. Now he travels across conservative states like Alabama and Mississippi, amid threats and criticism, providing safe abortions for women. Parker talks about the Martin Luther King Jr. speech that changed his mind, and his work.

The Realness is about how a sick kid became a legendary rapper, but still couldn't escape sickle cell anemia.