You and Me Both with Hillary Clinton

When Hillary was growing up, she and her friends didn’t have Judy Blume to guide them through the bewildering changes that come with puberty. She wishes they had.

When Judy began writing as a young housewife raising two children in suburban New Jersey in the late 1960s, topics like menstruation, sex, bullying, divorce, and religion were considered taboo in books for young readers. Judy changed that, with titles like Are You There God, It’s Me, Margaret, Blubber, Deenie, and Forever.

These books struck a chord with millions of readers, but they also landed her in some hot water. Since the culture wars of the Reagan era, Judy's novels have consistently been found on the American Library Association's list of most banned books.

Today, at age 85, Judy Blume is enjoying something of a renaissance. The film adaptation of Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret came out this past spring to critical acclaim, and there's a new documentary film about her on Amazon Prime. And while she is no longer writing novels, she is still connecting with young readers, especially when they come into the nonprofit bookstore that she and her husband run in Key West, Florida.

In this wide-ranging conversation, Hillary and Judy touch on everything from comic books and sex education to book banning and the responsibility that comes with a mailbox full of letters from young people seeking guidance.

Read a full transcript HERE.

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Hillary kicks off a new season of You and Me Both in conversation with House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries–a man after her own heart when it comes to getting things done.

Leader Jeffries, the United States Representative for New York’s 8th Congressional District, was a litigator and New York State Assemblyman before moving up the ladder in Congress, from chair of the House Democratic Caucus to his current role as Democratic Leader. He also served as a House Manager overseeing the first impeachment of former President Trump.

Throughout his meteoric rise, though, he’s never forgotten his Brooklyn roots – the Baptist Church, hip hop music, and the values of his civil servant parents. And he loves a good sports metaphor, as you’ll hear in this wide-reaching conversation spanning his childhood, his bipartisan work on criminal justice reform, and his strategy for unifying his boisterous House caucus and refining the Democratic Party’s message to the American people.

Read a full transcript HERE.

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Hillary is back! This season, as always, she'll be having candid, thought-provoking and sometimes humorous conversations with people she admires. She'll also be talking to her guests about one of her favorite subjects: getting things done. We’ll hear from folks in positions of power, like Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries and Massachusetts governor Maura Healey, but also athletes, authors, artists, and activists who are doing the work.

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You and Me Both is between seasons right now, but with the Academy Awards right around the corner, Hillary could not wait to share her conversation with multiple award-winning actor Frances McDormand. 

Frances is now up for another Oscar, this time as producer of the powerful new film “Women Talking” (in which she also appears). The film, directed by Sarah Polley and based on the novel by Miriam Towes, is about a group of Mennonite matriarchs who gather in a hayloft to decide, collectively, what they will do in the wake of a wave of sexual assaults committed against them by men in their community. 

Hillary talks to Frances about the genesis of this project, and the challenging, universal questions posed by the film. They also look back at Frances’ remarkable career—the brave choices she’s made, and the iconic roles she’s given us, from police chief Marge Gunderson in “Fargo” to a displaced, widowed worker seeking community in “Nomadland”— and forward, to what Frances sees for herself on the horizon.

You can find a full transcript HERE.

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While You and Me Both is between seasons, Hillary could not wait to share this conversation with one of her favorite actors, and people, Frances McDormand. Together, they talk about “Women Talking,” the powerful new film Frances produced and appears in, and about Frances’s decades-long career of incredible performances on stage and screen, from police chief Marge Gunderson in “Fargo” to a displaced worker and widow in “Nomadland.” Please join us for this special episode of You and Me Both, available on Tuesday, March 7th, just in time for the Academy Awards!

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For our season finale, Hillary welcomes Saturday Night Live’s Emmy Award-winning sketch comedian Kate McKinnon to the show. In her first ever appearance on a podcast, Kate and Hillary compare notes on their recent bouts with COVID-19. Then Kate talks about how she’s parlayed her social anxiety into a wildly successful career in comedy; the CGI tigers on the set of the Peacock series Joe vs. Carole (in which she plays animal rights activist Carole Baskin); and how she develops her character impressions of everyone from Justin Bieber to Jeff Sessions, and, of course, Hillary.

Then, with Kate’s help, Hillary answers listener questions on everything from her goals during her time as U.S. Senator for New York to her favorite desserts.

You can read a full transcript HERE.

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In 2018, Hillary (like so many other people) discovered comedian Hannah Gadsby through her breakout Netflix special Nanette. The show shook up the comedy world by exposing the ways that even the best intentioned stand-up can inflict trauma on comedian and audience members alike when it invites us to laugh about misogyny, homophobia, fat-phobia, and other forms of hatred and prejudice. Having grown up non-gender conforming and gay in Tasmania, Australia’s deeply conservative island state, Hannah spoke from experience. 

Hannah followed Nanette with another Netflix special, Douglas, which explored the aftermath of her relatively late-in-life diagnosis of autism. She will soon be touring with her latest live show, Body of Work, and just released a new memoir, Ten Steps to Nanette. Hillary was eager to talk to Hannah about how her life, and her comedy, have evolved since Nanette. As you’ll hear, they found lots of other things to talk about as well, from physical therapy to healing from trauma, and dealing with online trolls.

You can find a full transcript HERE.

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Over the course of this season of the podcast, Hillary has been examining the challenges our democracy faces. Today, she looks abroad to Russia’s brutal, unprovoked attack on Ukraine, and considers what led to this moment and what’s at stake in this war–for Ukraine, Russia, the United States, and the whole world.

Joining her are two experts. First, historian and journalist Anne Applebaum provides insight into Vladimir Putin and the antidemocratic figures he’s inspired in Europe and beyond. Then, we hear from political scientist and former U.S. Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul on how we got to this moment from the fall of the former Soviet Union, what the United States can do to help Ukraine, and how to fight back against Russia’s crackdown on truth and dissent.

Bios:

Anne Applebaum is a staff writer at The Atlantic, a journalist, and a historian whose work has largely focused on Eastern Europe and the role of democracy. She is the author of four books, including Iron Curtain: The Crushing of Eastern Europe 1944-56, for which she won the Pulitzer Prize and, most recently, Twilight of Democracy: The Seductive Lure of Authoritarianism. She lives in Warsaw and London.

Michael McFaul is professor of political science at Stanford University, and a diplomat who served at the National Security Council and as U.S. Ambassador to Russia during the Obama administration. He is also an International Affairs Analyst for NBC News and a contributing columnist to The Washington Post. His most recent book, From Cold War to Hot Peace: An American Ambassador in Putin’s Russia, was a New York Times bestseller.

You can find a full transcript HERE.

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The COVID-19 pandemic has been a source of upheaval and suffering for over two years, but it has also presented us with an opportunity to try to do things differently going forward—in our personal lives, in our communities, and in the way governments serve people.

During what looks to be a much-needed reprieve from the pandemic, Hillary turns to two brand new mayors, with different backgrounds and leadership styles, who are seizing this opportunity to transform their cities with vision and determination. First, we hear from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu, whose commitment to affordable housing, accessible transportation, and better health outcomes for all stem from her own experiences navigating dysfunctional public services for her immigrant mother with a mental health disability.

Then we turn to New York Mayor Eric Adams, a former NYPD officer, state senator, and Brooklyn Borough President who says he wants to bring back the city’s “swagger” by improving the quality of life for all New Yorkers while attending to both public safety and justice.

Bios:

Michelle Wu is the first woman, the first Asian American, and the first mother to be elected Mayor of Boston. She previously served on the Boston City Council, as a member and then, in 2016, as President. 

Eric Adams served with the NYPD for 22 years. In his second career as an elected official, he served as a state senator and Borough President of Brooklyn before winning the nomination for Mayor of New York in a crowded Democratic primary and going on to become New York’s 110th, and only its second African American, Mayor. 

You can find a full transcript HERE.

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This week, Hillary continues her series on the state of our democracy. On today’s episode, we take a look at how our courts, and our laws, are holding up under pressure from powerful interest groups. 

First, we hear from Dahlia Lithwick, who has covered the Supreme Court for Slate since 1999. Dahlia shares some rather grim predictions on what we can expect from the Court this term with regard to abortion rights, gun regulations, and more. After that comes a conversation with Sherrilyn Ifill about President Biden’s Supreme Court nominee, the Court’s decimation of voting rights, and Sherrilyn’s next project, once she steps down as President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund this spring.

Bios:

Dahlia Lithwick is a senior editor at Slate, where she writes her award-winning “Supreme Court Dispatches” and “Jurisprudence” columns and hosts Amicus, a podcast about the law and the Supreme Court. Her forthcoming book, Lady Justice: Women, the Law, and the Battle to Save America, is due out this fall.  

Sherrilyn Ifill is the outgoing President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund known for her work on voting rights, police violence, and racial justice. Previously, she taught for twenty years at the University of Maryland law school. Sherrilyn was one of TIME’s 100 Most Influential People of the Year in 2021.

Full transcript is HERE.

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