Second Adolescence

This week’s guest is Caleb Irwin (he/him). Caleb came out two years ago at age 33 which marked the beginning of his Second Adolescence. He so generously lets us in to his experience growing up in Australia in a very religious community that viewed being gay as a mental health issue that one needed to heal from, and how he too operated from this belief. He goes on to share what his evolution has be...

This week's guest is Tanaya Joshi (she/her). This was SUCH an incredible and powerful conversation! I am so appreciative for Tanaya coming on to let us into her story. She came out 7 years ago, and now has such a happy ending but had quite a challenging journey getting here. She grew up in Mumbai and then moved over to the US at age 11. Navigating India’s historically very anti-queer beliefs...

Host of the show, Adam James Cohen, shares a mini update about the podcast - we will be having a full new episode next week and then will be taking a summer break, returning with new episodes in September.  Thank you SO much for being a part of this community and these conversations about Second Adolescence!

This week's guest is Finn May (they/he). Finn shares with us about their experience being genderfluid and what their journey has been to understanding and validating their identity and having this validated back to them. He talks about his own experience moving through transphobia and internalized limiting constraints around identity, and what their journey has been to find the joy and healin...

This week’s guest is costume designer, Saawan Tiwari (they/them). They share with us their experience navigating gender and sexuality, as a queer Indian kid born into a body of male sex within a community that was predominantly white and conservative. They share about their little kid self identifying with the label of “tomgirl,” which began their journey of understanding and finding ways to expre...

This week's guest is librarian and mental health advocate, Fen Sturniolo (they/them). Before this conversation I knew librarians were incredible but, holy moly, I truly think its going to be queer librarians who are going to save this world because I felt so inspired and invigorated by Fen and the work they do as a teen librarian, first working in schools and now working in the public library...

This week’s episode is writer, Brian Watson (he/him). Brian brought to this conversation his experience growing up as a gay man born in the 1960s, navigating the underground gay hookup scene in the late 70s during the beginning of his sexual awakening, coming out and navigating life as a gay man amongst the AIDS crisis, and so much more. He has a fascinating personal journey that eventually took h...

This week’s guest is artist Brandon Rumaker (they/them).  In sharing their individual story, Brandon highlights so many gems about the greater collective queer experience. They share about their challenging childhood and adolescence, illustrating the different contortions and acts of assimilation our younger queer selves do to hide marginalized identities we hold. They then share about beginning t...

This week’s guest is writer and screenwriter Hari Ziyad (he/they). They are author of the incredible memoir Black Boy Out of Time which explores Hari's experience of healing from anti-blackness, anti-queerness, and the carceral dissonance that separates black people from their childhood selves. In this conversation, Hari shares about the book, their writing of it, and their life story of navi...

This week’s guest is writer Garrett Schlichte (he/they). Garrett recently had published on the New York Time’s Modern Love podcast their essay entitled "Confessions of a Late Bloomer" which literally before you listen to my conversation with Garrett you should go listen ( here on Apple Podcasts , or here on Spotify ) because it was such a beautiful representation of what Second Adolescen...

This week's guest is Noris Chavarría (he/him/él). Noris is someone who has dedicated his adult life to serving others, particularly LGBTQ youth through his work in the non-profit sector, and today he’s further contributing to our community by sharing his own story. On this episode, he shares growing up in Queens, New York with his mother who had immigrated from El Salvador. He shares about hi...

Welcome back after a break! This week's guest is Nikki Hiltz (they/them). Nikki is a professional runner and major advocate for the greater LGBTQ+ community. Fun fact: Nikki and host of the show, Adam, knew each other when each were in their respective closets and chat a bit about this on the show. Nikki goes on to share about their experience of growing up, navigating the limiting box of soc...

Today's episode is a little different than our typical episodes (which will be returning on Thursday, May 5th with new guests each week!). A lot of listeners have reached out with questions and comments about the grief that comes in Second Adolescence, and so host Adam James Cohen is on solo today to talk about this. In doing so, he shares about his own personal experience of grief within Sec...

This week's guest is Michael Constable (he/him). Michael hosts the podcast Reaching Out on which he interviews queer people about their coming out journey, and today he’s sitting in the guest chair to share about his own story. He shares about growing up in the midwest and within the culture of football and traditional masculinity, and how his gayness was not something he was cognizant of. He...

This week's guest is Molly Fosco (she/her). Molly is a queer writer in a polyamorous triad with her two partners, one male and one female. She shares about growing up in a queer supportive context but how she never even thought about if she identified as anything other than straight in adolescence despite having attraction to other girls. She goes on to share about the differences between rom...

This week's guest is Zach (he/him) who is a real life friend of host, Adam James Cohen. In the conversation, Zach shares about his experience as a kid and the very different feelings he had towards boys and girls, the meaningful romantic relationship he had in high school with a girl before understanding his gay identity, his own process of gaining that understanding, and what coming out and...

This week's guest is DIY queer creator Becky Blanco (she/her) aka @becky.with.the.good.repair . On this episode, Becky shares about her experience growing up in Miami, FL to Cuban immigrant parents and within the Southern Baptist church. She shares about being a child that didn’t fit into the limited box of what she was told being a girl was, how her devotion to her faith became a place of bo...

This week's guest is age activist Ryan ‘twinkle’ Backer (they/them). Ryan talks with Adam about a range of topics including the power of nicknames, their experience being a little kid uncertain of their gender, navigating identity exploration in first adolescence with a parent going through their own Second Adolescence, the importance of queer elders, and so much more! About the guest: Ryan ‘...

This week's guest is snowboarder and filmmaker Jack Hessler (he/him). In the episode, Jack talks about what it was like to put out into the world the recent article he wrote for OutSports.com about his experience navigating being gay within the sport of snowboarding. Jack then goes more in depth into what it was like for him growing up and trying to figure out his sexuality while also competi...

This week's guest is Jon Carl Lewis (he/him), who is a spiritual director and writer focusing on the intersection between spirituality and sexuality for queer folks. Lewis shares about his childhood and adolescence, and what it was like for him to discover his gay identity and then later come out amidst the AIDS pandemic of the 1980's. He goes on to share about how his Second Adolescence...

This week’s episode features a conversation with Davey Feder (he/him). Davey shares about his own experience of growing up being unconscious to his romantic and sexual identity in adolescence and how he utilized perfectionism as a tool for gaining  and maintaining value and safety. He shares about how an impactful time studying abroad in college ignited something he was not aware of before, and ho...

This week's episode features a conversation with Sarah Meyer Tapia (she/her). We hear Sarah share about growing up within the True Love Waits and Purity Culture worlds and how this upbringing came into opposition with what she would later discover felt most true and authentic for her. Sarah goes on to talk about her own Second Adolescence involving the expansion of her experience of sexual an...

Welcome to Second Adolescence!  This first episode begins with host Adam James Cohen, LMFT sharing the backstory behind Second Adolescence. Then, we hear the first guest's story! Ish Ruiz (he/him) talks with Adam and shares about his experience growing up in Puerto Rico and within the Catholic Church, and what it was like for him within both cultural contexts after discovering his gay identit...

Launching January 2022! Host Adam James Cohen, LMFT shares about what Second Adolescence is and what this show is all about.