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Fifty-One Percent
51%

Grief and Remembrance

By Jesse King
Published August 28, 2025 at 8:00 PM EDT

On this week's 51%, actor and comedian Alison Larkin explores how grief encouraged her to live (and love) more fully in her new memoir Grief…A Comedy. We also take a drive up to Staatsburg, New York, to speak with the artists behind the “Unearthing the Light” reflecting on loss, healing, and the former “New York Training School for Girls.” WAMC’s Josh Landes also speaks with some of the survivors of a sex abuse scandal at an all-girls boarding school in western Massachusetts, who have just had their stories corroborated by an independent investigation.

Guest: Alison Larkin, author of Grief…A Comedy

 
A segment of this episode discusses sexual abuse and assault. If you or someone you love has been impacted, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline is available 24/7 at 1-800-656-HOPE.

51% is a national production of WAMC Northeast Public Radio in Albany, New York. Jesse King is our producer and host. Our associate producer is Madeleine Reynolds, and our theme is "Lolita" by the Albany-based artist Girl Blue. This episode also contains the tracks “Did You Know” by Fabian Measures and “Harp Miniature” by Vladan Kuzmanović.

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51% alison larkinGrief…A Comedy
Jesse King
Jesse King is the host of WAMC's national program on women's issues, "51%," and the station's bureau chief in the Hudson Valley. She has also produced episodes of the WAMC podcast "A New York Minute In History."
See stories by Jesse King
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