“Who’s Slash?”: Listeners – and Nancy – share stories of their memorable Gen X Halloweens past, from decidedly non-sexy costume strategies, to 7th graders on the cusp, to home bat invasions. * The Perfect Cocktails for Your Perimenopause Party  by Wendi Aarons, Gloria Fallon, and Marilyn Naron * Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender (or how I became a punk rock lawyer) by Juanita E. Mantz, Esq Happy Halloween, you grown up goths. Thanks as always to M. The Heir Apparent, who provides the music behind the podcast – check him out here! ***This is a rough transcription of Episode 107 of the Midlife Mixtape Podcast. It originally aired on October 19, 2021. Transcripts are created using a combination of speech recognition software and human transcribers, and there may be errors in this transcription, but we hope that it provides helpful insight into the conversation. If you have any questions or need clarification, please email dj@midlifemixtape.com *** Wendi Aarons 00:00 We learned our lesson that is probably not a great idea to dress like a ‘60s burnout named Touch Me Don’t Touch Me when we’re trying to get some action at a fraternity party. 00:11 Welcome to Midlife Mixtape, The Podcast. I’m Nancy Davis Kho and we’re here to talk about the years between being hip and breaking one. [THEME MUSIC – “Be Free” by M. The Heir Apparent] The Presenting Sponsor of Midlife Mixtape is Kindra. Kindra is revolutionizing menopause. They are a health and wellness company helping women navigate the most disruptive signs of the change including hot flashes, brain fog, restless sleep, dryness, and more. It’s science backed and made by women, for women. And as I’ve said on this show before, it’s probably going to be up to GenX to normalize open discussion of this entirely normal phase of life. Like at this conference I just attended, when I leaned over in front of a group of four women I’d never met before, all younger than me, and pulled out the Take 5 bars out of the stash of fun-sized candy that organizers had dumped in the center of the table. And I said to them, “Back when I still had eggs this was the perfect candy for that monthly salty/sweet craving, but now I can eat them whenever I want!” I’m just normalizing it, ladies. You can find your personalized product recommendations and educational content with a quiz that just takes 5 minutes. Isn’t it time we started talking about the change and embraced it? You can head to ourkindra.com and use code MIXTAPE20 (ALL CAPS) to get 20% off your first order or subscription.  That’s ourkindra.com and the code is MIXTAPE20, to get 20% off your first order or subscription from Kindra. I also wanted to make sure you guys are aware of a really cool new little chat book, a little tiny pamphlet-sized fiction collection called Portrait of a Deputy Public Defender (or how I became a punk rock lawyer) . It’s by Juanita E. Mantz Esquire – that’s M-A-N-T-Z – and it’s a multi genre chat book containing memoir pieces, social justice, essays and poetry. It describes the author’s love of punk rock and Juanita’s quest to challenge the system of mass incarceration as a deputy public defender. She talks a lot about the intersection between punk rock and public defense.