Today my guest is Leslie Gray Streeter, pop culture columnist, journalist, and author of Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like "Journey" in the TitleWe talked about:- Leslie’s book Black Widow: A Sad-Funny Journey Through Grief for People Who Normally Avoid Books with Words Like "Journey" in the Title- Making jokes about having to deal with the absurdities that come with your husband dying on your watch- The performative “sad-face-head-tilt-sigh” some people give widows- How some widows were able to take on 2020 in a very prepared way- isolation and having to do stuff we don’t want to do? Oh we got this. We go with the flow and have a sense of humor about it.- Why we feel kind of smug as widows- Do we have gallows humor or a desperate coping mechanism?- Patton Oswalt’s bit about the Polish Woman of Doom (he’s a widower!)- What has happened to us is absurd and absurdism is the foundation of comedy- How widowers are often portrayed as hot and widows are portrayed as hags in media and other double standards (this is seen on the show The Bachelor)- How widows are often accused of killing their husbands- Being an authentic sarcastic and messy widow who eats french fries out of her purse.- People who are defensive of our husbands… who didn’t know them- The pushback we receive when we don’t react how people want us to react- Sex and dating after being widowed- People project their own fears of being forgotten onto widows who find love again- How having deep relationships with our husbands primes us for wanting a deep connection again. Just because we want to love again passionately doesn’t mean we don’t love our husbands.- Our husbands told us they wanted us to find love again if they passed away before we didFor more information about Death Is Hilarious, visit deathishilarious.com To get in touch, email deathishilarious@gmail.com. You can support the podcast by subscribing, becoming a patron at patreon.com/deathishilarious, or by simply sharing the show with your friends and on social media.