In this episode, Gina Cherelus (New York Times’ weekly dating column Third Wheel) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how much physical affection is appropriate with people who aren’t your partner, believing you are with your partner because you are more attractive than them, and more. 

If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate’s membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. 

Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It’s just $15 for your first three months. 

This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, and Jenée Desmond-Harris, with help from Maura Currie and Jared Downing.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

True crime is a hot topic for movies, television, and –yes– podcasts. At the center of many of these stories is a missing woman. In the She Has A Name podcast, veteran journalist Tonya Mosley tries to reconstruct the death –and life– of a woman who went missing in 1987, a woman who happens to be her long lost sister. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Tonya Mosley to talk about uncovering the mystery around her sister Anita’s disappearance and death, and how the podcast helped her connect to a family that she never knew. 

Guest: Tonya Mosley, host of the podcast She Has A Name

Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel

Want more A Word? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/awordplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Pop culture is full of fictional bands singing songs purpose-made to capture a moment, a sound. This music doesn’t organically emerge from a scene or genre, hoping to find an audience. Instead it fulfills an assignment: it needs to be 1960s folk music, 1970s guitar rock, 80s hair metal, 90s gangsta rap, and on and on.

In this episode, we’re going to use ‘Stereophonic,’ which just opened on Broadway, as a kind of case study in how to construct songs like this. The playwright David Adjmi and his collaborator, Will Butler formerly of the band Arcade Fire, will walk us through how they did it. How they made music that needs to capture the past, but wants to speak to the present; that has to work dramatically but hopes to stand on its own; that must be plausible, but aspires to be something even more. 

The band in Stereophonic includes Sarah Pidgeon, Tom Pecinka, Juliana Canfield, Will Brill, and Chris Stack. Stereophonic is now playing on Broadway—and the cast album will be out May 10.

Thank you to Daniel Aukin, Marie Bshara, and Blake Zidell and Nate Sloan. 

This episode was produced by Max Freedman and edited by Evan Chung, who produce the show with Katie Shepherd. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

If you haven’t yet, please subscribe and rate our feed in Apple Podcasts or wherever you get your podcasts. And even better, tell your friends.

If you’re a fan of the show, please sign up for Slate Plus. Members get to listen to Decoder Ring and all other Slate podcasts without any ads and have total access to Slate’s website. Your support is also crucial to our work. Go to Slate.com/decoderplus to join Slate Plus today. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A vital component of wellness is taking care of our mental health. But mental wellness is more than just drinking water, doing yoga, and going for a walk.

Author and podcaster Allison Raskin has lived most of her life with diagnosed mental illness. 

By navigating her mental health journey over the years, she’s been able to find community and humor through her diagnoses, particularly by writing about her experience with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder.

On this week’s episode of Well, Now – navigating wellness while living with mental illness.

Further reading: marriage-mental-health-family-acceptance.html?pay=1713891206763&support_journalism=please">If My Mental Health Bothers You, I Understand

If you liked this episode, check out: Is it Burnout? Or, Do You Have a Busy Brain? 

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry and Ahyiana Angel with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Jules and Bryan talk to Michael Goodyear about how trademark law is helping queer brands reclaim derogatory language. They dig into Dykes on Bikes and other early queer trademarks including the history of the rainbow flag we all know and love. You can read Michael’s article ‘court-slur-trademark-case-lgbtq-reclaim.html">The Surprising Result of the Supreme Court Case That Allowed Slurs in Brands’ on the Slate website. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode, the panel is first joined by Slate’s music critic, Carl Wilson, to puzzle over swift-tortured-poets-department-album-review.html">The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated 11th studio album. Stuffed with 31 tracks, the two-part album is a departure from the billionaire pop star’s otherwise perfectly crafted oeuvre: it’s messy and drippy, and at times, manic and frenetic. Is this secretly a cry for help? And more importantly, when did she find the time to record this thing? Then, the three explore tv-show-series-amazon-prime-game.html">Fallout, a post-apocalyptic drama series adapted from the extremely popular role-playing video game of the same name. Executive produced by Jonathan Nolan (Westworld, Person of Interest) and streaming on Prime Video, Fallout certainly achieves a high level of immersive world-building, but do the stories and characters fare the same? Finally, Becca Rothfeld, the Washington Post’s non-fiction book critic, joins to discuss her triumphant first book, All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess, in which she rebukes the culture’s affinity for minimalism and makes the case for living in a maximalist world. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, it’s part two of the Ambition versus Contentment discussion (courtesy of a listener question from Gretel): How should a parent approach cultivating ambition in a child, if at all? The hosts discuss. 

Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 

Outro music: "Ruins (Instrumental Version)" by Origo

Endorsements:

Dana: The Teacher’s Lounge, a film by German-Turkish director Ilker Çatak. It was a Best International Film nominee at the 96th Academy Awards. (Also, Ebertfest in Champaign, Illinois!)

Julia: Kristen Wiig’s Jumanji sketch on Saturday Night Live, inspired by Dana. 

Stephen: The British band Jungle, introduced to him by his daughter. A few favorite songs: “Back on 74,” “Dominoes,” and “All of the Time.” 

Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 

Hosts

Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, Steffi Cao explains Roblox to Rachelle. Cao, a culture writer with bylines at The Atlantic, Fast Company, Forbes, BuzzFeed and more, recently wrote about Roblox’s new attempt to venture outside of kids’ gaming.

This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim and Rachelle Hampton.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Earlier this year, when the future of Death, Sex & Money was up in the air, Anna Sale consulted Rebecca Auman, a tarot reader and self-described witch based in North Carolina. Anna felt lost, but Rebecca encouraged her to relax and to pay close attention to what her body and mind were telling her about that moment. 

After the reading, Anna wondered how Rebecca became so good at reading people–and at helping them to navigate tough situations. But when the two of them spoke a second time, Rebecca revealed that her ability to help other people doesn’t always translate to an ability to help herself. In this episode, the two of them talk about how hard it is to trust our own intuition…and to even recognize it in the first place. 

Death, Sex & Money is now produced by Slate! To support us and our colleagues, please sign up for our membership program, Slate Plus! Members get ad-free podcasts, bonus content on lots of Slate shows, and full access to all the articles on Slate.com. Sign up today at slate.com/dsmplus.

And if you’re new to the show, welcome. We’re so glad you’re here. Find us and follow us on Instagram and you can find Anna’s newsletter at annasale.substack.com. Our new email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is deathsexmoney@slate.com.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A few years ago, Leah was diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her condition has posed many serious challenges, including how to start and maintain friendships. She wants to build a rich social life, but her symptoms—and the stigmas surrounding mental health—often get in the way. When Leah does meet a new person, she struggles with how (and when) to talk about her diagnosis and feels intense pressure to be “the perfect friend.” On this episode of How To!: Carvell Wallace brings on psychotherapist Dr. Aleksandra Rayska for a frank conversation about managing expectations, celebrating new achievements, and just going easy on yourself.

If you liked this episode check out: How to Navigate Adult Autism.

Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com or leave us a voicemail at 646-495-4001 and we might have you on the show. Subscribe for free on Apple, Spotify or wherever you listen.

How To’s executive producer is Derek John. Joel Meyer is our senior editor/producer. The show is produced by Rosemary Belson and Kevin Bendis. 

Slate Plus members get bonus segments and ad-free podcast feeds. Sign up now at slate.com/howtoplus.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: nobody wins with two parties.

A competitive presidential election draws closer every day – and as ever, every vote will count. So is it fair to accuse third-party voters of wasting a vote, as often happens? Or are third-party candidates actually preserving what little we have left of a competitive democracy? 

Bernard Tamas of Valdosta State University joins us to make the case for the power of the third party.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices