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Death, Sex & Money | The Internet Taught Me to Diet, Then Saved Me With Weightlifting Aug 19, 2025

Show notes

Casey Johnston grew up in a family where being thin mattered. In college, the internet told her to eat 1,200 calories and do endless cardio if she wanted to lose weight. That habit followed her into her late twenties, until she came upon a Reddit post about weightlifting that changed her relationship to her body and just about everything else.

Casey Johnston is the author of Physical Education: How I Escaped Diet Culture and Gained the Power of Lifting, and she writes the substack, She’s a Beast.

Podcast production by Zoe Azulay

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.

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Hang Up | Stalkers: A Hidden Threat to Athletes Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

Hosts Alex Kirshner, Ben Lindbergh, and Lindsay Gibbs speak to the Athletic’s Carson Kessler about her recent investigative series on the rise of stalking in sports. The panel then previews the upcoming college football season before welcoming golf journalist Brendan Porath to break down the Ryder Cup and the drama around Keegan Bradley potentially being the first player-captain since the early 1960s.

On the bonus episode available exclusively for Slate Plus members, Ben explains how the Milwaukee Brewers unexpectedly became the best team in baseball.

Sports Stalkers (3:50): The chilling rise in disturbing fan behavior.

CFB preview (23:30): What we love and hate going into week zero.

Ryder Cup (50:48): Is Keegan Bradley teeing up to fail?

(Note: time codes are only accurate for Slate Plus members, who listen ad-free.)

Get more Hang Up and Listen with Slate Plus! Join for weekly bonus episodes of Hang Up and Listen and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Hang Up and Listen show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, or visit slate.com/hangupplus for access wherever you listen.

You can email us at hangup@slate.com.

Podcast production and editing by Kevin Bendis, with production assistance from Patrick Fort.

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Care & Feeding | Managing Screen Time Without Losing Your Mind Aug 18, 2025

Show notes

Elizabeth and Zak talk with Ash Brandin, author of Power On, about managing screen time without guilt or panic. They discuss realistic strategies and why screen time doesn’t define parenting quality. Then, a listener’s question about school tech mandates gets some thoughtful answers. Plus, Slate Plus offers kid-friendly tech picks.

If you’re not part of the Slate Plus community, we hope you’ll consider joining! Keep reading to learn how.

Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask questions, share feedback, and suggest future topics. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get an extra weekly grab-bag of content on the Plus Playground, an ad-free experience across the network, and support the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus — or try it out on Apple Podcasts.

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Gabfest Reads | The Four Years That Changed New York City Forever Aug 16, 2025

Show notes

Political Gabfest host Emily Bazelon talks with Jonathan Mahler about his new book, The Gods of New York. They discuss the unraveling of Mayor Ed Koch’s New York City; how the city’s current mayoral race is mirroring the past; and more.

Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.

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ICYMI | The Great Girlboss Comeback Aug 16, 2025

Show notes

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by Slate senior writer Scaachi Koul to talk about the return of the girlboss. Over five years after various exposes exposed their poor management and, in some cases, racism, former it-girls like The Wing’s Audrey Gelman and Outdoor Voice’s Ty Haney are back in the spotlight. Their new projects, however, are falling flat. Is there any room for redemption in 2025, or is time to leave girlbosses behind for good?

Get more of ICYMI with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of ICYMI and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the ICYMI show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/icymiplus for access wherever you listen.

This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Kate Lindsay, with help from Kevin Bendis.

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Hit Parade | The White and Nerdy Edition Part 1 Aug 15, 2025

Show notes

Sped-up voices. Wacky instruments. Songs about cavemen, bathtubs, bikinis, and mothers-in-law. From the dawn of rock ‘n’ roll through the 1970s—the age of streaking, CB radios, disco and King Tut—novelty songs could be chart-topping hits. But by the corporate ’80s, it was harder for goofballs to score hits on regimented radio playlists. Until one perm-headed, mustachioed, accordion-playing parodist who called himself “Weird” rebooted novelty hits for the new millennium.

In this encore episode of Hit Parade, Chris Molanphy explores the history of novelty hits on the charts.

Podcast production by Justin D. Wright and Kevin Bendis.

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Care & Feeding | A Doctor’s Take on Your Newborn Worries Aug 14, 2025

Show notes

On this episode: Zak sits down with Dr. Parga Belinkie, pediatrician and new parent whisperer, to talk about those intense, often foggy first months with a newborn. They get into what matters most in a pediatrician-parent relationship, what’s actually worth worrying about (and what isn’t), and how to navigate the early avalanche of advice, anxiety, and sleep deprivation. It’s a conversation that grounds you in the basics—without making you feel like you have to get it all right.

Join us on Facebook and email us at careandfeedingpod@slate.com to ask questions, share feedback, and suggest future topics. You can also call our phone line: (646) 357-9318.

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ICYMI | Kendra Fell In Love With Her Psychiatrist—Then She Met TikTok Aug 13, 2025

Show notes

On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by senior supervising producer Daisy Rosario to talk about Kendra, the woman whose 25-part TikTok series about falling in love with her psychiatrist has captivated the internet. However, what viewers thought would be the next Reesa Teesa “Who The Fuck Did I Marry?” series turned out to be something much more complicated, as Kendra’s story went from suspicious to downright troubling. Now, TikTok is diagnosing Kendra with mental health issues, while still consuming her content like entertainment.

This podcast is produced by Daisy Rosario, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Kate Lindsay.

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Decoder Ring | How to Hunt a Mammoth, and Other Experiments in Archaeology Aug 13, 2025

Show notes

Experimental archeology is, simply put, archeology that involves running experiments. Where traditional archaeologists may study, research, analyze, and theorize about how artifacts were made or used, experimental archaeologists actually try to recreate, test, and use them to see what they can learn. In doing so, they have given the field a whole new way to glean clues and get insights into the lives of our ancestors.

Sam Kean is the author of a new book all about experimental archaeology called Dinner with King Tut. With help from him and a few archaeologists, we dig into a number of puzzles that experimental archaeology has helped solve—conundrums involving ancient megafauna, bizarre cookware, and deep sea voyages.

In this episode, you’ll hear from archaeologists Susan Kaplan of Bowdoin College and Karen Harry of University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Native Hawaiian activist and storyteller Nāʻālehu Anthony.

To learn more about the story of Hokule’a and its first navigator, Mau Piailug, watch Nāʻālehu Anthony’s 2010 documentary, Papa Mau: The Wayfinder, as well as The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific.

This episode was produced by Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. We had mixing help from Kevin Bendis.

We’d also like to thank Metin Eren and Paul Benham.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at DecoderRing@slate.com or leave a message on our hotline at (347) 460-7281.

Get more of Decoder Ring with Slate Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of Decoder Ring and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Decoder Ring show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus for access wherever you listen.

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Culture Gabfest: The Naked Gun And The Nearly Naked Momoa Edition Aug 13, 2025

Show notes

On this week’s show, Julia Turner is joined by guest hosts Nadira Goffe and Dan Kois to answer the urgent question: is The Naked Gun starring Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson the vital satire we need for our time? (Answer: No, but does that matter? The joke-dense spoof reboot directed by Akiva Schaffer is a hoot.)

Next, they turn to tropical shores and talk about Chief of War, the epic series about Hawaiian history starring and produced by Jason Momoa. Finally, the panel examines the legacy of the musical Hamilton on its ten-year anniversary. Is it a naive Obama-era cringefest or an enduring piece of theater that still has much to say about American democracy?

In an exclusive Slate Plus Bonus episode, Julia and Nadira grill Dan about the creation of Slate’s newest game Pears and discuss the state of the internet game ecosystem.

Email us your thoughts at culturefest@slate.com.

Podcast production by Benjamin Frisch. Production assistance by Daniel Hirsch.

Endorsements:

Nadira: The new album BLACKSTAR by Ghanaian and American singer and songwriter Amaarae.

Julia: Jurassic Park at the Hollywood Bowl accompanied by the LA Philharmonic. If not that, stream on a screen near you.

Dan: Quitting your job.

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