Slate Conversations

Slate Conversations

By Slate PodcastsSociety & Culture
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Slate Conversations episodes

  • Care & Feeding: My Mom’s Obsessed With My Baby

    On this episode: Elizabeth, Lucy and Zak help a member of the Slate Parenting Facebook group who’s struggling with wrangling her new baby… and the baby’s very clingy new grandma. Grandma’s struggled with loneliness and is-over-the-moon about the baby. But is it time to set some boundaries? And how many photos is too many?


    We also check in on what’s happening in the hosts’ lives right now. And then, if you’re joining us for the Plus Playground — out now in your podcast feed — we’re sharing our favorite educational stuff to stick on ye olde tablet.


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


    Lucy’s check-in: feeling like gauze.  

    Elizabeth’s check-in: the major highs and major lows of preteendom

    Zak’s check-in: Ami carries a backpack (and more)


    Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. 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 to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts.


    Podcast produced by Maura Currie.

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

    46 min
  • Dear Prudence | My Friend Keeps Disappearing and it Hurts! Help!

    In this episode, Rachel Bloom (The CW musical comedy-drama series Crazy Ex-Girlfriend and Netflix’s Death, Let Me Do My Special) joins our Guest Prudie (Cheyna Roth) to answer letters from readers about how to handle a newly sober (and vegan) friend getting super judgy, what to do when you become friends with an ex-boyfriend and then that boyfriend gets a jealous girlfriend, and whether not wanting to listen to your friend group’s constant griping constitutes an intervention.

    Want more Dear Prudence? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/prudie-plus to get access wherever you listen.

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

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

    38 min
  • Care & Feeding: There Are Mean Girls in… Kindergarten?

    On this episode: Lucy, Zak and Elizabeth answer a question from a listener who’s worried that her preschooler has already encountered a lot of bullying and cliques… so what is kindergarten going to be like? And why are these little kids already capable of being so mean?


    We’ll also circle up for a round of triumphs and fails — including an update on Zak’s talking-about-the-Holocaust dilemma.


    Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. 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 ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus to help support our work.


    Podcast produced by Maura Currie.

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

    47 min
  • Well, Now: The Truth About IUDs

    Modern IUDs have been used for decades to prevent unwanted pregnancy and have been extremely effective at doing so.

    But they’re not without side effects. With few places to turn, many patients have resorted to TikTok to describe their experiences of painful insertion and removal as well as cramping, changes in menstruation, and mood shifts.

    But patients don’t have to be left in the dark. If there was more research into how different bodies react to IUDs, there’s a chance patients can get the care they need without as drastic of side effects.

    On this week’s episode of Well, Now Maya and Kavita talk with Dr. Kavita Nanda, the Director of Medical Research for FHI360, on why there is so little research into IUDs, what we do know about them, and how you or a loved one can prepare for a conversation with your doctor about them.

    If you liked this episode, check out: Michelle Obama Gets Health Advice From This Gyno. Now You Can, Too.

    Further Reading: Why Is It So Hard to Get a Basic Question Answered About My IUD

    Well, Now is hosted by registered dietitian nutritionist Maya Feller and Dr. Kavita Patel.

    Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with help from Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola. Editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

    Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to [email protected]

    Want to listen to Well, Now uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Well, Now and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. 

    Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/wellplus to get access wherever you listen.

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

    34 min
  • How To!: Grow Your Podcast

    Ari always dreamed of starting his own podcast. When he started interviewing fellow academics for the Taylor Swift class he’s teaching, Ari suddenly had the perfect opportunity to turn those conversations into something called ¿What Are Taylor Swift Studies Anyways? Now he just needs to find an audience. On this meta episode of How To!, Carvell Wallace brings on Lauren Passell, founder of Tink Media and author of Podcast the Newsletter. Lauren shares creative ways to find new listeners and connect with your audience; tips that apply to all kinds of passion projects. 


    Resources Mentioned:

    • Podcast Marketing Magic
    • Podcast the Newsletter
    • Transom
    • NPR Training
    • Rephonic

    • If you liked this episode check out: How To Succeed at Social Media


      Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at [email protected] 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, with Kevin Bendis and Sara McCrae.


      Want more How To!? Subscribe to Slate Plus to unlock exclusive bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of the How To! show page. Or, visit slate.com/howtoplus to get access wherever you listen.

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

      46 min
    • Death, Sex & Money: Bob the Drag Queen says Polyamory is Expensive

      If you lived in Columbus, Georgia in the 90s, you might remember a queer club called Sensations. But Bob the Drag Queen knew Sensations by day, not night – she was in elementary school when her mom owned the place. Bob eventually moved to New York City, and now, she’s an international stand-up comedian and drag star.

      In this episode, Bob talks to Anna about turning her big ideas into iconic side hustles, trying to move her family into a bigger home, and supporting and collaborating with queer and trans people in small U.S. towns as a co-host of the HBO reality show Elsewhere.

      Podcast production by Afi Yellow-Duke and Lilly Clark in 2021. 

      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 [email protected].

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

      37 min
    • Care & Feeding: Making (And Keeping) Parent Friends

      On this episode: it’s Friendship Week at Slate, and we’re hopping aboard the friendship train to talk about the beauty, and challenges, of making friends in the parenting world… with special guest host Rebecca Onion, a senior editor for Slate.


      We also check in on what’s happening in Elizabeth, Zak, and Rebecca’s lives right now. And then, if you’re joining us for the Plus Playground — out now in your podcast feed — we’re talking about what happens when a friendship dies.


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


      Zak’s check in: healthy snacks at school PLEASE

      Elizabeth’s check in: phones for good

      Rebecca’s check in: friendship necklaces: revenge edition.


      Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. 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 to hang out with us on the Plus Playground every week for a whole additional grab-bag of content — and you’ll get an ad-free experience across the network. And you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus – or try it out on Apple Podcasts.


      Podcast produced by Maura Currie.

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

      53 min
    • Dear Prudence | I Didn’t Wish My Sister a Happy Birthday—Now She’s Pissed! Help!

      In this episode, Akilah Hughes (host of a new podcast from iHeart, Rebel Spirit) joins our Guest Prudie (Ashley C. Ford) to answer letters from readers about how to be a supportive long-distance friend to someone in an unhappy marriage, what to do when your friend is great at being a friend but a terrible colleague, and whether birthday texts are really necessary.

      Want more Dear Prudence? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock weekly bonus episodes. Plus, you’ll access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/prudie-plus to get access wherever you listen.

      This podcast is produced by Se’era Spragley Ricks, Daisy Rosario, and Jenée Desmond-Harris, with help from Ashley C. Ford, Maura Currie, and Anuli Ononye.

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

      38 min
    • A Word: Yvette Nicole Brown: Caring and Community

      Yvette Nicole Brown spent years working in Hollywood before she got her big break. Then she rose to fame with her comedic turns in Community and Drake & Josh. But her latest –and perhaps most important– role is as caregiver to her father. That experience is at the heart of her storytelling as host of the new podcast Squeezed, focused on the millions of Americans who find themselves balancing caregiving with careers. On today’s episode of A Word, Yvette Nicole Brown speaks with Jason Johnson about the caregivers who shared their stories on Squeezed, and what the rest of the nation –from neighbors, to friends, to political leaders– can do to support caregiving. 


      Guest: Yvette Nicole Brown, actress and podcast host of Squeezed.


      Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola


      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

      35 min
    • Care & Feeding: My Kid’s Bad At Baseball (And He Knows It)

      On this episode: Elizabeth, Zak and Lucy help a listener who left us a voicemail about their little athlete who’s just not great at baseball… and he also gets upset when the game doesn’t go his way. If this kid were an adult, it’d be time to have an honest conversation about knowing your strengths. But how does that conversation work with a kid?


      And after that conversation, of course, we’ll also debrief on our week in parenting with a round of triumphs and fails. 


      Join us on Facebook and email us at [email protected] to ask us new questions, tell us what you thought of today’s show, and give us ideas about what we should talk about in future episodes. 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 ad-free experience across the network and exclusive content on many shows—you’ll also be supporting the work we do here on Care and Feeding. Sign up now at slate.com/careplus to help support our work.


      Podcast produced by Maura Currie.

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

      56 min

    About Slate Conversations

    From the publisher's feed

    A feed of the up close and the personal, drawn from Working and across the Slate podcast network. Let’s talk.

    Hosted on Acast. See

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