Slate Culture Feed

Tesla owners are dumping their vehicles in protest of CEO Elon Musk—and driving down resale prices. On this episode of How To!, Courtney Martin talks with two soon-to-be-former owners—and with Patrick George, editor-in-chief of InsideEVs and co-host of the Plugged-In podcast. Patrick helps them figure out how to sell their Model Ys and find a ride that aligns with their practical and ideological needs. 

If you liked this episode check out: How To Cope With Climate Anxiety

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.

The show is produced by Rosemary Belson, with Kevin Bendis. Our technical director is Merritt Jacob and our supervising producer is Joel Meyer.

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Alongside life's darkest moments there often are moments of absurdity that make us laugh. 

In this episode, from a live San Francisco comedy festival in January, Anna and guests talk about the special kind of comedy born of something sad. Comedians Guy Branum and Carl Tart share stories of writing a sitcom about Zoom-era social relationships. Chanel Miller, author of Know My Name, talks about coping with the trauma of being a victim of a high profile sexual assault case… by doing standup. And Faith Albright, a veterinarian specializing in at-home euthanasia, explores the delicate art of finding humor while supporting grieving families through difficult goodbyes. Plus an AI chatbot and musician Matt Nathanson duke it out over who can more creatively sum up each segment. 

Chanel Miller’s books are the memoir Know My Name and Magnolia Wu Unfolds It All, which was recognized by the Newbury Awards this year. 

Faith Albright’s work at onelivingsanctuary.org. 

Matt Nathanson’s new album is called King of Unsimple and he’s on tour…find dates at mattnathanson.com 

Guy Branum has upcoming standup shows in LA, Chicago, Seattle and more…find those dates at guybranum.com 

Watch Carl Tart’s writing work on SNL… keep track of all his podcasts and improv shows on his instagram. 

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].

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Hosts Alex Kirshner, Lindsay Gibbs, and Ben Lindbergh welcome Joel Beall, senior Golf Digest writer and author of Playing Dirty, for a deep dive into Saudi Arabia’s continued sportwashing through investments in professional golf. The panel also discusses number one seeds steamrolling their way into the men’s Final Four. Alex Ovechkin inches closer to surpassing Wayne Gretzky's NHL goal record. Finally, Ben has an afterball on the Bronx Bombers and their new, lethal torpedo bats.

On the bonus episode available exclusively for Slate Plus members, the panel talks about foul-grifting and faking injuries in the NBA.

LIV Golf (2:43): Why the PGA Tour/Saudi Arabia negotiations really failed. 

March Madness (29:45): For the second time ever, the men’s Final Four is all No. 1 seeds

Ovechkin (45:18): The Capitals captain is five goals shy of surpassing Gretzky

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

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On this episode: Zak, Lucy and Elizabeth answer a question about going on nap strike. This mom has a toddler who’s suddenly just… not napping. And, of course, she starts getting tired way before a reasonable bedtime. So, mom is looking for advice, but also just solidarity.

We’ll help her out and then check in and share what’s on our minds this week. Then, if you’re hanging out for the Slate Plus Playground, Elizabeth vents about ableism in the news.

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: visitors and sunnier days.  

Elizabeth’s check-in: Alice in Wonderland.

Lucy’s check-in: no phone spring break.

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.

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Candice Lim and Kate Lindsay are joined by Slate senior culture editor Jenny G. Zhang to discuss @Hubs.Life, an influencer who made content about his 9-5, only to become so successful, he quit. Connor Hubbard first gained traction online for his day in the life videos which were interesting to some, depressing to others. Despite their low entertainment quality, Hubbard’s TikTok videos gained him nearly 1 million followers from people fascinated by his typical life working a corporate job. Then, Hubbard announced he had quit his job to pursue content creation full-time, going as far as renting out a co-working cubicle to continue making content for his fans. Has Hubbard fallen into social media’s relatability trap, and why did Hubs Life’s unconventional attempt at rebranding fall flat for some viewers?

This podcast is produced by Olivia Briley, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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When you think of music in the 1960s, some groundbreaking artists probably come to mind: Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix and the Jefferson Airplane, for example. But the pop charts paint a very different picture of that decade, which embraced easy listening, groovy bubblegum, novelty and instrumental records—even a guitar-strumming Belgian nun. 

In other words, the soundtrack of the era was more like Mad Men and less like Forrest Gump.

Join Chris Molanphy as he unearths forgotten hits from Bobby Vinton, Kyu Sakamoto, Jeannie C. Riley, and other unlikely chart-toppers, on a still-strange trip through the ‘60s.

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Guest Prudie Kristen Meinzer is joined by Ada Calhoun, the author of Crush and Why We Can’t Sleep.

Together, they answer questions about going no contact with your parents permanently, reconciling after a messy divorce, and cutting ties with an ungrateful kid.

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This week’s podcast is produced by Maura Currie, Vic Whitley-Berry, and Daisy Rosario.

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On this episode: Zak, Lucy, and Elizabeth are answering a question from a mom who’s wondering if she’s going to accidentally cause body issues for her four-year-old. This kid has developed what seems like a compulsive habit every time she uses the bathroom… and our mom wants it to stop, but also doesn’t want to somehow make things worse.

We’ll talk through what might be happening here — and then, of course, we’ll circle up for 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 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. 

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Look in the nonfiction section of any bookstore and you’ll find dozens of history books making the same bold claim: that their narrow, unexpected subject somehow changed the world. Potatoes, kudzu, soccer, coffee, Iceland, bees, oak trees, sand, chickens—there are books about all of them, and many more besides, with the phrase “changed the world” or something similarly grandiose right there in the title. These books are sometimes called “microhistories” or “thing biographies” and they’ve been a trope in publishing for decades. In this episode, we establish where this trend came from, figure out why it’s been so persistent, and then we put a bunch of authors on the spot, asking them to make the case for why their subjects changed the world.

The writers you’ll hear from include: 

This episode was written by Willa Paskin and produced by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman also produce our show. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

Thank you to Joshua Specht, author of Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America; Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World; Tina Lupton; Dan Kois; and Nancy Miller.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at [email protected], or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.

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Look in the nonfiction section of any bookstore and you’ll find dozens of history books making the same bold claim: that their narrow, unexpected subject somehow changed the world. Potatoes, kudzu, soccer, coffee, Iceland, bees, oak trees, sand, chickens—there are books about all of them, and many more besides, with the phrase “changed the world” or something similarly grandiose right there in the title. These books are sometimes called “microhistories” or “thing biographies” and they’ve been a trope in publishing for decades. In this episode, we establish where this trend came from, figure out why it’s been so persistent, and then we put a bunch of authors on the spot, asking them to make the case for why their subjects changed the world.

The writers you’ll hear from include: 

• Simon Garfield (Mauve: How One Man Invented a Color That Changed the World)
• Mark Kurlansky (Cod: A Biography of the Fish That Changed the World)
• George Gibson, publisher of Cod and Dava Sobel’s Longitude
• Historian Bronwen Everill
• Slate writer Henry Grabar (Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains the World)
• Gastropod co-host Nicola Twilley (Frostbite: How Refrigeration Changed Our Food, Our Planet, and Ourselves)
• Tim Queeney (Rope: How a Bundle of Twisted Fibers Became the Backbone of Civilization)
• Leila Philip (Beaver Land: How One Weird Rodent Made America). 

This episode was written by Willa Paskin and produced by Evan Chung, Decoder Ring’s supervising producer. Katie Shepherd and Max Freedman also produce our show. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

Thank you to Joshua Specht, author of Red Meat Republic: A Hoof-to-Table History of How Beef Changed America; Dan Koeppel, author of Banana: The Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World; Tina Lupton; Dan Kois; and Nancy Miller.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at [email protected], or leave a message on our hotline at 347-460-7281.

Want more Decoder Ring? 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 Decoder Ring show page. Or, visit slate.com/decoderplus to get access wherever you listen.

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