Slate Culture Feed

Guest Prudie Kristen Meinzer is joined by Lori Gottlieb – a psychotherapist, an Ask the Therapist Columnist for The New York Times, and a bestselling author. Together, they answer questions about being honest with a friend about their mental health, how to politely turn down an offer of friendship, and getting family to understand and respect boundaries during a divorce.

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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: Elizabeth, Lucy and Zak get together for our annual After Dark episode. This year, Lucy’s got a question about showing affection in front of the kids… and figuring out how to demonstrate what a healthy relationship looks like without making it weird.

If you want to catch up on last year’s After Dark episodes, do it: we talked about sex and did couple’s counseling.

And after that discussion, we’ll of course 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.

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Podcast produced by Maura Currie, with special thanks to babysitter extraordinaire Rosemary Belson this week. 

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As Donald Trump’s campaign of trans panic and anti-Latin American sentiment buoyed him back to the White House, Emilia Pérez looked like a film to meet the moment. Then audiences started actually seeing it and...yikes.

Guest: Michael Schulman, staff writer at The New Yorker and author of Oscar Wars: A History of Hollywood in Gold, Sweat, and Tears.

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Podcast production by Elena Schwartz, Paige Osburn, Anna Phillips, Madeline Ducharme and Rob Gunther.

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Kate Lindsay and Candice Lim dive into two internet stories they can’t stop thinking about. First, they explain how Montoya from Temptation Island became 2025’s crash-out king and created one of the first great international memes of the year. Then, they recap the journey of Onijah Andrew Robinson, an American who spent months in Pakistan after a catfish-gone-wrong, and used local media to become TikTok’s latest obsession.

This podcast is produced by Alexandra Botti, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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On this week’s show, the hosts reflect on 50 years of music, culture, and comedy with the 50th anniversary of SNL and QuestLove’s new documentary Ladies & Gentlemen…50 Years of SNL Music. For that, the team is joined by Jason Zinoman, critic at large for culture at The New York Times. 

Then they discuss the Oscar-nominated animated film Flow – where we follow the adventures of an unlikely group of animals led by a curious black cat.

Finally, Slate culture writer Nadira Goffe joins to talk about Kendrick Lamar’s “double whammy” of a Super Bowl halftime show. Read her article reflecting on the performance here.

Note: Pardon the brief audio issues during the Kendrick Lamar conversation.

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, the panel invites Jason Zinoman back to discuss his article on standup comedy’s move to soften the punchline in exchange for a long, humor-infused setup.

Email us at [email protected]. 

Endorsements:

Dana: Henry IV playing at the Theatre for a New Audience in New York and K.D. Lang’s SNL performance of Johnny Get Angry in 1989 (audio only, as the video performance has been removed) or this other performance of the song (with visuals) on UK’s Channel Four from 1991

Julia: Vulture critic Craig Jenkins’ halftime show review – Kendrick Lamar Is Not Your Savior and Pom Pom maker

Steve: Pope Francis’ letter to Vice President J.D. Vance

Podcast production and research by Vic Whitley-Berry.

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In this episode, Christina Cauterucci speaks with Sasha Buchert, Counsel and Nonbinary and Transgender Rights Project Director at Lambda Legal, and Geirid Morgan, a trans Lieutenant Commander in the Navy, about the Trump administration’s ban on transgender people serving in the military. Sasha walks us through Lambda Legal’s case challenging the ban and the broader constitutional implications, while Geirid shares her personal experience navigating shifting policies, coming out while in service, and the uncertainty that trans service members continue to face.

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Kate Lindsay and Candice Lim dive into two internet stories they can’t stop thinking about. First, they explain how Montoya from Temptation Island became 2025’s crash-out king and created one of the first great international memes of the year. Then, they recap the journey of Onijah Andrew Robinson, an American who spent months in Pakistan after a catfish-gone-wrong, and used local media to become TikTok’s latest obsession.

This podcast is produced by Alexandra Botti, Daisy Rosario, Candice Lim, and Kate Lindsay.

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You may never have thought very hard about scratch-off tickets, but that’s part of their power. They’re a form of gambling that’s simply a pedestrian part of American life. But not so long ago, they were risky and innovative, the killer app of their time and the must-play game of the state lottery. In this episode, Ian Coss, host of the new podcast series Scratch & Win, is going to walk us through the history of the scratch-off ticket: its invention, its popularization, and its connection to the explosion in gambling that’s now all around us. 

This episode of Decoder Ring was produced by Katie Shepherd. Decoder Ring is also produced by Willa Paskin, Evan Chung and Max Freedman. Derek John is Executive Producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director.

Scratch & Win is a production of GBH News. It is produced by Isabel Hibbard and Ian Coss and edited by Lacy Roberts. Its editorial supervisor is Jenifer McKim with support from Ryan Alderman. Mei Lei is the project manager, and the Executive Producer is Devin Maverick Robins.

If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, please email us at [email protected]. And you can also now call us at our Decoder Ring hotline — that number is 347-460-7281. We love hearing your ideas, and we especially enjoyed all the messages we got about our last episode on the ’90s swing craze. Keep ‘em coming! And even better, tell your friends to check us out.

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Ever since she started taking a new medication a few years ago, Meme is worried that she’s lost her sex drive. She still has a great relationship with her husband, but she isn’t interested in sex the way that she used to be, and she’s worried it’s hurting her marriage. On this episode of How To!, we bring on sex educator Emily Nagoski, author of Come as You Are, to coach Meme through how to revamp her sex life. For busy couples, you should actually schedule a time on your calendar to be intimate. “Think of like when you were dating…that was date sex,” Emily reminds us. She then breaks down the myths that so many of us have internalized about sex, and shares surprising tips to help anyone—no matter their age or relationship status—have better sex.

If you liked this episode, check out: “How To Save Your Marriage.”

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.

Podcast production by Derek John, Rachael Allen, and Rosemary Belson.

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When the poet and writer Kaveh Akbar likes something, he really likes it. As a high school student, he got hooked on poetry. In college, it was alcohol. This week, Kaveh talks to Anna Sale about the factors that led to his sobriety, and he explains exactly how he manages a life that’s full of healthy, wonderful obsessions as well as problematic ones.  

Kaveh’s critically acclaimed novel Martyr! is now available in paperback. You can read about his temporary fixation on collecting basketball cards in GQ. 

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

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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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