Death, Sex & Money - Stavros Halkias Worries Fame Might Kill Him

The “tradwives” are retreating. Nara Smith went on Call Her Daddy to renounce any association with the term, and has been in the middle of a full-on rebrand as the promotes her new cookbook. Other figureheads, like Hannah Neeleman aka Ballerina Farm, are taking a step back to put their business first. Meanwhile, the actual former tradwives are suffering. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by author and Culture Study host Anne Helen Petersen to talk about why these women are making such public shifts, and what happens when the word “tradwife” loses all meaning.

Clowns have existed in various forms for thousands of years. From the big top to Bozo’s TV show, they used to be beloved figures of amusement and delight. What changed and made so many people suspect and fear them? In this episode, originally aired in 2018, Decoder Ring traces the history of clowns and clowning and finds that both the scary clown and the happy clown are over-simplifications that have more in common than it might first appear. This episode was produced and edited by Benjamin Frisch. Decoder Ring is produced by Max Freedman, Alesandra Tejeda, and Evan Chung, our supervising producer. Merritt Jacob is Senior Technical Director. Thank you to Benjamin Radford, Isaac Butler, Jim Bredesen, Andrew Kahn, Aisha Harris, and June Thomas. And special thanks to Daniel Royer for recommending this subject. If you have any cultural mysteries you want us to decode, email us at [email protected] 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. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The latest internet “trend,” apparently, is adult children cutting off their parents. And while there are plenty of spaces on the internet where both children and parents can seek advice and community about their estrangement, the reality is much more complicated, and these digital support groups may be doing more harm than good. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by author Christina Wyman to talk about coming across her own mothers posts in a Facebook group for estranged parents, which she wrote about for Slate. But in a social media world, is there ever such a thing as “no contact”? And how can we stop algorithms and echo chambers from making it even worse?

Now famous as a New York City nightlife fixture and for his role on Somebody Somewhere, comedian Murray Hill used to keep his personal history private. In fact, the persona of “Murray Hill” started as a drag king character modeled after old-timey comedians. Over time, though, the gap between the character and the man has shrunk. This week on the show, Murray opens up about everything: his upbringing in Connecticut with a family who could be cruel and abusive, teachers who looked out for him, and friends who helped the real Murray emerge. His new memoir is called Showbiz!: My Life as a Middle-Aged Man. The interview with Norman Lear that Anna mentions can be found here. Get more with Death, Sex & Money Plus! Join for exclusive bonus episodes of DSM and ad-free listening on all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe from the Death, Sex & Money show page on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Or, visit slate.com/dsmplus to get access wherever you listen. 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 email address, where you can reach us with voice memos, pep talks, questions, critiques, is [email protected]. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The new AI agents from Meta and OpenAI have one thing in common: they look like children’s cartoons. At the same time these companies are warning that AI will kill us all, they’re trying to convince users to try even more products by making them look as cuddly and innocent as possible. On today’s episode, host Kate Lindsay is joined by writer and Slate columnist Steffi Cao to talk about just how much access these AI agents want in our lives, and what they’re hiding behind their fuzzy facades.