Category: 3-BookTalkSometimeCommentary

This week, host Isaac Butler talks to Howard Fine, an acting teacher and coach who instructs both beginners and accomplished movie stars. In the interview, Howard explains why he chose to teach and coach, instead of act. Then he discusses the common problems that his students and clients face, and he explains how actors can protect their mental health, even when they need to go to challenging emotional places.  

After the interview, Isaac and co-host Ronald Young Jr. discuss the emotional toll that acting can take on performers, and Isaac shares a personal story about his experience as a young actor. 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Howard talks about a role he helped Brad Pitt with and how his approach to Pitt’s character differed from the director’s. He also explains how he tailors his coaching to specific actors. 

Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

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In this episode, Aubrey Gordon (who you may also know as “Your Fat Friend”) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how to handle unwanted comments about Ozempic-fueled weight loss, how to get people to stop talking so much, and how to deal with the stress of a unconventional—and potentially disruptive—wedding guest.

If you want more Dear Prudence, join Slate Plus, Slate’s membership program. Jenée answers an extra question every week, just for members. 

Go to Slate.com/prudieplus to sign up. It’s just $15 for your first three months. 

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

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March is Women’s History Month, and for centuries, the roles of Black women in key moments of American history have been diminished. One book that takes a unique approach to exploring their stories is Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts. The book combines historical narrative with illustrations depicting African and African American women rising up against their enslavers, often at the cost of their own lives. On today’s episode of A Word, host Jason Johnson is joined by Wake’s author, attorney and educator Rebecca Hall. They discuss the leading role many Black women played in slave uprisings, and the complicated politics that have kept their stories hidden for so long. 

Guest: Rebecca Hall, author of Wake: The Hidden History of Women-Led Slave Revolts

Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-Makanjuola.

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When Patti retired a few months ago, everyone told her she would love the freedom and flexibility that came with leaving the workforce. Not so. The transition has left Patti grieving the loss of her routine and sense of purpose—and she’s wondering how to find fulfillment in life’s (gulp!) third act. On today’s episode, Courtney Martin welcomes Brad Stulberg, author of Master of Change: How to Excel When Everything Is Changing—Including You. Brad helps Patti rethink this massive transformation and emerge from it stronger. 

If you liked this episode check out: How To Start Over at 60.

Do you have a problem that needs solving? Send us a note at howto@slate.com 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 and Kevin Bendis. 

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This week, host June Thomas talks to Anna Shechtman, a crossword puzzle creator whose new book is called The Riddles of the Sphinx: Inheriting the Feminist History of the Crossword Puzzle. In the interview, Anna talks about her experience writing crossword puzzles as a teenager and then going on to work with New York Times puzzle maker Will Shortz. She also discusses the subjectivity of “common knowledge” and recalls debates with Shortz about which words and phrases were puzzle-worthy. 

After the interview, June and co-host Ronald Young Jr. talk more about crosswords and the ever-expanding pool of “common knowledge.” 

In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, Anna shares how much crossword puzzle creators get paid. She also discusses a more sensitive topic: her struggle with anorexia, which coincided with her early interest in crossword puzzles.

Send your questions about creativity and any other feedback to working@slate.com or give us a call at (304) 933-9675.

Podcast production by Cameron Drews.

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 Working. Sign up now at slate.com/workingplus to help support our work.

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Multi award-winning novelist Ann Patchett will be discussing The Dutch House.

A dark modern fairytale set against the very real world of post-WWII Philadelphia, tracing the love between a brother and sister, their vanishing mother, distant father and jealous stepmother. Ann Patchett tells the story of a family over five decades with a finely balanced mixture of wit and heartbreak.

(Image: Ann Patchett. Photo credit: Emily Dorio.)

The U.S. healthcare system can split the country into two Americas.

Your zip code, education, class status and more all play a role in the outcome of your health as well as the kind of care you receive. 

Fewer markers more clearly define these disparities than race. 

On this week’s episode of Well, Now Maya and Kavita talk about racism in American healthcare with Dr. Uché Blackstock. 

Her new book Legacy: A Black Physician Reckons with Racism in Medicine gives a historical view of how racism has always played a role in U.S. healthcare. 

This book is also a memoir of her own experience as a physician carrying on the legacy of her late mother, Dr. Dale Gloria Blackstock.

Health Resources Mentioned in the Episode:

• Health in Her HUE
• Irth App

Podcast production by Vic Whitley-Berry with editorial oversight by Alicia Montgomery.

Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to wellnow@slate.com 

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The Overland Trail into the American West is one of the most culturally recognizable symbols of the American past: white covered wagons traversing the plains, filled with heroic pioneers embodying the nation's manifest destiny. In American Burial Ground: A New History of the Overland Trail (University of Pennsylvania Press, 2023), University of Nevada assistant professor of history Sarah Keyes rewrites that well-worn story. Keyes book focuses on a topic that was at the forefront of the minds of those who traveled the train - death. 6,000 (or perhaps more) people died traveling West during the middle decades of the nineteenth century, and in a nation where death rituals held strong symbolic meaning, the realities of dying on the trail were troubling to westward settlers. By looking at the trail through the lens of death, Keyes also includes other forms of, and institutions central to, western migration, namely Indian Removal and the US Army. American Burial Ground is a fresh look at a topic that many people think they know something about - historians will never look at westward migration the same way again.

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In his book, Native Southerners: Indigenous History from Origins to Removal(University of Oklahoma Press, 2019), Dr. Gregory D. Smithers effectively articulates the complex history of Native Southerners. Smithers conveys the history of Native Southerners through numerous historical eras while properly reinterpreting popular misconceptions about the past in a way that is compelling and easy to understand. Smithers expresses the rich and complex history of Native Southerners as it was while exposing the reality of settler colonialism and U.S. removal policies. As shown throughout the book, Native Southerners were constantly adapting to a changing world. But ultimately Native Southerners flourished, leading Smither to state, “My, how the architects of removal and assimilation failed.”

Gregory D. Smithers is an American historian with a particular interest in the rich history of the Cherokee people, Indigenous history in the Southeast, and environmental history. He received his Ph.D. in History from the University of California, Davis. He has taught in California, Hawaii, Scotland, and Ohio. He currently lives in Richmond, Virginia, where he is a professor of American history and Eminent Scholar in the College of Humanities and Sciences at Virginia Commonwealth University.

Colin Mustful has an M.A. in history from Minnesota State University, Mankato, and is currently a candidate for an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Augsburg University. You can learn more about his work at his website: www.colinmustful.com.

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The American obsession with categorizing people by race isn’t just a problem for our institutions. For multi-racial and multi-ethnic Americans, it can be intensely personal. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by journalist Natasha Alford. She shares her own unique experience navigating America’s complicated ideas about race in her new book, American Negra: A Memoir. Alford shares how her African American and Puerto Rican heritage shaped her understanding of race in her early life, and how those ideas were challenged when she attended Harvard University and later became a journalist.  

Guest: Natasha Alford, author of American Negra: A Memoir

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.

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