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With the holidays comes time to rest, recuperate, and unwind. What are this year’s best seasonal offerings to curl up in front of and watch with the family? Guest: Rebecca Theodore-Vachon, essayist and pop culture critic.Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-MakanjuolaYou can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this week’s episode of The Waves, Slate senior supervising producer Daisy Rosario talks to comedian and activist Aida Rodriguez about the state of women in comedy. They dig into Aida’s background and what it was like to come up as a woman of color in comedy. They also unpack the sneaking suspicion that women of color are getting fewer and fewer chances these days, and how to turn trauma into comedy. In Slate Plus, Aida and Daisy talk about whether it’s feminist to not stand up for yourself in a loud way.Catch Aida’s comedy Fighting Words on HBO Max. Podcast production by Cheyna Roth with editorial oversight by Daisy Rosario and Alicia Montgomery.Send your comments and recommendations on what to cover to thewaves@slate.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson discuss the January 6th Committee’s findings and criminal referrals; the brewing water crisis in the West–with Washington Post reporter Josh Partlow; and the biggest stories of 2022.Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:Joshua Partlow for The Washington Post: “Officials Fear ‘Complete Doomsday Scenario’ For Drought-Stricken Colorado River” Joshua Partlow for The Washington Post: “Disaster Scenarios Raise The Stakes For Colorado River Negotiations”Joshua Partlow for The Washington Post: “‘Where There’s Bodies, There’s Treasure’: A Hunt As Lake Mead Shrinks”Adam Liptak for The New York Times: “An ‘Imperial Supreme Court’ Asserts Its Power, Alarming Scholars”Marin Cogan for Vox: “The Deadliest Road in America”Here are this week’s chatters:John: Gabfest Reads: How to Avoid Disastrous Presidents; Picking Presidents: How to Make the Most Consequential Decision in the World, by Gautam MukundaEmily: Mario Ariza and Miranda Green for Floodlight News, and David Folkenflik for NPR: “In The Southeast, Power Company Money Flows To News Sites That Attack Their Critics” David: Li Cohen for CBS News: “Could Jack Have Fit On The Door With Rose In 'Titanic’? Director James Cameron Conducted A Study To Find Out ‘Once And For All.’”Listener chatter from Sam Rutledge: Kaj Tallungs for Wikimedia Commons: data visualization showing the change in U.S. population demographics over time.For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment Emily, David, and John discuss Elon Musk’s tumultuous tenure at Twitter. Tweet us your questions and chatters @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.Research by Bridgette Dunlap. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the beginning of World War II, the greatest threat to the American war effort wasn’t the Nazis or the Japanese—it was runaway inflation. The man in charge of stopping it was the country’s “price czar,” Leon Henderson. In 1942, he controlled how much coffee ordinary people could drink and how many tires they could buy. Those rules made him a nationwide villain. But would they save the country?One Year is produced by Evan Chung, Sophie Summergrad, Sam Kim, and Josh Levin.Derek John is senior supervising producer of narrative podcasts and Merritt Jacob is senior technical director.Slate Plus members get to hear more about the making of One Year. Get access to extra episodes, listen to the show without any ads, and support One Year by signing up for Slate Plus for just $15 for your first three months. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we look back on some of our favorite stories from a year that had us asking—sometimes with excitement and sometimes with exasperation—"What Next”? This episode originally aired March 29. After more than 70 weeks on the Billboard U.S. Hot 100, Dua Lipa and her song “Levitating” have run into trouble: two separate copyright complaints claiming the pop star ripped off other artists in writing her hit. These aren’t the first lawsuits to test the boundaries of what counts as plagiarism in the musical realm; and if either suit succeeds, it will have far-reaching consequences for creativity in the industry. Guest: Jeremy Orosz, associate professor of music theory at the University of Memphis. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we look back on some of our favorite stories from a year that had us asking—sometimes with excitement and sometimes with exasperation—"What Next”? This episode originally aired June 1. If you want to understand the way inequality is baked into the systems and structures all around us, examining the pay equity issue in U.S. soccer is a pretty good place to start. But after a six-year battle, the U.S. Women’s National Team struck an agreement with U.S. Soccer, ensuring equal pay for equal work for the men’s and women’s teams — another victory for a team that doesn’t take no for an answer. Guest: Christina Cauterucci, senior writer at Slate and a former middle school soccer star. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we look back on some of our favorite stories from a year that had us asking—sometimes with excitement and sometimes with exasperation—"What Next”? This episode originally aired April 4. Few were betting that a group of workers on Staten Island could win union recognition at their Amazon warehouse. Now that they’ve done it, can they replicate this win at other shops across the country? And what will the nation’s largest unions do to help Amazon workers join the labor movement? Guest: Steven Greenhouse, senior fellow at the Century Foundation and author of Beaten Down, Worked Up: The Past, Present, and Future of American Labor. If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week we look back on some of our favorite stories from a year that had us asking—sometimes with excitement and sometimes with exasperation—"What Next?" This episode originally aired March 21.A very strange bankruptcy case is coming to a close. Its settlement hinges not on payments rendered or bills neglected, but on the pain of millions of American families who slid into the jaws of the opioid crisis. Now, the people who set off the crisis are about to settle their debts.Guest: Brian Mann, reporter on addiction for NPR.If you enjoy this show, please consider signing up for Slate Plus. Slate Plus members get benefits like zero ads on any Slate podcast, bonus episodes of shows like Slow Burn and Dear Prudence—and you’ll be supporting the work we do here on What Next. Sign up now at slate.com/whatnextplus to help support our work. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Food and Drug Administration gave an important thumbs up to lab-grown chicken, which means we could start seeing it in stores as soon as next year. While billions of dollars have been spent developing lab-grown meat, important questions remain: Is the production of it actually greener than raising livestock? Can it be made affordably? Is it healthy? And will anyone eat it?Guest: Chloe Sorvino, staff writer on food and agriculture at Forbes, and the author of Raw Deal: Hidden Corruption, Corporate Greed and the Fight for the Future of Meat.Host: Lizzie O’Leary Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Former NFL star Deion Sanders turned the struggling Jackson State University Tigers into a winning team, and brought a national spotlight to football at historically Black colleges and universities. That’s why his decision to take a coaching job at the University of Colorado sparked a debate among HBCU fans. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by University of Houston Professor Billy Hawkins about why Sanders’ time at JSU had such an impact, and whether HBCUs can retain some of the momentum that Sanders helped to build.Guest: University of Houston Professor Billy Hawkins, author of The New Plantation: Black Athletes, College Sports, and Predominantly White NCAA Institutions. Podcast production by Kristie Taiwo-MakanjuolaYou can skip all the ads in A Word by joining Slate Plus. Sign up now at slate.com/awordplus for just $1 for your first month. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices