Escape from the corn maze

And a new episode about witnessing an end-of-life decision

Oct 10, 2024

A reminder: if you listen to Death, Sex & Money, please support our team's work by becoming a Slate Plus member. Get an ad-free stream of our show and exclusive episodes — like my Plus conversation this week with Slate’s sex advice columnists Jessica Stoya and Rich Juzwiak about re-invigorating your fantasy life.

I’m on vacation in Maine this week with my family. The leaves are red-orange-yellow-green all around, the fish are biting, and I’ve been eating U-pick apples, apple cider donuts, lobster rolls and various regional pizzas.

In other good news: we found our way out of the corn maze.

But I wanted to still send you a newsletter this week because we also released an episode that I want to make sure you don’t miss. This one was several months in the making and will stay with me for a long time.

It started last May, when I got a text from a good friend. He wrote:

I have a possible DSM lead for you. The elderly father of one of my good friends has elected to end his life this summer. He is going to stop eating. He is a retired doctor. My friend is struggling with it.

That led me to connect with Jason, my friend’s good friend. His father had some chronic heart problems, but death was not otherwise imminent. Or at least, as not imminent as possible for an 85-year-old man in America.

Jason and I talked on the phone last May, and we kept in touch over the next several months as Jason’s father prepared to die and Jason’s feelings about his father’s decision evolved.

In our Death, Sex & Money episode this week, Jason tells me about the end of his dad’s life. His father died one month before our recording, and Jason describes what it was like for him to be with him to the end. Jason is smart and funny and a trained lawyer who focuses on procedure and minutia. He made me think in new ways about many things, including familial love, mortality, and what makes a good death.

Listen to this episode.

One other note about this episode: we are talking about end-of-life decision-making and care. Both Jason and his father both had mental health support as they went through this. If you need someone to talk to, you can start with the 988 mental health crisis hotline in the US. They’re there to talk and to connect you to resources where you live.

If Your Sexy Thoughts Are Feeling Stale…

Our Slate Plus conversation this week reminds you that with a show called Death, Sex & Money, we get to cover a broad range of topics together. To demonstrate that, this week, we have a new Slate Plus episode, where I talk with my Slate colleagues Jessica Stoya and Rich Juzwiak, who write Slate’s sex advice column, How To Do It. Our topic: how to reinvigorate your fantasy life.

The three of us came to the conversation from really different life experiences…Stoya’s been an adult performer for all of her adult life, Rich is an open relationship and has a very active sex life, and I’m a monogamous married straight lady with elementary-age kids — Listen to us compare notes!

Recommendations

My main recommendation this week is to take time off from work when possible.

Until next week,

Anna

p.s.

A request! The very first Death Sex & Money episode we made as we relaunched production at Slate this year has been nominated for a Signal Award in the category "Best Interview or Talk Show -- Individual episode." PLEASE VOTE HERE to give the team some shine for a "Listener Choice" award. Congrats to Andrew, Zoe, Cameron & Daisy!