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Peter Santenello has been documenting his world travels on YouTube for nearly two decades, but it wasn’t until he moved in with a family in the Ukrainian countryside that he really began to hone his storytelling approach. There were no flashy edits or celebrities, just visits with locals talking about their home, and his Ukraine series quickly gained an online following in that country.
When the pandemic hit, Peter moved home to the United States and wondered if his formula could work there too – and that’s when his audience really exploded. Now with more than 4 million subscribers, Peter travels around the country chronicling all sorts of micro-cultures that “the media fails to capture,” showcasing places at various points of the economic cycle, some booming, and others left out of prosperity and struggling to hold on.
He joins Anna to talk about transitioning to US-based videos, what makes his approach unique, and why curiosity beats expertise.
You can watch all of Peter’s videos on his YouTube channel @PeterSantenello, and his new book Your Fellow Americans: Dispatches from Across the Country We Call Home is out now.
This episode was produced by Andrew Dunn.
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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 deathsexmoney@slate.com.
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We don’t know how to talk about bodies online. When a popular content creator named Samyra posted a TikTok accusing The Cheesecake Factory’s “Skinnylicious” menu as fatphobic, the internet couldn’t stop itself from berating her about her size. But when Ariana Grande releases a new music video and people express alarm about her weight loss, suddenly it’s inappropriate to discuss other people’s bodies.

Today, we’re joined by Sesali Bowen, author of Bad Fat Black Girl: Notes From a Trap Feminist to help make sense of all this and why it seems like it’s open season to litigate on fat people’s bodies.

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This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
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Céline Dion is set to emerge from her career dormancy into a sold-out Paris residency—a triumph over a rare neurological illness that, until recently, prevented her from singing. Her silence seemed unimaginable. Only a few decades ago, a precocious Dion evolved from a big-lunged teen Francophone chanteuse to the chest-beating frontwoman of a string of smash English-language hits—including several titanic movie themes. The sheer physicality of her athletic voice captivated audiences in the ’90s, and filled your mom’s car.

Join Chris Molanphy as he unlocks the heart of Céline Dion's chart history—how she built pop’s most soaring career from working-class Quebec to the stage at Eurovision…from the power of love to the prow of a very large ship.

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.

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The internet is never not nostalgic for the past, but something about the 90s is different. While previous trends like Y2K and “millennial optimism” have been mostly about the hair and clothes, 90s nostalgia is all about the tech. Or rather, lack of tech. Host Kate Lindsay and showrunner Daisy Rosario talk about what social media gets right about the decade, and what’s just “nostalgia slop” trying to sell us something. Plus, Slate favorite Dan Kois has a challenge for listeners: Party Like It’s 1996!

This podcast is produced by Vic Whitley-Berry, Daisy Rosario, and Kate Lindsay.
Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Caroline started going to therapy as a teenager because of depression. After a couple of years working together, she expressed a fantasy. “I had a vision of us dancing to Pachelbel's Canon” she told him. Caroline's therapist was 45-years-old and married, but they soon started a romantic relationship.
In this episode, Anna hears from Caroline and other listeners about when romantic feelings come up in therapy and unpacks it all with Sally Openshaw, a psychologist and expert who studies erotic transference.
Podcast production by Zoe Azulay
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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 deathsexmoney@slate.com.
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