My friend Ann

Back from a brief newsletter break last week. I was away in the mountains.

If you and your family are comfortable on horses and want to explore the Yellowstone ecosystem away from the crowds, let me recommend our friends at Livingston Outfitting.

I came back into cell service to the news that my dear friend Ann Simpson died early last Friday morning at 94. Long-time listeners may remember her key role in my love life and family, and as you got to know her in that interview, you may have also come to consider her one of your wisest friends. You’re not wrong. That was what happened with just about everyone who had the privilege to cross her path.

She led an incredible life and was at peace that the end had come. The Simpson family put together a beautiful obituary that ran in The Cody Enterprise. This paragraph in particular makes me tear up every time I read it:

…above all, Ann Simpson will be most remembered for her ability to love and listen. In her kitchen, her yard or in her travels, Ann had the super-human power to listen to her friends and family, absorb their triumphs and woes, and give them just the right bits of advice to propel them forward in life. She knew how to live life and enrich others. We will be forever grateful to God for sharing her amazing spirit and soul with us all.

Meanwhile, our team has also put out two episodes in the last two weeks that thrilled me.

In our newest episode, we explore when romantic feelings come up in the therapy office. Why does it happen, and what do you do next?

Listeners shared their stories about erotic transference, because while they are normal, they are taboo, considered embarrassing, and also dangerous. Because if erotic transference is not handled correctly, real harm can happen. Listen here.

I also got to interview Danny McBride, one of my very favorite comedy filmmakers and actors.

He is best known for the characters he plays on screen: men with ridiculous haircuts and puffed-out chests, who throw out f-bombs in their frequent bursts of anger that read as man-child temper tantrums. Eastbound and Down. The Righteous Gemstones. The Foot Fist Way.

He and I talked about his roots growing up in a then-small town in northern Virginia and the rag-tag group of collaborators he’s worked with since college at a public film school in North Carolina. We connected while he sat in his home office in South Carolina, where he lives with his wife and two kids, and he was polite and surprisingly chill. He told me he actually doesn’t have much in common with his obnoxious characters, though he’s clearly delighted by obnoxious behavior.

I also loved listening to the audiobook of his new short story collection, Thrilling Tales of Modern Men. The first two stories in particular, with Danny reading the first and John Goodman reading the second, are very funny and stealthily sensitive about aging for men.

And if hearing about Danny McBride’s writing hobby gets you thinking about what art you could make for fun, you’ll enjoy our latest DSM Plus conversation with a listener about her creative habits: This Listener is an E.R. Doc Who Writes Novels to Unwind. What?!?

• A FUN THING: Slate is turning 30 this fall, and we’re Partying Like It’s 1996. Join in.

• Ezra Klein in conversation with Fetterman/Mamdani/Platner campaign consultant Morris Katz. This was required listening before a big group dinner of friends and family last week so we could all unpack what we heard about Democrats in 2026 America.

• A great conversation about Lauren Hill on Big Lives, the podcast from Pushkin and the BBC, and I especially liked hearing the archival tape of a very young Lauren Hill talking about the origins of her music-making style and her hopes for its cultural impact.

• I’m learning a lot about data centers! From Wired: How Data Centers Broke American Politics and, from Radio Atlantic, reporter Ethan Brooks traveled to Maine to tell us about The Town That Wants a Data Center Next Door

• VERY into Furious, the new show from Elizabeth Meriwether. The performances are incredible. I’m watching on Hulu, via Disney+.

Until next week,

Anna

This newsletter is free to you, but let me urge you to support the Death, Sex & Money team by becoming a member of Death, Sex & Money Plus. What do you get? Ad-free listening and special member-exclusive podcast drops. Please join us at slate.com/dsmplus or through Apple Podcasts or Spotify.

8/4 I Have a Crush on My Therapist. Now What?

7/28 How a Very Polite Danny McBride Creates Characters That Go Berserk

7/28 DSM Plus: This Listener is an E.R. Doc Who Writes Novels to Unwind. What?!?

7/21 The Sexy Soundtrack for the ‘New Black Middle Class’

7/14 The Pet Detective

7/14 DSM Plus: A Chat With Anna’s Favorite Animal Trainer (Her Husband)

7/7 How Much Should You Spend on a Wedding?

6/30 Emmy-Winner Jeff Hiller Returns! Talking Bodies and Money in a Changing Hollywood

6/30 DSM Plus: Reading My Boyfriend’s ChatGPT History Led to Our Breakup

6/23 Was Dad Being a Creep? And Other Childhood Memories to Decipher

6/16 Spouses Peter Dinklage and Erica Schmidt on Bad Interviews, Fame, and Parenting

6/16: DSM Plus: This Meditation Will Help You Find the Courage to Open Up