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This episode will be available for free starting May 4, 2024

In this week’s essay, John discusses an onboarding memo for his assistant Laura, and recounts his early days living and working in New York City.

Notebook Entries:
Notebook 75
Onboard memo for Laura


Notebook 3, page 44. May 1991
June 17 start job. Good stuff


Notebook 3, page 46. May 1991
Tips on buying renting in NYC
Ask about broker
20s and 30s East side. Murry Hill
Live on no major avenue
Interest bearing account for security deposit
Medeco locks


Notebook 4, page 15
Scared standing on 34th and Broadway
$6 cab fare


Notebook 4, page 42
Getting lost in the village


References:
The Little Brown Book of Anecdotes by Clifton Fadiman
Medeco Locks
“Here is New York” by E.B. White
“Silly Job Interview” - Monty Python
John Cleese on Creativity in Management
Herbie Hancock: Miles Davis’ Essential Lesson On Mistakes

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com


Host
John Dickerson

In this week’s essay, John discusses the art of attention and how to develop the skill of slow-looking.
 
Notebook Entries:
 
Notebook 75, page 8. September 2021
1016
 
Notebook 1, page 54. June 1990
-       Magna carta 1215 at Salisbury
-       Girls skipping
-       The Haunch of Venison
-       Chris
 
References:
Georgia O’Keeffe Museum
A Little History of the World by E.H Gombrich
Artist Jeff Koons
“The Art of Divination: D.H. Lawrence on the Power of Pure Attention” by Maria Popova for The Marginalian
“Gabfest Reads: A Woman’s Life in Museum Wall Labels” for Political Gabfest 
One Woman Show by Christine Coulson
“Grammy-winning artist Jason Isbell talks about the craft of songwriting and his latest music” for CBS News
A Journey Around My Room by Xavier De Maistre
“Just think: The Challenges of the Disengaged Mind” by Timothy Wilson, et.al for Science
“Our Rodent Selfies, Ourselves” by Emily Anthes for the New York Times
One Man’s Meat by E.B. White
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
 
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Host
John Dickerson
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When you hear “boy band,” what do you picture? Five guys with precision dance moves? Songs crafted by the Top 40 pop machine? Svengalis pulling the puppet strings? Hordes of screaming girls?

As it turns out, not all boy bands fit these signifiers. (Well…except for the screaming girls—they are perennial.) There are boy bands that danced, and some that did not…boy bands that relied entirely on outside songwriters, and those that wrote big hits…boy bands assembled by managers or producers, and quite a few that launched on their own.

From Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers to New Kids on the Block, the Monkees to the Jonas Brothers, Boyz II Men to BTS, New Edition to One Direction, and…yeah, of course, Backstreet Boys and *N Sync, boy bands have had remarkable variety over the years. (In a sense, even a certain ’60s Fab Four started as a boy band.)

Join Chris Molanphy as he tries to define the ineffable quality of boy band–ness, walks through decades of shrieking, hair-pulling pop history, and reminds you that boy bands generated some of our greatest hits, from “I Want You Back” to “I Want It That Way,” “Bye Bye Bye” to “Dynamite.” Help him “bring the fire and set the night alight.”

Podcast production by Kevin Bendis.
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True crime is a hot topic for movies, television, and –yes– podcasts. At the center of many of these stories is a missing woman. In the She Has A Name podcast, veteran journalist Tonya Mosley tries to reconstruct the death –and life– of a woman who went missing in 1987, a woman who happens to be her long lost sister. On today’s episode of A Word, Jason Johnson is joined by Tonya Mosley to talk about uncovering the mystery around her sister Anita’s disappearance and death, and how the podcast helped her connect to a family that she never knew. 

Guest: Tonya Mosley, host of the podcast She Has A Name

Podcast production by Ahyiana Angel

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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In this episode, Gina Cherelus (New York Times’ weekly dating column Third Wheel) joins Prudie (Jenée Desmond-Harris) to answer letters from readers about how much physical affection is appropriate with people who aren’t your partner, believing you are with your partner because you are more attractive than them, and more. 
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 and Jared Downing.
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On this week’s episode, the panel is first joined by Slate’s music critic, Carl Wilson, to puzzle over The Tortured Poets Department, Taylor Swift’s much-anticipated 11th studio album. Stuffed with 31 tracks, the two-part album is a departure from the billionaire pop star’s otherwise perfectly crafted oeuvre: it’s messy and drippy, and at times, manic and frenetic. Is this secretly a cry for help? And more importantly, when did she find the time to record this thing? Then, the three explore Fallout, a post-apocalyptic drama series adapted from the extremely popular role-playing video game of the same name. Executive produced by Jonathan Nolan (Westworld, Person of Interest) and streaming on Prime Video, Fallout certainly achieves a high level of immersive world-building, but do the stories and characters fare the same? Finally, Becca Rothfeld, the Washington Post’s non-fiction book critic, joins to discuss her triumphant first book, All Things Are Too Small: Essays in Praise of Excess, in which she rebukes the culture’s affinity for minimalism and makes the case for living in a maximalist world. 
In the exclusive Slate Plus segment, it’s part two of the Ambition versus Contentment discussion (courtesy of a listener question from Gretel): How should a parent approach cultivating ambition in a child, if at all? The hosts discuss. 
Email us at culturefest@slate.com. 
Outro music: "Ruins (Instrumental Version)" by Origo
Endorsements:
Dana: The Teacher’s Lounge, a film by German-Turkish director Ilker Çatak. It was a Best International Film nominee at the 96th Academy Awards. (Also, Ebertfest in Champaign, Illinois!)
Julia: Kristen Wiig’s Jumanji sketch on Saturday Night Live, inspired by Dana. 
Stephen: The British band Jungle, introduced to him by his daughter. A few favorite songs: “Back on 74,” “Dominoes,” and “All of the Time.” 
Podcast production by Jared Downing. Production assistance by Kat Hong. 
Hosts
Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, Stephen Metcalf
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