Slate’s Favorite Slate
We first launched Slate’s membership program in April 2014 as a way for those of you who love Slate the most to support our independent journalism, and get more of it, from reading to listening. This year, we wanted to celebrate 10 years of Slate Plus by journeying back in time through a bunch of our (and your) favorite stuff. So we asked some current and former staffers and contributors—as well as our loyal Slate Plus members—to submit the Slate podcast episodes and articles that have stayed with them.
Happy 10th anniversary, Slate Plus members! Thank you for your continued support, and stay tuned this month for more birthday treats, including some member exclusives.
When I first applied to work at Slate, way back in 2002, the application asked me to critique some part of Slate and explain why it worked or didn’t. I chose the Movie Club (and said it worked, obviously). Listening to people argue, I argued, is the best way to figure out what you yourself think. The Movie Club is still going strong 22 years later, now with my beloved Slate Culture Gabfest co-host Dana Stevens at the helm, and every December, it’s a great conversation—illuminating, hilarious, occasionally veering into verse—and I am still a reader who emerges each year better knowing her own mind. —Julia Turner, co-host of Slate’s Culture Gabfest
Hosted by Dana Stevens, Julia Turner, and Stephen Metcalf; July 26, 2023
Produced by Cameron Drews
This was a special week in culture, the moment when it felt like movies as a mass event were finally back to something like their pre-pandemic state, and I loved that we took it on in a special episode talking about both movies plus the unexpected box-office phenomenon of their joint success in a very fun and lively taping session. —Dana Stevens, movie critic and Culture Gabfest co-host
Hosted by David Plotz, Emily Bazelon, and John Dickerson
Produced by Cheyna Roth
Great analysis from David, Emily, and John. Just love them! Been listening since 2006. —Mark Scott, Plus member
Hosted by Josh Levin, Oct. 27, 2022
Produced by Evan Chung, Sophie Summergrad, Sam Kim, and Levin
Almost every One Year episode belongs on this list, but I picked this one because it went to the furthest edge of remembered history. It featured subjects who were there in 1942, and it was the last chance for them to tell their stories. The central character, a 100-year-old woman who got married in 1942, was so vivid and funny and thoughtful. Also, the episode made me cry. —David Plotz, co-host of Political Gabfest and the CEO of City Cast
By Daniel Engber, Jan. 6, 2005
First Slate piece by an all-time great Slate writer. I think about it every time I watch someone shoot free throws. —Josh Levin, editorial director of Slow Burn
By Ben Mathis-Lilley, Sept. 17, 2020
As true now as the day it was written. —Josh Levin
Hosted by Dahlia Lithwick (often with Mark Joseph Stern)
Produced by Sara Burningham
Mark Joseph Stern is a genius!!! (& very funny!) —Dori B., Plus member
By Dan Kois and Andrew Bouvé, July 3, 2014
I am cheating by picking something with my own byline on it, but I will always have a soft spot for this piece. I wrote it a few years into my time at Slate, after a couple of years of hard, often very serious work, and going through GIFs with Andy Bouvé, our head of video at the time, made for a really fun day. And the piece’s success convinced me that the magazine and its readers would throw their full weight behind any good idea, no matter how stupid. —Dan Kois, staff writer
There are some things that are just part of your life and you don’t even know how it got that way. (How many blades do you need to shave?) And they are also so personal. [Willa Paskin] does a great job of telling the story and making me care about it. —Mary Harriet Talbut, Plus member
Written by Dan Kois, Aug. 2, 2022
Edited by Willa Paskin, produced by Paskin and Katie Shepherd
Dan Kois’ excavation of the history of Rod McKuen’s rise and fall as America’s most famous poet is full of twists and turns and ends up being surprisingly compassionate to its subject. —Laura Miller, books and culture columnist
Written and hosted by Willa Paskin, March 25, 2019
Edited and produced by Benjamin Frisch
It’s one of the masterworks in Slate’s grand tradition of taking something very, very goofy very, very seriously. It made me laugh. And it made me think … about truck nuts. —Jordan Weissmann, Semafor Washington editor, formerly Slate senior editor
Written and hosted by Willa Paskin, Nov. 16, 2021
Produced by Paskin and Benjamin Frisch
A world without rats: Can you imagine it? I could not before I listened to this outrageously fascinating episode about a Canadian province’s successful crusade against everybody’s least favorite rodent. It’s like a murder mystery where everybody pitches in to kill the furry little victims and nobody is sad about it. Now every time I see a rat scurry across the alley, I fantasize about moving to Edmonton. —Mark Joseph Stern, senior writer
Hosted by Jamelle Bouie and Rebecca Onion, 2015
I had a great time making it, and it has had a long afterlife as a key educational tool for students. —Jamelle Bouie, New York Times opinion columnist, formerly Slate’s chief political correspondent
By Ruth Graham, Dec. 3, 2018
Ruth Graham is a hero for truth-telling on Sully, the service dog who was photographed lying in front of the casket of his owner-employer, George H.W. Bush, in 2018. Legitimate news outlets (NPR!) bawled over the seeming act of canine mourning—and Ruth was there to remind us that Sully was a working dog, that he had been with Bush for only six months, and that dogs like to lie down pretty much anywhere. It punctured the misplaced sentimentality and hollow patriotism of so many otherwise smart people, and it was flawlessly argued. It felt like a lungful of fresh mountain air. Ruth got hell for it. (I think a local news network from somewhere out in America even devoted a segment to the post?) What made it all the better was knowing that Ruth is a deeply empathetic journalist. There was simply nothing to empathize with here. —Christina Cauterucci, senior writer
By William Saletan, Sept. 14, 2000
A classic William Saletan piece, from the archives (September 2000), from a longtime Slate reader. It’s a superbly constructed, persuasive, data-driven (and ultimately wrong) argument for why Al Gore was destined to win the 2000 presidential election. —D. Sternberg, Plus member
By Aisha Harris and Dan Kois, Feb. 27, 2023
In 2016 former Slate host/writer Aisha Harris teamed up with Dan Kois to compile this beautiful, complex, and historical document of the 50 greatest movies made by Black filmmakers. In 2023 they reunited to publish the New Black Film Canon, adding 25 more entries to the list because so many important films had emerged on the scene since 2016 (Black Panther! Zola! Homecoming!) It was so fascinating to produce the accompanying audio episode for NPR’s Pop Culture Happy Hour, and this is a tradition that’ll go on for generations because the canon will—and should—grow exponentially each and every year. —Candice Lim, co-host of ICYMI
Hosted by Cathy O’Neil, Felix Salmon, and Jordan Weissmann, June 18, 2016
Produced by Audrey Quinn
The high point of Slate Money came in 2016, when Microsoft bought LinkedIn, and we had the hilarious genius Paul Ford come on the show to talk about it. He was funny and clever, and basically this show is everything a gabfest-format podcast should be, and I think about it often and fondly. —Felix Salmon, co-host of the Slate Money podcast
By Dahlia Lithwick, June 8, 2012
First of all, really hard to choose just one, but it is absolutely the piece that I bring up the most in conversations. —David Flynn, Plus member
By Jamilah Lemieux, Jan. 1, 2021
I think I did a really good job offering advice! —Jamilah Lemieux, Care and Feeding columnist and co-host
Hosted by Susan Matthews
Produced by Matthews, Samira Tazari, Sophie Summergrad, and Sol Werthan
Perfect in every way. Perfectly timed and reported. What all journalism aspires to be. —Dahlia Lithwick, host of Amicus, writer on courts and the law
