Selected Writing
Mad Men’s greatest subject was women in the workplace.
Matthew Weiner’s great subject wasn’t masculine self-invention or the advertising business or the 1960s—it was women in the workplace. here are many ways to choose the best-ever line from seven hugely quotable seasons of Mad Men. You could pick a salient passage from the Draper Doctrine of market-driven nihilism. You could open a pot of…
Read MoreMother of Invention
On Jenny Offill’s Dept of Speculation for BookForum. In 1999, Jenny Offill published her first novel, Last Things, written in the voice of a girl caught between her passive scientist father and her mother, an increasingly unstable fabulist who takes her daughter on the run to nowhere in particular. Startlingly assured in inhabiting a child’s…
Read MoreBring Up the Bodies
On Hilary Mantel’s Bring Up the Bodies (BookForum) Hilary Mantel’s 2009 novel, Wolf Hall, was an extraordinary achievement, a work of historical and artistic integrity that nonetheless managed to be a hit across genders, generations, and sensibilities. I know a twentysomething male worshipper of Thomas Bernhard who loves it, and I know a retired female…
Read MoreAre You a Boy or a Girl?
It starts with a gender-reveal celebration, and it culminates at the door of a bathroom in North Carolina.
Read MoreIvanka Trump Makes Donald Even Scarier
Ivanka Trump achieved her status as the best reality television character the genre has ever produced on her father’s NBC program Celebrity Apprentice. This was an arena in which the likes of Tom Green, Dennis Rodman, Andrew “Dice” Clay, and other reanimated wax figures from the Museum of Déjà Vu would vie to create a…
Read MoreSlate Isn’t Too Liberal, but
What readers said about the magazine’s bias and balance. Recently at Slate’s annual retreat, we asked staffers to reflect on how political bias—specifically, what is perceived to be the magazine’s left-liberal leanings—may affect our coverage. The conversation was so spirited that we wanted to open it out to Slate Plus members. Many reiterated the point…
Read MoreThe Kindly Brontosaurus
The amazing, prehistoric posture that will get you whatever you want, whenever you want it.
Read MoreThe Kim Kardashian Game Is So Good I Had to Stop Playing It
It’s not surprising that the mobile game Kim Kardashian: Hollywood is expected to generate $200 million in annual revenue, because Kim Kardashian generates money the way that most people generate carbon dioxide. She earned $28 million in the past 12 months simply by showing up at events, showing up on TV, and showing up (albeit…
Read MoreGraphic Designers on New Airbnb Logo
Today, hotel alternative Airbnb unveiled a new logo that’s so much more than a logo—it is, as Airbnb founder Brian Chesky wrote on the company’s blog, “a universal symbol of belonging,” called the Bélo. “Belonging has always been a fundamental driver of humankind,” Chesky explained. “So to represent that feeling, we’ve created a symbol for…
Read MoreWoody Allen and Dylan Farrow: Just the Facts
Earlier this week in Slate, I took issue with Robert B. Weide’s much-passed-around Daily Beast piece defending Woody Allen against accusations of sexual assault that have been made by his daughter, Dylan Farrow, who recently wrote an open letter in the New York Times detailing her memories of the alleged abuse. Many readers have criticized…
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