Naked SLATE.
Naked
Slate
John F. Kennedy Jr., who
styles himself "editor in chief and founder" of George magazine, has
offered a considerable challenge to magazine editors everywhere by posing nude
in the September issue of his publication. For too long, journalists have been
content to expose other people. Is it not time for them to start exposing
themselves? The thought of naked magazine editors--with the exception of JFK
Jr., of course--is not one many readers will find appealing. Whatever reason
one might have for subscribing to George , the editor in chief's body is
unlikely to be a major selling point for, say, Time or Newsweek .
But we in the magazine industry believe deeply--if we believe anything at
all--that a trend is a trend and cannot be resisted. Therefore, naked editors
it is.
Here at Slate, though, we
eschew grandiose titles like "editor in chief," let alone "founder." At the
special staff meeting called to discuss the issue of who should bare all for
the good of the magazine, there was a groundswell of support for calling upon
the CEO of Microsoft--but no one volunteered to make the call. In the end, the
editor decided to delegate the challenge of self-exposure to the New York
editor, who delegated it to an associate editor, who delegated it to an
assistant editor, who delegated it to the youngest member of our staff, Aidan
Weed, whose title is Special Issue of the Publisher.
Although Weed does not
technically bare all, he does--unlike his rival in George --refrain from
making clever use of light and shadow to hide the aspects of the story that
interest his readers the most. Like Kennedy, however, Weed uses the occasion to
vent some controversial opinions about his relatives. His mother and father, he
reveals, are "just terrible parents. They're driving me crazy with their 'eat
this ... drink this ... go to sleep ... stop crying.' " Weed shares Kennedy's
tart views about his relatives' relations with the baby sitter. "They just use
her for their own pleasure," he says. "I get stuck with her, while they go out
and party. It's incredibly immature."
And why did Weed agree to
put his body on the line--or, rather, online? "It's a statement on the need for
... well, it's a symbol of ... oh, heck, I don't know--I'm only nine months
old.
"But I'd
do anything for Slate," he adds. "I just love that magazine."
Index
Investing
Daniel
Akst's recent article, arguing that investing in index mutual funds is "evil,"
has produced a heated response from Todd Porter, a mutual fund analyst at
Morningstar, an independent financial publisher. Akst could not be enticed into
a dialogue on the subject (to continue the theme of the previous item, he and
his wife just had twins), but we publish Porter's response in "E-Mail to the Editors,"
and take this opportunity to draw special attention to it.
Old
Folks at Home
Among the first people to
join the staff of Slate, way back in 1996, were Associate Publisher Betsy Davis
and Program Manager Bill Barnes. Both were longtime Microsoft employees (14
years in Betsy's case) who happily embraced this different sort of software
product and the different sort of people (i.e., journalists) it brought with
it. Now, after Slate careers that span almost 18 months, Betsy and Bill are
both retiring--at ages 40 and 30 respectively. From which you may conclude
either that Slate is a horrible place to work, or that Microsoft is a great
place to work.
As production manager and
then associate publisher, Betsy designed and supervised the process by which
Slate gets from writers through editors to you. Publishing on the Web is still
very new, and Slate's publication process--with its daily postings, e-mail and
print versions, constant redesigns, and so on--is very complicated. Betsy's
logical mind and wonderful laugh, among other gifts, made it all happen (well,
most of the time).
And what, exactly, is a
"program manager"? Bill liked to explain that on normal software projects, the
program manager is just that: in charge of the program. On Slate, the program
manager is, in essence, the chief computer guy in a nest of cybernaifs. But
Bill took amiably and skillfully to his ambassadorial function, and is more
responsible than any other person for designing the actual technology behind
Slate. He also has written our "Webhead" column, and will continue to contribute to it.
All of us at Slate wish
Betsy and Bill the best as they enter their Golden Years. We'll miss you.
--Michael Kinsley
