Slate Picks

What Happened at Slate This Week?

Everything senior editor Jonathan L. Fischer read about “the most sobering story of the week.”

Illustraton by Charlie Powell
Jonathan L. Fischer.

Illustraton by Charlie Powell

Greetings, Slate Plus members! By which I really mean, with a bit of Salmonian flourish: Hellooooo!

I’m Jon Fischer, and I joined Slate in October as a senior editor. Before that I worked for nearly five years as an editor at Washington City Paper, D.C.’s alternative weekly, which is also the former home of my Slate colleagues Josh Levin, Amanda Hess, and David Plotz. Jumping from the intimacy of local coverage to the breadth of national and international news has certainly been a change, but in many ways City Paper and Slate value similar things: argumentative, often counterintuitive journalism; the flexibility to be either smart and serious or smart and playful (and sometimes both at once!); and an approach to writing that is stylish and voice-y, yet calls things as they are. I feel very lucky to have worked at both places.

I certainly feel lucky to work with the great writers at Slate, and to edit pieces on topics like Facebook’s hoax problem, Thomas Piketty’s failings as a literary critic, and the masochism of air travelers. (Since starting here, I’ve also written on Peter Jackson’s final Hobbit film, Marvel’s gamble on an obscure comic-book franchise, and the legalization of marijuana.) For my first few months at Slate, I’m covering for business and technology editor Jessica Winter while she’s out on maternity leave, in addition to some other duties. I’m also sharing an office in Slate’s D.C. bureau with Will Saletan, whom I forgive for tweeting out my banter.

Let’s start with the biggest, most sobering story of the week: the murder of 12 people in the Paris office of the satirical newspaper Charlie Hebdo. You can find all of our coverage here, but I’d suggest you start with the excellent work of the Slatest team—which has dutifully and nimbly reported every important update to the story—and Josh Keating, who has detailed Charlie Hebdo’s history of provocateurism, explained why France was already on edge over terrorism before this attack, and run through everything we know at this point about the suspected terrorists’ affiliations. When you’re done with those, read Yascha Mounk on Europe’s paradoxical attitudes toward Muslim immigrants and Islamic fundamentalism, Will Saletan on how the terrorists aimed to defend Islam but ultimately disgraced it, Miriam Krule on the French context of Charlie Hebdo’s most controversial covers, and this classic Christopher Hitchens piece, which Slate republished Wednesday, on why religions should be mocked. It’s a shocking, fast-moving, and undoubtedly complicated story, and our coverage has been elevated by the wisdom of editors like Will Dobson, Allison Benedikt, Jeremy Stahl, and others.

Speaking of Stahl, I really enjoyed his appreciation of Stuart Scott, the ESPN anchor who died Sunday and who paved the way for a blacker lexicon in sports journalism. You also must read Katy Waldman’s meditation on the term “bright young thing,” in which she gets away with this amazing sentence: “While a part of me luxuriated in the image of myself as a lissome creature ribbon-dancing through journalism, another part wanted to respond to the bright young thing comment by roaring HULK SMASH while overturning a desk.” And do click through to this Al Cambronne piece on the gruesome relationship between deer and motorists. His advice for worst-case scenarios? Just hit the damn deer.

There is so much more, like Amanda Hess’ interview with (wait for it) the author of an erotica story starring New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. And “Best Laid Plans,” Jessica Grose’s fascinating new Q&A series on the career choices spouses make. And Seth Stevenson’s powerful and ruminative preview of the Dzhokhar Tsarnaev trial. And how could I forget? Read June Thomas’ epic look at Sarrell Dental, a practice in Alabama that’s figured out how to close one of the most persistent health care gaps in this country: dental coverage for poor kids.

Over in biztech, Jordan Weissmann makes the nuanced argument that after so many years, it no longer matters much if Barack Obama kills the Keystone XL pipeline—the oil industry has moved on. Alison Griswold explains how the cellphone sector’s shtickiest provider may be starting to help consumers across the board. Helaine Olen argues that those whiny Harvard professors protesting their higher deductibles actually have a point—despite the Affordable Care Act, we’re all paying too much for our health care. Finally, read David Auerbach’s smart and exhaustive dismantling of the cases for and against North Korea’s alleged involvement in the Sony Picture hack, a cyberattack that remains as murky as ever.

Once you’ve read all that, well, do you like baking? Whatever you do, don’t 3-D print your cookie cutter.

—Jon