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
 
Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
 
Host
John Dickerson
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John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Remembering Early 1990s New York

Voted “Favorite Political Podcast” by Apple Podcasts listeners. Stephen Colbert says "Everybody should listen to the Slate Political Gabfest." The Gabfest, featuring Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz, is the kind of informal and irreverent discussion Washington journalists have after hours over drinks.

News

Politics

Government

In this week’s essay, John discusses the differences between moving around New York in 1991 and 2021; remembering 9/11 twenty years later; and more. 
 
Notebook Entries:
Notebook 75, page 12. September 2021
Notebooks to Garret

Notebook 75, page 13. September 2021
Can you make a typo with handwriting? What’s a typo with handwriting called?

Notebook 4. 1991
We have to unplug the light to run the vacuum, so we do a lot of our vacuuming in the dark.

Notebook 75. September 11, 2021
Fritz want something?

References:
Smythson Notebooks in Blue
9/11 ceremonies, events and coverage on 20th anniversary - CBS News
Richard Drew on Photographing the “Falling Man” of 9/11 - CBS News

Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
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John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Moving in New York Twenty Years After September 11th.

Emily Bazelon talks with authors Bill Wasik and Monica Murphy, about their new book, Our Kindred Creatures: How Americans Came to Feel the Way They Do About Animals. They discuss the evolution of animal treatment in America, moral duties to animals, and how to care about more animals than our pets. 

Tweet us your questions @SlateGabfest or email us at gabfest@slate.com. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)

Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
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Gabfest Reads: Why Americans Care About Animals

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss the latest New York Times presidential poll and the Maryland primary results; the presidential debates; and who’s talking inside and outside Donald Trump’s Manhattan trial courtroom. 
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Nate Cohn for The New York Times: Trump Leads in 5 Key States, as Young and Nonwhite Voters Express Discontent With Biden and Battleground Polling Shows Ticket-Splitting Pattern
Aaron Navarro for CBS News: Biden to tout Microsoft expansion in Wisconsin
Matt Bush for NPR: Maryland Democrats pick Angela Alsobrooks to take on Hogan for open U.S. Senate seat
Betsy Klein, Michael Williams, and Kristen Holmes for CNN: Biden and Trump agree to 2 presidential debates, with first set for June 27 on CNN
@JoeBiden on X
Perry Stein for The Washington Post: Michael Cohen seemed to have delivered for prosecutors – if jurors believe him
Ed Mazza for HuffPost: George Conway Goes There With Scathing Personal Challenge For ‘Wuss’ Trump
Stephen Collinson for CNN: Why Johnson’s appearance at Manhattan courthouse stands out among Republicans backing up Trump
Politico: ‘Embarrassing’: Romney calls out GOP who attended Trump trial  

Here are this week’s chatters:
Emily: Netflix’s Duran Duran: There’s Something You Should Know; HBO’s The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend A Broken Heart; Magnolia Pictures & Magnet Releasing’s Joan Baez: I Am A Noise; Netflix’s The Greatest Night In Pop; HBO’s Jason Isbell: Running With Our Eyes Closed; Netflix’s Wham!; and Think Film’s Festival Express
John: The Daily Report with John Dickerson for CBS News 
David: Brown Revisited: Brown v. Board of Education (1954) and Warner Bros. Pictures’ They Shall Not Grow Old
Listener chatter from Rob Jones in Seattle, Washington: SmarterEveryDay on YouTube: How to Surface a Submarine in the Arctic Ocean
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, Emily talks with Azeen Ghorayshi of The New York Times about The Cass Review. See Azeen Ghorayshi for The New York Times: Hilary Cass Says U.S. Doctors Are ‘Out of Date’ on Youth Gender Medicine. See also Claire Rush for AP: Idaho’s ban on youth gender-affirming care has families desperately scrambling for solutions and Jonathan Chait for the Intelligencer: CPAC Speaker Urges Eradication of Trans Rights.
 
In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with David E. Sanger about his new book, New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West.
 
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth
Research by Julie Huygen
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How Bad Was The Poll For Biden?

In this week’s essay, John discusses the Pomodoro Routine (among other productivity routines), why he especially needs a meditation pillow, and how a particular teacher captured his heart. 
 
 
Notebook Entries:
Notebook 75, pages 8 and 9. September 2021
OReinstating the Pomodoro Routine…
Starting Marshall again…
Write Brice…
Send Laura the larger project list…
Work on budget to get accounts in order
Meditation pillow upstairs.

Notebook 18. December 6, 2009
Instapaper
Alpha Smart
Richard Hugo on poetry
Degrees of Gray In Philipsburg.

Notebook 18, page 105. June 4, 2011
Visit to Mr. Mead. He was playing piano as we entered. [During our conversation, he asked]: do you find your work fulfilling? Do you have a close circle of friends? Questions about life and living it well…


References:
Getting Things Done - David Allen
The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People - Stephen Covey 
The Questions That Will Get Me Through the Pandemic - John Dickerson
43 Folders - Merlin Mann 
The Hardest Job in the World - John Dickerson
Essays of E.B. White
“Merlin Mann” - Tina Essmaker for The Great Disconnect
More about Ernest “Boots” Mead
“Because Buying New Running Shoes is More Fun Than Actually Running” - Merlin Mann for 43 Folders
Atomic Habits - James Clear
The Creative Habit - Twyla Tharp
Free Agent Nation - Daniel Pink
“Sharon Salzberg On: Openness, Not Believing the Stories You Tell Yourself, and Why the Most Powerful Tools Often Seem Stupid at First” - Ten Percent Happier

Want to listen to Navel Gazing uninterrupted? Subscribe to Slate Plus to immediately unlock ad-free listening to Navel Gazing and all your other favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe now on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/navelgazingplus to get access wherever you listen.
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth.
Email us at navelgazingpodcast@gmail.com
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: The Sneaky Pitfalls of the To-Do List

This week, Emily Bazelon, John Dickerson, and David Plotz discuss Stormy Daniels’s testimony in Donald Trump’s New York criminal trial; marijuana rescheduling; and the media’s role and responsibility in defending democracy.
 
Here are some notes and references from this week’s show:
Josh Gerstein for Politico: Stormy spoke. Trump fumed. Jurors were captivated – but also cringed.
Ivana Saric for Axios: Status of Trump’s criminal cases
Li Zhou for Vox: Marijuana could be classified as a lower-risk drug. Here’s what that means.
Sam Tabachnik for The Denver Post: Black market marijuana grows are popping up faster than law enforcement can take them down. But is legalization the cause?
John Ingold for The Colorado Sun: What have we learned about the arguments for and against legalized marijuana in the past 10 years?
Nathaniel Meyersohn for CNN: The dark side of the sports betting boom
C-SPAN: President Biden Remarks at White House Correspondents’ Dinner
Ben Smith for Semafor: Joe Kahn: ‘The newsroom is not a safe space’
Dan Pfeiffer for Message Box: Why Biden Won’t Do a New York Times Interview and A Response to the Editor of the New York Times
Matthew Yglesias and Brian Beutler for the Politix Podcast: The Times, They Aren’t A Changin’
Charles Homans for The New York Times Magazine: Donald Trump Has Never Sounded Like This
Eli Stokols for Politico: The Petty Feud Between the NYT and the White House

Here are this week’s chatters: 
Emily: Vision: A Memoir of Blindness and Justice by David S. Tatel 
John: Gina Kolata for The New York Times: Locks of Beethoven’s Hair Offer New Clues to the Mystery of His Deafness
David: Randy Yohe for West Virginia Public Broadcasting: W.Va. Gubernatorial Campaign Attack Ads Vilify Transgender Children and Kyndall Cunningham for Vox: The Drake vs. Kendrick Lamar feud, explained
Listener chatter from Justin and Katie in Columbus, Ohio: Keziah Weir for Vanity Fair: The Vatican’s Secret Role in the Science of IVF.   
 
For this week’s Slate Plus bonus segment, David, John, and Emily talk with Emily Lawler, Detroit Free Press. See Emily Lawler for the Detroit Free Press: Voters’ voices in Saginaw County; John Wisely: Legal troubles don’t dampen Trump enthusiasm as he visits Michigan; and Paul Egan: As Trump visits, Michigan bellwether Saginaw County is feeling its political juice. See also Arpan Lobo: Michigan lawmaker says ‘illegal invaders’ landed at DTW. They were NCAA basketball teams.
 
In the latest Gabfest Reads, John talks with David E. Sanger about his new book, New Cold Wars: China’s Rise, Russia’s Invasion, and America’s Struggle to Defend the West.
 
Email your chatters, questions, and comments to gabfest@slate.com. (Messages may be referenced by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.)
 
Podcast production by Cheyna Roth
Research by Julie Huygen
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

John Dickerson’s Navel Gazing: Remembering Early 1990s New York

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