Outward: Queering the Map with Lucas LaRochelle

In 1977, John Briggs was a small-time state senator with big dreams. But Briggs’ plan to ban gay and lesbian teachers from California schools changed the arc of his life and career. Suddenly, he was a right-wing hero, and a villain of the gay rights movement. And his message seemed to be catching on all over the country. Season 9 of Slow Burn was written and produced by Christina Cauterucci. Slow Burn is produced by Kelly Jones, Joel Meyer, and Sophie Summergrad.  Josh Levin is the editorial director of Slow Burn. Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Susan Matthews is Slate’s executive editor. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. We had engineering help from Patrick Fort and Madeline Ducharme. Our theme music is composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Artwork by Ivylise Simones, based on an image of Silvana Nova and a poster designed by Larry Hermsen and the Too Much Graphics Collective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week, Bryan dives into the world of sports to talk about the often obscured queer history of the Olympics with writer Michael Waters. Michael’s new book ‘The Other Olympians: Fascism, Queerness, and the Making of Modern Sports’ highlights the gripping true stories of pioneering trans and intersex athletes from the 1936 Olympics. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this week’s essay, John discusses Mothers’s Day, playing tennis with the Attorney General, medical scares, and more   Notebook Entries: Notebook 19, page 16. April 2011 Is it possible, through applied thought, to become systematic in an approach to life? If you were to do that how would you proceed?  Notebook 16, page 6. July 26, 2005 “I’m here with a bunch of midshipmen and wondering what there is to do around here.” - Boy trying to hit on a girl working @ The Reef in Castine, ME. Notebook 15, page 30. September 2004 Head problems: Sunday 9/5 morning Tuesday 9/7 evening Wednesday 9/8 before lunch Notebook 22, page 22. April 24, 2014 Question:  What did you want to be when you were a kid?  What do you want to be now? Why the difference? Notebook 9. 1995 “That’s just the ticket the doctor ordered” Notebook 13. 2001 “Free as a clam” Notebook 17, page 67. December 2006 The man sitting next to me has a face on the boil and garlic and old booze on his breath. When he sleeps, he sighs. For this leg of the flight I am wrapped in his breathy gumbo. Notebook 15, page 7. April 2004 “In all these there are messages for those who use their reason.” - Quran quotation Notebook 15, page 80. 2005 Would like to meet her. Notebook 54. July 26, 2020 “Writing requires a reader. You can’t do it alone.” - John Cheever Notebook 15, page 71. 2005 In the light of sobriety not sure what this means Notebook 13. March 2001 Yesterday I played tennis with John Ashcroft the atty. general of the U.S. Notebook 13, page 108. December 11, 2001 Anne just called. There is one little heartbeat beating in her today. Everything is okay for this hurdle. I must say, I was really worried. Notebook 20, page 10. December 24, 2013 “Sometimes Dad says weird stuff, just ignore him” - Anne to kids about me Notebook 15, page 84. “Life goes on,” Hayawi says. “We are in the middle of a war [in Iraq] and we still smoke the water pipe.” Notebook 45, page 24. April 16, 2019 Our savior lives by the manner in which we live. Notebook 19, page 23. 2011 People on their mobile phones in England say goodbye a lot: “Cheers, alright then, speak to you soon, ta.” (That’s four ways of saying goodbye). Amelia tells the story of a man who thanked a ticket-taker by saying “Ta, magical, cheers.” References: Disaster on the Penobscot - John Henry Fay for Naval History Magazine One Man’s Meat by E.B. White The House at Allen Cove I E.B. White House Tour - New England Magazine Little Plastic Castle - Ani Defranco “Two Years of War: Taking Stock” - Anthony Shadid for the Washington Post   Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Email us at [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This week Christina Cauterucci returns to Outward to talk with Bryan about her experience making ‘Slow Burn: Gays Against Briggs’ and diving into one of the most consequential civil rights battles in American history: the first-ever statewide vote on gay rights. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the 1970s, San Francisco became a welcoming home for tens of thousands of new gay residents—and a modern-day Sodom for the American right. With a moral panic sweeping across the United States, a Florida orange juice spokeswoman inspired an ambitious California politician to launch his own campaign against lesbians and gays—one that would change the course of U.S. history.  (If you—or anyone you know—are in crisis, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, anytime: Dial 988 or visit 988lifeline.org.) Season 9 of Slow Burn was written and produced by Christina Cauterucci. Slow Burn is produced by Kelly Jones, Joel Meyer, and Sophie Summergrad.  Josh Levin is the editorial director of Slow Burn. Derek John is Slate’s executive producer of narrative podcasts. Susan Matthews is Slate’s executive editor. Merritt Jacob is our senior technical director. We had engineering help from Patrick Fort and Madeline Ducharme. Our theme music is composed by Alexis Cuadrado. Artwork by Ivylise Simones, based on an image of Silvana Nova and a poster designed by Larry Hermsen and the Too Much Graphics Collective. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: don’t scare me like that, colonizer. Understanding the legacy of colonialism is a project relatively few Americans have undertaken — and most have done so only relatively recently, at that. But understanding the forces that led to the foundation of this country, and the creation of modern racism as we know it, is an important project. And it’s one that is also increasingly hard to bring into schools — especially in places like Florida. Barry Mauer of UCF joins us once again to argue for teaching the ongoing project of colonialism… in the name of stopping it. If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: [email protected] Podcast production by Maura Currie. Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [email protected]. (Messages could be quoted by name unless the writer stipulates otherwise.) Podcast production by Cheyna Roth. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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 [email protected] Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Get your tickets for Amicus Live in Washington DC here.  In the second part of our series on Amicus and at Slate.com, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern are back on the originalism beat. This week they’re trying to understand the mechanisms of what Professor Saul Cornell calls “the originalism industrial complex” and how those mechanisms plug into the highest court in the land. They’re also asking how and why liberals failed to find an effective answer to originalism, even as the various “originalist” ways of deciding who’s history counts, what constitutional law counts, which people count, were supercharged by Trump’s SCOTUS picks. Madiba Dennie, author of The Originalism Trap, highlights how the Supreme Court turned to originalism to gut voting rights. In 2022, the US Supreme Court’s originalism binge ran roughshod over precedent and unleashed Dobbs and Bruen on the American people - Mark and Dahlia talk to a state Supreme Court justice about what it’s like trying to apply the law amid these constitutional earthquakes.  In today’s Slate Plus bonus episode, Dahlia talks to AJ Jacobs about his year of living constitutionally, and she confesses to an attempt to smuggle contraband into One, First Street.  Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show.  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices