You can listen to the Professional Left on iTunes, Stitcher Radio, or at our website, professional

left.blogspot.com, where you can also contribute to this podcast. There's a PayPal button

at our website, or you can mail us a letter and or contribution at P.O. Box 913, Springfield,

Illinois, 62791. This is the podcast for September 13, 2013.

It's not safe for work.

Recorded live from just outside the New York Times op-ed slush pile.

It's the professional left with Drift Glass and Blue Gal.

So Friday the 13th of 2013, if you're superstitious in any way, we apologize ahead of time for this podcast.

Should I explain what a slush pile is?

Yeah, explain why the New York Times slush pile is, op-ed slush pile is a big deal this week.

Yeah, because, well, the slush pile is if you operate a magazine, you get lots of unsolicited contributions.

And those tend to be called the slush pile.

And you tend to, you might find two or three that are serviceable in every 100 or 200.

I have lived many a year in everyone else's slush pile.

So I understand what it is.

And you usually, there's an intern that reads them first.

Yeah.

And if, and moves it up the scale of, you know, if it's, if it's worthy, then some sub-editor will read it. This is at big

magazines. And if you're, if you're Gardner-Doghua at Asimovs, you read the first

paragraph. Ah, fuck it. Ah, fuck it. No. No. Done. Yeah. Maybe a page. No. So, so you get, you get a

little, you get a tiny fraction of a percent of the actual story read by somebody.

And then if it catches their attention, it seems worthwhile.

...