My dear GabFest listeners, I have a special announcement today.

This year, as you may have heard, marks the 25th anniversary of Slate, and for a limited time only, we're offering our annual Slate Plus membership at $25 off.

As a member, you'll get no ads on any of our podcasts, unlimited reading on the Slate site, member exclusive episodes and segments from us and from other shows

like Slow Burn and Amicus.

I want to talk about my experience at Slate.

I've been at Slate since day one.

I was the second or third employee of the company, and I've been cashing a paycheck from Slate

ever since, really, for 25 years.

And it's been an incredible ride.

I remember before Slate was even named, we were considering what name to have, and it was

briefly going to be Boot. And then someone pointed out to Mike Kinsley, the founding editor,

that Boot was a synonym for puking, and so we didn't name it boot. And it ended up being

Slate. But the one thing that has defined Slate for all these years has been a kind of intense

curiosity and joy at the curiosity of journalism and always asking questions, always seeking

to question our own assumptions and question our biases and to have fun as we did it. And that,

I hope, has been the hallmark of Slate as an online presence, as a print, digital print

magazine. And it's, I think, the hallmark of Slate's podcast, which of course you know well

because you're a listener to this podcast. And I would just ask you if you get value out of

this, if you find that Slate makes you ask better questions yourselves or makes you feel more

connected to the news around you, maybe you'll consider supporting our work by joining Slate

Plus. So sign up for Slate Plus at slate.com slash GabFest Plus and keep us going for another 25 years.

Again, it's $25 off an annual membership through October 31st.

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