Good morning!

What is time?! This past Wednesday marked the five-year anniversary of The Slowdown, which we celebrated the night before with a 52-person dinner at the three-Michelin-starred restaurant Eleven Madison Park (EMP). More than just a celebration, the event was, at its heart, an Algonquin Round Table–style affair, and an opportunity to enjoy a four-course meal with more than 20 of our former Time Sensitive guests—including Elizabeth Alexander (Ep. 52), Sanford Biggers (Ep. 99), Daniel Boulud (Ep. 38), Teresita Fernández (Ep. 5), Ghetto Gastro’s Jon Gray (Ep. 2), Jessica B. Harris (Ep. 93), and Billie Tsien (Ep. 45)—along with other culture-forward leaders and friends of The Slowdown for a night of conversation and connection.

During the champagne toast (with Ruinart, naturally), I said, “You know how The New York Times Book Review has that ‘By the Book’ column in which they always ask an author about whom they’d invite to their dream dinner party? This is that dream dinner party.” (Enormous thanks to L’École, School of Jewelry Arts for being our long-term presenting sponsor of Time Sensitive, and for partnering with us on the evening’s festivities. Your support makes this all possible.)

As I was reflecting on this Day 1,826 moment, I was thinking about the vast constellations of conversations we’ve had across all 111 episodes of Time Sensitive to date—from our youngest guest, the climate activist Xiye Bastida (Ep. 73), who at the time of the interview was 20 years old, to our oldest, the 97-year-old sculptor Thaddeus Mosley, whose episode came out this week—and how they share so many connection points. Whether with actors, artists, or architects; CEOs, chefs, or curators; designers, journalists, or musicians; novelists, philosophers, or poets; photographers, technologists, or writers; or even a choreographer and ballet dancer, a cinematographer, and a yoga teacher, there’s an intentional throughline that brings it all together: time. As one of the show’s guests, the author, entrepreneur, and academic Christian Madsbjerg (Ep. 27), said on the podcast, “The way we look at time is what defines us as human beings.”

When determining where to host this event, it was only natural that I chose EMP as the location. It’s been nearly eight years since Daniel Humm (Ep. 53) and I first met, and I couldn’t ask for a better ally, supporter, and friend over the years. What he’s done with food at EMP and with philanthropy through Rethink Food serves as a metaphor for what we strive to do with storytelling here at The Slowdown. The world needs more craft, more beauty, more art, more care, and more consideration, and Daniel brings all of these things to his work.

Perhaps my favorite Daniel story (and there are quite a few) is when I introduced him and the fashion designer Gabriela Hearst (Ep. 32) to one another in early 2018, during my Surface magazine years, when they were judges on an award competition. Watching their friendship and deep—and, I would say, profound—connection flourish has been a joy.

Thanks, as always, for listening, reading, and engaging with what we do. Here’s to the next five years!

—Spencer