In this week’s newsletter, we welcome our new deputy editor, Kylie McConville, who shares her newsletter and podcast go-tos; book tickets to a short-run Robert Wilson and Isabelle Huppert production; embrace Arthur C. Brooks’s notion of “big talk”; and more.
Good morning!
This month comes with some very exciting Slowdown news: Kylie McConville has joined the company as our deputy editor. In her new role, Kylie will be a key part of shaping our overall long-view editorial vision, managing our day-to-day editorial operations, overseeing this newsletter, and working closely with me on our Time Sensitive podcast and various editorial studio projects. Kylie—who, prior to this, was the editor-in-chief of the home design and décor website Apartment Therapy and, before that, was vice president of editorial growth and strategy at Bustle Digital Group—brings with her an incredible wealth of digital media experience and, as you’ll see in our latest Media Diet below, a roving curiosity and mindful approach to her life, work, and content intake.
With Kylie’s hiring—and as we near our six-year anniversary this spring—I’ve been thinking about The Slowdown’s trajectory, and how, by staying true to a “fewer, better” approach to media-making, we’ve continued to steadily grow, building a community of 13,000-plus newsletter subscribers (thank you!) and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of repeat podcast listeners along the way. Last fall, we surpassed two million downloads on Time Sensitive.Â
What these numbers tell me is that, in our fast-paced era of down-to-the-second news cycles and dopamine-fueled social media scrolling, there remains a place for deep, thoughtful storytelling; carefully crafted long-form audio conversations; and even delayed gratification. Perhaps this is even more the case as an increasing amount of synthetic, A.I.-produced media gets made. I want The Slowdown to always be a place where you, our readers and listeners, will know with certainty that human hands, heads, and hearts went into whatever you’re reading, watching, or listening to. I want all that we do to be filled with emotion and feeling.
This past December in this newsletter, I joked that our most recent episode of Time Sensitive, featuring Malcolm Gladwell, might have marked a “tipping point” for the company. While I was kidding, I do actually sense that we’re at an inflection point, not just because of our consistent output, but also because of what’s happening in the broader culture. More and more, I feel that there’s a growing demand for places of pause, respite, slowness, and care. Places that invite you to take time to consider and reconsider, to ponder, to reflect. I hope that in The Slowdown—in this newsletter, on Time Sensitive, with anything we put out—you find such a place.Â
Back in 2018, when we were in the pre-launch phase, we worked with Susan Sellers of the firm 2x4 on our brand identity, and with her we came to select the blue-green-gray-orange-pink color palette that appears across our platform today; later, with Omar Sosa of Apartamento, we devised the blue-and-brown Time Sensitive color scheme. The intent, in part, was to choose colors that are reflective of nature. Only much later did I come to realize that that’s actually what we’re becoming: a garden on the internet.Â
Appropriately, Kylie herself has a green thumb, and so do I. We look forward to sharing what blooms from the many “seeds” we’re just now planting.
—Spencer
“Smallness can be a kind of quietness. It can be a kind of slowness. Because it requires humility built into it.”
From the archive: Listen to Ep. 5 with the artist Teresita Fernández, recorded in our New York City studio on April 19, 2019, at timesensitive.fm or wherever you get your podcasts
“Fashioning Wonder” at The Museum at FITÂ
In Western Europe in the 16th and 17th centuries, before the modern conception of the museum emerged, cabinets de curiositĂ©s were a common presentation format for exhibition-worthy objects. Glass cabinets that might today store tableware or decorative items for the home would display artworks, sculpture, preserved natural specimens—and sometimes, clothing. The latter category is the topic of the just-opened “Fashioning Wonder: A Cabinet of Curiosities,” curated by Colleen Hill at the Museum at Fashion Institute of Technology (MFIT) under the direction of Valerie Steele (the guest on Ep. 15 of Time Sensitive). On view through April 20, the exhibition includes almost 200 pieces of clothing and accessories inspired by such cabinets, almost all from the MFIT’s permanent collection, and some on view for the first time. Highlights include jewelry from makers Kai-Yin Lo, Ted Muehling, and Tiffany’s, presented in glass jars as a nod to the scientific specimens displayed this way centuries ago, and a Comme des Garçons dress printed with the 1591 painting “Vertumnus” by Giuseppe Arcimboldo, in which the composite Emperor Rudolf II’s portrait is made up of fruits and vegetables. Cabinet of curiosities, indeed.Â
Jonathan Lethem’s “Parallel Play”
The relationship between visual artists and writers is a storied one. At its best, it’s a discursive back-and-forth that mutually inspires. In a more tangible sense, though, it often results in a direct exchange—of art in trade for written work. On the occasion of the recent publication of writer (and the guest on Ep. 121 of Time Sensitive) Jonathan Lethem’s book Cellophane Bricks: A Life in Visual Culture (ZE Books), this relationship and its fruits are on view through June 29 at the Benton Museum of Art in Claremont, California, at Pomona College, where Lethem is a professor of English and creative writing. The exhibition includes work from Lethem’s personal collection by artists such as Raymond Pettibon, Rosalyn Drexler, and Larry Sultan (whose 1986 print “Practicing Golf Swing” is pictured above), all of whom Lethem has written about. The result, an inspiring conversation between writing and art, book and exhibition, is a refreshing take on how a collection can be amassed.
Mary Said What She Said at N.Y.U. Skirball Center
For a five-show-only run at New York University’s Skirball Center, the director Robert Wilson (the guest on Ep. 96 of Time Sensitive) and the actress Isabelle Huppert are reuniting for Mary Said What She Said, a one-woman show centered on the dramatic life of Mary, Queen of Scots. The celebrated director’s work is often described as giving theatergoers “time to think” (fittingly, that was also the title of a 1975 New Yorker profile about him), and the combination of the collaborative relationship between Wilson, Huppert, and a new score by composer Ludovico Einaudi creates as transportive an experience as ever in this latest work. Debuted to rave reviews in London, this brief showing, from Feb. 27 to March 2 and part of the Dance Reflections by Van Cleef & Arpels initiative, marks the play’s U.S. premiere.
In terms of someone to look to for a thoughtful approach to media consumption, it’s hard to imagine someone better suited than Kylie McConville, The Slowdown’s new deputy editor. Prior to joining the team this month, she was the editor-in-chief of Apartment Therapy and the founding editor of Dorm Therapy, and, from 2022 to 2023, she was vice president of editorial growth and strategy at Bustle Digital Group, overseeing M&A and digital strategy for 12 distinct media brands—leading teams to create media that millions sop up, and happily so. Perhaps because she intimately understands the constant churn of news cycles, her routine (and appetite) is one that brings levity and a break from information overload. Which feels particularly connected to our approach here at The Slowdown—she’s not about being off the grid, but rather choosing to engage her time with intention and care. Here, she shares the media that keeps her inspired and informed.Â
How do you start your mornings?
I’ve always been a morning person. I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve slept in later than 8 a.m., which was frustrating when I was younger, but now that I’m older, I love it. I’m usually up by 6 or 6:30, and once I’m up, I’m up. I don’t spend a lot of time in bed—I like to make coffee while watering my plants and then read, usually for an hour or so before I do anything else. I try to do anything to avoid endlessly scrolling on my phone.
Where do you get your news from?
I listen to The Daily every morning. I spent most of my career leading newsrooms at several women’s media sites, but right now, I prefer to listen rather than doomscroll (if I can help it; and when I can’t, I read The Skimm and Reliable Sources). By listening, I’m still paying attention, only with the privilege of choosing how I engage with the news. An episode of The Daily each morning feels like just enough news to show me the big-picture story of what’s going on.
Any favorite newsletters?
I’ve been reading The Purse since Lindsay Stanberry first launched it, in 2023. In my opinion, there are few things more intimate than talking about money. I deeply appreciate the vulnerability and insights shared by Stanberry’s community and her interview subjects. Stanberry’s questions are thoughtful and nuanced and, even though the topic of money can be extremely stressful, her newsletter is a pleasure to read each week. I’m also a longtime reader of Gloria, billed as a modern newsletter for adult women. The newsletter comes with a mix of information: a long-form interview, reported analysis, or a personal essay, about themes most central to being a thirtysomething woman. It always includes a list of meaty recommendations for what to stream, see, buy, eat, and make, which I’ve watched, shopped, and eaten more than a few times.
Any favorite podcasts?
Solicited Advice is a favorite, but I’m also a SmartLess convert. If there’s an episode to shout out, it’s the recent one with Kieran Culkin. I appreciate the levity he brings to discussions about his career and celebrity. He doesn’t take himself seriously—at all. It’s hard not to root for him.
What are your favorite magazines?
I couldn’t tell you the last time I bought a magazine. If I’m going to buy something, it’s probably going to be a book. I always want something I can read again, or pass on to a friend.
What book or books are you currently reading?
I’m cruising through Liz Moore’s The God of the Woods, a suspenseful mystery about a brother and sister who both go missing—fourteen years apart. It’s set in the woods of a fictional upstate New York summer camp, and Moore is masterly with her pacing. Each and every eerie breadcrumb is delivered with restraint. It’s almost impossible to put down.
Any guilty pleasures?
Plenty! But I’m actively trying not to feel guilty about enjoying them; life is too short. I’ve recently gotten back into baking my own bread. I booked an at-home bread-baking class right before the beginning of the pandemic, in 2020, and I’ve been baking three loaves at a time ever since. If there is one thing to feel even slightly shy about sharing, it’s the fact that I can’t stop myself from standing at the counter and tearing pieces off to dip in butter with a sprinkle of flaky salt. It’s absolutely the way you are supposed to eat it, and the way bread was meant to be enjoyed, but the loaves do disappear quicker than I’d like to admit.
Our handpicked guide to culture across the internet.
Spencer’s father-in-law, the artist, writer, and School of Visual Arts professor Robert Bowen, recently published his first book, The Human Shutter (University of Chicago Press), an exploration of stereoscopy—the origin of photographic cinema—and the artists, philosophers, and scientists inspired by it [Intellect Books]
Arthur C. Brooks, a contributor to The Atlantic and the host of the How to Build a Happy Life podcast, makes the case for “big talk” (rather than small talk), sharing the single, striking dinner-party question—“Have you ever had a major crisis in your marriage?”—that got him there [The Atlantic]
“A century on, in an age of tweets and TikToks and Substack posts and chatty podcasts, a vanishingly small percentage of the crushingly vast amount that is published on any given day has been edited, by anyone,” writes Jill Lepore in this nuanced essay, timed to The New Yorker’s centenary year, that emphasizes why time has shown that every writer needs a good editor [The New Yorker]
Friend of The Slowdown Alex Tieghi-Walker will be opening his TIWA Gallery in New York’s Tribeca neighborhood for a one-night-only “Stories of Style” event on Feb. 28; benefiting the youth education and writing nonprofit 826NYC, the evening will be hosted by Kristen Naiman, Laura Ferrara, and Liza Demby, and will feature readings from the likes of Jeremy O. Harris, Aminatou Sow, and Beverly Nguyen [Brooklyn Superhero Supply Co.]
The View, New York City’s only revolving restaurant, reopened this month under the auspices of Danny Meyer’s Union Square Hospitality Group and promises a nostalgic, approachable dining experience that, much like the restaurant itself, is in constant motion [Grub Street]