ARTS & IDEAS: Remember back when the internet was young? Like, 1996?
So a guy named Bill Gates had this notion that people would actually read articles on their web browsers (Yahoo, Excite, Lycos). And he hired the famous editor Michael Kinsley to build him a web magazine.
They called it Slate.com, and it was based in Seattle. It was such a novel idea — with such uncertain prospects for success — that they also made a weekly print edition, a low-fi stapled affair, that they mailed to subscribers who were unsure about this whole internet thing.
Well, Slate.com made it. It is now owned by The Washington Post, and it has been through a couple re-designs. But it has persevered and become a web must-read.
One of its most popular features is the "Gabfest," which was to political podcasts what the magazine itself was to web magazines: one of the first, and still one of the best. On Wednesday evening, the "Gabfest" comes to New Haven.
This week's panelists will be Slate editor David Plotz; senior editor (and New Haven resident) Emily Bazelon; and political writer John Dickerson (who's also political director of CBS News). They will talk election, Obama, and whatever else moves them ... and who knows, there may be room for audience participation.
Show up with something witty to say.
And it's the web, so it doesn't matter how you dress.
IF YOU GO
What: Slate's "Gabfest"
When: 5:30 p.m. June 27
Where: British Art Center, 1080 Chapel St.
Tickets: Free
Info: artidea.org
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