Working

Latest Episodes:

How Does the Head Designer for Magic: The Gathering Do His Job? Aug 11, 2019

Show notes

This week we go back to Wizards of the Coast to talk to Mark Rosewater, the head designer for Magic: The Gathering.

Last week, Alison told Jordan all about creating the stories behind Magic cards. And it’s the job of Mark and his team to come up with the mechanics of those cards. Mark explains how, once he and his team come up with the creative concept for a particular Magic set, there are a lot of other things to think about. They have to figure out not only how that deck works on its own, but also how it fits into a game that already has tens of thousands of cards already out there -- not to mention all the various ways the massive fanbase can play with those cards. The calculations are so complex, they even have a full-time economist on staff.

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How Does a Worldbuilder for Magic and Dungeons & Dragons Do Her Job? Aug 04, 2019

Show notes

Working’s peek into the business of fun and games continues this week when Jordan chats with Alison Luhrs who works for Wizards of the Coast, the part of Hasbro that is responsible for the classic fantasy games Dungeons and Dragons and Magic:The Gathering.

Alison’s job is one you may never have imagined existed. As a narrative designer for D&D and Magic, she does the worldbuilding that brings these games to life for the fans. Alison not only comes up with characters and spells, but also invents all the backstory, rules and lore that go into an entire fantasy world. For the fantastical worlds she creates, she knows everything from how the economy works down to, as she says, a character’s favorite ice cream flavor.

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How Do a Toy Designer and Toy Engineer Do Their Job? Jul 28, 2019

Show notes

This week, Jordan talks to a couple of Hasbro employees. John Warden and Lynsey Bernier work closely together to create Transformers and Beyblades. John is the designer and Lynsey is the engineer (aka the "reality check"). They tell Jordan about all the fun, nerdiness and math that goes into making toys.

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How Does a Firefighter Do His Job? Jul 21, 2019

Show notes

Since his first season as the host of Working, Jordan has wanted to interview a Firefighter. It’s a job everyone knows about, but the day to day of the work of Firefighter might not be so familiar to most people. Jordan sat down with Jason Powell, a Firefighter with Engine Company 69 in Harlem, to talk about his four years on the job and all the training, danger and cooking that goes into it.

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How Do Oyster Farmers Do Their Job? Jul 14, 2019

Show notes

Before heading out to Long Island to visit Widow’s Hole Oyster Farm, Jordan couldn’t even picture what an oyster farm looked like. So there was a lot to learn from talking to Mike and Isabel Osinski, the owners of the small family farm that supplies oysters to some of New York City’s most high-end restaurants.

Mike and Isabel discuss how they went from developing financial software in the city to raising their children on an oyster farm, the lengthy life cycle of an oyster and the extremely efficient farming system that their son, an engineering student at Yale, designed for them.

You can email us at working@slate.com.Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

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How Does a Tugboat Pilot Do His Job? Jul 07, 2019

Show notes

When massive container ships arrive at a port city like New York, they find themselves in a tight space with lots of obstacles to navigate. Enter, ship docking pilots, the expert hands that guide these massive ships into place.

This week, Jordan is talking to Captain Jeffrey McAllister of McAllister Towing. Jeffrey’s family has been in the tugboat business for decades, which, as it turned out, was a life that suited him and his wanderlust just fine. Over the years he worked his way up from deck hand to the position of docking pilot -- a job that requires jumping onto a rope ladder from a tugboat to board a massive ship, and using your expertise, local knowledge and pure instinct to guide it perfectly into place. You can email us at working@slate.com.Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

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Working for the Holidays: How Does a Fireworks Designer Do His Job? Jun 30, 2019

Show notes

If you're planning on watching a major fireworks display this Independence Day, there's a good chance it was designed by this week's guest.

Phil Grucci, the CEO and Creative Director of Fireworks by Grucci, is the sixth generation in his family to design, manufacture and engineer firework displays. His family company has made a global reputation by putting on some of the world's most spectacular pyrotechnics shows, including this year's 4th of July fireworks display in Washington D.C. As the head of the company and lead designer, Phil touches every part of that operation, from modeling out the elaborate displays to walking the factory floor. He tells Jordan all about how he started to love this business at the age of five, everything it takes to plan a show, and what exactly is inside a firework.

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How Does an Aquarium Director Do His Job? Jun 23, 2019

Show notes

What do you do with an architecture degree and a love animals? Well, as it turns out, running an Aquarium is a great option. This week, Working brings you another standalone episode with Jon Forrest Dohlin, Director of the Wildlife Conservation Society’s New York Aquarium.

Jon tells Jordan all about the joys of the job, like educating city dwellers about all the unseen wildlife around them, and the existential dread that comes with it...like holding the lives of thousands of animals in your hands every day.

You can email us at working@slate.com.Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

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How Does a Recording Studio Designer Do His Job? Jun 16, 2019

Show notes

This week, Jordan returns to talk nerdy with Tim Crossley, partner and lead designer at

Crossley Acoustics. Tim’s company designs and builds recording studios for the music, film and

(of course) podcasting industries -- in fact, as it turns out, he built Slate’s own studio! Tim and

Jordan get into all the detailed work and planning that goes into making a room sound “good”,

from using acoustic modeling software to building and rebuilding custom resonators.

You can email us at working@slate.com.

Podcast production by Jessamine Molli.

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Working Classics: How Does a Queer Theorist Work? Jun 09, 2019

Show notes

In celebration of Pride Month, Working is revisiting one of its best episodes from the LGBTQ season. In this episode, Jacob Brogan talks to Elizabeth Freeman, a queer theorist and professor of English at UC Davis, about the ongoing role of gender and sexuality studies.

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