Working

In this episode, Jordan talks to Leigh Cordner, Medieval Times’ Creative Director. Leigh is in charge of making all the various elements of the show you’ve been hearing about come together to wow the crowd. And not just at one castle--but all of them. You can email us at working@slate.com . Podcast production by Jessamine Molli. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Managing the bar at Medieval Times, is not quite the same a running things at the local dive. With a crowd full of customers clamoring for 32 oz beers in souvenir mugs and cocktails like the Royal Knight (which is apparently the Long Island Iced Tea of Medieval Times specialty drinks) you really have to have a commanding presence. Which is why Toni Ann Siri, who runs the bar at Medieval Times in L...

Victoria Militello has been a serving wench at Medieval Times for seven years (yes, that’s really what they call waitresses at the show). As she tells Jordan in this episode, the job takes a surprising amount of athletic stamina, as well as a tolerance for hearing the same Cable Guy jokes every night.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Bill Ponder was in third grade, he read a book about falconry and decided that’s what he wanted to do when he grew up. Unlike most kids who daydream about training and flying raptors for the King’s court, Bill actually made his dream come true by becoming the resident falconer at the Medieval Times in Lyndhurst, NJ.  Bill tells Jordan how he turned his lifelong hobby into a career, what goes...

Can you imagine a better day job than being Queen? Tara Henderson, a working actor who appears in roles off-broadway, really cannot. She is one of the women who plays Queen Doña Maria Isabella at Medieval Times in Lyndhurst, NJ. Queen Isabella is the first female ruler in Medieval Times history. And as you’ll hear in this episode, Tara and her “queen sisters” appreciate the challenge of this meaty...

Do you like horses? How about dancing horses? If those words sound fun to you, you’ll be delighted to meet Amanda Kenny, the head horse trainer at Medieval Times in Lyndhurst New Jersey, where a surprisingly large chunk of the show focuses on elaborate dressage routines (that’s horse ballet, for you non-equestrians out there). Amanda tells Jordan what it’s like training steeds to jump and kick, tr...

The first episode of Working’s brand new season takes you back in time...and to Lyndhurst, New Jersey. This season, Jordan will be talking to the various employees of Medieval Times, the popular dinner theater experience that appeals to kids and adults alike. Even if you’ve never been yourself, you probably have some idea of what the show entails: Jousting, fighting, royalty and horses. And as a K...

On the last episode of Working at MoMA we are, quite appropriately, exiting through the gift shop. Though, in MoMA’s case the term gift shop might be a little misleading. Jordan talks to Maggie Berry, the associate director of retail marketing for the MoMA Design Store. As you’ll hear, the Design Store goes beyond your typical mugs and T shirt souvenir shopping. The store is dedicated to beautiful...

Of all the people who work at MoMA, there very few who get as up close and personal with the artwork as the museum's art handlers and registrars. Registrars are the people responsible for keeping tracking of every inch of every piece of art that belongs to the museum. They thoroughly inspect and catalog each detail and always know where everything is at all times. Meanwhile, art handlers are the o...

Like any museum of its scale, MoMA relies on major donations. Which, of course, means throwing major events to match. This week Jordan talks to Tania Abitbol, MoMA’s in-house event planner. Tania is the person charged with dreaming up events worthy of MoMA-lovers. To do her job right, Tania has to make sure every detail of each party is interesting, memorable and, just as important, perfectly exec...

Nelson Nieves has never been especially interested in art, yet he has one of the single most important jobs at New York’s MoMa. As the museum’s assistant director for building operations he oversees the huge team of workers who keep the building clean and running—everyone from the janitorial staff who scour the galleries and bathrooms to the engineers who manage the high-tech heating and cooling s...

For decades, strolling along New York City’s 5th Avenue during the holidays has meant being surrounded by the most magical window displays imagainable. And Spaeth Designs is part of the reason why. The company behind the amazing displays for the city’s biggest stores has been around for over sixty years. And, as the Production Director, Quinn O’Sullivan is the man who makes it happen. Quinn has be...

When you think about the types of jobs at an art museum, scientist probably doesn’t spring to mind. But as it turns out, science plays a big part in the art world. As a senior conservation scientist at MoMA, Chris McGlinchey uses the latest scientific techniques to conserve the collection and study the art. Chris tells Jordan about all the complex machines he uses, the extremely tiny scale conserv...

When you look at the rows of greeting cards at your local pharmacy or megastore, it’s easy to forget that each one of those cards was actually written by someone. And, if they’re anything like our guest, that person put some very real emotion into writing the sentiment inside. For this holiday bonus episode, Jordan speaks to Greg Vovos who is a senior writer at American Greetings and is exactly th...

Anny Aviram has been conserving paintings at MoMA for 40 years. So, as can imagine, she’s had her hands on some of the world’s most famous artworks. And, occasionally, her saliva. Anny tells Jordan about the techniques conservators use to restore and preserve paintings. From taking X-rays to painstakingly reweaving canvas fiber by fiber to, yes, using spit to clean certain surfaces. And, as Anny t...

This week Chet Gold tells Jordan about all the unexpected excitement of working security at a museum. Chet is not only a MoMA security supervisor but an artist in his own right. That’s why he’s treated his hours standing guard over some of the world’s most priceless art like a sort of residency. That is, when he’s not stopping people from destroying paintings with selfie sticks or spotting out pot...

When you walk through an exhibition at MoMA, every step you take is part of deliberate design that takes you from piece to piece in just the right way. And it all starts with a dollhouse-like version the gallery and teeny tiny art replicas called “chips”. In this episode, Jordan talks to to Lana Hum (Director) and Mack Cole-Edelsack (Senior Design Manager) of MoMA’s Exhibition Design & Product...

The next person taking us inside life at MoMA is Sarah Meister, a curator in the museum’s Department of Photography. Sarah’s work ranges from pitching exhibits, tracking down and acquiring pieces to writing those words on the wall that let you know what makes that work special.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this Thanksgiving bonus episode, Working takes a detour from MoMA to visit one of New York City’s biggest emergency food programs, Holy Apostles Soup Kitchen. Jordan talks to Michael Ottley, the Director of Operations of the program about tracking down Turkeys for Thanksgiving, feeding 1000 people a day, and how he had to convince Yelp to take down a rave review that was sending hordes of touri...

In the new season of Working, host Jordan Weissmann is going inside New York City’s storied Museum of Modern Art to meet the people who keep one of the world’s great artistic institutions running. Paul Galloway is MoMA’s collection specialist for the department of Design and Architecture. To explain what he does...well it takes about the length of this episode to do it justice. But think of him as...

In the final episode of Working With Weed, Jordan talks to Peter Marcus who is the communications director and head of political outreach for Terrapin Care Station in Boulder, CO. Like most positions in this newly legalized industry, lobbying for the interests of cannabis businesses means working without a roadmap. But for someone like Peter, that’s what makes things interesting. Whether he’s work...

As it turns out, doing business in an industry that only recently became (semi) legal involves a lot of red tape—and messing up even a small bit of paperwork can be a disaster that might get a marijuana dispensary shut down or fined. That’s why compliance specialists like Katelin Edwards, of Terrapin Care Station, are some of the most important workers in the world of cannabis, even if you don’t h...

Marshall Custer wasn’t planning on going into the marijuana industry after he graduated law school. But as he tells host Jordan Weissmann this episode, it’s turned out to be a booming business. You just have to be a little careful about knowing exactly who your clients are.   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this episode, Jordan goes back to Green Dragon in Denver to talk with Ryan Milligan, the company’s co-owner and head of cultivation. He quickly learns that the hardest part of farming marijuana definitely isn’t growing the plant.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This week Jordan takes a detour from the cannabis industry to take a look at the science of it all.  Dr. Angela Bryan conducts research on marijuana at the University of Colorado Boulder. She studies marijuana’s connection to teen risk behavior, it's effects on cognition and even why it might make you hit the gym more often.  And while cannabis is legal in Colorado, there are still all kinds of re...