On today's episode, I talk to journalist and writer David J. Roth. Raised in Ridgewood, New Jersey, David started out his writing career writing and editing content for the backs of Topps trading cards. This led to writing for The Wall Street Journal's sports blog, co-founding and editing his own sports blog The Classical, and contributing to Vice and The Baffler, as well as many other publications. In 2017, David became an editor-at-large at Deadspin, and two years later, he and the entire writing and editorial staff resigned, protesting major editorial interference from the private equity holding company that had bought the publication. The following year, David and a number of the other former Deadspin writers formed Defector Media, one of the exciting new worker-owned journalism companies, and in the last five years, it has become one of the most well-regarded sites online. In addition to all of this, David also hosts the wonderful Defector podcast The Distraction. This is the website for Beginnings, subscribe on Apple Podcasts, follow me on Twitter. Check out my free philosophy Substack where I write essays every couple months here and my old casiopop band's lost album here! And the comedy podcast I do with my wife Naomi Couples Therapy can be found here!

Theme song by the fantastic Savoir Adore! Second theme by the brilliant Mike Pace! Closing theme by the delightful Gregory Brothers! Podcast art by the inimitable Beano Gee!