A note to subscribers

The evolution of experiments

Stack the Week started as an attempt to close a gap. News organizations are good at telling you what happened but not as good at telling you why, and why it matters. This often leaves you jumpier than you started, especially if they keep telling you that at this hour as we come on the air tonight breaking developments in this evolving story. Also: freak out.

So Stack the Week sought to tell stories whole, set the stakes, present the governing question and the tensions, and let you make the call once you had the rationale behind the event and the actors involved. I went day-by-day because stories move. News as we consume it flattens stories. The day by day tried to turn structure into context.

One of the mind maps used to keep Stack the Whatever stories in context.

Here’s what I’ve learned by doing it: the mission survived, but the format was fighting it. Assembling a full week took too long — the Friday lift kept getting heavier — and it produced something almost too concentrated to consume. A kind reader called it a bouillon cube of information. She meant it as a compliment, and it was one, but you can’t eat a bouillon cube unless it’s on a dare from Kevin McDonnell in sixth grade, and I’m not sure you even know Kevin. Context and explanation are lovely. They also need to be leavened by time.

So I’m going to port as much of the ethos of Stack the Week as I can into a daily more frequent, possibly daily, offering. It will be more provisional and less structured. There will be more unanswered questions, but a question raised Monday might get answered Tuesday — the days will be in conversation with each other, I hope.

I’ve been moved by your feedback, and the lovely reviews on Apple podcasts, so keep letting me know what you think.