This piece is typical of a certain type of piece in women’s magazines: the first-person science story. In a companionable and accessible voice, Skloot links complicated science to her own life and thus provides useful information about a question that … Read more
We thought this story notable in part because it’s unusual to read an adventure story that is neither heroic nor triumphant. This is a more character-focused story, a tale of one man who’s struggling with his failed dream. Therolf wrote … Read more
We liked the ways that Goelman used the first person in this piece. The self-referencing advances the story; it’s not overdone. We liked the elegant descriptions of the olive harvest, its good verbs. The mention of one harvester’s injury by … Read more
This lovely, short narrative essay provides small and interesting details about a region we’re more likely to read about in news articles. The piece is also about how death creeped up on one man, in a land of religious stories. Read more
The writing is snappy and the voice human in this slice-of-life piece about a couple and their fateful courtship. We liked the efficient movement from event to event, the sparing but effective use of concrete detail, the folksy language. The … Read more
This story seems to have followed a recipe for compelling narrative: Take a heroic figure, add a group of “endangered children, let them struggle against great odds. Fold in current social issues and moral context. In the Hollywood version of … Read more
Writing an admiring piece about a likable character is sometimes challenging; the story can end up cloying, empty. In this piece Berg uses narrative and concrete evidence to build his case. Pablo Garza mopped floors at St. Joseph Hospital and … Read more
There’s a lot of engaging subtext in this piece; it’s a deft character study. Meckler writes in plain language but tells a complicated story, of family dynamics and psychological struggles. We admired her portrayal of the son Mark Foster’s filial … Read more
According to this series, 29 percent of elderly people who break a hip die within a year. This is higher than the one-year rate of death following a stroke. The series is very effective in highlighting this surprising problem in … Read more