Articles

The making of binge-worthy serial narratives, from "S-Town" to "Framed"

The making of binge-worthy serial narratives, from “S-Town” to “Framed”

Podcasts and print alike are reinvigorating a form of storytelling that Dickens and Homer used to hook readers: "to be continued..."
April 4, 2017
Ricki Morell

“She is the mother of two fatherless children and she was walking into the history of this country because she was showing everybody who felt old and helpless and without hope that she had this terrible strength that everybody needed so badly.”

—Jimmy Breslin, "Digging JFK Grave Was His Honor," the New York Herald Tribune, November 1963.
March 29, 2017
Kari Howard
In a divided land, Bruce Springsteen and the runaway American dream

In a divided land, Bruce Springsteen and the runaway American dream

The songwriter has an uncanny ability to give voice to working Americans -- more than a few of them Trump supporters. A look at his decades of storytelling about heartland…
March 28, 2017
Tom McNichol
The Power of Narrative conference: how the tools of poetry can help journalists

The Power of Narrative conference: how the tools of poetry can help journalists

The poet Verandah Porche, who sparked a firestorm at last year's event with her question to Gay Talese about women writers, made a softer splash this year: "Sort what haunts…
March 27, 2017
Kari Howard
5(ish) Questions: Rania Abouzeid and "The Jihad Next Door"

5(ish) Questions: Rania Abouzeid and “The Jihad Next Door”

The Beirut-based writer talks about the dangers of reporting her Politico piece on extremists in Iraq and Syria, and why on-the-ground reporting is vital
March 23, 2017
Abby Sewell

“Henry Ford believed the soul of a person is located in the last breath and so captured the last breath of his best friend Thomas Edison in a test tube and kept it evermore.”

—Elizabeth Alexander, "The Light of the World."
March 22, 2017
Kari Howard
Annotation Tuesday! Rich Schapiro and "The True Story of the Fugitive Drug Smuggler Who Became an Environmental Hero"

Annotation Tuesday! Rich Schapiro and “The True Story of the Fugitive Drug Smuggler Who Became an Environmental Hero”

The writer, who splits his time between tabloid reporting and deep dives, talks about how one prepares him for the other. (And kudos to Outside magazine, on a longform roll.)
March 21, 2017
Davis Harper
Notable Narrative: Daniel Miller and the Los Angeles Times' “Selling Stardom”

Notable Narrative: Daniel Miller and the Los Angeles Times’ “Selling Stardom”

The show business reporter takes a walk on the seamier side of Hollywood, and meets a lot of wannabes with broken dreams (plus an agent who breaks down in front…
March 16, 2017
Katia Savchuk

“This is a love story, and I apologize; it was inadvertent. But I want it clearly understood from the start that I don’t expect it to turn out well.”

— Eve Babitz: "Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, the Flesh, and L.A."
March 15, 2017
Kari Howard
5(ish) Questions: Diarmid Mogg and the crazy-compelling "Small Town Noir"

5(ish) Questions: Diarmid Mogg and the crazy-compelling “Small Town Noir”

The Scotsman's website is a rabbit hole of midcentury mug shots and the stories of the everyday people of a Pennsylvania town at probably the worst moment in their lives
March 14, 2017
Kari Howard