Articles

Meet the phone phreaks, the grandfathers of today's hackers (Russian or otherwise)

Meet the phone phreaks, the grandfathers of today’s hackers (Russian or otherwise)

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…
A Saudi feminist's spoken-word performance finds its power in protest

A Saudi feminist’s spoken-word performance finds its power in protest

Waad Janbi, a Saudi feminist and aspiring filmmaker, has long fought against misogyny using her hands–furiously typing on her smartphone or laptop. But last month, for the first time, she…

“The fences insured against a time when a scavenger in Gautam Nagar might learn that a shot of rare Scotch consumed in ten minutes at the Sheraton’s ITC Maratha cost exactly as much as he earned in seven hundred fourteen-hour days picking up aluminum cans and used tampon applicators, and find that information too much to bear.”

Why it’s great: The sentence is a story in itself. It creates a texture landscape in the reader’s mind (taste that rare scotch, sharp and warm in your throat; then…
Annotation Tuesday! Ron Rosenbaum and "The Secrets of the Little Blue Box"

Annotation Tuesday! Ron Rosenbaum and “The Secrets of the Little Blue Box”

Some writers work for decades before one of their pieces gets widespread attention. Ron Rosenbaum managed to pull it off with his second long-form magazine article.Rosenbaum’s 1971 Esquire piece, “Secrets…
Reporters who go deep -- something we need more of in a time of national divisions (and short attention spans)

Reporters who go deep — something we need more of in a time of national divisions (and short attention spans)

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…
5(ish) Questions: Inara Verzemnieks and "Life in Obamacare's Dead Zone"

5(ish) Questions: Inara Verzemnieks and “Life in Obamacare’s Dead Zone”

“Life in Obamacare’s Dead Zone,” Inara Verzemnieks’ story about the health insurance coverage gap, came out in the New York Times Magazine a month after the presidential election, as the media buzzed…

“I think that the dying pray at the last not ‘please,’ but ‘thank you,’ as a guest thanks a host at the door.”

Why is it great? This is exciting — a guest submission from Pulitzer Prize winner Maria Henson, whose series of editorials on battered women in Kentucky was awarded the prize…
Get your piping hot National Magazine Awards winners right here!

Get your piping hot National Magazine Awards winners right here!

The American Society of Magazine Editors held its annual Ellies awards gala today, and it was a big night for Mother Jones and The New York Times Magazine.Here’s a handy list of…
5(ish) Questions: Ted Conover and “Immersion: A Writer's Guide to Going Deep”

5(ish) Questions: Ted Conover and “Immersion: A Writer’s Guide to Going Deep”

One of the first works I read by Ted Conover, the country’s reigning master of immersion reporting, was “Newjack: Guarding Sing Sing,” his 2000 book chronicling 10 months he spent…
The future of journalism: amid all the fretting, having faith in the ability to move people

The future of journalism: amid all the fretting, having faith in the ability to move people

Just in time for the weekend, here’s a little list of some of the things I’ve been listening to and reading this week, some of it online — Storyboard included,…