Articles

"The Simulation of Jessica:" Jason Fagone follows the creation, life and death of a chatbot romance

“The Simulation of Jessica:” Jason Fagone follows the creation, life and death of a chatbot romance

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the first of three annotated chapters that follow a grieving man’s journey into artificial intelligence to reconnect with his dead lover, and find some peace. You…
August 31, 2021
Chip Scanlan
How the loss of one Olympic story led to gold on another

How the loss of one Olympic story led to gold on another

Wall Street Journal sports reporter Ben Cohen found a surprising profile of an unlikely Olympian in previous notes, then used Zoom to bring it to life
August 27, 2021
Trevor Pyle
"His name was Zaki Anwari ..."

“His name was Zaki Anwari …”

Writers usually stuff facts in dispatches from the front or the cop shop or the accident scene. All those W’s and H’s, jammed together.Generally, the formula works. But individual facts,…
August 25, 2021
Tom Warhover
A retired newspaper man finds a new writing voice in the solitude of wilderness

A retired newspaper man finds a new writing voice in the solitude of wilderness

Every year, or as often as I can, I go into the northern Minnesota woods, usually alone now, seeking tranquility and time to brood and reflect.And I write while I’m…
August 24, 2021
Chuck Haga

3 rejections before a successful pitch to ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network

How freelancer Max Blau persisted to land an investigative project fellowship, then a staff reporting position
August 18, 2021
Carly Stern
Pitching ProPublica's Local Reporting Network: Focus on sources and impact

Pitching ProPublica’s Local Reporting Network: Focus on sources and impact

EDITOR’S NOTE: Tomorrow we feature an interview with Max Blau, a local reporter who made a successful pitch to ProPublica, and an annotation of the pitch. Blau is now a…
August 17, 2021
Carly Stern
What the "Insect Apocalypse" reveals about faulty human memory

What the “Insect Apocalypse” reveals about faulty human memory

EDITOR’S NOTE: The report released this week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change does not equivocate: Global warming is real, human-caused, catastrophic — and leaves a narrowing window to…
August 12, 2021
Ben Goldfarb
A conversation with Nathaniel Rich on "Losing Earth," human inertia and storytelling as "a moral act"

A conversation with Nathaniel Rich on “Losing Earth,” human inertia and storytelling as “a moral act”

EDITOR’S NOTE: The report released this week by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change does not equivocate: Global warming is real, human-caused, catastrophic — and leaves a narrowing window to…
August 11, 2021
Rebecca Boyle
Collected reflections on John Hersey's "Hiroshima"

Collected reflections on John Hersey’s “Hiroshima”

Today is the 76th anniversary of the bombing of Hiroshima. That’s not a notable number in the rather arbitrary realm of anniversary stories. But the event itself just seems to…
August 6, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Tools from fiction build a sophisticated National Magazine Award feature finalist

Tools from fiction build a sophisticated National Magazine Award feature finalist

 Tamara Dean thinks a lot about the elements of story, whether she is writing for magazines such as The Progressive; essays for Orion or Creative Nonfiction; or a fictional short…
August 5, 2021
Madeline Bodin