After two decades as an award-winning journalist, Chip Scanlan taught writing at The Poynter Institute from 1994-2009. His credits include The New York Times, NPR, The Washington Post Magazine and The American Scholar; two essays were listed as notables in Best American Essays. He lives and writes in St. Petersburg, Florida, and publishes Chip’s Writing Lessons, a newsletter of tips and inspiration.
One of the most heartbreaking realities of the coronavirus pandemic is particularly harsh: Patients usually die alone, separated from their loved ones with only a cellphone or iPad to say goodbye, while a nurse holds their hand. And with … Read more
On August 23 of this year, Kenosha, Wisconsin, joined the litany of American cities beset by street protests in the wake of the police shooting of a Black man. In this case, a white police officer, responding to what … Read more
On Oct. 9, 1983, the body of Timothy Wayne Coggins, a 23-year-old Black man, was found in the woods off a power line easement in Griffin, Georgia. He had been stabbed dozens of times and an “X,” like the … Read more
I’d heard the story many times before, but I still couldn’t believe it: Gay Talese pinned his manuscript pages to the wall of his office. He then walked across the room to his desk. On it rested a pair of … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: After reading this engaging interview with Tim Arango of the New York Times, about how he found and reported the profile of The Mountain Messenger hero, we wanted to hear a bit from the hero himself. Read our … Read more
I’m bleary-eyed as I write this. Late last night, I finished several weeks of binge-watching “The West Wing,” all 156 episodes of the nostalgic political series which ran on television for seven seasons between 1999 and 2006, dramatizing the … Read more
Every journalist has an unfinished novel or a screenplay tucked in their desk drawer or hard drive. Of course, that’s not true in every case, but there’s no doubt a long tradition exists of nonfiction writers who are drawn … Read more
It’s an all-too-familiar story. Another American factory closes, the latest in a long line in the last three decades that has seen American manufacturing devastated by foreign competition. This time it was the giant General … Read more
Four centuries ago this year, a privateer named the White Lion anchored off Point Comfort, an English colony in what is now Hampton, Virginia. In its cramped hold, it carried 20 or so human beings kidnapped from an ancient … Read more
Sunday, December 28, 1986. An ordinary day, much like any other. Except in two operating rooms at Fairfax Hospital in suburban Virginia, where something extraordinary was about to happen. In one lay a young man, his body split from … Read more
