Author

Constance Hale

@sinandsyntax

Constance Hale is a California journalist and the author of six books, including the writing primer Sin and Syntax. Her work has appeared in the New York Times, the LA Times, the Atlantic, Honolulu, Smithsonian, Wired, and many other newspapers and magazines. From 2007-2010 she taught writing at the Nieman Foundation for Journalism, and she directed three conferences during her tenure there.

E Pluribus Unnerved

E Pluribus Unnerved

EDITOR’S NOTE: Headlines on a story often change as the story is updated, or is published on different platforms. That apparently is what happened in a New York Times story…
November 5, 2020
The struggle to define cinematic writing

The struggle to define cinematic writing

I’ve been struggling to find the right term for the nonfiction writing I most admire. Whether written by Joan Didion, David Grann, Susan Orlean, Héctor Tobar, Isabel Wilkerson, or Gene…
October 6, 2020

For Their Own Good

July’s first Notable Narrative tells a story of abuse at The Florida School for Boys. St. Petersburg Times reporters Ben Montgomery and Waveney Ann Moore use the account of one…
July 10, 2009

In a City Under Strain, Ladling Out Fortification

In our second Notable Narrative for June, cook Ines De Costa makes soup at a social club in the ailing city of Fall River, Massachusetts. New York Times columnist Dan…
June 19, 2009

Killer Blue: Baptized by Fire

June’s first Notable Narrative recounts the story of Blue Platoon, Killer Troop, whose soldiers returned to the U.S. in 2009 after finishing one of the last 15-month combat tours in…
June 5, 2009

The Monster Inside My Son

Our second notable narrative for this month chronicles dual transformations. An autistic young man who had found his footing collapses into rage and violence. And a mother who once wrote…
May 15, 2009

Flight 1549 Survivor Got Out of the Hudson, Back into the Air

This month’s first Notable Narrative invites the reader in just before takeoff and then follows Casey Jones—who survived the U.S. Airways crash landing in the Hudson River—as he returns to…
May 1, 2009

Ana’s Story

One side of 24 year-old Ana Rodarte’s face balloons and sags with disfiguring neurofibromatosis. Can surgery help? Los Angeles Times reporter Thomas Curwen takes on a classic medical drama and covers…
April 4, 2009

Waiting for Death, Alone and Unafraid

“Waiting for Death, Alone and Unafraid,” paints a portrait of Dr. Edwin Shneidman, a 90-year-old suicide prevention expert who longs to die. A single day provides an elegant frame for…
April 3, 2009

Frozen in indifference: Life goes on around body found in vacant warehouse

In this month’s Notable Narrative, a dead body lies abandoned in a dilapidated warehouse on Detroit’s west side. A description of the body “suspended in the ice like a porpoising…
March 18, 2009