Author

Kari Howard

@karihow

I'm the woman who left a dream job as Column One editor at the Los Angeles Times because I wanted to move to Maine. Go figure how happiness works. Former editor of Nieman Storyboard. I love music almost as much as (and sometimes more than) beautiful storytelling, so expect to see that here too.

Reflections on the challenges and triumphs of masculinity in changing times

Reflections on the challenges and triumphs of masculinity in changing times

An anthology of profiles by award-winning journalist Steve Oney is out in paperback, offering lessons in an essential journalistic artform
May 17, 2019

“sweet spring is your time is my time is our time for springtime is lovetime and viva sweet love”

Why is it great? You know how it seems like spring will never arrive, you wait and you wait, and it’s dreary and cold, and then suddenly, in one day,…
April 18, 2018

“The Sun specializes in short items unlikely to tax the mental capacities of its target audience: one-paragraph news articles, one-sentence paragraphs, one-word sentences.”

Why is it great? Well, first of all, it comes from the great Sarah Lyall, who was the longtime London correspondent for The New York Times. She has such a…
April 11, 2018
Sharing a cup of tea with London blogger "The Gentle Author"

Sharing a cup of tea with London blogger “The Gentle Author”

The writer behind the popular Spitalfields Life blog talks about intimacy, forming a community and a deep love for the East End
April 10, 2018

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

Why is it so great? When I was looking for a One Great Sentence dealing with immigration, I was struck by the differences between America’s two presidents named Roosevelt. In…
April 4, 2018

“I’d rather go down in history as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to save my skin by taking back what I said.”

Why is it so great? I found this quote from the absolutely amazing Ida B. Wells after The New York Times righted an old wrong by publishing her obit —…
March 28, 2018

“The Revolutionary Hill Estates had not been designed to accommodate a tragedy.”

This 1961 book has haunted me since I first read it about 15 years ago. Written at the birth of suburbia, and the accompanying conformity of such neighborhoods, it tells…
March 21, 2018
Katharine Seelye and "Life on an Island: Silence, Beauty and a Long Wait for the Ferry"

Katharine Seelye and “Life on an Island: Silence, Beauty and a Long Wait for the Ferry”

In a lyrical New York Times story that resonated with readers, the writer juxtaposes the hardship and the loveliness of winter on a remote Maine island
March 20, 2018

“The American people want someone to articulate their rage for them.”

Why is it so great? I recently watched the movie “Network” again, and it could have been written in 2018 instead of more than 40 years earlier. This line almost…
March 7, 2018

“An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite and complicated and exceptional, somehow managing to be both heroic and plain.”

Why is it great? This line is beautifully constructed, yes, but what stands out for me is the sentiment conveyed. It could be my journalism mantra. The sentence comes from…
February 21, 2018