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.

“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”

“Have you ever heard the absolute silence?”So asks a young lobsterman on Maine’s Matinicus Island, one of the handful of people who live year-round on the island, 22 miles out…
March 20, 2018
Polar opposites: Exploring some very cool writing, the he said/she said version

Polar opposites: Exploring some very cool writing, the he said/she said version

As a near-spring Nor’easter hit New England this week, we showcased two recent stories about polar exploration. What intrigued me were the very different perspectives of the writers and subjects.…
March 16, 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
Is literary journalism the peacock of the news world? So much useful beauty

Is literary journalism the peacock of the news world? So much useful beauty

It was John Steinbeck’s birthday this week, and I came across this quote by him: “Remember that the most beautiful things in the world are the most useless; peacocks and…
March 2, 2018
“An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite"

“An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite”

This week’s One Great Sentence by Susan Orlean, referenced in the headline above, could be my journalism mantra. Yes, we must know about the great events and people of our…
February 23, 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
On bullets and planes that fall from the sky -- and, somewhere in the middle, love

On bullets and planes that fall from the sky — and, somewhere in the middle, love

This could have been a week of love — at least of the commercialized Hallmark variety. But hearts and flowers didn’t prevail for even one day before yet another person…
February 16, 2018

“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”

Why is it so great? For Valentine’s Day, we had to go with One Great Sentence on love (even if the holiday makes you go harrumph). This one is a…
February 14, 2018
A tribute to audio storytelling, and to the memory of bedtime stories

A tribute to audio storytelling, and to the memory of bedtime stories

This is a very “audio” week on Storyboard, and I’d like to have more of them. Storytelling has so many forms, and sometimes we hear stories better than we read…
February 9, 2018