Short Takes

How to write boring wonk

A freelancer laments an editor's directive against compelling copy

By Jacqui Banaszynski • September 19, 2023

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Personal Essays

Four girls, 60 years, 11 students, 2,800 miles and a new awareness of history

A journalist-turned-teacher takes students on the U.S. Civil Rights Trail to explore the nation's challenges through a journalistic lens

By Herbert Lowe • September 15, 2023

Story Annotations

A revealing profile of a family that defied their faith’s edict on home schooling

"You keep showing up, you keep watching and listening, and you hope that you observe something interesting." ~ Peter Jamison, Washington Post

By Trevor Pyle • September 14, 2023

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Why's This So Good?

A profile of rival athletic greats becomes an exploration of a great friendship

By Dale Keiger
August 10, 2023

Washington Post sports columnist Sally Jenkins aces an off-court story about Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, competition, cancer, battles and bonds

Why's This So Good?

What to do when pronouns can confuse

By Jacqui Banaszynski
June 29, 2023

A New York Times news story offers a model for how to use language that is current, flexible, inclusive and clear

Strictly Q&A

Six profiles and a first-person approach give dignity to the many faces of homelessness

By Trevor Pyle
April 21, 2023

A reporter for the Chicago Reader teams with a freelance photographer to document the personal cost of society's "lattice of failure"

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An annotated guide to narrative magic

By Madeline Bodin
April 12, 2023

Pulitzer-Prize winning feature writer Lane DeGregory shares the techniques behind her vivid storytelling in a new anthology of her stories

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Challenging the stereotype of Uvalde’s plucky child survivor

By Mallary Tenore Tarpley
January 27, 2023

John Woodrow Cox invests time, attention and empathy to profile a girl who became the public voice of the town's messy recovery from trauma

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Personal stories on what Afghan women want the rest of us to know

By Jacqui Banaszynski
October 11, 2022

A young journalist who escaped Afghanistan returns a year later, by remote, to report the reality for the women left behind

Why's This So Good?

Dan Barry, baseball and the love of the (writing) game

By Jacqui Banaszynski
July 27, 2022

An exploration of mud becomes a meditation on America's pastime through the sharp, romantic view of The New York Times master storyteller

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“I’m-not-a-journalist” newspaper columnist writes about community, parenting and letting go

By Jacqui Banaszynski
June 17, 2022

In nine taut paragraphs, a community newspaper columnist captures a specific place and the universal reality of parenthood

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A documentary film breaks rules and wins an Oscar

By Kristen Chin
May 27, 2022

A young filmmaker analyzes why Ben Proudfoots short doc, "The Queen of Basketball," makes her cry, and why that makes it a successful film

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What happens when fandom backfires in a culture of censorship

By Kristen Chin
March 29, 2022

"Dream Boy and the Poison Fans," from the NPR podcast "Rough Translation," finds universal themes in a do-you-believe-this story from China

Why's This So Good?

What personal pain reminded two writers about the gift listening

By Jacqui Banaszynski
February 18, 2022

Essays by Chuck Haga in the Grand Forks Herald and Frank Bruni in The New York Times peel through layers of inattention

Why's This So Good?

Comedian Chris Gethard on the power of listening

By Trevor Pyle
February 11, 2022

The author and podcaster took tools from improv comedy to his unexpected radio call-in show and podcast

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