Story Annotations

The Pitch: Landing a "definitive narrative" in The Atavist Magazine

The Pitch: Landing a “definitive narrative” in The Atavist Magazine

Editor Seyward Darby: "I definitely want people who are willing to strip a story down to its basics and figure out how to build it back up."
How Rolling Stone revisited a mass tragedy to 'humanize the horrendous'

How Rolling Stone revisited a mass tragedy to ‘humanize the horrendous’

In the first half of 2021, Matt Sullivan and his family took refuge in Miami from the pandemic in New York City, and to finish his first book, “Can’t Knock…
Shaping a historic narrative: The Jan. 6 hearings as story craft

Shaping a historic narrative: The Jan. 6 hearings as story craft

Much attention has been rightly paid to the congressional hearings into events before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. By any account, it qualifies…
A reporter explores the laws and emotion involved in helping her father die

A reporter explores the laws and emotion involved in helping her father die

Bloomberg investigative reporter Esmé Deprez researched a range of death-with-dignity issues after becoming her father's end-of-life partner
Lauren Hough goes on a hunt for Bonnie and Clyde and her Grandpa Chuck

Lauren Hough goes on a hunt for Bonnie and Clyde and her Grandpa Chuck

A celebrated memoirist returns to her native Texas on a quest to determine if her family stories were true
Viewing the COVID divide through tensions in one rural community

Viewing the COVID divide through tensions in one rural community

It’s no surprise to Tim Sullivan that major news outlets like CNN or his employer, the Associated Press, are taking flak from conservatives for peddling “fake news.” But he was…
An Atlantic writer turned a fatal blow into a sensitive study of boxing, guilt and grit

An Atlantic writer turned a fatal blow into a sensitive study of boxing, guilt and grit

Atlantic editor and writer Jacob Stern can sum up in a single word, as flickering as a blurred jab, what he knew about boxing: “Nothing.” But when Stern embarked on…
How Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker exposed the "troubled teen industry"

How Rachel Aviv of The New Yorker exposed the “troubled teen industry”

Aviv scoured court records, social media and personal journals to reveal the abuses of a system of unregulated Christian boarding schools
A profile of one family divided by vaccine politics reflects the divide of a nation

A profile of one family divided by vaccine politics reflects the divide of a nation

With Thanksgiving upon us, families across America will gather around tables laden with roast turkey and pumpkin pie. Or not.During the Trump era, squabbles over politics disrupted a holiday that…
Immersing into the lives of children damaged by gun violence, and laws that don't stop it

Immersing into the lives of children damaged by gun violence, and laws that don’t stop it

For the past five years, John Woodrow Cox has worked to master the art of helping children talk about a fraught but rarely covered subject — the long-term physical and…