Notable Narratives

Reflections on classic stories that endure through time, or on new narratives that expand the possibilities of story work.

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The Monster Inside My Son

By Notable Narratives May 15, 2009

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 of her son’s autism as a gift allows him to … Read more

Ana’s Story

By Notable Narratives April 4, 2009

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 all the bases, following Ana, her family, and her doctors … Read more

The Collar and the Gun

By Notable Narratives March 6, 2009

The life and death of an American Catholic in Africa provides the subject for this month’s Notable Narrative, “The Collar and the Gun.” The three-part serial draws out narrative details that make Kaiser’s missionary lifestyle come alive, from the brown … Read more

Fixing Mr. Fix-it

By Notable Narratives February 6, 2009

“Fixing Mr. Fix-it,” this month’s Notable Narrative, tells the story of inadvertent amputation, its medical reversal, and the efforts of Norm Martin—“Mr. Fix-it”’—to recover and resume his life. Author Diane Suchetka deftly describes not just an accident in a body … Read more

Hidden Hurt

By Notable Narratives January 9, 2009

This month’s Notable Narrative, “Hidden Hurt,” from The Washington Post Magazine, addresses poverty, the plight of the uninsured, and the long-term health effects of mining—all by covering one weekend at a county fairground in Wise, Virginia. There, a mobile hospital … Read more

The Revolution Is

By Notable Narratives January 1, 2009

A reporter sets out to see the Cuban countryside on the 50th anniversary of the revolution, tracing the path between the rebels’ landing point in the south and their final victory in the north. From the pages of the Virginia … Read more