As I write these words I am propped up in bed, six days into COVID, chipping through my fugue at a 6,000-word story that was due before I got COVID. It’s 99 degrees outside my window in Boise, Idaho, … Read more
The temperatures topped 100 Fahrenheit week (38+ Centigrade) up at the mountain cabin one day last week. The three-man yardscape crew seemed indifferent. They spent their first afternoon prepping the site; they dumped mounds of dusty gravel, unloaded heavy … Read more
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 as a big deal. Perhaps one of the biggest … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This tribute is shared with permission from our friends at The Poynter Institute. Frank Clines arrived at The New York Times in 1958, one year before the death of that most brilliant Times writer … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This is one of five posts from the 2022 Power of Narrative conference at Boston University. Read Ellen Barry on first-person narratives, Lizzie Johnson on deadline narratives, Debbie Cenziper on investigative … Read more
These days, a conspiracy theory can burn through a population like a pathogen. And while these theories are built on top of untruths, the ripples they send out in the world can be very real. Jessica … Read more
I’ve heard that most writers struggle with structure. But when you’re alone, surrounded by a mountain of notes and staring at a blank computer screen, it can feel like you’re the only one who hasn’t figured out the secret … Read more
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 a story about a boxer returning … Read more
Untold stories remain one of journalism’s and society’s starkest gaps. The plight of the mentally ill and homeless, the Sisyphean struggles of the working poor, ingrained prejudice against minorities in the workplace, child poverty and hunger — those subjects … Read more
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 is more about togetherness than religion or gifts. Read more
