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Revisiting the “Ghost Ship” fire
In early December, 2016, a fire broke out during a concert at “Ghost Ship,” a one-time warehouse in Oakland, California, that had been turned, mostly illegally and in fits and starts, into a chaotic...
View ArticleA bag of ashes, a research-loving reporter, the public library, and a...
It was an intriguing bit of crowd-sourcing: Police in Portland, Oregon, said they had “exhausted all resources” in attempts to find relatives or friends of a dead WWII veteran, and was asking the...
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A new “true story” award honors longform nonfiction from around the world
The ceremony was held in a gilded, 115-year-old opera house in Bern, Switzerland. A giant faux bear shared the stage with a prominent news anchor, who emceed the event in four languages. Theater...
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Exposing what the police and courts wouldn’t — and what society owes in return
It’s difficult to find a writer who isn’t haunted by a story. It could have been the quest that couldn’t catch a glint in an editor’s eye. Maybe one that got away when sources, or record keepers,...
View ArticleWill this date ever fade?
It’s that date again. The one we might even not think about for awhile, or at least send to a distant corner, until it’s upon us with the force and dread of our continued disbelief and altered reality....
View ArticleIf it was good enough for Jane Austen …
My mother’s reverence for education, a solid grounding in middle-school grammar, and a long career in old-school journalism has chiseled me into one of those people who honors language, and tries to be...
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When gun violence visits, a workaday mayor — and hard-working journalist —...
By early August of this year, 253 American cities had been added to the map of mass shootings. For a day or two after yet another event, officials in these communities — police and politicians — rise...
View ArticleWhen gun violence visits, a pastor finds faith and a reporter finds those not...
“Pittsburgh. El Paso. San Bernardino. Las Vegas. Aurora. Orlando. Sandy Hook. Isla Vista. Gilroy. Colorado Springs.” David Montero’s voice trails off. “I just feel like there are obvious ones I’m...
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“Problems that are not seen cannot be addressed.”
Journalism’s most idealistic missions are well-known and, despite the sine wave of attacks throughout history and the economic disruptions of the digital age, remain immutable: Give voice to the...
View ArticleThe story in the music — and the music in how the story is written
I fall to pieces every time I hear a recording of Patsy Cline singing “Crazy” or “Sweet Dreams” — or “I Fall to Pieces” — and it’s not just because of the depth and sweetness and catch in Patsy’s...
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“Life is too short to write something boring.”
I’m obsessed with structure. From John McPhee’s sketch for “Travels in Georgia,” which resembles a Fibonacci Spiral, to the lopsided bell curve of the classic story arc, there are examples everywhere...
View Article“How dare you…”
After you watch Greta Thunberg’s speech a second or third time, after your heart rate slows, after your guilt subsides (a bit) — read the transcript. Franklin Foer of The Atlantic wrote about the...
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Subjectivity, hugs and craft: Podcasting as extreme narrative journalism
In The Armies of the Night (1968), his “nonfiction novel” about the Vietnam War, Norman Mailer made himself a central protagonist. Far from being defensive about this radical breach of journalistic...
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Stories that unfold — and pain that is measured — from the ground up
You can almost smell the cedar-hewn totem poles and see them rise from the soil, so evocative is “We Didn’t Stand A Chance,” Joshua Hunt’s personal essay about opioid abuse among Native Alaskans....
View Article“The third is when you can make a basket without worrying about whether it is...
If this sentence seems lacking a word, it is. We’ll get to that in a moment. Until then, bookmark the notion of “good enough” — an aspiration that seems to elude most writers. But first a bit of...
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Relentless research, fevered rewrites, endless edits ~ plus a coat and tie
If there were no Robert Caro, he could not easily be invented. Consider the job description: Commit your career to exhaustive research into the lives of two legendarily powerful men, produce a tome...
View ArticleDitching “monkey mind” to find joy while writing
Two days to deadline. You haven’t written a word — just scribbles and a few sad-faced glyphs in the margins of a skeletal outline. You’re surrounded by great raw material —a tower of notes, a...
View ArticleFrom five minutes to finished
Hang out at a journalism workshop, anywhere in the world, and inevitably the subject comes up: We’re being asked to produce more and more, in less and less time. It was no different when I was in...
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Singular moments, timeless questions
Sunday, December 28, 1986. An ordinary day, much like any other. Except in two operating rooms at Fairfax Hospital in suburban Virginia, where something extraordinary was about to happen. In one lay a...
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Mastering the awkward art of the interview
In the seven years since Max Linsky co-founded the Longform Podcast (with Evan Ratliff and Aaron Lammer), he has interviewed hundreds of storytelling luminaries: journalists, non-fiction writers and...
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