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The stories we tell
One of my favorite shows of all time was Six Feet Under. What made the show so great was that, even though every once in a while something extraordinary happened, most of the drama came from every day life decisions: where to go to school, whether to stay in a relationship, or when to change…
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Huffington Post jumps ahead of Washington Post in online readership
Arianna is conquering journalism? Editor & Publisher reports today that the Huffington Post, which didn’t exist until 2005, had more unique visitors than the Washington Post web site in September. It doesn’t help that the Post editorial page has drifted to the right for a decade, that the editors allow for gross inaccuracies and distortions…
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Writing: An “elitist” career?
Dana Goldstein, a former CAP co-worker who now writes for The Amercan Prospect, put up a post on “Journalism’s Elitism Problem.” In short, she points out that the career path for many professional writers involves four years of college education (and any debt that comes with that) followed by unpaid (or barely paid) internships, which…
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Defending Michael Vick
Baltimore Sun Columnist Susan Reimer spoke to my graduate class last week giving us some tips and suggestions on writing columns, including: ask a lot of questions write what you know simplicity and clarity are key read other writers if you’re not an expert, admit it be a contrarian Michael Vick is a bad man. The…
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Dan Baum and the half-empty glass
Dan Baum, a writer who’s worked for Esquire and The New Yorker, talked with the Renegade Writer blog about freelancing and the future of the magazine business. A couple things caught my eye. First, I always feel a bit lost when I’m working on a freelance piece and someone I’m interviewing asks me who I’m writing…
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One or two spaces after a period?
Not sure how this story one how many spaces should come after a period became the top story on Digg, but I still loved it. I like his three arguments in favor of two spaces: It gives closure to your thought. The double space is a nice psychological cue that a sentence is done. Uniform…
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Article: Twelve lessons poker can teach you about life
Just wrapped up my first column for examiner.com, “Twelve lessons poker can teach you about life.” I’ve started doing some freelance pieces for examimer.com on poker. Officially, I’m the “DC Poker Examiner.” Not exactly my heaviest work, but a fun little bit of freelancing. Here’s a snippet from the piece: 5. No matter what you…
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Fine writing in unexpected places
One idea my instructors at Johns Hopkins hammer home is the notion that to be a great writer, you need to “read like a writer.” More and more, I see what they mean. I read newspapers and magazines differently these days, dissecting paragraphs and words as I go, noticing small bits of writing technique and…
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The Passover Narrative
Growing up half-Catholic, half-Jewish and about 90% agnostic, I didn’t really grow up in a particularly religious home. We celebrated four big holidays — Christmas, Hanukkah, Passover, and Easter — but none of them very seriously. Christmas and Hanukkah were about trees, candles, and presents; Easter was about a basket of candy; Passover was a…