I’m always curious about the relationship between ambition and fame. On one hand, the desire to be a famous writer can be useful—you have to have drive, ambition. You need to be balls-out doing what you’re going to do to have any hope of success. But on the other hand, so many writers conflate ambition […]
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Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
When Your Kid Has a Disease No One’s Ever Heard About
In The New Yorker, Seth Mnookin reports about what one couple, Matt Might and Cristina Casanova, did when they discovered that their son had a rare condition that no doctor had ever heard about. We featured Might’s account of his family’s search to diagnose his son’s disease in 2012.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
What It's Like to Watch a Version of Yourself on TV
At Matter, the real-life Larry Smith talks about the other true story behind Orange Is the New Black—the one about Piper’s husband. As the show began to come together, Jenji asked us a question: Could she call the main characters Piper and Larry? Tough choice. If the show works, it’s great to be “the real […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Value of Letting Kids Lose
At Deadspin, Drew Magary looks at America’s ‘Kid-Competition Complex’ and explains why it’s problematic: I have a 5-year-old son who hates losing. I don’t mean this as a compliment. He BLOWS at losing. He rigs pretty much any game in the backyard in his favor, and if you call him out on him, he gives […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
‘Cooking Was My Mother’s Principal Weapon’
From E.J. Levy’s “Mastering the Art of French Cooking”—an essay I consider one of my favorites.
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Dying With Dignity: A Reading List About the Right-to-Die Debate
Should patients suffering from terminal illnesses and unbearable pain be able to make the decision to end their lives? Helping the terminally ill end their lives is illegal in all but five states in the U.S. Here, five stories looking at the right-to-die debate. 1. “Helping Dad Die: A Daughter’s Story.” (Catherine Syer, Financial Times) […]
Posted inNonfiction, Reading List
Dying With Dignity: A Reading List About the Right-to-Die Debate
Should patients suffering from terminal illnesses and unbearable pain be able to make the decision to end their lives? Helping the terminally ill end their lives is illegal in all but five states in the U.S. Here, five stories looking at the right-to-die debate. 1. “Helping Dad Die: A Daughter’s Story.” (Catherine Syer, Financial Times) […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
When Baseball is the Most Dangerous Game to Watch
In Atlanta Magazine, Christine Van Dusen tells the story of the Fletcher family, who sat behind the dugouts at a baseball game at Turner Field and experienced the horror of having one of their children struck by a foul ball, fracturing her skull. Cabrera’s swing, so quick and effortless as to seem almost an afterthought, […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
How Island Records Made Bob Marley Into a Household Name After His Death
In the Village Voice, Chris Kornelis writes about how Bob Marley became a household name posthumously thanks to some careful remarketing: Robinson had a hunch that suburban record buyers were uneasy with Marley’s image — that of a perpetually stoned, politically driven iconoclast associated with violence. And so he commissioned a London-based researcher named Gary […]
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Pros and Cons of Praising Children
At Aeon, Carlin Flora looks at the pros and cons of praising children and what psychologists say to avoid: Over-praising children (You’re amazing!) can make them feel your standards are very high, causing the fear that they won’t be able to keep living up to them, say the psychologists Jennifer Henderlong Corpus of Reed College […]