10 articles in this topic
Letters as early social networks — I time first drafts with a kitchen timer I bought in Osaka from a night bus between Accra and Kumasi in 2017, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a headline test that 'won' clicks and wrecked trust for…
Maps as arguments — I ask one skeptical friend to read before any colleague does from a Mexico City rooftop after the rain in 2024, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a subscriber who mailed a marked-up printout with better structure…
Museum catalogs as unexpected essays — I start from the sentence I am avoiding and work outward from an overnight ferry where the Wi-Fi died on purpose in 2025, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a draft I loved that did not survive a…
Women in twentieth-century essay traditions — I reread yesterday's ending before I make coffee from a Berlin courtyard office that smelled like toner in 2019, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a launch we shipped on a Friday and spent…
Cold War science journalism — I outline on index cards, then ignore half of them from a Chennai balcony at 5 a.m. before the heat arrived in 2020, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with an editor who asked 'what changed in the reader'…
Oral history projects online — I print the piece and mark it with a red pen like it's 2009 from the back table of a Nairobi cafe that let me stay for hours in 2022, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a workshop where nobody could…
Archives of abolitionist pamphlets — I keep a cheap reporter notebook in the bag pocket that used to hold chargers from the quiet stacks of the Brooklyn Public Library in 2018, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a comments thread that…
Epistolary novels and modern serial fiction — I keep a 'killed darlings' file that is longer than some issues from a Manchester spare room that doubled as an edit bay in 2023, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a search spike from a…
Printing presses and the first publics — I still write first drafts longhand from a borrowed desk at a Lisbon newsroom in 2025, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a 2,400-word feature that lost most readers at paragraph three. I had…
Library digitization and access fights — I send a messy voice memo to myself on the walk home from a Toronto coworking loft with bad coffee and good light in 2021, which is where this piece actually started — not with a thesis deck, but with a syndication deal that looked…