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I see other writers sharing their best of 2020, and it’s made me pause to think about how fortunate I am to have worked on stories that meant so much to me, and with editors who pushed me to be better.
In late Feb I got sick with some miserable flu (??) and sat through most of The Magicians… and discovered a beautiful patchwork of friends who made one another better. @lenikacruz asked such smart questions about this narrative I’d come to love. https://www.theatlantic.com/culture/archive/2020/04/the-magicians-syfy-binge-watch/609664/
This year I had a chance to write a few stories for @thelilynews and @neema_rp, who is so generous and smart. The most significant to my mind was this local story of how taking black mothers seriously saves babies’ lives. https://www.thelily.com/an-ohio-county-had-the-second-highest-infant-mortality-rate-in-the-nation-then-they-started-listening-to-black-moms/
In the heart of the first wave, when Dr. Amy Acton was all that was keeping many of us in Ohio going, @mattiekahn green lit my wild notion that I should be the one to profile Action. No spoiler here: Acton was just as giving and kind as she seems. https://www.glamour.com/story/dr-amy-acton-ohio-profile-coronavirus
And then, @mattiekahn, in her work in dream fulfillment, granted me a chance to interview @ConnieSchultz who I’ve admired basically as far as my memory goes back. We talked about stories, dreams, and my grandmother. https://www.glamour.com/story/connie-schultz-daughters-of-erietown-interview
After a year of writing and reporting, my story for the @atavist published on the civil rights heroines who live nearby and fought the first Northern test case of Brown v. Board of Education. The last surviving mom turned 104 the day it published. https://magazine.atavist.com/the-long-walk-civil-rights-hillsboro-ohio-segregation-black-lives-matter
This is one of the most important stories I've written. Working with @seywarddarby was among the best feature-writing experiences of my life. She knew where to push, how to ensure the arc of the story met the import of these women’s lives.
Late last year, as I read @angela_denker's Red State Christians, I pitched a feature to @michellelegro and it became a story that sprawled as I talked to more women voters. It trended on Twitter, I think because so many saw their stories in it. https://gen.medium.com/amp/p/ee8899837fe
A sidebar… working with @michellelegro and contributing to GEN has been a major highlight of my year.
There was my essay on optimism in 2020. https://gen.medium.com/what-would-it-feel-like-to-be-optimistic-right-now-b3cd8708e26a
There was my essay on optimism in 2020. https://gen.medium.com/what-would-it-feel-like-to-be-optimistic-right-now-b3cd8708e26a
Being asked to respond in real time to the VP debates and on Mike Pence and the FLY. https://gen.medium.com/the-chilling-normalcy-of-mike-pences-debate-performance-36975c1765e8
Learning about covenant communities and the structures inherent in some that seem to lead to spiritual abuse. https://gen.medium.com/inside-the-secret-world-of-covenant-communities-e060fb997094
But mostly, it was knowing I had an editor watching out for me, which out in freelance world, especially during a pandemic, has been a tremendous gift.
I’ve been grateful for the work when too many have none, for the faith of these and my other editors, and for the opportunity of this work, to spend some time understanding other people’s lives. For as difficult as 2020 was, my work life was rich.
