The Associated Press has revised their AP Stylebook, the guide that most journalists use to standardize their writing, to include an entry on mental illness. Among many other important things that the entry includes, which you should read here, it says: Do not describe an individual as mentally ill unless it is clearly pertinent to …
Tag Archive: journalism
Aug 30 2012
The Case Against Celebrity Gossip
Celebrity gossip bothers me. I think it’s both interesting and sad how we assume that accomplished, well-known people exist for our consumption. That is, we not only consume the work they produce; we consume their lives themselves. We expect them to be perfect and demand apologies when they fail, but we also gleefully feed on …
Aug 23 2012
Why Do We Keep Talking About Akin and Not About Other Stuff?
I’ve noticed that every time a high-profile conservative says or does something stupid and it blows up in the media, some rank-and-file conservatives–in my Facebook newsfeed, elsewhere on the internet–have a very interesting response. They say something to the effect of this: “Why are people talking about [insert stupid conservative here] so much more than …
Apr 24 2012
Leaving Medill
I knocked on the office door promptly at noon. She opened the door and said, “Can you just wait a few minutes? Our teleconference is running late.” I nodded. The door shut. I waited. Twenty minutes later, I was sitting at a round table in a large, airy office full of plants. It had two …
Feb 02 2012
Don't Blame it on the Tech
[Snark Warning] A modified version of this piece also appeared as my column in the Daily Northwestern. Technology gets a bad rap. You wouldn’t think so–obviously, we all love it–but in a way it does. You can’t really go a day anymore without encountering a book, article, or person spewing some variation of the following: …
Nov 04 2011
The Gym: the Poor Man's Runway
Yesterday, one of the main student publications at my illustrious university came out with this gem, titled “Dressing to Impress at the Gym.” After the title and byline, the article takes an unfortunately predictable route: So the gym might not be the sexiest place on earth. But, who says that it can’t be one of …
Jun 26 2010
On Ambition
I used to be what most people would call an ambitious person. That is to say, I knew exactly where I wanted to go in life, and it was a place that everyone respected. I was also willing to do everything necessary to get there–the perfect grades, prestigious college, and on and on. What my …
Jun 25 2010
Exhibitionist Journalism
So, yesterday this little gem was posted on Salon.com, an online news magazine that I generally like a lot but that, unfortunately, frequently falls into the trap of sensationalism. The piece, by Holly Kretschmar, describes the author’s experience with cooking and eating her placenta after giving birth to her first baby–a course of action recommended …
Feb 03 2010
Bookman's Heaven
Note: This short piece has the rather unusual (for me, anyways) distinction of having achieved a grade of 100% in my journalism class, which I’m very proud of and happy about, so I hope you enjoy it too. If history were a place, it would be Bookman’s Alley. A fixture of Evanston, Illinois for the …







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