Amanda Hess, a staff writer at Slate, has also written for Pacific Standard, GOOD, and ESPN the Magazine.

"I ended up not loving the fact that I was getting a bunch of calls from MSNBC and CNN, who mostly wanted to talk about people threatening to rape and kill me and only a tiny bit about the story I'd written. ... It was tiring, and it seemed dismissive of me as a person. It's a strange thing to become somebody else's story, especially when the story is: You're a victim of an insane online harasser. That's who you are."

Thanks to this week's sponsors, TinyLetter and Oyster Books.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep_87_-_Amanda_Hess.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 4:08pm EDT

Mattathias Schwartz has written for The New Yorker, The New York Times Magazine and Harper's.

"I figure it's like digging through a wall with a spoon: if you spend enough time at it eventually you get to the other side."

Thanks to TinyLetter and Audible for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._86_-_Mattathias_Schwartz.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:29pm EDT

Tavi Gevinson is the founder and editor-in-chief of Rookie.

"I just want our readers to know that they are already smart enough and cool enough."

Thanks to this week's sponsors, TinyLetter and Atavist Books.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._85_-_Tavi_Gevinson.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:22pm EDT

Sabrina Rubin Erdely, a contributing editor at Rolling Stone, has also written for GQ, Philadelphia and SELF

"I think that people are, by their nature, good and want to act rightly. So I'm very interested in why people do these things that result in really bad actions. My lack of outrage actually is one of the things that probably helps me in my reporting because I really am propelled by this pure curiosity. ... I just want to know, 'Where did that come from?'"

Thanks to TinyLetter and PillPack for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._84_-_Sabrina_Rubin_Erdely.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 2:49pm EDT

"The kind of stories I've gotten to do have involved fulfilling my childhood fantasies of having an adventurous life. Even though I don't make a ton of money doing it, I've never felt like I was missing out on something."

Our friend Matt Power, a freelance journalist, died this week while on assignment in Uganda. Matt recorded this episode of the Longform Podcast with Evan Ratliff in February 2013.

Direct download: Matthew_Power_1974-2014.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 10:23pm EDT

Lawrence Wright, author of The Looming Tower and Going Clear, is a staff writer for The New Yorker.

"If I had the chance to interview Osama Bin Laden, should I kill him? It’s a fair question. Suppose we’re having dinner — should I stab him with the bread knife? Do I have a moral obligation to kill him? Or do I have a moral obligation as a reporter to simply hear him? … It’s sometimes difficult to take away the judgements that you naturally have. But when you do that, when you strip yourself and you’re morally naked, it’s sometimes surprising how infectious the relationship can become."

Thanks to TinyLetter and Pillpack.com for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._83_-_Part_2_-_Lawrence_Wright_Live.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:24pm EDT

Pamela Colloff and Mimi Swartz are executive editors of <em>Texas Monthly</em>.

Colloff: "That sense of loss, that sense of normal life turning on a dime is something that, in a very different way, I’ve experienced. And I carry that with me into some of the more difficult stories."

Swartz: "Here’s this great [public interest] story that nobody’s ever told. Now how can I write it so the maximum number of people want to read it? I try to make the homework part as interesting and compelling as possible."

Thanks to TinyLetter and PillPack for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

  1. @pamelacolloff
  2. Colloff on Longform
  3. [2:15] Longform Podcast #16: Pamela Colloff
  4. [10:00] "A Bend in the River" (Texas Monthly • Jul 2002)
  5. [10:00] "A Question of Mercy" (Texas Monthly • Mar 2014)
  6. [10:30] "The Innocent Man, Part One" (Texas Monthly • Nov 2012)
  7. [10:30] "The Innocent Man, Part Two" (Texas Monthly • Dec 2012)
  8. [14:45] "Innocence Found" (Texas Monthly • Jan 2011)

Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._83_-_Part_1_-_Pamela_Colloff_and_Mimi_Swartz_Live.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 1:21pm EDT

Jennifer Senior is a contributing editor at New York and the author of All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood.

"I've had moments in motherhood that have been close to something like religious. But I don't think social scientists say things like, "How many numinous moments have you had?" They don't do that, so you have to figure out what to do. I was suddenly turning to other texts to try and explain all of this."

Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._82_-_Jennifer_Senior.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:04pm EDT

Kevin Roose, a writer at New York, has contributed to The New York Times, GQ and Esquire. His latest book is Young Money: Inside the Hidden World of Wall Street's Post-Crash Recruits.

"Google will give you away. I feel like one undercover book is all you get these days before the jig is up. ... Unless, like Barbara Ehrenreich, you legally change your name. I was not quite prepared to go that far."

Thanks to TinyLetter for sponsoring this week's episode.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._81_-_Kevin_Roose.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 11:10am EDT

Wil S. Hylton, a contributing writer for The New York Times Magazine, is the author of Vanished.

"I despise the fucking nut graf. I think it's a joke, a cop out. The story probably should be about something larger than itself but if you have to tell people what that is, you've failed form the beginning. If they can't find it, you didn't put it there and you shouldn't be beating them over the head with it."

Thanks to TinyLetter and The Fog Horn for sponsoring this week's episode, and to the Writing Department at the University of Pittsburgh for hosting.


Show notes:

Direct download: Ep._80_-_Wil_S._Hylton.mp3
Category:general -- posted at: 12:10am EDT