What Writers and Editors Are Reading: January 2023

Recommended by Benjamin Cassidy: “Elly Fishman’s profile is as exacting and well-structured as her subject’s work. Master luthier John Becker repairs some of the world’s finest instruments at his space in Chicago. To do so, Becker employs a monastic routine that Fishman renders in rich detail. Like in the clever opening scene, when world-class violinists Joshua Bell and James Ehnes watch Becker toil. For a few moments at least, these performers are audience members in awe. Relatable.”

Recommended by Jaime Stathis: “They absolutely nailed the title—I’m always saying I want to return to the 1990s. But dwindling attention spans are a real problem and we need tips and strategies, which this piece offers.”

Recommended by Heather Ciras: “This was a tough one: This article tells the story of a woman who has spent her adult life trying to understand if she was sexually abused and trafficked as a child by her father. In telling the story of Kate Price, author Janelle Nanos digs into the mystery of memory and the messiness of family ties, and shows the power of the human spirit. The big reveal is more like a quiet, bone-chilling moment that raises as many questions as answers. I walked away in awe—sad, but in awe.”

Recommended by Derek Robertson: “Christine Smallwood, in a review of the American Public Media podcast “Sold a Story: How Teaching Kids to Read Went So Wrong,” explains the crisis in literacy facing America’s children and its roots in a misguided (and highly lucrative) decades-long teaching experiment in our schools. Smallwood makes a powerful case that the way we learn to read is about so much more than literacy — it’s the way we learn to think, and to be. Her subtext is clear: This isn’t just an educational problem, but a civilizational one.”

Recommended by Dr. Andrea Wojnicki: “Inevitably at some point in our careers, we shift from elaborating on our (limited) experience to hiding our age. AGE-ISM is real, it’s not fair, and, as this article points out, it’s GENDERED. I love how this article explicitly calls out the disparity and implications associated with gendered age-ism and implicitly encourages us to think about our personal brand in terms of both of these factors (gender and age). Where are you on the scale between babe and hag? And how does that affect your personal brand?”

Recommended by Joe DeLessio: “New York City rents are out of control, but it’s just a matter of supply and demand, right? Lane Brown’s column suggests it’s not so simple. Lane crunches the numbers and comes to the conclusion that something doesn’t add up: If more people are leaving the city than moving to it, prices just shouldn’t be skyrocketing. So what’s going on here? Might there be empty apartments New Yorkers can’t just rent? And could a piece of software be at least partially to blame? Lane’s obsessive reporting makes a compelling case that the answer to both of these questions is yes.”

Recommended by Faith Hill: “Like Joshua Rothman, I’m someone who tends to think not in words or pictures, but in “unsymbolized” thoughts. Or am I? This is a fascinating, earnest inquiry into a grand philosophical question: How well can you know your own mind? Reading it made me feel like a stranger to myself—but an interesting stranger, one I’ll keep wondering about with some mixture of curiosity, bafflement, and delight.”