“News Is Just Like Waste Management.”
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Weird things have become normal in the time of coronavirus. We bounce between utter panic, gallows humor, and some kind of bizarre normal in which the pandemic is political. At my house we spent spring break building a quarantine shack to protect…
“It Gives Us a Reason to Get Dressed, See Smiles, Have Hope.”
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Hi. This is my first post for Mother Jones in more than five years working here. I’m stoked to be doing it, because I remember picking up my first issue of Mother Jones (and the Progressive) at a Barnes & Noble in…
Greed Destroyed Our Social Immune System. It’s Time to Rebuild It.
For indispensable reporting on the coronavirus crisis and more, subscribe to Mother Jones’ newsletters.Mother Jones illustration; Rick Bowmer/AP; Alex Menendez/AP; Jamie Lee Finch/AP How are you doing? Suddenly, the platitude feels like a real question. In the video check-in with a loved one, in the shouted small talk with the mail carrier, in the smile to…
Let’s Tear Down the Ivory Tower of News
The two of us came of age in newsrooms at the cusp of the digital age—late enough that you could tell everything was about to change, but early enough that old habits still held unquestioned sway. Some of these (like smoking at your desk) were soon to vanish, but others have been stubbornly hanging around.…
Trump May Have Broken the GOP, But He Hasn’t Broken America
Years from now, there will be a moment that you remember from the impeachment of Donald J. Trump. What will it be? The sonorous voice of ex-Ambassador William Taylor recounting how his president extorted an allied country? Nancy Pelosi, somber and makeupless, sending the articles of impeachment off across the Capitol? Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.)…
Trump’s Core Message Is “I Got Mine.” Is It Infecting the Rest of Us?
I’m generally an optimist—to a fault, some of my friends and colleagues would say. I find the bright side in almost anything and focus relentlessly on the possibility of change especially when things are tough. But that doesn’t mean living in a fantasy, and it doesn’t mean refusing to acknowledge challenging news. So here it…