life goes on

The year is winding down, and the wheels keep turning. I've been working nonstop on one thing or another. 

audio hears itself out

For Current, I filed dispatches from the 2016 Third Coast conference in Chicago, which gathered together audio producers of every stripe. Because it happened to fall immediately after the election, the atmosphere was a nonstop strain of what-now.

• Public radio's biggest politics reporters (Bob Garfield, Sam Sanders, Maria Hinojosa, Zoe Chace) discussed their efforts covering the election and how they can hope to approach the new state of America.
• The weekend's award winners centered around mothers, trauma, and personal narratives.
• NPR announced it would shortly begin distributing the Spanish-language podcast Radio Ambulante.
• Julie Snyder, executive producer of Serial, shared her insights into the podcast's first and second seasons.
• In my wrap-up report, we see how big money may (or may not) be changing the face of podcasting as we know it.

bleed for whatever

At Vulture (and later reblogged at Slate, so choose your favorite), I argue the sports-recovery narrative of boxing movie Bleed For This cheats its audience by concluding that serious medical injury is just another problem that can be solved by "believing in yourself."

This piece prompted an interesting Twitter debate with someone in the public TV/documentary system. I have Storified the exchange.

reviews

My weekly reviews for NPR, from mid-October to now.

• The Eyes of My Mother: Horror through a new lens. (12/1/16)
• Moana: Disney does right by its princess. (11/23/16)
• Manchester by the Sea: A gorgeous meditation on loss and rebuilding. (11/17/16)
• Arrival: Language will give us hope, give us life. (11/10/16)
• Gimme Danger: Iggy and the Stooges brought Ann Arbor cool to the world. (10/27/16)
• Keeping Up With the Joneses​: Like watching a terrible sitcom cast watching Mr. and Mrs. Smith. (10/20/16)