The Beautiful, but Doomed, Olivetti Graphika
Much as I love Olivetti typewriters, I only recently learned about the company’s Graphika manual, first made in 1957 and produced for just under three years. While other Olivetti models made after World War II came in a variety of colours, the Graphika was only marketed with this glossy green finish. It was loosely […]
Writing That Gets Noticed
Although published last year, I only picked up journalist Estelle Erasmus’ book, “Writing That Gets Noticed,” after listening to a podcast interview with her. I wouldn’t say there’s a lot I found that was new, but I do have a few dozen books on writing so that’s not so surprising. Still, it’s a well-written primer […]
Thinking about Notebooks
From the earliest days of news-gathering through to the digital present, the one constant has been a reporter’s notebook and a pen. Many use a steno pad or the newer Blackwing Reporters Pads (or even pricy Moleskins); I rely on the Mead Cambridge notebook, which is slightly smaller than a steno pad, slightly larger […]
R.I.P. Jon Franklin
The late Jon Franklin was one of the founders, teachers, & great practitioners of literary journalism (also known as creative nonfiction, narrative nonfiction, or longform). He won the first Pulitzer Prize for feature writing in 1979 for a story called “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster,” which is a blow-by-blow of the day Dr. Thomas Ducker, a brain […]
Creative Nonfiction for 2024
Splinters: Another Kind of Love Story by Leslie Jamison (Hachette Books 2024) Leslie Jamison, the New York Times bestselling author of The Recovering, The Empathy Exams, and Make It Scream, Make It Burn, has a new memoir that explores rebuilding a life after the end of a marriage. This is fertile Jamison territory, exploring her intense […]
The Design Genius of S. Neil Fujita
One of the most influential of mid-century designer/illustrators was Sadamitsu (“S. Neil”) Fujita. Born to Japanese immigrants & raised in Hawaii, he later served in the U.S. military during WW2. After a stint with an ad agency and executing some striking covers for Fortune magazine that featured his paintings showing the influence of abstract expressionism, […]
Why You’ve Never Heard of the Emerson Typewriter
The Emerson is quite a handsome machine, wouldn’t you say? Rather sleek and modern if you were shopping for a typewriter around the second decade of the twentieth century. It was created by the prolific inventor Richard W. Uhlig (he held more than 500 patents, most of them for typewriters) and were made beginning in […]
Hail the Burberry Trench Coat
Who doesn’t love a trench coat? It’s never out-of-style. But the story behind it is an ad creative’s (or journalist’s) dream. In 1879, Thomas Burberry, a London-based draper-turned-clothing-designer, was mainly interested in outfitting English gentlemen fond of hunting and fishing. His eureka moment was inventing gabardine, a tightly-woven fabric that was tough, waterproof, & breathable. […]
Emma Smith By the Seine
The street photographer Robert Doisneau was walking around Paris in the summer of 1948 on an assignment from Paris Match. He was looking for images reflecting the hopeful post-war mood when he saw a young woman sitting by the Seine at the Ile de la Cite typing on a manual typewriter. She turned out to […]
The Tao of Interviewing
There is so much of value in Paul McLaughlin’s excellent interviewing book, Asking the Best Questions. It is, as the cover blurb puts it, “a comprehensive interviewing handbook for journalists, podcasters, bloggers, vloggers, influencers, and anyone else who asks questions under pressure.” In his preamble, he points out the biggest weaknesses that we, as interviewers, exhibit. […]