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Literary Journalism in Denmark

Isager, Christine

Publication date: 2015

Citation for published version (APA): Isager, C. (2015, Mar 11). Literary Journalism in Denmark.

Download date: 08. apr.. 2020

THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS Literary jourNAl i s m

VOL 9 NO 2 INTERNATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES SPRING 2015

ANNUAL MEETING IS IT EVEN POSSIBLE years of the genre itself. IN MAY IN MINNEAPOLIS Discussing the genre always The registration for our annual conference in TO DEFINE OUR FIELD? involves terminology. We may find our- May can be completed using the form on At IALJS-10, we will try. selves defining or re-examining our favorite term, literary journalism. I have via PayPal with your credit card. You may seen two related media usages. Esquire also register with the form on Page 4 inside. By Norman Sims, (Jan/Feb 2015) mentioned that Jill As in the past, there is a substantial dis- University of Masachusetts-Amherst (U.S.A.) Abramson, former executive editor of the count for early registration. heard a wonderful but apocryphal story the New York Times, is “currently developing a other day. Steven Shapin told the story in a long-form-journalism start-up.” Lots of review of a history of science written by a hyphenation in that term but it’s encour- FUTURE SITES FOR Itheoretical physicist and Nobel Prize winner. aging that such a high-ranking editor ANNUAL MEETINGS He said a distinguished cardiac surgeon on the would think long-form or literary journal- To help you with your own scheduling, the cusp of retirement decided to take up the histo- ism might be an appropriate next step. following future IALJS convention venues are ry of medicine. “He sought out a historian The Wall Street Journal (17-18 Jan. confirmed and/or planned: friend, and asked her if she had any tips for 2015) had an interview with one of the IALJS-11: Pontifícia Universidade him. The historian most famous of the New Journalists. The Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Porto Alegre, said she’d be happy Journal identified him this way: “Author Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, 19-21 May 2016. to help but first Gay Talese, 82, helped pioneer literary IALJS-12: University of King's College, asked the surgeon a journalism in the 1960s with articles like Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 11-13 May reciprocal favor: ‘As 2017. it happens, I’m IALJS-13: Universitat de Barcelona, about to retire too, Barcelona, Spain, 17-19 May 2018. Please don’t and I’m thinking of forget to pay your 2015 IALJS-14: Brock University, St. taking up heart Catharines, Ontario, Canada, 9-11 May surgery. Do you member dues, 2019. have any tips for and we’ll celebrate at IALJS-10 IALJS-15: University of Nova Gorica, me?’” That asymme- Slovenia, 16-18 May 2020 (pending). in May PRESIDENT’S try between heart LETTER surgery and the INSIDE skills of the historian 2 Our Conference Host Department is less evident in lit- erary journalism. As I’ve said elsewhere, we ‘Frank Sinatra Has a Cold.’” I’ve never 3 Schedule Summary for IALJS-10 have excellent literary history written by con- been a fan of using the term New 4 IALJS-10 Registration Form temporary literary journalists such as Richard Journalism to refer to literary journalism 6 2015 Convention Program Rhodes, Nick Lemann and Michael Norman. outside of its original 1960s context, but I Literary journalists love great stories wherever can’t remember seeing an actual New 12 Literary Journalism in Denmark found—although scholars in our field may ask Journalist such as Talese identified simply 13 Call - 2015 ESPRIT Conference different questions or study literary issues that as a literary journalist. Maybe we can sort 14 Call - James Baldwin Meeting in Paris aren’t as dramatic. Defining the field and label- this out better in beautiful Minneapolis. 15 Interpretive Essay: Role of Narrative ing it have been persistent questions. I didn’t get much response to my At our tenth conference in question about current literary journalism 19 Teaching Tips - Reporting in Depth Minneapolis from May 7-9, we’ll have opportu- devoted to economic conditions among 22 Call - Literary Journalism and War nities to explore these issues. The host’s panel common people. But some of the papers 23 IALJS Membership Form for 2015 organized by Tom Connery will take on the and work-in-progress reports in Minneapolis will touch on the topic, in 24 2014-2016 Officers and Chairs question: “What is Literary Journalism?” My president’s panel with Tom Kunkel, John Pauly contemporary and historical terms, 26 Teaching Tips - Importance of Context and Ben Yagoda will be discussing early schol- including presentations on Katherine arship on the field, which happened during the New Journalism era but not during the early Continued on Page 3 WWW.IALJS.ORG

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COMMUNICATION AND JOURNALISM DEPT. WILL HOST IALJS-10 COJO at the University of St. Thomas emphasizes ethical communication practices to all students. By Megan Suckut, Northwestern University (U.S.A.) he IALJS conference this May at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul will be hosted by the Department of TCommunication and Journalism, located on the first floor of the O’Shaughnessy Educational Center. Affectionately called “COJO”, the Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of St. Thomas seeks to make the world a better place through ethical communication. “Every COJO stu- dent takes our capstone course in communication ethics where the WELCOME, focus is on doing IALJS ethics rather than just learning about University of St. Thomas’ “Professor of agencies and puts on social events to give MEMBERS it,” says Wendy the Year” distinction. As a department students an opportunity to learn more Wyatt, Ph.D., within the College of Arts and Sciences, about the field of advertising. COJO also chair of the department. COJO boasts a link to more than 350 has a chapter of Lambda Pi Eta, the COJO employs 16 full-time facul- majors and minors throughout the uni- national communication honor society, ty members with diverse specializations versity, which ensures an interdiscipli- ranging from rhetoric and communication nary and diverse education for all of its theories and methods to journalism and undergraduate majors and minors. The department visual communication. Two COJO profes- Along with its journalism cours- sors have recently been awarded the es in such fields as Multimedia Reporting is particulary proud that and Videography, COJO also offers theory its students and rhetoric courses like Public Speaking, have won numerous awards Communication in the Workplace and over the years Communications of Race, Class & Gender, as well as marketing courses like Public Relations Writing and Advertising Copywriting. Majors and minors at COJO par- and the Public Relations Student Society ticipate in a wide range of extracurricular of America, which encourages the under- activities like Communication Club, standing of current theories and proce- which provides a place for COJO and dures in the practice of public relations. business communications majors to find TommieMedia, an award-winning stu- out how to succeed in the real world, and dent-run news organization, provides Ad Fed (Advertising Federation), which LITERARY JOURNALISM brings in guest speakers from local ad Continued on next page SPRING 2015 Vol. 9 No. 2 Editors: Bill Reynolds and David Abrahamson ISSN 1941-1030 (print) ISSN 1941-1049 (online) © 2015 The Newsletter of the International Association for Literary Journalism Studies. All rights reserved.

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ST. THOMAS Continued from Page 2

news, information and advertising opportunities for a staff of more than 50 students who work closely with six facul- ty advisors. Students from COJO have won awards from the Associated Collegiate Press, the Society of Professional Journalists and the Minnesota Newspaper Association, with 11 MNA awards in 2013 alone. The Department of Communication and Journalism at the University of St. Thomas is excited to host the IALJS Conference in St. Paul this May. Take the time to explore the depart- ment and its students’ work once you’re o here! IALJS-10 CONFERENCE SCHEDULE SUMMARY Wednesday, 6 May 2015

Session 0 16.00 – 18.00 Executive Committee Meeting

Thursday, 7 May 2015

Sign in 8.00 – 9.00 Pick up conference materials Session 1 9.00 – 9.15 Welcome and Introduction Session 2 9.15 – 10.45 Work-in-Progress Session I Session 3 11.00 – 12.30 Panel I (President’s Panel) Lunch 12.30 – 13.45 PRESIDENT Continued from Page 1 Session 4 13.45 – 15.15 Research Paper Session I Session 5 15.30 – 17.00 Work-in-Progress Session II and Panel II Session 6 17.15 – 18.45 Panel III (Conference Host’s Panel) Boo’s Behind the Beautiful Forevers and Session 7 19.15 – 21.00 Conference Reception Florence Aubenas’s work on people of the abyss in France. Friday, 8 May 2015 Right after the closing convoca- tion in Minneapolis on Saturday, thanks Session 8 8.00 – 9:00 Breakfast for Your Thoughts (free to students) to Film Platform, we will show a new Session 9 9.30 – 10.30 Keynote Speech documentary, The 50-Year Argument, Session 10 10.45 – 12.15 Work-in-Progress Sessions III and IV directed by Martin Scorsese and David Tedeschi, about the New York Review of Lunch 12.15 – 13.30 Books. It’s not so much about literary jour- Session 11 12.15 – 13.30 Working Lunch: Publication Committee and LJS Staff nalism as it is about the journalism of lit- Session 12 13.30 – 15.00 Research Paper Session II erature, but that’s okay. In the film, Session 13 15.15 – 16.45 Panels IV and V Samuel Johnson is quoted saying: “Litera- Session 14 17.00 – 18.00 President’s Greeting & Annual Business Mtg ture is a kind of intellectual light, which, Session 15 19.00 – 21.00 Conference Banquet (per reservation) like the light of the sun, enables us to see what we do not like.” Saturday, 9 May 2015 And then Johnson asks a very disturbing question: “Who would wish Session 16 9.00 – 10.30 Work-in-Progress Sessions V and VI to escape unpleasing objects by condemn- Session 17 10.45 – 12.15 Panel VI ing himself to perpetual darkness?” Joan Didion, James Baldwin, Norman Mailer, Session 18 12.30 – 13.00 Closing Convocation Mary McCarthy and others are present to o offer their insights in the film.

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2015 IALJS CONVENTION REGISTRATION FORM 7-9 May 2015 University of St. Thomas College of Arts & Sciences and Department of Communication and Journalism, Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.A.

Please indicate 1.a. PRE-REGISTRATION FEES (MUST BE POSTMARKED ON OR BEFORE 31 MARCH 2015) the applicable amounts: Current IALJS Member – $120 (rate for those already having paid their 2015 dues) Current IALJS Member retired – $100 (rate for those already having paid their 2015 dues) Student – $5 (rate for those already having paid their 2015 dues) Student – $30 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Non-IALJS member – $170 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Spouse/Partner – $50 (This fee is required only if a spouse will be attending scheduled research sessions and/or panels)

1.b. REGISTRATION FEES POSTMARKED AFTER 31 MARCH 2015 (Note: Meals & special events may not be available to those who register after 31 March 2015)

Current IALJS Member – $155 (rate for those already having paid their 2015 dues) Current IALJS Member retired – $135 (rate for those already having paid their 2015 dues) Student – $30 (rate for those already having paid their 2015 dues) Student – $55 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Non-IALJS member – $205 (Includes a one-year IALJS membership) Spouse/Partner – $85 (This fee is required only if a spouse will be attending scheduled research sessions and/or panels)

1.c. ON-SITE REGISTRATION – $180 for IALJS members, $230 for non-members (includes a one-year IALJS membership). NOTE: Meals & special events may not be available to those who register on site.

2. SPECIAL EVENTS: Please indicate the number of meals required next to each item below Number of meals needed: Regular Vegetarian "Breakfast for Your Thoughts" (Friday morning) Number attending x $20* Conference Banquet (Friday evening) Number attending x $60 *NOTE: Breakfast on Friday is FREE to students, who, in a collegial IALJS tradition, have a chance to present their work and career goals to the IALJS's faculty members. Make registration checks payable to “IALJS” TOTAL ENCLOSED:

BILL REYNOLDS, Please return completed form IALJS President For a reservation at the convention hotel, with a check or bank transfer School of Journalism payable to “IALJS” to >>> Ryerson University DoubleTree Suites by Hilton Hotel Minneapolis 350 Victoria St., special IALJS rate information (single/double: $175.11) Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 To register on-line via PayPal, CANADA hotel and the registration form can be found at the following link: see “Conference Payments” at Tel: +01-416-979-5000 x6294 WWW.IALJS.ORG Fax: +01-416-979-5216 [email protected] http://www.ialjs.org/?page_id=21

3. REGISTRATION INFO Name: Address/Department School/University City, State, Zip, Country Phone E-mail Address Name of Spouse (if attending)

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LITERARY JOURNALISM IN DENMARK There are advantages to a vibrant collective spirit. By Christine Isager, University of Copenhagen (Denmark)

s a new rhetoric student 20 years Øvig is very much a soloist in have heard ago, I was trained to exchange narrative nonfiction but in interviews, Maria critical feedback with fellow stu- forewords and a recent book on method- Lassila- Adents on work in progress. This writing ological dilemmas, Øvig carefully credits Merisalo pedagogy was American, but we had his so-called “backing band” of former speak about some excellent local role models in colleagues from PRESS who are still these in a Copenhagen, namely the young journal- involved in his work as sparring partners. presentation ists at what is Possibly, the backing band has helped at IALJS-9 in routinely evoked develop Øvig's still more transparent Paris in as the all time style of writing which seems to have May). Moreover, Zetland has produced coolest journalis- become pertinent when memory played successful, highly recommendable stage tic magazine in tricks on his sources for the hippie books. shows as well as more intimate garage Denmark: the Øvig decided to present their mutual con- events at different venues in Copenhagen, monthly PRESS. tradictions explicitly. including the Royal Theatre, where jour- It specialized in nalistic stories are performed live. long-form, criti- While the bestselling Øvig cal journalism An effective recently made headlines because he and was run on received a work grant from the Danish AROUND THE high energy and montage had been created state without even applying for it, WORLD a low, fragile by sharing with Zetland's singles business has been budget from 1985 peers, disassembled, reassembled denied media support because it does not to 2001. Assigned and rewritten jointly qualify as proper news media. Still, the reading material in my writing class of four partners have this year been able to 1993 was an authentic, early draft for a pay wages to themselves and seem eager PRESS story alongside the published ver- to go on, now offering courses in long- sion. Our professor diagrammed how form journalism and running a small tal- tedious chronology had been transformed In an opening scene, "Claus-the- ent program for young writers. I often into excellently effective montage by Carpenter" arrives in Thy. He works point new rhetoric students their way, as being shared with peers and then cut up, alongside Henning, making preparations Zetland's collective care for well-told sto- reassembled and rewritten, jointly and for the camp and sharing Henning's site- ries of current events strikes me as exem- tirelessly. hut. Next, we meet Henning who com- plary—and perhaps worth reminiscing o One PRESS journalist, Peter ments that Claus wasn't even there for the about 20 years from now. Øvig Knudsen (b. 1961), is today the sin- preparations. And then another key fig- gle most prominent literary journalist in ure, Leo, states that actually, Henning Denmark. He has written best-selling himself was only participating over the books on liquidation of informers among phone from Copenhagen. With that kind resisters during the German occupation of of source material to work with, serious Denmark 1940-1945 and on the "Blekinge journalistic sparring should be treasured. Street Gang," a Danish group of Marxist Recently, in 2012, a new, inde- activists who committed a series of brutal, pendent backing band has entered the lit- highly professional robberies in the 1970s erary journalism scene in Denmark under and 1980s to support the Popular Front the name of Zetland (as in that unlikely for the Liberation of Palestine. Recently, in hybrid of a Shetland pony and a zebra.) two large volumes, Øvig tells first the The four members, all journalists and bright and then the darker story of the born around 1980, publish journalistic sin- Danish hippie movement with a focus on gles in digital format and are doing quite how its vision was turned into practice for well—even if e-reading as such is still not 74 days when a new society, the Thy a big thing in Denmark. Zetland cooper- Camp, was built on a bare, northwestern ates with The Atavist in the U.S. and field in the summer of 1970. Longplay in Finland (some of you may

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International Conference “A Language to Dwell In”: James Baldwin, Paris and International Visions The American University of Paris 26-28 May 2016

Call for Papers

The American University of Paris announces a call for papers for the International James Baldwin Conference to be held 26-28 May 2016 at the American University of Paris. Other Paris venues crucial to Baldwin’s experience of the city will be used as additional settings, thus taking conference participants into “Baldwin’s Paris.”

The Conference encourages broad international and interdisciplinary exploration of Baldwin’s life and writing, with emphasis on the Paris he inhabited (intermittently from 1948 onwards), both for what it was and for what it is today as a result of the marks he left behind. An emphasis on his versatility in terms of style, genre and socio-political concerns is also of primary concern. Stressing the importance of Baldwin’s life, work and literary relations, the conference will be an intersection for all those interested in Baldwin’s work: from literary and cultural critics, to scholars of gender and queer theory, to political activists, poets, filmmakers, historians and musicians as well. We seek a wide range of academic and public discussions which can engage with Baldwin’s work.

Topics may include but are not limited to:

° Baldwin and Expatriate Paris: Friends and Enemies

° Baldwin as a Global Explorer: The Fire Yet Again?

° Global Influence: Baldwin’s Work in Non-U.S. Settings

° Baldwin in a Post-Racial Imaginary

° Baldwin and Genre

° Baldwin and Literary Journalism

° Baldwin and the Civil Rights Movement

° Teaching Baldwin Today

° Baldwin and the Other Arts

Proposal for papers should include

1. A brief (250-300 word) abstract

2. A one to two page vita.

Submissions to [email protected] and [email protected]

Deadline for Submissions December 1 2015.

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EMBRACING NARRATIVE AND FINDING THEIR NICHE Launching a new print magazine requires, above all, a willingness to be scrappy and innovative. By Kate Galbraith, Texas Tribune (U.S.A.)

n 2011, as the Arab Spring Magazine Innovation Center at the University of Mississippi. dawned, young Lebanese journal- The number of launches has fallen over the years, as has maga- ist Ibrahim Nehme yearned to zines’ collective circulation, yet new titles keep coming. What it Iplay a role in the changes sweeping takes to survive, according to magazine entrepreneurs like the Middle East. The region’s print Nehme, is targeting a clearly defined niche, finding committed media, he believed, didn’t measure backers and creative fundraising methods and, above all, a will- up to the hopes of the demonstrators, ingness to be scrappy and innovative. who demanded democracy and fresh Of all the types of magazines to consider starting dur- ideas. So Nehme resolved to start his ing the digital age, travel seems among the least likely to suc- own magazine as an outlet for the ceed, though Airbnb plans to launch a travel magazine called voices of the younger generation. He Pineapple. Digital travel tips have practically obviated the need INTERPRETIVE drained his savings, took out a loan, for guidebooks, making Lonely Planet (my first writing job out and asked family and friends for of college) look almost like Baedekers. The graveyard of recently ESSAY help. The first issue of The Outpost shuttered magazines includes Executive Travel, National , a Geographic Adventure, and Everywhere. And yet the circulation of quarterly English-language print publication featuring long- Afar, started by Greg Sullivan and Joseph Diaz in 2009, in the form articles on the choices facing the Arab teeth of the Great Recession, has grown to world, appeared in September 2012. 250,000, a five-fold increase from its “I felt there’s an opportunity to launch, and advertising—the saving grace say and make something different, make The magazine’s success of the travel market—has become the core something that would become part of the is largely financial pillar. Plus, the business is now revolution,” says Nehme, now 28. The idea profitable, says Sullivan. Afar’s genius is was to create a “media voice that can cap- due to its targeting targeting a different sort of journey, which ture our imagination, provide us with a of a highly the editors have dubbed “experiential” space to dream, speak up, think freely, be specific audience travel, in which the visitor interacts with a who we are as Arab youth.” place as the locals do and sees it through Launching a print magazine today their eyes. It’s not, says San Francisco- is courageous; some would say foolhardy. based editor in chief Julia Cosgrove, about Indeed, two years in, Nehme has slowed a “vacation built around escapist fantasies his publishing pace from quarterly to semi-annual as he faces a of going to the beach.” Local markets, local constant struggle to make ends meet. But The Outpost, with a dress, local cuisine—all are featured, often in long, narrative for- print run of about 3,000 per issue, is hardly flying solo. mats. A popular feature is “Spin the Globe,” in which writers are Worldwide, new print titles have been popping up to cover a sent to random destinations. One that captured particular atten- breathtaking array of topics, from new-age agriculture (Modern tion was . Cairo, while certainly a city rich with ture (California Sunday Magazine). history, is more than a little difficult to navigate. The magazine And some of these publications are highlighting long- avoids “homogenizing” its writers’ voices, says Cosgrove, keep- form narrative as a key selling point. Take Lucky Peach, a food ing “the stories as personal and fresh as possible, because I think magazine launched in 2011, with its award-winning features on that has more staying power than that sort of uni-voice that you Manhattan chef and restaurateur Wylie Dufresne and canning Southern fruits , or encouraging readers to volunteer their work. “In Paris, if you The Caravan, a venerable monthly that Delhi Press relaunched in discover this really great coffee shop, you can take a photo, 2010 after a long hiatus, with its essays on anti-Sikh violence, upload to afar.com, and describe the experience,” says Cosgrove. Hindi literature, and the full spectrum of politics and culture in “People are willing and then wanting to share this information between. For these publications, print still offers a powerful with other travelers.” Afar’s success reflects the importance of brand flagship as well as a source of revenue that digital plat- targeting a highly specific audience. “You just have to find your forms can supplement but not yet supplant. audience much more explicitly now than you’ve had to,” says Those launching print titles today are generally inde- Dana Chinn, a media analytics strategist at the University of pendent publishers, driven by passion, with little expectation of Southern California’s Annenberg School for Communication and big profits. “When was the last time you heard of a [new] mag- azine coming from Time Inc.?” asks Samir Husni, director of the Continued on following page

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Journalism. Such strategies are behind on, among other topics, gay influences on when even people in tech-frenzied magazines like Yoga Digest, a Dallas cooking and the tale of a surably fill non-working hours, he rea- re-launched magazine focusing on people Long Island chef who blended phones, in print. And California had no nuity from around the world. cuisines long before it was cool, like roast- answer to the New York Times Magazine or Knowing your audience can pay ed lobster flavored with soy sauce. “For the New Yorker, though Pacific Standard off in revenue beyond subscriptions and us, it was like, Where are our strengths? fills some of that role. “It started to strike advertising, the traditional pillars of print What can we do that Bon Appétit can’t me as strange that with all the people in profit. “You’re building a community,” do?” Meehan says, recalling the thought California and the West, and all the cul- says Chinn, “an audience who wants to process that went into starting the compa- tural, political and business influence, be associated with each other.” Afar ny. “Literature is nourishing.” that when we read big national features derives revenue from excursions it orga- Technology has brought down about [life and ideas in the West], it tends nizes each year to destinations like Cairo, printing costs, but launching a magazine to be made in New York,” McGray says. Johannesburg and Montreal. The jour- remains extremely expensive. For The His backers’ money allows neys, which cost $1,800 to $4,500, offer California Sunday Magazine, which McGray to pay well for quality freelance readers a chance to meet locals, including debuted this fall with a print run of more work. The magazine currently has no politicians and activists, as well as like- staff writers. “We’re trying to be as lean minded Afar readers. The trips “bring the as possible everywhere except for stories pages of the magazine to life in a very lit- We are and art and the things that bring readers eral way,” Cosgrove says. trying to be as lean stories,” he says. The November issue The narrative niche itself can included a long tale about the dangers sometimes be the source of a title’s as possible, and opportunities of deep-sea mining, appeal, as readers seek out longer reads except for stories and art with reporting from Papua, New Guinea. and deeper analysis. That’s why our readers love One article told the story of the U.S.- Caravan, which claims to be the first mag- Mexico border fence: one image showed a azine in India devoted to long-form nar- scattering of shotgun shells, another a rative. “Weekly journalism is increasingly than 400,000, the magic number was $2 battered soccer ball, a third the high, rust- a regurgitation of the past week’s news, million. Douglas McGray, one of the co- colored border fence extending down a which is of little relevance,” he says. “An founders, says he and his colleagues sandy beach. 8,000-word profile of a politician, wherein raised that amount from a mix of individ- Print has emerged as a core part the reporter has done some 30 to 40 inter- ual investors, some from Hollywood, of California Sunday’s business model. views, presents a lot of new information,” publishing and the technology world. Rather than laboriously building a sub- and thus presents greater appeal to read- With its emphasis on artfulness and nar- scriber base by itself, California Sunday ers. rative style, California Sunday carries piggybacked on the distribution of exist- Even subjects like food, normally echoes of the New Yorker, but with fea- ing newspapers. The magazine currently more associated with recipes than long- tures on virtual reality and Blue Bottle arrives as an insert in certain home-deliv- form, can lend themselves to narrative. Coffee instead of opera and Manhattan ered editions of the San Francisco “Twitter is awesome, but you don’t dis- traffic. Perhaps inevitably for a publica- Chronicle, the Los Angeles Times and the connect from the stress of your daily life tion born in the spirit of Silicon Valley, Sacramento Bee, as well as San Francisco- and sink into your couch with your McGray doesn’t see it as a print launch. area copies of the New York Times. Paying iPhone,” says Lucky Peach co-founder The same content that reaches readers at newspapers to distribute a magazine is Peter Meehan. “You maintain the para- their homes the first Sunday of each far cheaper than mailing them out indi- noia.” Lucky Peach, which prints about month also appears on apps and the Web. vidually, of course, and the big initial cir- 100,000 copies of each issue, happily pub- McGray, a longtime feature journalist, culation numbers also allowed California lishes long pieces on trends like and publisher Chas Edwards got the idea Sunday to attract high-dollar advertisers Malaysian street food and Christian culinary tradi- stage storytelling whose performances up “We’re trying to be nimble,” McGray tions in India. The magazine won five and down the West Coast sell out in min- James Beard awards this year for articles utes. Pop-Up performs at night, a time Continued on next page

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says. “We’re launching with the footprint circulation. from an engineering group; subsequent of a magazine that a big media company One of the most improbable new sponsors have included General Electric. would produce, but we’re really influ- titles of recent years is Makeshift , a quarterly maga- design consulting and teaching as other Valley.” zine devoted to the ingenuity of ordinary ways of raising revenue. California Sunday is an outlier. people. Myles Estey, editor-in-chief and It has also innovated on the dis- For most fledgling magazines, print can- co-founder, had been living in Liberia for tribution side, taking advantage of new not pull in the necessary advertising dol- a couple years and became fascinated by digital tools that can help small publish- lars. Crowd-funding goes only so far, and the informal economy there—how people ers reach wider audiences. Single-issue few print magazines launch with enough built and fixed their own motorbikes, copies can be purchased at Magpile, an subscribers to entice advertisers. Nor are how discarded stuffed animals were online library and media shop that many sufficiently well funded at launch cleaned and reused, how people scraped charges sellers like Makeshift a monthly to keep publishing long enough to build and scrapped for a living. And so, in 2011, fee and takes an eight-percent cut of an the circulation and reputation that he and a like-minded engineer, Steve issue’s cover price. Publishers themselves attracts advertisers. (Afar is one excep- Daniels, decided to start a magazine are responsible for mailing out the maga- tion; its founders, Diaz and Sullivan, as devoted to this niche. zines. Another service is U.K.-based well as another investor, Ernie Garcia, The subject matter was so specif- Stack; founder and director Steve Watson have pumped $20 million into it.) The ic that they knew they wouldn’t attract buys a different magazine each month to Outpost had hoped initially to generate many advertisers or even enough sub- send out to his subscribers. Watson aims virtually all of its revenue from advertis- for interesting, fresh titles, and Makeshift, ing, but now has given that up. “We’ve says Estey, is in the 2015 lineup. literally stopped contacting or approach- Yet the For these nascent titles, digital ing advertisers,” says Nehme, the editor- question remains whether strategies diverge. Many lack an elaborate in-chief. “It’s just discouraging and Web presence; Lucky Peach, for example, demotivating and we’re worlds apart.” digital will one has a Tumblr presence, but mostly steers The alternative is a higher price for sub- day erode print so profoundly users toward its print edition (“We’re scribers and single issues—in effect, forc- that it disappers going to start a real site next year, with ing readers to pay more for the content. daily content,” says Meehan.) The Web Still, print often carries a cachet has a faster metabolism, as Casey that digital formats do not, at least not Caplowe, co-founder of Good magazine, yet, many entrepreneurs say. A print puts it. “The Web is a great place for the product—a copy of the Economist or the scribers to break even, but they pushed more quick and news-responsive thing,” New Yorker lying on a coffee table—is a forward nonetheless. Print was the obvi- he says, whereas print allows for sitting fashion statement. At Boom, a three-year- ous choice, according to Estey, because back and digging into nuance. old quarterly about Californian history magazines have a special way of telling Yet the question remains and culture published by the University stories and building community. Makeshift whether digital media will one day erode of California Press, “the print edition is has built a following by publishing long print so profoundly that it disappears the beautiful, substantive and evocative essays on subjects such as the blind hawk- completely. There are signs, in fact, that object at the center of the whole enter- ers in Mumbai’s train stations and how users are increasingly comfortable read- prise,” says editor Jon Christensen. Boom the tunnels under the border between ing long-form writing on tablets and features long essays and photographs on Gaza and Egypt are built and destroyed. mobile devices. Earlier this year people everything from John Muir to the San Francisco and has written about drug smuggling phones about buying a cheap home in housing boom and is somewhat a full-time living from the magazine. It’s gy/archive/2014/01/sit-back-relax-and- reminiscent of Monocle magazine, but on an advantage, Estey argues, because edi- read-that-long-story-on-your-phone/ a California level. Last year, when Boom tors pull ideas from their outside lines of 283205/>. The story received more than a devoted an entire issue to the controversial history of Los sponsors—have responded enthusiastical- The venture planned by former Angeles’ water imports from the Sierra ly. Makeshift has built its circulation to New York Times executive editor Jill Nevada mountains, it generated plenty of 20,000. Crowd-funding helped with the attention despite the magazine’s modest early issues, which also received support Continued on Page 19

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NARRATIVE Continued from Page 17

Abramson and journalist and media biweekly and finally weekly frequency. ism at Harvard University from 2007 to entrepreneur Steven Brill, which will fea- “We talk around the office of not having 2008, she has an undergraduate degree in ture mammoth long-form stories each the benefit of 100 years of history,” says English from Harvard and a master's degree month in digital form rather than print, McGray. “But we don’t have the burden from the London School of Economics. She is o shows that even old media types are con- either.” co-author of The Great Texas Wind Rush, a sidering digital as a way forward for book about how the oil and gas state won the long-form journalism. Kate Galbraith has covered energy and envi- race to wind power. For now, though, the new print ronment for the Tribune since 2010. magazines are living in the moment, and Previously she reported on clean energy for Reprinted courtesy permission of Nieman hoping to expand. California Sunday, for the New York Times. She began her career at Reports. Original story found at http://nie- one, has grand plans. McGray hopes to the Economist in 2000 and spent 2005 to manstoryboard.org/stories/new-print-maga- increase distribution, on apps and in 2007 in Austin as the magazine's Southwest zines-are-embracing-narrative-and-finding- print, and steer the publication toward correspondent. A Nieman fellow in journal- their-niche/.

SHARING THE SECRETS OF REPORTING IN DEPTH Ensuring that students understand that a notebook is a passport into other people’s lives. By James Sheeler, Case Western Reserve University (U.S.A.)

nside the nursing home, the 78 year- struggling but historically rich Hough chronologies of a life (“I was born in 1923, old man sat across from the two jour- area of Cleveland. on a farm…”) and into the narrative. I’m nalism students and me, their new At the beginning of each semes- not looking for oral histories, I insist— Iprofessor, trying to figure out if we ter, I hand out reporter’s notebooks and I’m looking for the same things that I deserved his story. At tell the students those sheets of paper are searched for when I started writing obitu- that point, I wasn’t passports into peoples’ lives. I’m not sure aries of people who’d never been in the sure if we did. if I came up with that myself or heard it paper before: Not a story of what’s gone, After more than at some teaching conference, but the but what remains—what it means, the two decades in the lessons it teaches, the stuff that lasts. newsroom, I won- At first, Andrew Bailey was sus- dered if I could trans- Before handing picious of us, coming in from that upscale port students to the out all the hi-tech gizmos university nearby. He said he didn’t want places I relished as a to tell us the story of his life, but he reporter—those inti- I make sure would share his wife’s story, because she mate spaces that open the students always have couldn’t tell it herself. Besides, he insist- TEACHING when someone fully a pad and pen ed, if it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t be TIPS invites you into his or here. We wouldn’t learn the full weight of her life, when you that statement for weeks. open the notebook “Mrs. Bailey,” as he always and enter a kind of privileged waking referred to her, suffered from dementia, daydream. metaphor works. (Also, before handing spending her days in the nursing home In an attempt to find those out all the hi-tech digital gizmos I like to section of the complex while he kept an moments during my first year teaching at make sure the students always have a apartment in the independent living sec- Case Western Reserve University, I pad and pen. They’ve told me they appre- tion. But that didn’t mean they lived searched for a place housing people with ciate the old school cred when they pull apart. He visited her at least ten times a untold stories—and the time to tell them. out a pad and pen at a party and people day, and even knew exactly how far it I decided to spend the entire semester of inevitably say ‘of course—you’re the was from his door to her bedside: 220 our “multimedia storytelling” class at the reporter.’) steps. Eliza Bryant Village nursing home, the Before our first trip to the nurs- After we left Eliza Bryant Village longest continually operating African- ing home, I also instructed the students that first day, we talked about where the American assisted living home in the on how they’ll have to earn these stories country, located in the economically by spending time to get past the Continued on following page

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TEACHING TIPS / REPORTING IN DEPTH Continued from previous page

story was headed. Students caught the people asked her, “Why don’t you On the next trip, as we walked themes of love and devotion, but as we divorce that bum?” the 220 steps from Mr. Bailey’s door to spent more time with the residents, those Slowly, they saw how she toler- Mrs. Bailey’s bedside, the students knew themes expanded into darker spaces not ated his transgressions. How she cared how much better the story had become everyone was willing to reveal, but that for family members he ignored. Slowly, since Mr. Bailey had invited them into his add a crucial honesty that many students he said, by caring instead of taking, she apartment, and far beyond. How it had are reluctant to ask about. It’s similar, I taught him compassion. transformed from a love story to a learn- tell them, to crushing clichés when writ- To prove it, he opened his closet ing-how-to-love story. How the compas- ing obituaries. When someone tells me and pulled out an ancient red unopened sion Mrs. Bailey taught Mr. Bailey their loved one would have given the pack of Pall Malls. On the corner, in allowed him to spend these last days car- shirt off his back to help someone, I ask Sharpie marker, he had scrawled a date— ing for her. them if they ever saw them give the shirt the last time he smoked. Without prompt- Upon seeing him, she smiled. off their back. “No, one woman told me, ing, he slipped his wallet from his pocket She had already started forgetting him, but once I saw her take off her shoes and and pulled out a fishing license. On the but their rituals remained. give them to a homeless person.” That’s back, he had marked the date he took his “Who’s the boss? Who’s the the story, the image, the scene, that shat- last drink. boss?” he asked her. ters the cliché. And students need to be as He took us to his bedroom, and “I am the boss,” she said, and he confident when looking for real life in laughed, again. their research—so confident that they can Just before we left, one of the follow an old man into his apartment to I completed background students asked Mr. Bailey how he kept so learn the heart of his story. checks on the upbeat as he saw her decline, and he On the next trip a week later, Mr. reminded them of the man he used to be, Bailey invited us to his apartment, where home through public records and how he was so glad he never won the he opened up his scrapbook, and told us to guard lottery. If he had, he said, he wouldn’t be the reasons why he wouldn’t be here against horror stories standing in this hospital room talking to without that woman in the hospital bed. these young reporters. One of the students noticed that his table “I’m not a rich man, I’m not a was still set with two place settings, even poor man,” he told them. “But I’m a though she would never make it back happy man.” inside. lifted a bottle of perfume. The story and its lessons are When they married 41 years ago, “This is her fragrance,” he said. hardly over, but I should interrupt to he said, he only thought of himself, look- “When she dies, the kids can have any- mention some of the practicalities of how ing for ways to “take, take, take” from thing here. This is all I need.” His eyes this works. I met with nursing home life. He drank, smoked and gambled, and welled. Everyone’s did. administrators during the summer and shared some of my students’ past stories with them to give them a sense of what kinds of pieces we wanted. I made it clear that this was a journalism project and the administrators would not have editorial control over the stories (I also completed background checks on the home through public records (also something I could show students) to guard against horror stories, though if a student uncovered neglect we would report it). I offered to provide DVD copies of the stories to the home and the families. For our textbook we use the Tracy Kidder classic “Old Friends,” chron- icling his year immersed in a nursing home. As for equipment, we’re using an

Continued on following page

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TEACHING TIPS / REPORTING IN DEPTH Continued from previous page RSAP PANEL ON VISIUAL CULTURE AT A.L.A. CONFERENCE IN MAY The Research Society for American formal event where families and other Periodicals will sponsor a session on “Visual residents are invited. Some of the resi- Culture and Ethnic American Periodicals” at dents have said they feel like movie stars, the American Literature Association confer- and I’ve seen their grown children cry ence on 21-24 May 2015 in Boston, MA. when the students talk about what The panel will explore how African American, they’ve learned. Asian and Pacific American, Latino/a, and One week after our last inter- Native American periodicals engage visual view with Mr. Bailey, I received an email culture, including by publishing comics, car- update from the nursing home. After see- toons, illustrations,and photographs. For ing Mrs. Bailey’s declining health, we more information, please contacnt Andrea expected she would die soon, and wor- Williams at . inevitable. The students had almost fin- ished their stories. Then I opened the e- mail. ‘PUBLISHING FEMINISMS’ Andrew Bailey died unexpected- SYMPOSIUM AT BANFF array of tools—relatively cheap Canon ly in his sleep, the message said, of appar- A symposium entitled "Publishing videocameras, Zoom H1 and wireless ent heart failure. His wife would die a Feminisms" will be held at the Banff Centre mics shared among partners. Some stu- few months later. Together, however, they for the Arts, Alberta, Canada on 17-20 May dents bring their DSLRs from the campus left us with a story we’ll all tell for the 2015. The meeting will seek to expand femi- newspaper, others use camera phones. rest of our lives, and the importance of nist print culture studies, and specifically The students team up to produce an caring enough to find it, earn it and keep feminist periodical studies, by emphasizing audio slideshow, short video and written it. analyses of contemporary texts and commu- story along with reflections to questions Sometimes, it’s only two hun- nities in the west and beyond. The goal of o they can answer in video or written dred and twenty steps away. this symposium is to explore the relation- diaries. I use the university’s subscription ships between feminist print culture—femi- to Lynda.com to teach them the editing Jim Sheeler holds the Shirley Wormser nist presses, periodicals, glossies, zines, software they choose, which allows me to Endowed Chair of Journalism and Media independents and the production and distrib- focus less on teaching button pushing and Writing at Case Western Reserve University. ution mechanisms through which they are more on storytelling—complemented by He won the Pulitzer Prize for Feature Writing supported— and post 1960 feminisms. For the online training at MediaStorm.com. in 2006 and is the author of Obit (Penguin) more information, please contact Michelle On the last day of class, students and Final Salute (Penguin Press), which was Meagher . present their stories to the residents at a a finalist for the 2008 National Book Award. CONFERENCE ON EDITING DOCUMENTS A joint conference of the Society for Textual TEACHING TIPS / CONTEXT Continued from Page 26 Scholarship and the Association for Docu- mentary Editing entitled "Convergences and reactions and, yes, on the concept and My own bias is that reading and writing Divergences" will be held at University of effect of context. are dialectical activities involving a subtle Nebraska-Lincoln on 17-20 June 2015. The In our teaching, what might a interplay of observation, reaction or utter- meeting will explore all aspects of documen- heightened awareness of context yield? ance, and interpretation. Acknowledging tary editing and textual scholarship, including Recognizing that literary journalism uti- these interactive processes is also essen- the discovery, editing, annotation, analysis, lizes and sometimes emphasizes context tial because students, now long accus- teaching and publication of texts from many in its creation and content seems like a tomed to reading on the Web, often have disciplines, including history, literature, clas- good place to start. And while there is a less developed skills for discerning con- sics, musicology, philosophy, paleography, tendency to talk about narrative journal- text; the ease of digital access and lack of codicology, linguistics, art history, the history ism as an entity that propels and beguiles physical presence can make texts seem all of science, library and information science, the reader on its own, we should still be too interchangeable. Learning to unpack film studies, gender and sexuality studies, mindful of the complexities of reading. It those contexts—real and virtual—is to ethnic studies and more. We invite proposals may be true that such prose is alluring, begin to complicate and refine a sense of from students. For more information, please but it is also true that every reader and where we are and where reading literary use the following link: . o reading situation affects interpretation. journalism can take us.

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LITERARY JOURNALISM / SPRING 2015 PAGE 23 THE NEWSLETTER OF THE IALJS IALJS OFFICERS AND CHAIRS, 2014-2016

PRESIDENT 42-44, avenue de la Liberation, B.P. 3397 Norman Sims 54015 Nancy University of Massachusetts, Amherst FRANCE 77 Back Ashuelot Road w/+33-(0)383-968-448, h/+33-(0)383-261-476, fax/+33-(0)383-968-449 Winchester, NH 03470 [email protected] U.S.A. h/+1-413-774-2970 CHAIR, AEJMC ORGANIZING COMMITTEE [email protected] Lisa Phillips State University of New York at New Paltz FIRST VICE PRESIDENT Department of Digital Media and Journalism Isabel Soares New Paltz, NY 12561 TUniversidade de Lisboa U.S.A. Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas w/+1-845-257-3573 Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa [email protected] 1300-663 Lisboa PORTUGAL CHAIR, ACLA ORGANIZING COMMITTEE w/+351-213-619-430 Rob Alexander [email protected] Brock University Department of English Languages and Literature SECOND VICE PRESIDENT St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1 Thomas B. Connery CANADA University of St. Thomas w/+905-688-5550 x3886 Department of Communication and Journalism [email protected] 2115 Summit Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 CO-CHAIRS, CONFERENCE PLANNING COMMITTEE U.S.A. Hilde van Belle w/+1-651-962-5265, h/+1-651-647-0048, fax/+1-651-962-6360 Katholieke Universiteit Leuven [email protected] Campus Antwerpen Sint-Andriesstraat 2 / 2000 Antwerp TREASURER BELGIUM Bill Reynolds w/+32-3-206-0491 Ryerson University [email protected] School of Journalism, 350 Victoria St. Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 David Abrahamson CANADA Northwestern University w/+1-416-979-5000 x6294, h/+1-416-535-0892 Medill School of Journalism, 1845 Sheridan Rd. [email protected] Evanston, IL 60208 U.S.A. SECRETARY w/+1-847-467-4159, h/+1-847-332-2223, fax/+1-847-332-1088 David Abrahamson [email protected] Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, 1845 Sheridan Rd. CHAIR, GRADUATE STUDENT COMMITTEE Evanston, IL 60208 Tobias Eberwein U.S.A. Technische Universität Dresden w/+1-847-467-4159, h/+1-847-332-2223, fax/+1-847-332-1088 Institut für Kommunikationswissenschaft [email protected] Zellescher Weg 17 D-01069 Dresden CHAIR, RESEARCH COMMITTEE GERMANY Joshua Roiland w/+49-351-463-35484, fax/+49-351-463-37067 University of Maine [email protected] Department. of Communication and Journalism + Honors College 416 Dunn Hall MEMBERS, NOMINATING COMMITTEE (includes FIRST VICE PRESIDENT) Orono, ME 04469 Thomas B. Connery U.S.A. University of St. Thomas h/+1-314-550-9156 Department of Communication and Journalism [email protected] 2115 Summit Ave. St. Paul, MN 55105 CHAIR, PROGRAM COMMITTEE U.S.A. Rob Alexander w/+1-651-962-5265, h/+1-651-647-0048, fax/+1-651-962-6360 Brock University [email protected] Department of English Languages and Literature St. Catharines, Ontario L2S 3A1 Isabelle Meuret CANADA Université Libre de Bruxelles w/+905-688-5550 x3886 Campus du Solbosch, ULB CP123, avenue F.D. Roosevelt 50 [email protected] 1050 Bruxelles BELGIUM CHAIR, PUBLICITY COMMITTEE w/+32-(0)2-650-4061, fax/+32-(0)2-650-2450 Lindsay Morton [email protected] Avondale College Department of Humanities & Creative Arts WEBMASTER Cooranbong, New South Wales 2265 Nicholas Jackson AUSTRALIA 804 Anacapa Street Fax/+61-(02)-4980-2118 Santa Barbara, CA 93101 [email protected] U.S.A. cell/+1-815-341-8122 CHAIR, ESSE ORGANIZING COMMITTEE [email protected] John Bak Université de Lorraine Centre de Télé-enseignement Universitaire (CTU) Continued on next page

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IALJS OFFICERS AND CHAIRS, 2014-2016 Continued from previous page

MEMBERS, AWARDS COMMITTEE 1400 Washington Avenue I sabel Soares (chair) Albany, NY 12222 Universidade de Lisboa U.S.A. Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas w/+1-518-442-4884, h/+1-518-583-8965, fax/+1-518-442-3884 Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa [email protected] 1300-663 Lisboa PORTUGAL MEMBERS, BOARD OF ADVISORS w/+351-213-619-430 John Bak [email protected] (founding president) Université de Lorraine Hilde van Belle Centre de Télé-enseignement Universitaire (CTU) Katholieke Universiteit Leuven 54015 Nancy Campus Antwerpen FRANCE Sint-Andriesstraat 2 / 2000 Antwerp w/+33-(0)383-968-448, h/+33-(0)383-261-476, fax/+33-(0)383-968-449 BELGIUM [email protected] w/+32-3-206-0491 [email protected] Jo Bech-Karlsen BI Norwegian Business School Maria Lassila-Merisalo Department of Communication, Culture and Languages Lassilantie 53 N-0442 Oslo NORWAY 13430 Hameenlinna w/+47-90-566-907 FINLAND [email protected] cell/+358-50-525-5819 [email protected] Susan Greenberg University of Roehapmpton CHAIR, PUBLICATION COMMITTEE Department of English and Creative Writing Alice Donat Trindade 80 Roehampton Lane Universidade de Lisboa London SW15 5PH Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas UNITED KINGDOM Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa w/+44-20-8392-3257 1300-663 Lisboa [email protected] PORTUGAL w/+351-213-619-430, fax/+351-213-619-442 John Hartsock [email protected] (founding editor, Literary Journaism Studies) State University of New York College at Cortland EDITOR, LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES Department of Communication Studies Bill Reynolds Cortland, NY 13045 Ryerson University U.S.A. School of Journalism, 350 Victoria St. w/+1-607-753-4103, h/+1-607-749-6756, fax/607-753-5970 Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 [email protected] CANADA w/+1-416-979-5000 x6294, h/+1-416-535-0892 Richard Lance Keeble [email protected] University of Lincoln Lincoln School of Journalism, Brayford Pool ASSOCIATE EDITORS, LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES Lincoln LN6 7TS Lynn Cunningham UNITED KINGDOM Ryerson University w/+44-(0)1522-886-940 School of Journalism, 350 Victoria St. [email protected] Toronto, Ontario M5B 2K3 CANADA Jenny McKay w/+1-416-979-5000 x6294, h/+1-416-203-0803 University of Sunderland [email protected] Research Centre for Media and Cultural Studies Sunderland SR6 0DD, Scotland William Dow UNITED KINGDOM American University of Paris w/+44-(0)191-515-2157 Department of Comparative Literature [email protected] 147, rue de Grenelle 75007 Paris John J. Pauly FRANCE Marquette University w/+33-1-4062-0600 ext 718 Diederich College of Commuication [email protected] Milwaukee, WI 53201 U.S.A. Miles Maguire w/+1-414-288-3588, cell/+1-414-313-7949. fax/414-288-6400 University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh [email protected] Department of Journalism Oshkosh, WI 54901 Alice Donat Trindade U.S.A. Universidade de Lisboa w/+1-920-424-7148 Instituto Superior de Ciências Sociais e Políticas [email protected] Pólo Universitário do Alto da Ajuda, Rua Almerindo Lessa 1300-663 Lisboa Roberta Maguire PORTUGAL University of Wisconsin - Oshkosh w/+351-213-619-430, fax/+351-213-619-442 University Honors Program / Department of English [email protected] Oshkosh, WI 54901 U.S.A. Doug Underwood w/+1-920-424-7364 University of Washington [email protected] Department of Communication, Box 353740 Seattle, WA 98195 BOOK REVIEW EDITOR, LITERARY JOURNALISM STUDIES U.S.A. Nancy L. Roberts w/+1-206-685-9377 University at Albany (SUNY) [email protected] Department of Communication

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CONTEXT MAY BE THE KEY TO TRUE UNDERSTANDING Taking students beyond the text on the page produces wonderful results. By Mileta Roe, Bard College at Simon's Rock (U.S.A.) any members of IALJS teach obviously alters the way individuals in it which it is written. specialized courses in writing read, and nudges (if not requires) them to This past semester, in a class on journalism and literary journal- consider how and why such ideas and Perspectives of Latin America for Spanish- Mism, honing their students’ skills in writings have come together in that par- language students, I included some narra- reporting and reflection. At my small ticular content and format; in addition, tive nonfiction readings. Frequently the institution, where I am obliged to con- the members of any academic discussion author and content were previously tribute to many areas of create their own context by virtue of who unknown to the students. Among these the undergraduate cur- they are and when and where the class readings were some short texts written by riculum—from general- occurs. native witnesses to the fall of Tenochtitlan education seminars to But beyond the classic classroom in the early sixteenth century. Before dis- Spanish-language class- context, things get a bit more interesting. cussing the work in class, I encouraged es to advanced litera- Given that literary journalism deals with students to think about who was writing, ture—I am still waiting who seemed to be the intended audience, to teach a course whol- what kind of writing it was, and which ly devoted to literary specific descriptions and phrases dis- TEACHING journalism. So, given I encourage played a particular perspective about TIPS my interests, I have had students to think about what had happened, and then to note to be crafty to find ways who was writing their own reactions. Students noticed the to include literary jour- subjective commentary on events, were nalism in a variety of classes. That con- and who seemed to be the affected by the descriptions and human straint, however, has also been an oppor- intended audience. responses to the events, and appreciated tunity to observe how students confront the artful language. In our discussion different material and to reconsider the students were able to make the connec- importance of context when reading and tion that these bits of memoir bore resem- interpreting. blance both to journalism and to history In an academic setting, reading real events and real people written about writing, but they agreed the texts were as coursework forces the issue of context. by an identified author, I think we can most memorable for their storytelling and And course design shapes reading long safely agree that there are actually a few voices. After being reminded that the nar- before our students approach any text; more contexts to consider. First, the con- ratives in Spanish they were working so reading Don Quixote in a class on the rise tent and the characters have a context, hard to read were actually translated from of the novel will never be the same as and the writer (often openly) has a con- the original Nahuatl, the students found reading Don Quixote in a class on heroism text, and the book or the text as a pub- additional reasons to reflect on their own and contemporary Latin American poli- lished thing has a context as well for for- tics. The context of any course, therefore, mat, audience, and even the language in Continued on Page 21

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