A reunion is a corrective, a response to a period of separation. Families, colleges, even countries reunite, often in celebration, sometimes in longing. In the five years since the last Nieman Fellows reunion, the world has been torn by pandemic … Read more
I was done. Absolutely done with writing, and especially done with writing books. This was in 2008, and I had just finished my book “Rin Tin Tin.” It was a story of the most famous dog in Hollywood, and it … Read more
There are things that you think would never happen to you, like an airplane crash — or a war. As a child, every time the TV was on, I heard the words Bosnia and Herzegovina. These two words stuck with … Read more
They asked us to talk about stories we can’t let go of. The first thing that popped into my head was … Shiiiiiit. No really. That’s my answer. I can’t let go of shit. I guess I gotta go all … Read more
I was born in a country that was first to have television in Sub-Saharan Africa, but today it is the only African country with just one television station, which is owned by the state and run by an Orwellian-type Ministry … Read more
April 4, 1983 was the 15th anniversary of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassination. The day before was a Sunday, and I was with my family in the virtually all-white church we attended in Memphis. I was 11 and naive … Read more
