Pitches from Wind and Wall

Washingtonian

[A pitch I sent to an editor with whom I previously worked.]

“The Unspeakable Gift” was published in August of 2013. That was a different time in so many ways. I am reaching out with an idea that has been percolating. As you can imagine, I have a personal interest in the fundamental changes to our public health system — of which the NIH is a vital part — over the past year. I am curious if the Washingtonian would consider a story analyzing the impact of changes to research funding on the NIH’s work? My idea is to start with taking a look at the current state of the Turner syndrome research (It was one of the few places in the world studying the condition in 2013.) and then branch out into the current state of affairs and the broader implications for the health of our country and our world. “The Unspeakable Gift” shone a personal light on the NIH. There seems to be a timely need to tell the story – to once again make plain — the work of the NIH.

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Mslexia

I am a writer, researcher, and storyteller living with a genetic condition, Turner syndrome. I wrote about Turner syndrome in the Washingtonian essay, The Unspeakable Gift. I completed a Ph.D. focused on wide-awakeness to live into a life I was not supposed to have. 

My mosaic of paid and unpaid work revolves around managing my health, writing articles and essays and bad poetry and long sentences, curating my Wide-Awakeness Project newsletter, and teaching and taking writing classes. On a typical day, I balance navigating health care, pitching and completing writing assignments mainly about prison labor, gratitude, and writing, connecting with other writers online and face-to-face, and more-or-less staying upright in this existential moment.

My writing life moves between falling apart and back together, carving angels and taking deep breaths, and holding hope and finding delight. My attention is laser focused on love and social justice. This feature will explore the contours of a writing life, health, community building, and a desire to create the world in which we want to live through writing.

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Longreads

The gist.

I currently live across the street from a historically designated renovated brick factory in Atlanta. The original owner of the brick factory building, B. Mifflin Hood, led the fight against convict leasing in Georgia in the second half of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Talking with the current owners of the now historically designated house/art gallery, piqued my interest in Hood and the brick factory. My curiosity then led me to talk with Douglas Blackmon, author of the Pulitzer Prize winning Slavery by Another Name — an analysis of the convict leasing system — where the connection between our past, present, and future became even more apparent. My personal connection to the story also stems from teaching a writing class for several years in a men’s federal prison in South Florida. Teaching that class gave me a front row seat to our common humanity, a fact which is commonly ignored and/or weaponized when talking about incarcerated people.

“Artists and scientists are activists. They look at the world as changeable and they look upon themselves as instruments for change. They understand that the slice of world they occupy is only a fragment but that the fragment is intrinsically connected to the whole. They know that action matters.” ― Anne Bogart, What’s the Story: Essays About Art, Theater and Storytelling

This essay is a full-circle assignment. My academic training and professional experience have focused on utilizing research to tell stories. Through dissertations and reports, books and articles, white papers and essays, I have told stories. Through newsletters and travel writing, policy briefs and curricula, podcast scripts and ghostwritten pieces, I have told stories.

Following A Few Oral History Rules: Paying Attention to McNeil and McCain (As They Pay Attention to Stein and Plimpton)

Choosing a subject. I have chosen my subject — the B. Mifflin Hood Brick Factory — carefully. It anchors historical, political, and cultural narratives in relevance, significance, and context. My background as a researcher and teacher frames my interest in this story. Having spent significant time teaching writing in a men’s federal prison, I understand the connection between story, humanity, and justice.

Be aware of plots and subplots. I discover plots and subplots in the B. Mifflin Hood Factory story every day. The plot centers on the life and work of B. Mifflin Hood and his effort to end the convict leasing. His successful business was built on innovation and our interdependent humanity. The subplots of historical preservation as storytelling, political activism in cruel times, and art as resistance run through the B. Mifflin Hood Factory story.

History is always cause and effect. The B. Mifflin Hood Brick Factory received historical designation in 2018. That validates the notion that history is always a cause-and-effect relationship. The factory building — by its very presence — testifies to the importance of social history. I also hear a call to action to share and apply the lessons it embodies to build a more just world. The shadow of Reconstruction’s failures, and the promise of Progressivism, hangs over the United States today.

The context and length.

Telling the B. Mifflin Hood story has never been more important. As United States public funding of private prisons rapidly increases, this story will shine a light on an element of the otherwise (perhaps intentionally) too-big-to-understand reality and its outcomes. It will provide a window into the larger forces at play — and the cruelty involved — in the prison labor system. It will draw attention to a human rights issue at the heart of the United States criminal justice system. This is a Longreads story because it connects paying attention to our world — and curiosity about our next door— to social justice. This is a Longreads story because it demands breadth and depth. This is a Longreads story because it examines a current human rights situation through a historical and cultural lens, reaching the breadth of the Long Reads audience.

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