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Episode 368: Tyler Hooper

My first rough draft is my outline. That’s what I’m learning about myself. My first drafts are very rough. It’s literally a dump from my head of what I want to say how I want to say it, how I think it should be structured.
Tyler Hooper, Ep. 368

By Brendan O’Meara

Hi there, CNFers, we’ve got Tyler Hooper (@thoope r8) in the house to talk about his piece “The Titanic of the Pacific” for The Atavist Magazine.

Tyler cites the great Erik Larson as an influence and you can feel the pulse of that throughout this nautical-disaster piece about the sinking and tragedy surrounding The Valencia. Tyler writes a bit of the backstory at his Medium page here.

Tyler is a writer, podcaster, and storyteller living on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. He has a master’s degree in history and has worked as a journalist.

In this episode we talk about :

Episode 363: Eric Pape

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By Brendan O’Meara

Eric Pape (@ericpape) came by CNF Pod HQ to talk about his piece for The Atavist, “Sins of the Father.“

This is one’s a gut punch. And, as Seyward Darby, editor-in-chief of The Atavist, says in this interview, she pushes against the gimmicky. This piece delivers a brutal punch, takes us on a journey around an abusive marriage, conspiracy theories, anti-vaxxers, Tony Robbins-esque self-help, and more.

How Eric kept it all together is a testament to his skill as a reporter and a writer.

Episode 359: Shannon McCaffrey

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By Brendan O’Meara

Who doesn’t like a good elephant story? Shannon McCaffrey, @shannonajc1, she of the Atlanta Journal Constitution, wrote a piece called “Sanctuary” for this month’s Atavist Magazine.

Here’s a little nugget from the piece:

There are many kinds of love stories. This one involves a woman and an elephant, and their bond spanning nearly 50 years. It involves devotion and betrayal. It also raises difficult questions about the relationship between humans and animals, about control and freedom, about what it means to own another living thing.

Shannon wrote this piece on spec as it was part of her MFA project from the University of Georgia. This is something of a rarity for Seyward Darby, editor-in-chief of the Atavist, and we talk a little bit about that at the top of the show.

In this conversation, you’ll find:

Episode 354: Nile Cappello

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By Brendan O’Meara

Nile Cappello (@liketheriver_) is back!

You might remember her from this:

Here’s a link to that story, “The Girl in the Picture.”

And she’s back, this time to talk about kidfluencer culture in “Crushed.” Brace yourself, CNFers, this one’s a doozie.

Episode 349: Madeline Bodin

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By Brendan O’Meara

It’s that Atavistian time of the month! This time we speak with Madeline Bodin, a freelance journalist based out of Vermont.

Her piece “The Curious Case of Nebraska Man” is the story of a fossilized tooth that spurs the debate over evolution and creationism and, as often happens in this country, pins science into a corner where it must be defended again, again, and again.

In this pod, I also speak with editor-in-chief Seyward Darby. Sidebar: She has a new piece in The Guardian about abused beagles. Is there nothing she can’t do? Maybe play drums …

Episode 345: Sarah Souli

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By Brendan O’Meara

Sarah Souli (@sgsouli) is here to talk about her new feature for The Atavist Magazine called “A Matter of Honor.” Man, how’d she pull this off?

Three Afghan women were murdered at the border of Greece and Turkey and Sarah doggedly pursued the story to give names, faces, lives to lives of these three women. It’s not a story you’d read to your kid at night, but maybe once you put them to bed?

We dig into how she went about the reporting, how she faced the rejection of this story and kept going, refiled, and landed it with Seyward Darby and The Atavist. Lots of goodies here I think you’ll enjoy, like the clanging monkey hitting cymbals in her head. Yeah, it’s a thing.

Episode 340: J.B. MacKinnon

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By Brendan O’Meara

It’s that Atavistian time of the month! And this time we have J.B. MacKinnon, author of the feature “True Grit.”

This piece chronicles the harrowing journey a few feral cows made during a hurricane in North Carolina’s Outer Banks. Let’s just say cows can swim … a LONG time if needed.

J.B. is the author or coauthor of five books of nonfiction. An award-winning journalist, his work has appeared in such publications as the New Yorker, National Geographic, and the Atlantic, as well as the Best American Science and Nature Writing anthologies. He is an adjunct professor of journalism at the University of British Columbia, where he teaches feature writing.

Episode 336: Cassidy Randall

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By Brendan O’Meara

Cassidy Randall is a freelance writer based out of Montana, and her piece for The Atavist Magazine, “Alone at the Edge of the World,” just dropped.

It’s a harrowing piece and one that really flexes the muscles of what a reporter/writer can do to re-create scenes when they weren’t present for the “main action.”

We talk about how reading fiction helps her with her nonfiction, dealing with rejection, attention to rhythm in sentences, pacing, and a whole lot more.

Episode 331: Seyward Darby

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Beer referral link. BRENDANO20 at checkout gets you a nice discount*

By Brendan O’Meara

Seyward Darby is here to talk about her investigative piece about the alleged sexual misconduct at a progressive public school in Los Angeles. It’s the first piece she’s ever written for the magazine she edits, something she was cognizant of when reporting and writing this piece. As a result, she was that much harder on herself. The title of the piece is “Fault Lines,” and you most certainly need to check it out.

We talk about how she handled reporting on and interviewing the Jane Does at the center of this case and how she was able to make the story “Atavisty.” Consider subscribing to the Atavist Magazine** so you get access to stories past and present.

Episode 326: Jana Meisenholder

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By Brendan O’Meara

Jana Meisenholder is a freelance journalist based out of Los Angeles and she’s got a new piece out for The Atavist Magazine. It’s an incredible tale of drive and obsession.

Jana’s work has appeared in Rolling Stone, the Wall Street Journal, and, now The Atavist.

This episode was my COVID episode (still sparring with it, though I think the worst is behind me). Sometimes when I do these interviews you see threads dangling in the conversation and you have to make a choice which thread to pull. If I wasn’t so sick, I would’ve pulled on a couple, but I couldn’t. I simply … could … not. THAT SAID, this episode still came out great.

Jana’s piece follows Andres Beckett, a Mexican-American man hellbent on finding mentorship to lead him over the edge of the Suicide Race. It’s a trip, man.

We start off by talking to editor-in-chief Seyward Darby before we get into the skeleton, the meat, and the bones with Jana.