“Once upon a time, on a dusty road, I met a girl. It was in one
of the most isolated countries in the world. Seventeen years later, I’m still
here.”
So begins “Our Man in Tehran" ...
"Rejection doesn't have to be the end of the line" according to Carve Magazine. To which end, they include the coolest column in each issue: Decline/Accept, with commentary from a writer whose work, originally declined by Carve, has been accepted elsewhere. The author writes about their rejection/revision/acceptance, a snippet of the original work is included with Carve editors' comments as well the snippet revised (if applicable) along with editors' comments from the publication that accepted the work.
So begins “Our Man in Tehran" ...
Was This Woman The ‘Dark Lady’ Of Shakespeare’s Sonnets?
Emilia Bassano, five years younger than the playwright, the daughter of one of Queen Elizabeth's court musicians and the wife of another, ultimately became a published poet in her own right. Here's a look at what we actually know about her - and at the (circumstantial) evidence for her Dark Ladyhood. … [Read More]
How a farmer went from 'the moron approach' to a farm full of water
As farm dams dry up during the drought, Martin Royds' new one is filling up with groundwater. His 14 weirs are also nearly full.
"Rejection doesn't have to be the end of the line" according to Carve Magazine. To which end, they include the coolest column in each issue: Decline/Accept, with commentary from a writer whose work, originally declined by Carve, has been accepted elsewhere. The author writes about their rejection/revision/acceptance, a snippet of the original work is included with Carve editors' comments as well the snippet revised (if applicable) along with editors' comments from the publication that accepted the work.
The Summer 2018 issue features Kelly Hill, whose story "The Bearded Loon" was published in the July 2017 issue of Upstreet. Hill comments on the rejection and subsequent acceptance, "I've been doing this writing thing long enough to understand that the story I set out to tell is not always the story I write or the story that others ultimately read. I'm always thankful for good feedback from insightful readers, although any feedback can be useful if it helps you mentally justify your stylistic choices."
Decline/Accept is a great craft component for readers and writers alike, and you can see a full listing with links out (when available) to the final published work here.
What Aretha Franklin’s singing taught me about writing. By Roy Peter Clark.
So begins “Our
Man in Tehran,” an unusually personal Frontline series by New York
Times correspondent Thomas Erdbrink. The first part aired last night and it
concludes tonight on PBS.
In this extraordinary documentary, Erdbrink starts at the last
solar eclipse of the 20th century, where he, a visiting Dutch journalist and
bartender, meets a photographer named Newsha Tavakolian in rural Iran.
Erdbrink expands the narrative to observe and to talk with family,
colleagues and people across Iran’s spectrum. He focuses on the human
connection: how people adjust their lives to fit Iran’s many and often vague
rules.
Director Roel van Broekhoven positions Erdbrink as a kind of
good-humored but persistent guide to a nation that officially opposes
America, though many of Iran's people adore it. The two seek a certain
candor from sources on, among other topics, marriage, clothing restrictions,
pop music, the internet, faith and martyrdom. To do so, Erdbrink often has
to open up about his own life (like why they don’t have children) or his
failed Iranian film career.
"I don't like to put myself out there, but I felt I had
to," Erdbrink told me. Why talk publicly about children? “In Iran,” Erdbrink
said from the Iranian capital in a Skype call Monday that he warned could be
monitored, “everybody is involved with your personal lives.” In return, he has
the liberty to ask strangers about new cars, nose jobs or their
families.
His Farsi skills, earnest nature, longevity in the country,
marriage to an Iranian and status as a "neutral" outsider — not
American, Israeli or British — aids him as he talks to citizens at the dried-up
River of Life in Istafan, the shrine to beloved poet Hafez in Shiraz or the
street currency trading market in Tehran. (One trader pulls out stacks of
dollars to show his admiration for the U.S. currency and its "In
God We Trust" motto. “Dollars are the best,” he tells Erdbrink. “You
should always buy them.”)
The idea for an American network broadcast began a year ago in
Tehran over meat stew at the downtown restaurant Dizi,
Erdbrink said. His lunchmates, visiting documentarians David Fanning and
Martin Smith of Frontline, were in town producing their own film (“Bitter
Rivals: Iran and Saudi Arabia”). Fanning had seen video snippets
of Erdbrink's video reporting from The New York Times website.
“Are you doing more?” he asked Erdbrink.
“Yes.”
“I want this.”
“Are you sure?” Erdbrink asked.
Erdbrink and director van Broekhoven had produced an
award-winning four-part, 180-minute series for Dutch TV in 2014. Last year,
they created a five-part, 225-minute followup. The U.S. version compresses
each season into two films, each just shy of two hours.
Erdbrink acknowledges jitters about the American version's
reception — in the United States and Iran. An Iranian censor tells him, on air,
that higher-up officials disliked aspects of the first series, including the
portrayal of a fierce theocracy defender known in Iran as Big Mouth, and
tensions among cosmopolitan women. Both themes re-occur in the second series,
three years later, as U.S.-Iranian relations have taken on a more bellicose
tone.
Among the objections: a lunchtime scene in
which Newsha Tavakolian acknowledges to her family, initially wary of
Erdbrink, that she proposed to him — not the other way around. It's
my favorite scene in the series.
“Are you still happy?” Erdbrink asks her.
“I’ll tell you later,” Tavakolian replies, smiling slightly, as
the table erupts in laughter.
The correspondent hopes these first two segments may open
the door for a third look. He said the video project, the filming of which had
been approved but not previewed by Iranian officials, complements the news
and normal foreign correspondent fare. The news and the documentary together,
he hopes, could give a person a broader and more nuanced look at a fascinating
culture and nation.
DETAINED REPORTERS: Chinese police detained a Voice of
America Mandarin-language service correspondent and his assistant for more than
six hours. The two had been trying to interview a retired academic who was
dragged off two weeks ago for talking to the press. Before their
release before dawn Tuesday, VOA director Amanda Bennett said, “It is
outrageous that two journalists have been detained for nothing more than doing
their jobs.”
WHAT'S THIS ABOUT A HOSPICE?: Did
Facebook really raise the scenario to Australian news executives that if
they don't work with the social network, Facebook would be holding their
hands, like in a hospice? That's what The Australian reports — and Facebook
denies. Nieman Lab's Josh Benton looks
at the brouhaha — and the truth behind Facebook's plunging traffic
referrals to publishers.
MANHANDLED: A New York Post reporter who had the temerity to ask New York
Mayor Bill de Blasio a question at a public event on Sunday. Two bodyguards removed
Kevin Sheehan after he asked the mayor, who styles himself as a champion
for press freedom, for reaction to a Page One story on de
Blasio's 136 documented meetings with lobbyists over a three-month stretch
this year.
GIVEBACK: The chief executive of the Financial Times returned nearly one
fifth of his $3.3 million salary after employees complained that his pay had swollen to 100 times that of an entry-level
journalist. No tears for John Ridding, please, whose move came ahead
of an all-hands union meeting on his pay. Ridding’s compensation had risen 25
percent in the past year alone, the Guardian reported. Ridding said the returned
money will be used to promote women’s careers and reduce the gender pay gap.
Will other media CEOs follow suit?
MERGER: The third and fourth biggest public radio networks are merging, with a focus on the podcasting
future. The innovative Cambridge-based PRX, home to This American Life, The
Moth, TED Daily and the Radiotopia slate of podcasts, will join PRI, the
co-producer of radio news shows The Takeaway, PRI’s The World and Innovation
Hub. The merged company, to be based in Boston, will be run by PRX CEO Kerri
Hoffman. The deal comes with with a $10 million investment by PRI’s parent
company, public broadcasting giant WGBH. We'll be covering the story in greater
depth in coming days.
·
Americans don’t think Facebook and Google are doing enough to fight ‘fake news.’ By
Daniel Funke.
