Author: true mag admin

Gathering Speed and Complexity
A Primer for Craft in Literary Journalism: "In this understanding, craft has a bigger job to do than to enthrall or entertain, to make a true story read like fiction or feel like fantasy. In this understanding, creativity is part of the journalism, working in service to ideas, not in service of earning a label. We can’t separate the literary from the journalism at all."

The Secret to Everything
[First Runner-Up 2018 Proximity Essay Prize] Here in the last slip of rural country near Raleigh, I drive slowly down a gravel road, unsure if I’m going in the right direction. The road gradually becomes dirt: two tire ruts divided by a hump of grass. Sparse rows of pine trees line both sides of the narrow road. I’m a social worker, and I’m making an early morning visit, a new referral to start the day. This one a possible suicide case—I hate suicide cases.

Already We Are Less Than Ever Before
[Winner of the 2018 Proximity Essay Prize] Fereidoun M. Esfandiary hypothesized the sun was the heart of utopia. He changed his name to FM-2030 to mark the year he’d turn 100. Interviewed by Larry King, FM-2030 wears a heavy white robe and says his new name is “neat.