It was a huge honor to be included on a panel on undercover reporting last week at the Center for Investigative Reporting’s annual Logan Symposium on Investigative Reporting. Post-panel, I had a lot of (strong!) thoughts about race and gender when it comes to that kind of work, which I shared on Twitter — and posted on-site, too.
Semi-Rant RE: Race, Gender and the Problem with “Undercover” Reporting
via Twitter • May 2, 2017
- Thrilled to have been in conversation w/ @UCBerkeleyIRP @Shane_Bauer @sukisworld @ailsachang @jamesjonestv at #LoganSymposium2017. But…
- Also wish we dug deeper about complexities re: race/gender w/ @UCBerkeleyIRP. Tagging some thoughts with #LoganSymposium2017.
- Typically, “undercover” = swashbuckling white dude (SWD) doing something dangerous. Is there a role for this kind of work? Sure.
- But SWD-as-default makes it seem like SWD=“authentic” truthteller. Both “white” and “dude” parts are crucial. Continue reading “Semi-Rant RE: Race, Gender and the Problem with “Undercover” Reporting”
Undercover Reporting: Behind the Scenes
Logan Symposium • April 28, 2017
It was a real honor to share the stage with Ailsa Chang (“Planet Money”), Suki Kim (Without You, There is No Us), Shane Bauer (Mother Jones), and James Jones (Frontline) to discuss the complexities of undercover reporting at the Logan Symposium on Investigative Reporting hosted by the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley.
Explaining White Resentment to a Black Audience
Wake Up With WURD • Feb. 3, 2017
I had a fascinating conversation this morning with radio host Solomon Jones in Philadelphia, taking my first (public) stab at explaining white resentment to a predominantly black audience. Check out his show, Wake Up With Wurd.
NYT Opinion: Trending and RuPaul
I’m a lucky lady.
My New York Times Sunday Review essay, “White Resentment on the Night Shift at Walmart” also topped the site’s trending for a while—and got a Twitter shout out from RuPaul. (It also generated about 900 comments in the 24 hours it was able to accept them.)
White Resentment on the Night Shift at Walmart
New York Times Sunday Review • Dec. 18, 2016
Seven years ago, I joined the night shift at a Walmart in rural Michigan. For $8.10 an hour, I spent four or five nights a week filling shelves with the flour and sugar and marshmallow fluff that residents of the local county, which in 2008 voted for Barack Obama, needed to get through the holidays. Four years ago, the county went with President Obama a second time, though by a thinner margin. But this past November, the county, like the state, turned red.
Continue reading “White Resentment on the Night Shift at Walmart”
Food Workers Scramble to Put Food on Their Tables
“The Plate,” National Geographic • Nov. 14, 2016
One in seven American workers is employed in some segment of the food chain, from apple pickers to packing-house workers, truckdrivers to supermarket clerks to fast food counter staff. And many of them increasingly struggle to put food on their own tables, according to a report released Monday from the Food Chain Workers Alliance, an advocacy group founded in 2009, and the Solidarity Research Center. What’s more, the problem is worse among women and people of color.
Focus on Hunger Awareness, Loyola University – Nov. 10, 2016
Loyola’s Chicago campus has been organizing a Hunger Awareness Week for 40 years (or so they tell me) and I’m thrilled to be talking with them this week about Hunger in America — and processing the results of the election.
Hunger in America lecture
Loyola University
Damen MPR
Thursday, Nov. 10, 2016
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 a.m.
National Farm Worker Law Conference, Keynote – Nov. 9, 2016
I’m honored to be spending the day after the election with lawyers and advocates waging a critical labor battles: Protecting farm workers.
National Farm Worker Law Conference
Indianapolis, IN
Nov. 9, 2016
Farmworkers in the News: Journalists Covering the Lives and Labor Conditions of Farmworkers
To See Food Waste in a New Way, Start With Your Plate
“The Plate,” National Geographic • Nov. 1, 2016
Researchers angling to solve America’s food waste problem are taking cues from Instagram and developing an app to measure food waste from your food pictures.
Continue reading “To See Food Waste in a New Way, Start With Your Plate”