Mark Armstrong

Soul-Folk, by Ashawnta Jackson

Just arrived in my mailbox. Congrats @heyjackson.bsky.social!

Kim H. Cross: 'Dissect it Like a Frog' The best-selling author, instructor, and narrative nonfictionist breaks down her "Operation Wheelie" pitch, a "quest" narrative

The phenomenon that's sweeping across the nation! It's Pitch Club! It was generously featured by @markarms.bsky.social in the @niemanstoryboard.org newsletter.

Issue 3 of Pitch Club features Kim Cross.

I have journos audio annotate pitches. You read a little. Listen a little. Learn a lot!

Honored to be included, Mark! Thanks!

The 7th annual STORY Foundation Prize, judged by @deeshaphilyaw.bsky.social, opens on August 15th. Check out all the details below. ⬇️⬇️⬇️We're looking forward to reading your stories!

Hah! I loved that too. Thanks for listening, Elizabeth.

Pulitzer winner Lane DeGregory on the power of local storytelling Podcast Episode · Nieman Storyboard · 07/31/2025 · 1h 8m

I've really been enjoying the new journalism podcast from @niemanfoundation.bsky.social and @markarms.bsky.social, and this episode with Lane DeGregory had SO many inspiring tidbits about where and how to find stories: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/p...

‘A Noiseless Flash’: Hiroshima, 80 years later - Nieman Storyboard The power of one story, and the need for many. Plus: Maurice Carlos Ruffin on “getting your protagonist out of the house”

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: Featuring @newyorker.com, Jane Mayer, Erika Hayasaki, @lesleymmblume.bsky.social, @vanityfair.com, @mauricenow.bsky.social, @jamiattenberg.bsky.social, and @brendanomeara.bsky.social

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/08/08/a...

I have ordered this book after reading the NYT piece today. Thank you, Shoshana Walter, for this important work. I can't wait to read it! 🙏

“The River House Broke. We Rushed in the River.” The July 4 Texas flooding ripped our Kerr County home from its pillars, pulling us into the water and into the night. Then morning came.

Thank you to everyone who read my family’s story in @texasmonthly.bsky.social. The response in letters, emails, messages, comments, and from people I’ve met in person has been overwhelming. We are so grateful. www.texasmonthly.com/news-politic...

Episode 481: Nieman Storyboard's Mark Armstrong Believes in the Beginners' Mindset Podcast Episode · The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara · 08/01/2025 · 1h 7m

Honored and thrilled to join @brendanomeara.bsky.social on the Creative Nonfiction Podcast today. We talked about the state of journalism and storytelling, some early #longreads lore, and why I love taking voice lessons.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

What’s a technology that you think is overhyped? I’m going to give a sideways answer to this, which is that the venture capital business model needs to be understood as requiring hype. You can go back to the Netscape IPO, and that was the proof point that made venture capital the financial lifeblood of the tech industry. Venture capital looks at valuations and growth, not necessarily at profit or revenue. So you don’t actually have to invest in technology that works, or that even makes a profit, you simply have to have a narrative that is compelling enough to float those valuations. So you see this repetitive and exhausting hype cycle as a feature in this industry. A couple of years ago, you would have been asking me about the metaverse, then last year, you would have asked me about Web3 and crypto, and for each of these inflection points there’s an Andreessen Horowitz manifesto. It’s not simply that one piece of technology is overhyped, it’s that hype is a necessary ingredient of the current business ecosystem of the tech industry. We should examine how often the financial incentive for hype is rewarded without any real social returns, without any meaningful progress in technology, without these tools and services and worlds ever actually manifesting. That’s key to understanding the growing chasm between the narrative of techno-optimists and the reality of our tech-encumbered world.

Stand by this: www.politico.com/newsletters/...

• Wagner will issue a public statement to the college community stating that it will comply with Title IX, specifying that Title IX forbids Wagner from allowing male students to compete in female athletic programs and from occupying female intimate facilities;

Most people can’t quite grasp how it feels to read this, but imagine if the federal government commanded every agency to form task forces charged with finding new ways to humiliate you. Then imagine every institution in your life not only folds but starts participating.

www.ed.gov/about/news/p...

A cure for story paralysis - Nieman Storyboard Lane DeGregory's advice on not playing it safe, plus: how to interview shy people

"I think we're always waiting for the perfect story, and it's kind of like waiting for the perfect time to have a kid.”

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/08/01/a...

😭🙏

the republican party hates public goods and wants to force feed you and your family slop produced by its billionaire allies

Can we also take a moment to appreciate that @brendanomeara.bsky.social has been hosting this podcast and showing up for authors and journalists for 12(!) years? That's a huge accomplishment. 👏

Episode 481: Nieman Storyboard's Mark Armstrong Believes in the Beginners' Mindset Podcast Episode · The Creative Nonfiction Podcast with Brendan O'Meara · 08/01/2025 · 1h 7m

Honored and thrilled to join @brendanomeara.bsky.social on the Creative Nonfiction Podcast today. We talked about the state of journalism and storytelling, some early #longreads lore, and why I love taking voice lessons.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/e...

A cure for story paralysis - Nieman Storyboard Lane DeGregory's advice on not playing it safe, plus: how to interview shy people

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org: Featuring Lane DeGregory / @tampabaytimes.bsky.social, @propublica.org, @motherjones.com, @evaholland.bsky.social, @defector.com, @transom.bsky.social, and Kim Cross.

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/08/01/a...

#longreads #journalism #podcasts

Pulitzer winner Lane DeGregory on the power of local storytelling - Nieman Storyboard The journalist reflects on 25 years at the Tampa Bay Times, and how to find stories in your own backyard

"I think we're always waiting for the perfect story, and it's kind of like waiting for the perfect time to have a kid."

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/07/31/p...

Why Did National Geographic Disappear Its Own Documentary About A Queer Climate Scientist? | Defector If you’re not a particular kind of mountain sports nerd, you might not be familiar with the Banff Centre Mountain Film Festival World Tour. But for people who live their lives in the overlapping circl...

Last fall, I attended the premiere of a film that meant a lot to me. In late January, all of its hundreds of planned screenings were canceled without explanation. For @defector.com, I went digging:

Pulitzer winner Lane DeGregory on the power of local storytelling - Nieman Storyboard The journalist reflects on 25 years at the Tampa Bay Times, and how to find stories in your own backyard

For this week's @niemanstoryboard.org podcast, I'm thrilled to chat with @tampabaytimes.bsky.social journalist Lane DeGregory on covering "hope and humanity" as a beat and how to search for stories in your community.

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/07/31/p...

#longreads #journalism #podcasts

Shoshana Walter, author of "Rehab"

“Writing a book taught me to be less precious about what I’ve written. A lot of shaping what you’re writing and what you’re saying comes from cutting words back until you discover what you’re really trying to say.”

@sho-walter.bsky.social

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/07/25/o...

#booksky

My "favorite" Kessler "fact check" was when he called Bernie Sanders a liar for correctly noting that "Three people in this country own more wealth than the bottom half of America." Kessler's argument was that it doesn't count because "people in the bottom half have essentially no wealth."

Thanks to @markarms.bsky.social for the shout out about the fun event @brendanomeara.bsky.social and I did at Elliott Bay Books last week. I wholeheartedly agree that reading books and connecting in real life is an antidote to this awful awful time.

Shoshana Walter, author of "Rehab"

“Writing a book taught me to be less precious about what I’ve written. A lot of shaping what you’re writing and what you’re saying comes from cutting words back until you discover what you’re really trying to say.”

@sho-walter.bsky.social

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/07/25/o...

#booksky

Log off, read a book, connect IRL - Nieman Storyboard Mallary Tenore Tarpley on using your story outtakes, plus the Society for Features Journalism conference returns

My Friday newsletter for @niemanstoryboard.org:

niemanstoryboard.org/2025/07/25/l...

#longreads #journalism #booksky

The Men Trump Deported to a Salvadoran Prison On March 15, President Donald Trump’s administration sent more than 230 Venezuelan immigrants to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Last week, the men were released as suddenly as they’d been t...

This is who Trump shipped to a Salvadoran dungeon:

An event planner
A coal miner
An Uber driver
Tortilla maker
Barber
DoorDashers
Soccer coaches
Furniture-maker
Car washers
Taxi drivers
HVAC techs
Auto parts worker
Tire plant worker

and 240 more...

projects.propublica.org/venezuelan-i...

"We were kidnapped" On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador returned home. The horror stories are already emerging.

"The bitterness is still there. The anger about what happened to him is still there.”

After four months, more than 200 men sent to El Salvador have been released from CECOT and returned to Venezuela. @nlanard.bsky.social and I spoke with family members and friends waiting to be reunited with them.

"We were kidnapped" On Friday, more than 200 Venezuelans disappeared to a megaprison in El Salvador returned home. The horror stories are already emerging.

NEW: Story from @isabelaalhadeff.bsky.social and me based on interviews with families of the men returned to Venezuela tonight after Trump disappeared them to El Salvador in March.

www.motherjones.com/politics/202...

What went wrong at the Houston Landing? “We tried to be too much, too fast, for too many people.”

If you are involved in trying to make nonprofit news sustainable, I wrote and reported this story for you!

So much news that deserves our attention right now, but I hope you'll spend some time with my Houston Landing retrospective for @niemanlab.org (1/3)

www.niemanlab.org/2025/07/what...