Thanks to Web sites like Longform.org and Longreads.com , the Twitterhashtag #longreads , and the popularity of mobile apps like Instapaperand ReadItLater, it’s easier than ever to find and celebrate excellent,deeply-reported, expansive pieces of nonfiction writing. But who’s calling readers’ attention to the beautifully brief andthe perfectly pithy? That’s why Slate has inaugurated a new weekly feature, #Shortreads. Every Friday, we’llpick our favorite piece of writing from the prior week that has fewer than1,000 words.
This week’s #Shortreads selection: Matthew Doig’s hilariousand inspiring want ad for reporters to join the investigative team at the Sarasota Herald-Tribune . It’s not only anunconventional love letter to Florida and a cride coeur for old-fashioned, nose-to-the-grindstone reporting (which may be whyit’s proved so popularwith journalists ), it’s also got a masterful sense of rhythm. It might justinspire you to pack up and move to the land of “corruption, violence andscumbaggery” yourself.
Thanks to
MotherJones
for bringing this gem to our attention.
Got a nomination for next week? Leave it in the comments, email usat browbeatslate@gmail.com, or tweet a link with the hashtag
#shortreads
.
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