The Blog

Photo by George Milton I teach journalistic writing at university, and if I’m honest, I feel slightly depressed. Because writing seems...

This week, my students at the University of Groningen are writing an opinion piece, a fun assignment that lets them voice their views...

On busy days in Groningen, it’s easy to walk past the small bust of Aletta Jacobs facing the Harmonie building on the Oude Kijk in 't...

Everyone knows the internet and social media have continually impacted journalism, which struggles to capture the public’s attention....

When was the last time you really listened to someone? This is a key question New York Times contributor Kate Murphy asks in her book  “...

This week I am teaching students at the University of Groningen about writing an op-ed, which is a short, newsy opinion piece. It’s a...

February is the month of love—one of the most important yet hackneyed words in the English language. For millennia, writers, poets, and...

A large part of teaching writing is encouraging students to read more, opening their eyes to engaging stories so they can eventually...

Journalism increasingly uses AI to gather news, begging the question: does mingling algorithms with a human touch lead to trustworthy...

I’m teaching journalistic feature writing at RUG (University of Groningen) and this week and we have been talking about one of the most...

I subscribe to Suleika Jaquad’s Isolation Journals (on Substack), which includes writing prompts each week, and this week the focus was...

I’ve started teaching journalistic feature writing again at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, which prompts me to think more deeply about...

Two years into the pandemic, it’s become glaringly obvious that while we might be in this together, humans have the rotten tendency of...

Lockdowns have triggered a resurgence in letter writing--a good thing I came across an article the other day on the art of writing love...

I became a journalist to make a difference—but how to do so when the industry struggles to stay afloat in turbulent seas and is...

I love writing and like all passions, it’s not always understood by those who don’t share it. I grew up in a family enthusiastic about...

Photo by Marlon Trottmann from Pexels 2020 has left me with a jumble of bizarre impressions: heightened emotions over health scares,...

I am currently teaching a journalism storytelling course at the Rijksuniversiteit Groningen, and during our first class we discussed why...

I was trained as a journalist, so you’d think I follow the news daily, but I just can’t. Really, I won’t. The glut of information (and...

Time for the Space Cowgirl! It’s not rocket science to say men hog the spotlight when it comes to the space race, and 2020 is no...