christopher marc hubbard

The biographer David McCullough used to keep a sign over his desk that said: "Look at your fish." The saying helped him win a Pulitzer Prize. The story was inspired by a Harvard teacher who used to plop a fish on the table on the first day of class and ask his students to write about it. To which the students would respond: "What do you mean? It's just a fish." "Look again," the teacher said. Students were encouraged to look and look and look until they started to see details that they'd been glossing over. The texture of the fins would come to life. So would the color of the scales. By the end of the semester, the students would see how a simple fish was, in fact, wondrously complex. McCullough keeps a reminder above his desk because writers are Professional Observationalists at heart. They live in search of ideas that other people miss because they don't look closely enough. Insight doesn't necessarily come from novelty. Sometimes, it comes from staring at an object for an impossibly long time until you see something you've always glanced over. Look at your fish.

men have a thing for sundresses

Downtown LA is in decline. It’s unconscionable. Here’s one way we can fix it.

David Roberts is adamant that the only reason the issue of transgender girls playing in girls’ sports has any salience with the public is because right-wing media manufactured a moral panic about this. In Roberts’ view, no one became concerned about this issue organically.

SCOOP: The Pentagon asked the White House today for more than *$200 billion* for the Iran war supplemental, sources say Some White House aides think Congress won't support b/c it's so big Will tee up giant battle in Congress

just learned there are actual living humans who believe the california high speed rail project will ever be completed LMFAOOO