Readers!
This newsletter is broken up onto what I consider two parts: the part about writing, and then the part about whatever else I’m doing. But sometimes the two overlap. I’ve had three articles published recently where a thing I watched influenced the work, whether the thing on my screen was a hook in a pitch, informed some questions, or just turned out to be a really great lede.
There’s no real point to this except I thought that’s neat, and it might be a window into sometimes unexpected inspirations in places where you might not think pop culture would go. I also want to show how, even if you do the kind of technical, academic writing I do, that yes sometime the person you’re interviewing DOES want to talk about Marky Mark. They’re people too!
The Article: “Bringing laboratory diagnostics into space,” Clinical Laboratory News
The Pop Culture: For All Mankind, Star Trek
How it Worked: I’ve been writing for Clinical Laboratory News for eight years. That includes for the main publication, but also Clinical News Daily, which they publish in advance of their annual conference, about people who are going to be speaking and presenting there. I was jazzed when I got an assignment to interview Dr. Kathleen McMonigal, director of the NASA Johnson Space Center Clinical Laboratory. I of course thought of my beloved (if declining) For All Mankind. I asked her if she saw the show, and even thought she hadn’t, some of the gnarly things that I saw happen to bodies in fictional space informed my questions here. She also brought up how much she wants to Star Trek tricorder. As an avid fan of Star Trek: The Next Generation, I knew exactly what she meant, and knew it had to go into the story.
The Article: “When a cyberattack hits the physical world,” Virginia Tech Engineer
The Culture: The Italian Job
How it Worked: I often watch action movies while I’m working, and just so happened to watch the remake of The Italian Job right before I did an interview with a cybersecurity researcher. When he started talking about protecting traffic lights from manipulation, I paused and then decided to go for it. “I don’t know if you’ve seen it, but they do that in The Italian Job.” His voice instantly changed. I had must made his day. He wanted to talk all about The Italian Job. The question then was, do I put that in the article? The lede?! It was my first time writing for this engineering magazine, but I figured I’d take a risk. When I turned it in, I noted to the editor that I knew it might not set the right tone, so to let me know if she wanted it changed. This was her reply: “I was in a team meeting about the magazine, so I read your first two fabulous paragraphs out loud and everyone was thrilled—and immediately wanted to go watch The Italian Job.” By the way, the traffic light trick was also in the original 1969 The Italian Job and in the 2012 Indian remake called Players. Now you know.
The Article: “How to deal with a problem neighbor,” New York Times
The Pop Culture: Neighbors
How it worked: For those last two examples, I was given assignments and then applied my pop culture knowledge to them. For this one, an idea was partly inspired by something to write a pitch. I watched the HBO series Neighbors while running on the treadmill, which had me thinking of my former demon neighbor, and comparing what she did to me with what I was seeing on the screen. I was far enough removed from what happened that I thought maybe I could write about it for The New York Times. When I pitched this story, I included my experience and how I didn’t want anyone else to go through what I did, but I also included Neighbors as a hook, because it gave a timeliness to a timeless topic. We ended up cutting out my experience (which I right — when I do write about it, the best way is probably an essay about what it’s like to be trapped as the fixation of someone else’s psychosis), but tying it to a buzzy show gave this story a different dimension since what happens on Neighbors is often so outrageous, and the goal of this service piece was to stop things from getting to that point.
Recent Bylines
“Bringing laboratory diagnostics into space,” Clinical Laboratory News
“Academy guidance on data analytics: preparing clinical labs for a data-driven future,” Clinical Laboratory News
“Measuring what matters: advancing diversity, equity and inclusion in lab medicine,” Clinical Laboratory News
“Four elder fraud scams to watch out for,” Independent Banker
“Catching cardiac danger earlier and more accurately,” UCSF Science of Caring
“Meet a nurse advocate advancing health worldwide,” UCSF Science of Caring
What I’m Reading
- Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. I sometimes post pictures of what I’m reading on my Instagram stories, and I have never gotten as many comments as when I posted this one. It’s about Natalie Heller Mills, a trad wife influencer who suddenly wakes up in 1855. This isn’t a “ha ha look at this asshole FAFO” kind of book. It’s much meaner, angrier and darker. One of the first things that happens to her in 1855 is her husband, who’s kind of a dope in the present day, beats her. The author has talked about dystopian feminist literature, and that’s where this book lives. My friends have been split on the ending, but I don’t know how else it could have ended. Like Strangers by Belle Burton, it’s hitting at a time when women are being pressured to go back to being under the thumb of men and even if it’s not a perfect novel, it being talked about right now is the respond I would hope people have. A key passage: “An important thing to imagine, what might happen if my husband ever paused and thought about the governing law of his own starry universe: his wife might as well have been a farm dog, for all the rights she had. Even the sweetest, stupidest man can grow cruel and cunning when he learns a thing like that.” If you’re tempted to victim blame and wonder “why did she marry him if he’s like that!” he usually isn’t at first.
- Peg and Rose Stir Up Trouble by Laurien Berenson, read by Margaret Strom. When I picked this because I wanted something light, I had no idea I would be stepping into a cozy mystery universe. Because even if it’s only book 2 in the “Senior Sleuths Mystery” series, Berenson has written a slew of dog-related mysteries. And it’s fine! Peg is a woman of a certain age who is pushed by a friend onto a dating app, where she meets Nolan. He’s great at first, but just as Peg realizes he may not be all he’s cracked up to be, he’s run over — on purpose. Turns out he had a little scheme going on. But which victim drove a car into him? My guess was incorrect! I enjoyed it enough that I’m sure I’ll listen to another. I like this narrator too.
- Ironwood by Michael Connelly. Another entry into the Connelly oeuvre, this time on his side quest series set on Catalina Island. There’s a few overlapping crimes here: the shooting of two officers in a sting gone wrong; hints that a long-missing hiker may have been on the island, and vandalism which while small potatoes compared to murder, is still something that a small police force and our hero Detective Stilwell. Connelly’s never shied away from including real-time policing issues in his books. This one includes ICE and, per usual, cop corruption. I don’t know how he keeps coming up with interesting stories, but good on him for it.
What I’m Watching
- Mermaids. This is a throw back movie staring Cher, Bob Hoskins and a very young Winona Ryder, about a mom and daughter moving to a small town in Massachusetts in 1963, from Ryder’s character’s point of view. It seemed like it was created to capture the magic of Moonstruck, which came out in three years before (though the Cher part was originally written for Barbara Streisdand) but didn’t quite get there.
- Tropic Thunder. This war movie satire has a murderer’s row of a cast: Ben Stiller, Jack Black, Robert Downey Jr., Steve Coogan, Danny McBride, Bill Hader, Matthew McConaughey, Nick Nolte (?!) and of course Tom Cruise. It’s still funny as hell. I enjoyed revisiting this one. Also, it turns out, I also still remember every word of “Get Back” by Ludacris.
Nail Polish of the Week
Rocha by Zoya. Is this reddish orange? An orangey red? Who cares, I like it. I have also been using the Sephora base coat I picked up in France. It’s so much better than what I was using here. I’ve had zero chips on any of the manicures I’ve used it on. And I can’t buy it here. BOOOOO.
Until next time!
Jen A. Miller (she/her)
Notes from a Hired Pen ebook series
Like this post? Buy Jen a Coffee!
Book links are affiliate links.
Leave a Reply