Wow, I haven't blogged in a long time.
The last time I used Blogger was the day after Cassidy and I got engaged, which was August of 2015. Since then I have written a ton, just not on Blogger. I was hired on at Elk River Star News just a couple weeks after my last blog post and have had dozens of articles featured in the paper, fulfilling a lifelong dream of seeing my name in print. Words can't describe the first time I opened up the Star News and saw my name in it. All I can tell you is that there were chills, and admittedly, a couple tears as well.
For those who know me know that I love reading newspaper articles. I don't read a ton of books (although I have just discovered how great audio books are for my commute to work) and my reasoning for not reading tons of books is because my nose is always stuck in a newspaper somewhere. I subscribe to StarTribune and New York Times and use up my 10 free articles a month on many other newspapers. I probably ready 25-35 newspaper articles a day. I can't get enough. Everything about them fascinates me. From who writes them, to why they write them, to how long they take to write. I listen to Podcasts that bring on some of these journalists and learn more about them. Why do they write the way they do? What got them into writing? These are the types of questions I ask myself when reading an article from a specific individual.
As life usually does, I started getting too busy to read a ton of newspaper articles a day. I wanted to read them, but just couldn't find the time. I used my "sticky notes" app on my MacBook and would just paste articles to read. The list grew and grew and grew. On Sunday's, I would try to cut the list down but it continued to grow even still.
Finally, I found the time to read them all. Every single one. I think one day a couple months ago I must have spent 4 hours in a Starbucks reading newspaper articles. When I looked up, the whole staff was cleaning up and I was the only one left in the store. My coffee was cold and I hadn't talked to anyone in what felt like forever. Still, the articles were read and I felt like I had just accomplished something wonderful. Like I said, newspaper articles and I just seem to get along.
At the end of 2015, I started a folder in my AOL email account. (Yes, I still have AOL. No, I won't get rid of it and no, I don't still have to wait for the dial up tone like I did in 1999 before we thought the world was going to end at Y2K.) The folder was titled "articles worth reading" and it was just that. If I liked an article, I would throw the link in the folder. If I didn't like the article, I didn't throw it in there. Pretty simple.
The articles don't have a theme or any specific reason for being in there. Some made me laugh, some made me cry. A couple of them fascinated me and a couple of them were so crazy that I just had to share them with all of you.
The first article was placed in the folder on January 5th, 2016 and the most recent one went in there on Dec. 21st, 2016.
On Jan. 1, 2017 I started a new folder and plan on doing this every year. As always, I appreciate any and all feedback on my writing. Whether it is a blog post or an article, I always like honest feedback on how I am doing. Please reach out and tell me if you read any of the articles on this list. I would like to know if any of them were interesting to you, or if you enjoyed my blog post idea.
Thanks for reading,
-Jared-
Articles worth reading since Jan 2016:
Bill Barnwell: The Easiest Way to Lose 125 Pounds is to Gain 175 Pounds
Matt Norlander: Allen Fieldhouse Experience
Dan Gross: Why Gun Violence Can't be the New Normal (Ted Talk)
Pamela Colloff: The Reckoning: The Story of Claire Wilson and the University of Texas Shooting in 1966 (Really well written)
Gay Talese: The Voyeur's Motel
Nicholas Schmidle: Why TMZ gets everything right
Malcolm Gladwell: How School Shootings Spread
New York Times: One Week in April, Four Toddlers Shot and Killed Themselves
Shaun Walker: The Day We Discovered our Parents were Russian Spies
Nina Bernstein: Unearthing the Secrets of New York's Mass Graves
Robert Draper: Mr. Trump's Wild Ride
Mike Fish: A Life on the Line (ESPN)
Wesley Morris: Prince Knew What He Wanted
Michael Shear: Obama After Dark
Bill Plaschke: Pat Summit
David Hockman: Article on Jon Favreau
Eireann Dolan: Rising about the "R" Word
Rafeal Zoehler: When I'm Gone (Grab the tissues if you read this one.)
Jennifer Percy: I Have No Choice but to Keep Looking (Most interesting article I read all year.)
Chip Scoggins: Mike Sherels Story
David Wallace-Wells: The JFK Airport Shooting That Never Happened
Dave Anderson: The Arnold Palmer Obit
Jeff Passan: The Tragic Final Night of Jose Fernandez's Life (Saddest story I read all year.)
Chris Mannix: The Rise of the Timberwolves Rests with Tom Thibodeau
Lee Jenkins: The Biggest Stop of Kevin Love's Life
Bill Simmons: LeBron is Still Painting His Masterpiece
Dave McKenna: The Writer who was too Strong to Live
Dieter Kurtenbach: Why I didn't use a free ticket to Game 5 of the World Series
L. Jon Wertheim: The I-5 Killer (You need to read this. It is incredibly written and the craziest story I have ever read.
Amelia Tait: The movie that doesn't exist and the Redditors who think it does
Christina Frangou: The Widowhood Effect
Ann Hui: Chop Suey Nation
