{"id":15964,"date":"2025-08-15T13:22:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-15T13:22:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=15964"},"modified":"2025-08-15T13:22:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-15T13:22:10","slug":"resisting-the-tidy-narrative","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2025\/08\/15\/resisting-the-tidy-narrative\/","title":{"rendered":"Resisting the \u2018tidy narrative\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
\n
\n \n

Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

***<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Dear Storyboard community, <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

In journalism, a single story can never tell the complete truth. Lives are complicated, memories are hazy, different points of view reveal new or conflicting details. Every story is a simplified narrative to some degree. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

This week’s guest on the Nieman Storyboard podcast, Mallary Tenore Tarpley<\/a>, urges us to look beyond the \u201ctidy narrative.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Her new book, \u201cSlip: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery,\u201d<\/a> is a deeply reported memoir about her diagnosis and treatment for anorexia following the death of her mother when Tarpley was 11 years old. But alongside that personal story \u2014 and Tarpley\u2019s reporting and research about eating disorders, treatment, and recovery \u2014 is a deeper look at illness narratives and how journalists often approach them. Whether for reasons of dramatic tension or space limitations or pressing deadlines, many gloss over \u201cthe messy middle\u201d between a person being sick and \u201cfully recovered.\u201d And what does it even mean to recover? Tarpley encourages writers to lean into nuance:<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
\n
\n
\n \n

As journalists, we don’t necessarily always ask about that middle. We are more interested in the extremes, but it’s in that middle that we find meaning, and it’s in that middle that we can really get clarity around who someone is. Around what strength looks like for them. Around what hardship looks like for them. What resilience looks like.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

\n
\n \n

So I always encourage journalists to think about these questions of how did you get from point A to point B? Or what was that like? Or how do you describe your recovery? Or what were some of the small moments for you that illustrated recovery? <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n\n\n \n

\n
\n \n

Very often we tend to think in more grandiose terms where we say, \u201cWhat was the turning point that led to your recovery?\u201d And for many of us with eating disorders and other mental health struggles, there was not necessarily one big turning point. Oftentimes it is just this slow accumulation of baby steps, but there are moments maybe that were pivotal in some way, shape, or form, and so being able to get a little bit more granular with our questioning and asking, \u201cTell me about a time when you recognized that you made a choice in service of recovery. What did that look like? Share the details of that with me. Walk me through that moment.\u201d And really trying to tighten our questioning and going deep so that we can understand more about the messiness.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Tarpley has written a powerful book encompassing her own story and the stories of many others. For resources including screenings, treatments, and free-to-low-cost support for eating disorders, please visit the National Eating Disorder Association<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

Mallary Tenore Tarpley on writing about eating disorders and navigating \u2018the middle\u2019 in recovery<\/a><\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n
\n
\n
\n \n
\"Mallary<\/a>
Mallary Tenore Tarpley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> \n
\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

The journalist and author reflects on the process of writing, researching, and reporting on her own life for her debut book, \u201cSlip: Life in the Middle of Eating Disorder Recovery.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n

[ Read the story<\/a> ]<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

\n
\n \n\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
\n
\n \n
<\/div>