{"id":16324,"date":"2025-10-31T13:31:22","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:31:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/?p=16324"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:52:21","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T13:52:21","slug":"storytelling-with-humility-and-teeth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2025\/10\/31\/storytelling-with-humility-and-teeth\/","title":{"rendered":"Storytelling with humility (and teeth)"},"content":{"rendered":" \n
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Sign up for the Nieman Storyboard newsletter,<\/em><\/a> delivered every Friday in your inbox.<\/em><\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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

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

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This week we have a new installment of \u201cBehind the Scenes\u201d<\/a> from Storyboard contributor and author<\/a> Tricia Romano<\/a>. She spoke with The New Yorker\u2019s Burkhard Bilger about his recent feature story, \u201cMolar City,\u201d<\/a> which took him to the border town of Los Algodones, Mexico (population: 5,474), where many Americans are seeking dental care that is too expensive in the U.S. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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The story initially was a tough sell to editors, Bilger says, but through humor and his own personal dental history he transports readers to a place that captures the failures of the American healthcare system. <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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What I particularly appreciate is that Bilger admits to his own prejudices and preconceived notions of what he expected to find on his trip to Mexico. Through research and reporting \u2014 cold interviewing strangers in hotels, reading books on the paleontology of teeth \u2014 a more authentic story starts to take shape, with Bilger weaving different threads into a whole. As he told Storyboard in 2018<\/a>, \u201cI need to know that [a story idea] has at least three or four compelling threads running through it: an interesting character with a good backstory, a topic with a fascinating history, and a timely argument or two to justify my covering it now.\u201d <\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Bilger, a staff writer at The New Yorker since 2001, describes his work as \u201ca throwback\u201d to an earlier time. \u201cI think I’m kind of more in the mold of Joseph Mitchell<\/a>, or one of the older music writers who would find odd corners of American culture and write about them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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For more lessons from Bilger’s work, check out the Storyboard archive, with journalistic breakdowns of noodling for catfish<\/a> and meeting a Parisian plumassier<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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Behind the Scenes: Burkhard Bilger weaves humor and history into a story about teeth for The New Yorker <\/a><\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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\"Burkhard<\/a>
Burkhard Bilger<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n<\/div> \n
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\u201cWhen I was in Los Algodones, I spent a lot of time just going around to people and stopping them while they’re playing slot machines and while they’re playing blackjack and or sitting on the bench waiting for their appointment. Or in the hotel talking to guests who are getting their teeth done. That was actually, to be honest, a wonderful experience. Cold calling, cold interviewing people is tricky. But in this case, everybody wanted to talk about what they were doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n

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

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Links of note <\/h2>\n\n <\/div>\n <\/div>\n \n
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