{"id":2196,"date":"2021-10-01T12:00:12","date_gmt":"2021-10-01T12:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2021\/10\/01\/cutting-through-numbing-numbers-with-electrified-writing\/"},"modified":"2024-03-05T16:50:52","modified_gmt":"2024-03-05T16:50:52","slug":"cutting-through-numbing-numbers-with-electrified-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2021\/10\/01\/cutting-through-numbing-numbers-with-electrified-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"Cutting through numbing numbers with electrified writing"},"content":{"rendered":"    \n    <div class=\"  core-block\">\n        <div class=\"block block--core block--core-html mb-5   max-w-screen-full mx-auto\">\n            <span class=\"legacy-dropcap\">F<\/span>or many Americans, COVID news has joined the thrum of everyday life. But Charles Pierce warned readers in a recent newsletter the crisis shouldn\u2019t be allowed to be part of the wallpaper. It should shriek like a siren \u2014 or a scream so loud it can\u2019t be ignored.<br \/><br \/><figure id=\"attachment_166666\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-166666\" style=\"width: 191px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CharlesPPierce.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-166666\" src=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/CharlesPPierce.jpg\" alt=\"Charles P. Pierce, author and Esquire politics blogger\" width=\"191\" height=\"246\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-166666\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Charles P. Pierce<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/><br \/>In \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/link.esquire.com\/view\/590ca69f1acbcd5a7f8b4569eytrs.4le\/3503aba7\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">We\u2019re Numb to the Numbers and Deaf to History<\/a>,\u201d the Esquire <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CharlesPPierce?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">columnist<\/a> explores how we\u2019ve worked the pandemic into \u201cthe habits of our daily being,\u201d from the numbing forward march of the death toll to the grim sameness of news segments. For evidence, he connects discouraging dots from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.influenzaarchive.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Influenza Archive<\/a> at the University of Michigan, which chronicles the history of the deadly 1918 flu, to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.al.com\/news\/2021\/09\/alabama-saw-more-deaths-in-2020-than-any-year-in-history.html?source=nl&amp;utm_source=nl_esq&amp;utm_medium=email&amp;date=092521&amp;utm_campaign=nl25139512&amp;list=CP\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrenching reporting at AL.com<\/a>, which chronicles the current crisis there. His point: we have grown inured to stats that show we\u2019ve learned less-than-nothing in the last 100 years.<br \/><br \/>But the column accomplishes the opposite of the numbing he decries. It jolts.<br \/><br \/>The effect of the overall piece is electric. And Pierce is, of course, was writing about a highly charged subject.<br \/><br \/>But his newsletter is constructed with building blocks journalists can employ to enliven any subject, from a budget story to a lopsided basketball game.<br \/><ul><br \/> \t<li><strong>Repetition with a twist <\/strong><\/li><br \/><\/ul><br \/>It\u2019s no shock Pierce uses the phrase \u201cnumb to the numbers\u201d in the column; after all, it\u2019s in the headline.<br \/><br \/>But in addition to the phrase\u2019s internal repetition \u2014 \u201cnumb\u201d folding so neatly into \u201cnumbers\u201d \u2014 he also uses it several times throughout, with each use accompanied by more evidence and gaining more power. He also changes its placement within paragraphs. The first use is the lede; the second emphatically ends a paragraph; the third and fourth are in back-to-back sentences, allowing Pierce to chain one theme (numb to the numbers) to another (deaf to our history).<br \/><br \/>In an <a href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/stories\/a-rocketship-column-about-the-romance-and-reality-of-mans-first-steps-on-the-moon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">earlier interview<\/a> with Storyboard, Pierce said, \u201cI write with echoes \u2014 refrains, actually \u2014 a lot. Maybe it\u2019s how the musical muse came down to me from my mom, who used to play piano in saloons. I try not to overdo it. It\u2019s one of those things I keep an eye on. Sometimes, it really doesn\u2019t work.\u201d<br \/><br \/>As writing coach <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/RoyPeterClark?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Roy Peter Clark<\/a> pointed out in a <a href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/stories\/a-tribute-to-the-beauty-and-power-of-work-by-novelist-toni-morrison\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">tribute to Toni Morrison<\/a>: \u201cWhen you repeat a word, phrase, or other element of language or narrative, make sure it is worth repeating.\u201d<br \/><br \/>Clark also writes, \u201cRepetition craves variation.\u201d That\u2019s worth keeping in mind at the end of Pierce\u2019s column, when he remixes its signature phrase: \u201cOver 104 years, we should have known better. Numbers should never have made us numb.\u201d<br \/><br \/>It\u2019s a small twist; the rearranging of a few words. But it provides a final surprise and a lesson in changing a pattern to make it stick.<br \/><ul><br \/> \t<li><strong>Trust readers<\/strong><\/li><br \/><\/ul><br \/>Pierce compares COVID statistics that ring out like \u201cAngelus bells over city traffic.\u201d He references the \u201cbutcher\u2019s bill.\u201d He dares to name the roll of COVID stories seem to sort themselves into categories: \u201cthe Exhausted Nurses story, the No Beds Available story, and, most maddening of all, the Radio Talk Show Host Who Railed Against Vaccines and Masks and Died of COVID story.\u201d<br \/><br \/>This is a journalist who trusts readers to understand cultural references, pay attention to the world around them and generally keep up with his pace.<br \/><br \/>He earns some latitude because he\u2019s writing a newsletter for subscribers; his audience has opted in. But while journalists should always guard against becoming opaque, it\u2019s more fun to catch up with a writer than always be a few steps ahead.<br \/><ul><br \/> \t<li><strong>Ground news in history <\/strong><\/li><br \/><\/ul><br \/>Pierce recently celebrated the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esquire.com\/news-politics\/politics\/a37727222\/charles-p-pierce-politics-blog-10-year-anniversary\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">10th anniversary of his blog<\/a>, and over the decade his readers have come to expect two things from him: a robust use of the word \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.merriam-webster.com\/dictionary\/shebeen\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">shebeen<\/a>,\u201d and a passion for history. A post on gerrymandering <a href=\"https:\/\/www.esquire.com\/news-politics\/politics\/a37625563\/ohio-redistricting-map-fight-michigan-new-york\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">invokes Elbridge Gerry<\/a>, the eccentric politician the term was named for. A piece on the moon landing, <a href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/stories\/a-rocketship-column-about-the-romance-and-reality-of-mans-first-steps-on-the-moon\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explored here<\/a>, mused on what\u2019s changed and hasn\u2019t in the decades since.<br \/><br \/>Now, in a few paragraphs of his COVID newsletter, Pierce brings in a biting piece of history: a premature celebration by The Boston Globe at the apparent end of the 1918 flu pandemic \u2014which proved not to be the ending at all. Pierce writes, \u201cThe amusement and mirth (referred to in the Globe story) had a short shelf-lilfe. In the fall of 1918, nearly 5,000 Bostonians died from the resurgent flu.\u201d In another portion, he references a similar sequence in Birmingham, Alabama, from 104 years ago.<br \/><br \/>Marking these historical echoes gives the column further context and richness; it\u2019s always a good idea, if time and resources are available, to search for such echoes so they can sound in your stories, too.<br \/><br \/>***<br \/><br \/><em><strong>Trevor Pyle<\/strong> is a staff writer at the Skagit Valley Herald, a daily newspaper north of Seattle. A longtime Washington state resident, he has covered education, news and sports in his career.<\/em>\n        <\/div>\n    <\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>or many Americans, COVID news has joined the thrum of everyday life. But Charles Pierce warned readers in a recent newsletter the crisis shouldn\u2019t be allowed to be part of the wallpaper. It should shriek like a siren \u2014 or a scream so loud it can\u2019t be ignored. In \u201cWe\u2019re Numb to the Numbers and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8939,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[],"topics":[],"authors":[11],"issue":[],"class_list":["post-2196","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-essays-on-craft","authors-trevor-pyle"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Cutting through numbing numbers with electrified writing - Nieman Storyboard<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/niemanstoryboard.org\/2021\/10\/01\/cutting-through-numbing-numbers-with-electrified-writing\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cutting through numbing numbers with electrified writing - Nieman Storyboard\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"or many Americans, COVID news has joined the thrum of everyday life. 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