In print, I recently reviewed Go Like Hell: Ford, Ferrari and Their Battle for Speed and Glory at Le Mans, by A.J. Baime.
On the Texas Pages blog, I offered mini-reviews of Art in America, by Ron McLarty, and The Gerbil Farmer's Daughter, by Holly Robinson.
And I attended the Mayborn Literary Nonfiction Conference in Grapevine, which I covered via Twitter. (Sadly, Twitter is no longer displaying the Tweet from the audience member who mistook me for being a member of Ira Glass' "posse.")
Saturday, August 15, 2009
Sunday, May 3, 2009
NEA Arts Journalism fellowship
I recently completed a fellowship with the NEA Arts Institute in Theater and Musical Theater at the University of Southern California's Annenberg School of Journalism. While there, my fellow fellows and I studied with the likes of Dominic Papatola, Robert Christgau and Douglas McLennan. We also had sessions with the likes of Kay Cole, Jack Viertel, Ken Brecher and many more, including John Fleck, who put on a particularly memorable performance.
You can read about my fine group of fellows here.
If you are considering applying to the program, by all means do so. It may change your outlook on the future of journalism. Full details are posted here. Tell Sasha that Mike sent you.
You can read about my fine group of fellows here.
If you are considering applying to the program, by all means do so. It may change your outlook on the future of journalism. Full details are posted here. Tell Sasha that Mike sent you.
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Narrative work
From early 2002 until late 2006, I edited the Sunday features section of The Dallas Morning News. I was fortunate to be surrounded by phenomenal talent -- our staff included a Pulitzer finalist, a Poynter lecturer, a Nieman fellow and many people of equal caliber. The department won a Missouri Lifestyles Award and was ranked among America's top features sections by the American Association of Sunday and Feature Editors.
We all were students of the narrative form, and one of the best pieces I worked on was a four-part series called "Call of the River," about life along the Rio Grande, written by Beatriz Terrazas and photographed by Erich Schlegel.
I also worked with Bryan Woolley on "A Writer Begins," his serial memoir of his early days in journalism in 1950s El Paso.
I worked with talented young writers as well, such as Katharine Goodloe, who spun a narrative about the opening of a Nobu restaurant in Dallas (with contributions from veteran writer Michael Granberry.)
For a period, each week I was editing full-length Sunday features of this nature along with a feature-length profile. (I can't find any of them online still, but will update with links if possible.)
And thanks to a team of great designers and photographers, I also learned a lot about visual journalism. I can't take credit for the award-winning design work and photography that they created. But I'm pleased to have had a role as their enabler.
We all were students of the narrative form, and one of the best pieces I worked on was a four-part series called "Call of the River," about life along the Rio Grande, written by Beatriz Terrazas and photographed by Erich Schlegel.
I also worked with Bryan Woolley on "A Writer Begins," his serial memoir of his early days in journalism in 1950s El Paso.
I worked with talented young writers as well, such as Katharine Goodloe, who spun a narrative about the opening of a Nobu restaurant in Dallas (with contributions from veteran writer Michael Granberry.)
For a period, each week I was editing full-length Sunday features of this nature along with a feature-length profile. (I can't find any of them online still, but will update with links if possible.)
And thanks to a team of great designers and photographers, I also learned a lot about visual journalism. I can't take credit for the award-winning design work and photography that they created. But I'm pleased to have had a role as their enabler.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
Getting personal
Over the years, now and then, I've contributed a handful of first-person columns for the features pages. Each one seemed like a good idea at the time. Among the hard-hitting topics I have tackled:
How to travel like a Dad.
Halloween horrors in Dallas.
A newcomers' guide to the Dallas-Fort Worth area (written before the widespread use of GPS, but possibly still valid.)
Probably the one that got the most reaction ran on New Year's Eve 2002. Apparently, a lot of married couples feel this way. I'm reprinting it below.
How to travel like a Dad.
Halloween horrors in Dallas.
A newcomers' guide to the Dallas-Fort Worth area (written before the widespread use of GPS, but possibly still valid.)
Probably the one that got the most reaction ran on New Year's Eve 2002. Apparently, a lot of married couples feel this way. I'm reprinting it below.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Welcome to the Michael Merschel archive
Welcome. If you've found this blog, you are most likely interested in Michael Merschel's work as a journalist. So we'll be keeping things professional here. Probably.
Mike's most current work can be viewed on the Texas Pages blog of The Dallas Morning News, where Mike is an assistant arts editor who handles books coverage. He recently began overseeing classical music and theater coverage as well.
His primary job is not writing. But some of his (relatively) recent work samples would include:
A review of Hotter Than That by Krin Gabbard.
An interview with William Shatner about his autobiography, Up Till Now. (Bonus material was posted on the Texas Pages blog.)
A review of American Nerd by Benjamin Nugent.
A review of The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour, by Andrei Cherny. (UPDATE: Link broken.)
A combined review of Michael Palin's Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years and Steve Martin's Born Standing Up.
Mike also did live coverage of Book Expo America in 2007 (where he interviewed Roy Blount Jr.) and 2008 (some live blogging can be read here) and covered the Texas Book Festival in 2006, 2007 (where he interviewed Shalom Auslander and editors from The Onion) and 2008 (more blog posts are here.)
His most widely reprinted story was when he broke news of Nan Talese's comments about Oprah Winfrey in 2007.
You can read more about Mike at his LinkedIn profile. Current contact information should be there as well.
We'll update this blog with more writing as Mike produces it. We might also dig some material out of the past. Thanks for your interest.
Mike's most current work can be viewed on the Texas Pages blog of The Dallas Morning News, where Mike is an assistant arts editor who handles books coverage. He recently began overseeing classical music and theater coverage as well.
His primary job is not writing. But some of his (relatively) recent work samples would include:
A review of Hotter Than That by Krin Gabbard.
An interview with William Shatner about his autobiography, Up Till Now. (Bonus material was posted on the Texas Pages blog.)
A review of American Nerd by Benjamin Nugent.
A review of The Candy Bombers: The Untold Story of the Berlin Airlift and America's Finest Hour, by Andrei Cherny. (UPDATE: Link broken.)
A combined review of Michael Palin's Diaries 1969-1979: The Python Years and Steve Martin's Born Standing Up.
Mike also did live coverage of Book Expo America in 2007 (where he interviewed Roy Blount Jr.) and 2008 (some live blogging can be read here) and covered the Texas Book Festival in 2006, 2007 (where he interviewed Shalom Auslander and editors from The Onion) and 2008 (more blog posts are here.)
His most widely reprinted story was when he broke news of Nan Talese's comments about Oprah Winfrey in 2007.
You can read more about Mike at his LinkedIn profile. Current contact information should be there as well.
We'll update this blog with more writing as Mike produces it. We might also dig some material out of the past. Thanks for your interest.
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