A month ago almost to the day I posted an update on my plans for this newsletter after having gone quiet for several weeks.

At that time I had started working on two new investigations. I've published two pieces since then, just not those ones — and now I have a third pulling ahead of them. I've been quiet for a couple weeks again, so I wanted to post another update.

I am continuing to work on those pieces, but new scoops have a way of finding me. You don't always get to write the story you planned — the news cycle has its own demands, and some stories won't wait. The one I am on the verge of releasing (should be this weekend) is time sensitive, and honestly, quite provocative. If it gets the attention it deserves, it is likely going to upset some large institutional players.

I stumbled across it almost two weeks ago, and was certain that someone in the mainstream media would pick it up, but no one has. It turns out my naïveté about what the media will investigate knows no bounds. So I took it up, and it has taken up all of my time since then. Because of the nature of the article I have had to be very careful to source every claim, and I have been working with an editor — who has decades of experience in the news business — to make sure that the article is accessible to readers new to the story.

I am also interviewing sources and experts in the field, so the piece doesn't rest on my voice alone — the back and forth of integrating their words without losing my own has been an adjustment in itself. Not to mention navigating conversations with subjects of the story, who may not be pleased with how they are portrayed.

This process has been… trying, to say the least. I am more of an abstract, high-level thinker, and prone to filling in details from my mind, not realizing they are not on the page. It has been a good learning experience, and it is elevating my journalism skills, which will make it harder for my work to be dismissed. (Don't get me wrong, they will still try, but I'm giving them less ammunition)

Thank you for your patience. 🙏