i published some stuff ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

I had two things published this week and I still haven’t told you. That’s for a few reasons. I’ve got lots of stuff going on personally, which has distracted me from my work. But also I just haven’t really felt like I had anything to say. Which is weird, because I always have something to say. Especially about a story like my latest at Longreads, which was three months of work and took all kinds of weird turns while I was reporting it.

That story is worth your time if you’ve got half an hour this weekend to settle in with it. (Mom, to read the story, click this link). It’s about Jane Rubel, who went up against the most powerful man in Iowa girls’ sports to take down a discriminatory rule that forbid married girls and mothers from playing high school sports. Reporting this took me (and my editor, Matt Giles) down so many rabbit holes. Accusations of game fixing! Alleged hall of fame denials! Tracking down random people who might have attended a girls’ high school basketball game in a small Iowa town in 1972!

Matt probably deserves a co-byline on this tbh, or a reporting credit at the very least. My fact checker, Jason Stavers, was a lifesaver. And this illustration by J.O. Applegate is absolutely gorgeous.

The other story that published this week was my first for the Daily Beast. It was an op-ed about the problematic nature of Kobe Bryant used as the unofficial face of women’s basketball.

(Mom, click here to read it.)

I’ll be on two podcasts on Tuesday, the Longreads podcast and Burn It All Down, to talk about the Jane Rubel story. If podcasts are your thing, keep an eye out for those.

That’s all I’ve got for now; more words another time.