Tag: Creative Nonfiction

Read “In Texas, a tale of two cities” on Medium

On By HarrisonIn Travel, WritingsLeave a comment

Working from home today? Tired of reading about COVID-19?

Maybe you’ll read about Texas. Last week, I got the chance to spend time in San Antonio and Austin, TX during the 2020 AWP Conference (which, of course, was marred by the then-dawning novel coronavirus pandemic).

During my travels, what I learned was this: If San Antonio offers a glimpse of Texas’ past, Austin might just yet be a glimpse of its future.

Check out my new travel piece on the divergent trajectories of San Antonio and Austin, TX, from my Medium blog.

Read: “Biden in Reno: ‘Trump pursued a personal political vendetta against me'”

On By HarrisonIn News, WritingsLeave a comment

On Wednesday, October 2, 2019, former vice president Joe Biden visited Reno and immediately set about addressing Trump’s false claims in the wake of the rapidly mushrooming Ukraine scandal. Read my essay in Medium, the fourth post in my Reno Election 2020 politics series. 

Read: “Amidst the specter of white nationalism, Reno feels the Bern”

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On Friday the 13th, a day after the third 2019 Democratic debate, Bernie Sanders visited UNR, a campus with a checkered history of white nationalist activity.

You can read my take on the proceedings, the second in my series of creative nonfiction blog posts on presidential candidates visiting Reno, on Medium.

Thanks for reading! Follow my Medium profile for more essays on politics, movies, and storytelling.

Read “Breaking My Nose” in Nassau Weekly 40th Anniversary Issue

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This week, The Nassau Weekly, a weekly newspaper at Princeton University, published an issue honoring its 40th anniversary. The Nass was founded in 1979 by three students, including David Remnick, current editor of The New Yorker. I became a contributor to the Nass in my senior year, and I’m glad it was part of my undergraduate experience.

I’m pleased to have an essay published in this issue, concerning a particular running accident I experienced as a freshman member of the Princeton Running Club in 2013. Though I suffered a severe injury, the event was infused with a humorous irony which made it quite revealing of human nature. Thanks to the ‘Nass’ for letting me share my story, available at this link.

Read “The Gathering Silence” in Anthroposphere

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Why is climate change so hard to write about?

Half a century ago, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring catalyzed the budding environmental movement. Since then, most environmental communicators, particularly those dealing with climate change, have followed the rhetorical model of Silent Spring. 

But Silent Spring is a terrible model for talking about climate change. In my essay for Anthroposphere: The Oxford Climate Review, I explain why that is—and what might be necessary to change the way we talk about climate change.

Available in print for purchase on Anthroposphere’s web site, and now available online at this link.

Screen Shot 2018-11-29 at 2.23.19 PM
Cover of Anthroposphere, Fall 2018 Issue. Courtesy Oxford Climate Society.

Many thanks to the editors from The Oxford Climate Society at Oxford University for making this article possible.

Read “The elusive star of Vergina” on Medium

On By HarrisonIn News, Travel, Writings1 Comment

Last June, I had the opportunity to visit Vergina, a small village in Northern Greece that is home to the tomb of Philip II, Alexander the Great’s father. It was a tremendous experience, full of the power and splendor of ancient Macedonia. In terms of the difficulty in navigating Greece’s public transit options, however, it amounted to a modern odyssey. The perfect exp

To read my travelogue of my visit to Vergina, full of awe, frustration, and some witty observations, check it out on Medium:

“The elusive star of Vergina: To visit the tomb of Alexander the Great’s father, a modern odyssey”

More summer travel memoirs forthcoming on Medium. If you’re looking for a hint—next up will be along the lines of “Coming into the country with ‘Coming into the Country’.”

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Photo of fields of Vergina by Harrison Blackman.

Read “The ‘First’ Winter Olympics: How Chamonix 1924 iced out a rival Nordic competition” on Medium

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The Olympic Games.

Out of all international sporting events, those three words possess the most fanfare. They evoke tradition, history—and the symbolic flame.

But if the Olympics are inspired from an ancient Greek tradition, then how did the Winter Games—featuring hockey, skating and curling—come to be?

The answer is complicated, and it’s the subject of my latest essay on Medium: “The ‘First’ Winter Olympics: How Chamonix 1924 iced out a rival Nordic competition.” In it, you can find out about the origins of the Olympics, the Olympics’ early rivalry with the Nordic Games, and of course, the ‘first’ Winter Games.

To read more of my stories on Medium, please look at my Medium profile. You can also see an extensive list of my published stories on the “clips” page.

As always, thanks for reading.

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Image: Poster for 1901 Nordic Games. (Author unknown [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)

Read “The Museum of the Bible is an intellectual travesty” on Medium

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The Museum of the Bible is Washington, D.C.’s newest museum. Behind the glittering exterior, however, is the troubling and controversial narrative that the museum promotes.

To save you the trouble, I visited the Museum of the Bible for myself. You can vicariously experience my somewhat alarming visit by reading my new opinion essay on Medium. In it, I take you through the full museum experience, highlighting the problematic assumptions and strange editorial choices at every turn. Thanks for reading!

Public domain image courtesy Pixabay. All rights reserved.