Writer, Photographer, Bacon Lover, Anxious | Bylines: NY Times, Rolling Stone, WSJ, ESPN, Sports Illustrated, Parade, and more | www.scottwrites.com | facebook.com/scottwrites | scott@scottneumyer.com
Should I be giving my little girl a bigger dose of reality about the pandemic?
It’s been more than seven months since New Jersey went into a near-total lockdown to keep the spread of the novel coronavirus at bay, and my 4-year-old daughter Autumn still asks me multiple times every day, “Where are we going today, Daddy?”
“We’re going to stay home and play today,” I reply most days, as gently as I can manage.
She’s old enough to know, but not quite understand, that we’re probably not going anywhere “fun,” yet she still continues to ask. Like the relentless and hopeful kid...
I Told the World We'd Raise an Only Child. I Was Wrong.
I Told the World We'd Raise an Only Child. I Was Wr...
Time Is An Illusion: ‘Adventure Time,’ My Daughter, and Me
We found Adventure Time several seasons in. When the groundbreaking series, created by Pendleton Ward, premiered in 2010, my daughter Skylar was only one year old. At that point, the only shows she watched religiously were Sesame Street, Wonder Pets, and Baby Einstein. One-year-olds aren’t usually thinking about the intricacies of animation, emotional storylines, and nuanced cultural references. They just want to see pretty colors and hear a lot of singing.
“Time is an illusion
That helps thi...
I Am Royce White: Living and Working with Anxiety Disorder
I am Royce White.
I am not 6’ 8. I can barely grow a beard, much less one of the epic varieties that White often sports. I’ve never been named “Mr. Basketball” in Minneso...
Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Dr. Keisha N. Blain Talk 400 Years of Black History in America
There will likely be more than a million new books published worldwide in the year 2021, but perhaps none will carry the same import and power of Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019. Edited by two of the brightest minds in all of literature and historical studies today, Dr. Ibram X. Kendi and Dr. Keisha N. Blain, the massive tome takes a community approach to telling the stories of Black history for the past four hundred years. Not only is the book deserving ...
In ‘Concrete Rose,’ Angie Thomas Revisits a Familiar World
After the incredible success of her debut novel, The Hate U Give, and the 2019 follow-up, On the Come Up, Angie Thomas could have written just about any story she wanted. Toss in the 2018 critically-acclaimed film adaptation of her first novel, featuring an all-star cast including Amandla Stenberg, Russell Hornsby, Regina Hall, Issa Rae, Anthony Mackie, and Common, and the literary superstar could have taken her career in, quite literally, any direction she desired. What Thomas decided to do,...
Kiese Laymon Is Betting On Himself — And It’s Paying Off
Kiese Laymon greets me on Zoom in his signature black hoodie and a red and green cap with an “M” emblazoned across the front. I immediately thought it might be something signifying one of the local sports teams and representing his Jackson, Mississippi roots. It turns out, however, Laymon’s hat is all the more fitting of his immense heart and undeniable character: It’s actually the official Mexico World Baseball Team cap.
“I started wearing it,” he later tells me via DM, “when they were doing...
Three perspectives on addiction and recovery during COVID-19
The early days of the COVID-19 were, for many, an isolating, anxiety-filled, confusing time. But these three New Englanders faced an added challenge: confronting their addictions and staying sober. Here, they share their stories of how the pandemic affected their recovery.
Jessica Lahey uses her experience (and her pen) to help others
“I was raised by an alcoholic, have a parent who was raised by an alcoholic, and so it goes and so it goes back through our family tree,” says Jessica Lahey, th...
Author Pamela N. Harris on ‘When You Look Like Us’ and Writing About Tough Topics for Teens
Hang around with writers for long enough and you’re bound to hear the age-old advice “write what you know,” at least a few times. It’s a tried and true bit of wisdom that works simply because it helps young writers feel comfortable putting the stories that they understand, and that resonate with them, on the page. It’s a gateway for burgeoning writers to have a stake in their work, put pen to paper, and tell their story in their own way. Can it be limiting advice as well? Absolutely, but used...
With ‘Dandelion,’ Gabbie Hanna Finally Gets All the Way Real
Gabbie Hanna knows the spotlight that’s shining on her is about to get even brighter. The last time the social media sensation released a book, 2017’s Adultolescence, the internet fired back hard. Not only did she unfairly catch flack for simply putting her heart on the line, albeit in coy and sometimes jarring ways, but she even became a meme. A monstrous creation of her “haters” aimed squarely at the fame and fortune that those very social media consumers helped create.
With the release of ...
Karen M. McManus Talks ‘The Cousins’ and Secret Keeping in the Age of Social Media
If you’ve read any of Karen M. McManus’s novels, you already know that she is quite adept at keeping secrets. Her twisting young adult mysteries often hinge on plucky characters who either must keep their own secrets, expose someone else’s secrets, or dig and dig until they get to the very root of some mysterious unknown. It is, quite simply, the element that puts the “thrill” in the bestselling author’s thrillers, but it is also the rich characterization and spot-on dialogue that keeps her r...
‘Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman’ Has The Prescription To Cure Your Ills
Maybe it’s my penchant for watching shows like Little House on the Prairie and The Waltons (the latter of which I recently finished re-watching from beginning to end), or maybe it’s just the streaming algorithm gods shining down on me, but when I realized a few weeks ago that Dr. Quinn: Medicine Woman‘s entire six season run was available to stream on Amazon Prime, I knew exactly what I’d be watching for the foreseeable future.
'Full House' to the 'Underground' Slave Railroad: One Black Actress' Journey
Jurnee Smollet-Bell has appeared in some of the most well-loved series of the last decade, now she's starring in WGN America's new dramatic thriller about the underground railroad. Smollet-Bell talks to Broadly about diversity, empowerment, and the Tanners.
Is Hype Surrounding Odell Beckham Jr. Reaching a Breaking Point?
New York Giants' Odell Beckham Jr. is everywhere. Enough already...
Thinstagram: Inside the Terrifying World of Instagram's Eating Disorder Community
Thinstagram: Inside the Terrifying World of Instagram's Eating Disorder Community from The Magazine on Medium