Maddie Oatman

Maddie Oatman

Research Editor

Maddie worked as a travel guide in Argentina and a teacher at several educational nonprofits in San Francisco before joining Mother Jones. She’s written about media and the arts for The Rumpus. A proud Boulder native, she makes time for mountain climbing, stargazing, and telemark skiing.

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The Art and Enigma of Vivian Maier Come to the Screen

—By

| Sat Feb. 16, 2013 5:06 AM PST

Vivian Maier's massive collection of street photography remained hidden from the public eye until a Chicago realtor named John Maloof stumbled across boxes of her negatives at an auction house in 2007. After amassing more negatives and finally googling her, he learned that she had made her living as a nanny and had died a few days earlier at age 83. She left an oeuvre of intimate glimpses of people caught in everyday moments, as seen in this 2011 Mother Jones collection of her work.

Now, Maloof has joined with Charles Siskel and Submarine Entertainment to produce Finding Vivian Maier, a documentary due out later this year. The film draws on Super-8 footage shot by Maier as well as interviews with friends, family, and neighbors that expose more details of Maier's life and work. Discovering the real Maier is a challenge; as one of her friends put it, "she was a closed person" and also because most people she knew "had no idea she took photographs." About the film, one friend insists Maier "would've hated every minute of it. She would never have let this happen." Yet, says Siskel, "Vivian's story is as powerful as her art" and he hopes the documentary "will bring her the recognition she deserves."

Read more about Maier in Alex Kotlowitz's essay "The Best Street Photographer You've Never Heard Of."

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What's Killing Minnesota's Moose?

—By

| Fri Feb. 8, 2013 4:42 PM PST

Minnesota's iconic moose are in such bad shape that the state called off the 2013 hunting season on Wednesday. The heartiest herd, located in the northeastern region of the state, is down to around 2,700 animals, a 35 percent drop from last year and a startling 65 percent drop since 2008. Though the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources canceled hunting season, it stressed that hunters are not to blame for this worrisome news. "The state's moose population has been in decline for years but never at the precipitous rate documented this winter," said MDNR commissioner Tom Landwehr. "It reaffirms the conservation community's need to better understand why this iconic species of the north is disappearing."

Though the sharp decline has state officials somewhat baffled, many members of the conservation community feel climate change is at fault. Doug Inkley, senior scientist at the National Wildlife Federation, put it this way: "With the high temperatures in the summer, moose seek out shelter rather than feeding. Nutritional status declines, and they become more vulnerable to disease and parasites. It's like a person who smokes is much more vulnerable to other diseases, and that can be associated with mortality."

[Read more in the Blue Marble blog]

Karen Russell's Fantastical World

The "Swamplandia!" author on vampires, python plagues, and nearly winning a Pulitzer.

—By

| Thu Feb. 7, 2013 4:06 AM PST
Karen RussellKaren Russell

Women who morph into furred silkworms enslaved by the Japanese empire; vampires that rely on the "soothing blankness" of lemons to blot out their bloodlust; hoarder seagulls that stash scraps from the future in trees. Such are the strange creatures in Karen Russell's suspenseful new collection, Vampires in the Lemon Grove, which comes out next week.

Russell, 31, first made waves with the short-story collection St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised By Wolves, unleashed in 2006 as she graduated from Columbia's MFA program. Her 2011 novel Swamplandia!, about a family running a threadbare alligator theme park in the Everglades, was a Pulitzer finalist last year (though no book received enough votes to win). And as her new collection hits bookstore shelves, Russell is already hard at work on her next novel, set in the Dust Bowl era. Though she was pretty tight-lipped about it, her story "Proving Up" in Vampires hints at the spooky Americana she's capable of.

In our early morning chat, Russell recalled Flannery O'Connor's reading of Kafka's Metamorphosis: "The truth is not distorted here, but rather a certain distortion is used to get to the truth." O'Connor may as well have been talking about Russell, whose tales flirt with the fantastical, but are rooted in darker realities—loss of innocence, PTSD, all-consuming ambition. Even as she transforms the everyday into a wriggling bestiary, replete with colorful hallucinations and ghosts, her most haunting bits rely on the depiction of human impulses. I asked a "coffee'd up" Russell about the wellspring of her imagination, her swampy backyard, and breaking into the literary treehouse.

Mother Jones: When did you start to think seriously about writing fiction?

Karen Russell: I took a fiction-writing workshop my sophomore year at Northwestern, and I hadn't yet read Junot Díaz or George Saunders, Flannery O'Connor. There was something so attractive about those voices. I heard about an [MFA program], and it just sounded like this magic thing, fairy-tale style—that there was a school you could go to exclusively for the thing you loved. I moved to New York with the derangement of love. I was writing all these terrible stories, but I had never been happier.

[Read the full article]

Quick Reads: "Behind the Kitchen Door" By Saru Jayaraman

—By

| Thu Feb. 7, 2013 4:06 AM PST
book cover

Behind the Kitchen Door

By Saru Jayaraman

CORNELL UNIVERSITY PRESS

In a memorable Portlandia episode, a pretentious couple prods a server for absurd details about the locally sourced chicken on the menu. With all our passion for food sustainability, asks Saru Jayaraman, shouldn't we consider the cooks, runners, and servers who prep our pampered poultry? Jayaraman shows us the dark side of the food industry, which hosts 7 out of the 10 lowest-paid jobs in America, where the federal minimum wage for tipped employees has stood frozen for decades at $2.13 an hour—even as employers pilfer tips, deprive workers of benefits, and allow workplace harassment and prejudice.

 

This review originally appeared in our January/February issue of Mother Jones.

So Glad the "Girls" Are Back

Five twentysomethings discuss Season 2 of Lena Dunham's hit series, "erotic capital," and awkward parties.

—By , , , , and

| Sun Jan. 13, 2013 11:49 AM PST

Amidst a busy week at the Mother Jones San Francisco office, five of us gathered late-night, burritos in hand, to watch a sneak preview of Season 2 of Girls. Despite all being twentysomethings and female, not all of us feel like we can identify with main characters Hannah (Lena Dunham), Marnie (Allison Williams), Jessa (Jemima Kirke), Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet), and the others portrayed in this series about friendship, sex, and ambition in New York City. (Zaineb Mohammed warned us at the start that she hate-watches the show.) Nevertheless, we couldn't let DC-based film critic and infamous naysayer Asawin Suebsaeng be the sole proprieter of MoJo's critical take on Girls. (See his takedown of Season 1, former MoJo fellow Maya Dusenbery's response, and his slightly less acidic takedown of Season 2—though he still considers the show "a crime against humanity." Really, Swin?)

We weren't blown away by the first episode. But sit tight. The series gets better—full of sharp dialogue and humor, awkward intimacy, experimentation with love and drugs, and self-realization or lack thereof—by the fourth episode. Swin thought some of those less glamorous moments came off sleepy: We felt that, even when imperfect, they were thought-provoking—and, at the very least, refreshing. (As Sarah Zhang put it: "Yes, thank you, awkward parties!"). And as you'll see below, the show is fodder for great debate, which in itself makes it worth a view. (Warning: minor spoilers sprinkled throughout).

[Read the full article]

Is Kombucha Really Good for You?
Mon Nov. 22, 2010 3:30 AM PST

Basia Bulat's Northern Exposure
Mon Nov. 1, 2010 3:45 AM PDT

Foggy With a Chance of Increased Unemployment
Mon Oct. 25, 2010 3:03 AM PDT

Pro-Life Dem Driehaus’s Worst Enemy: Other Pro-Lifers
Fri Oct. 22, 2010 3:03 AM PDT

Ken Buck's Woman Problem Just Got Worse
Tue Oct. 12, 2010 11:39 AM PDT

Chris Thile's Punch Brothers at Play
Mon Oct. 11, 2010 4:00 AM PDT

Simon Robson's "Coalition of the Willing"
Fri Oct. 8, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

There's No "I" in "Undocumented Worker"
Wed Sep. 29, 2010 4:22 PM PDT

Three Burner Bands Worth Dusting Off
Mon Sep. 13, 2010 4:00 AM PDT

Taking Down Fox News
Wed Aug. 25, 2010 1:25 PM PDT

A Gay Cadet's Sense of Honor
Tue Aug. 10, 2010 10:53 AM PDT

"12th and Delaware" Shows Where Abortion War is Really Waged
Tue Aug. 3, 2010 1:30 PM PDT

Gangstagrass, and Other Hip Hop Hybrids
Mon Aug. 2, 2010 3:00 AM PDT

Behind Every Mountain Man, Three Harmonizing Women
Mon Jul. 19, 2010 4:00 AM PDT

15 Minutes with Rogue Cellist Ben Sollee
Mon Jun. 28, 2010 4:00 AM PDT

Are Happy Meals Really a "Creepy and Predatory Practice?"
Thu Jun. 24, 2010 12:08 PM PDT

Shining a Light on Guantanamo's Torturers
Tue Jun. 15, 2010 9:29 AM PDT

No Endorsements, No Problem: Boxing Gold Medalist Claressa Shields Keeps Fighting

Back home in Michigan, the Olympian juggles homework, dating—and a strict training schedule.

Fri Mar. 29, 2013 3:01 AM PDT

Photos: Life in Mexico's Fast Lane

Photographer Alejandro Cartagena captures Monterrey commuters from a unique perspective.

Mon Mar. 11, 2013 3:00 AM PDT

10 MoJo Profiles of Fierce Women

Happy International Women's Day. Here are some women worth reading about.

Fri Mar. 8, 2013 4:05 AM PST

Karen Russell's Fantastical World

The "Swamplandia!" author on vampires, python plagues, and nearly winning a Pulitzer.

Thu Feb. 7, 2013 4:06 AM PST

So Glad the "Girls" Are Back

Five twentysomethings discuss Season 2 of Lena Dunham's hit series, "erotic capital," and awkward parties.

Sun Jan. 13, 2013 11:49 AM PST

Video: Top Chef Traci Des Jardins Thinks You Probably Eat Too Much

A classically trained French chef on rethinking portion size, the beauty of small fish, and what to drink over the holidays.

Wed Dec. 26, 2012 4:01 AM PST

Robin Sloan's Low-Tech Triumph

The digital whiz kid on his new novel, "Mr. Penumbra's 24-Hour Bookstore," and how Twitter helped teach him to write.

Wed Nov. 14, 2012 4:03 AM PST

Slideshow: "Enjoy an Ice Cream Cone Shortly Before Lunch"

10 classic ads from the sugar and cereal industries.

Wed Oct. 31, 2012 3:03 AM PDT

A Timeline of Sugar Spin

How the sweets industry won America's heart—and gut.

Wed Oct. 31, 2012 3:03 AM PDT

Some of W. Kamau Bell's Best Jokes Are Black

The star of FX's new, racially charged comedy show "Totally Biased" on his white baby—and how Chris Rock saved him from selling condoms.

July/August 2012 Issue

What's Happening With the Mexican Elections, Explained

As a famously corrupt party returns to power, student protests have gained steam and sparked a vote recount.

Fri Jul. 6, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

Radiolab's Jad Abumrad Tries Something Completely Nuts

What happens when a nerdy science radio show ends up on stage? (Spoiler: dancing eyeballs and shadow puppets!)

July/August 2012 Issue

Why Government Corn Subsidies Don't Make Your Big Gulp Cheap

Nutritionist Marion Nestle and Mother Jones food and ag blogger Tom Philpott answer reader questions.

Mon Jun. 18, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

Soda: Ban it? Nah. Tax it? Yep.

Taxing sugary drinks enough might nudge people to buy fewer Big Gulps.

Mon Jun. 18, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

Buzz Bissinger's Trip

The "Friday Night Lights" author on his new book, Twitter rampages, and raising a disabled son.

May/June 2012 Issue

Map: The Cross-Country Fight Against Coal

The Sierra Club's Beyond Coal campaign seeks to stop new coal plants and shut down existing ones. Our handy map shows you which proposed plants have been blocked, which ones are still progressing, and which ones are already operating.

Mon Apr. 2, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

The Woman Who Skied Antarctica Solo

Adventurer Felicity Aston on her 59 days amid ferocious wind storms, treacherous glaciers, and breathtaking white solitude.

Tue Mar. 13, 2012 3:00 AM PDT

Women Who Use Birth Control Are the 99 Percent

Reality check: Nearly every American woman has used some form of contraception.

Fri Feb. 10, 2012 4:00 AM PST

"Miss Representation" Shows Ugly Side of Women in Media

Director Jennifer Seibel Newsom discusses how far women's portrayal in the media has come. (Hint: not far.)

Thu Oct. 20, 2011 2:30 AM PDT

Michael Ondaatje, Among Thieves

The literary master discusses his fear of vampires, love of mongrels, and penchant for writing about pickpockets.

September/October 2011 Issue

CA Dems to Feds: Hands Off Our Immigrants

California fights back against a federal program that deports crime victims and minor offenders.

Wed Apr. 27, 2011 1:24 PM PDT

10 Reasons We Need Wolves

How wolves fight climate change, and 9 other reasons to protect canis lupus.

Thu Apr. 14, 2011 12:50 PM PDT

5 Scary Religious Refusal Bills

A slew of recent bills would expand the ability to deny services based on personal religious or moral beliefs.

Thu Mar. 31, 2011 3:03 AM PDT

Books: Powering the Dream, To End All Wars

MoJo reviews new nonfiction from Adam Hochschild, Alexis Madrigal, Howard Means, and Hannah Nordhaus.

May/June 2011 Issue

LISTEN: Sarah Vowell's Hawaiian Odyssey (Audio)

The pop historian and This American Life regular uncovers the shocking truth about...the Aloha State.

March/April 2011 Issue

Fatima Bhutto on Pakistan, Egypt, and Middle East Unrest (Audio)

Benazir's niece talks about the Egypt revolution, Pakistan floods, and how her aunt faltered.

Thu Feb. 17, 2011 4:00 AM PST

If You Thought the GOP's "Rape Redefinition" Bill Was Bad...

Check out the new proposal that could allow doctors to refuse to provide any abortion—even one intended to save a woman's life.

Tue Feb. 8, 2011 4:00 AM PST

The Mary Poppins of Raw Kale?

Not far from the foodie capital of San Francisco, a Mission elementary school tastes change.

Tue Dec. 21, 2010 4:00 AM PST

Books: Waiter Rants, Dog Clones, and More Winter Picks

MoJo reviews the latest books by Steve Dublanica, Deb Olin Unferth, Bill Broyles, and John Woestendiek.

January/February 2010 Issue

Mike Birbiglia, Sleepwalking Storyteller

How a sleep disorder turned one dorky guy into a comedy sensation and landed him a movie co-written by Ira Glass.

Fri Dec. 3, 2010 4:00 AM PST

Secure Governor, Insecure Communities

As California's top lawyer, Jerry Brown tolerated a federal anti-immigration witch hunt. What will he do now?

Thu Nov. 4, 2010 3:17 AM PDT

Ellen Page's Greenest Day

The star of Juno, Whip It, and Inception talks permaculture, Bill McKibben, and her latest movie, Super.

Sat Sep. 11, 2010 3:00 AM PDT