My Favorites of 2022

another of those year end list things

One last time I ask that you donate to our December fundraiser for RAINN. We’re close.

It’s time for my second-annual best-of list. As with last year, I can easily say that this past year was better than the one that preceded it. I’m forever grateful for the ability to read and think and write for a living. I recognize what an immense privilege it is, and I will never take it for granted. Thank you.

I’m exhausted just at the thought of trying to choose my favorite piece(s) of my own from the past year, so you’ll just have to choose your own favorite.

Favorite Journalist (or whatever): Ross Barkan

I write a lot. Like, a lot. I’ve been published in a lot of places as a freelancer. And yet I’ve still been blown away by how prolific Ross Barkan, a New York-based journalist and Substacker, has been in 2022. On his own newsletter, in New York magazine, for Crain’s, The New York Times, The Atlantic, The Guardian, The Nation…. I’m proud of my list of credits, but Barkan could retire tomorrow and feel proud of what he accomplished just in the last year. I always admire freelancers who churn them out like they’ll never have another chance to write. Barkan has an encyclopedic knowledge of New York City politics, which is always helpful; I’ve been here six years and have worked hard to learn about state and local politics, but those worlds are so byzantine and complex that you always need a good guide. Barkan wears his left-leaning politics on the sleeve, but isn’t afraid to go after sacred cows. He also has a trait that I always look for in political writers - the capacity to surprise me. I know not everyone is interested in New York politics, but if you are, his newsletter is essential.