Isabel Fattal
@IsabelFattal
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Senior editor for newsletters @theatlantic . Previously @nplusonemag , @tabletmag | Wesleyan University '17
Washington, DC
Joined May 2014
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Did you ever notice that bad-guy Scar in The Lion King has a British accent, while good-guy Mufasa doesn't? The sociolinguists I spoke with about language trends in cartoons say that's part of a broader pattern. My latest:
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I leave every meeting with
@RadioFreeTom
forced to confront the limits of my own knowledge. Brutal stuff.
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“Loyalty to the Constitution has become an unaffordable political luxury.”
Such a smart essay from Tom in today’s Daily:
“It seems that Haley is just another Republican politician who is willing to make deals with the MAGA base if doing so is the price of remaining in public life,”
@RadioFreeTom
writes:
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Very proud to have worked with
@RadioFreeTom
on this one. He closed out a great week at the Daily with an exploration of elitism that’s every bit as thoughtful as it is biting:
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I spent the past 24 hours diving deeply into the history of anti-Semitic violence in America. It was a difficult place to spend time, but I hope it's a useful resource in light of yesterday's horrors.
The Pittsburgh synagogue massacre may be the deadliest attack against Jews in American history—but it’s nowhere near the first.
@IsabelFattal
recounts some of the many violent attacks targeting Jews in recent history:
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A helpful explainer from
@RadioFreeTom
on our current “eyes in the sky” situation:
"As is so often the case in national-security affairs, this is a time for patience and analysis rather than intemperance and panic,"
@RadioFreeTom
writes about the objects shot down over North America:
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Great
@loracorkelley
newsletter on Jimmy Buffett, “chiller laureate of Key West,” ft. a P.S from fellow Buffett fan
@RadioFreeTom
:
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I guess it’s time for the tweet: Thrilled to say that I’m now an associate editor for newsletters
@TheAtlantic
! Grateful to keep working with the best staff on some exciting things.
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"Textbooks could start right off by saying: We don’t know everything—isn’t that cool?"
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@RadioFreeTom
and I always have fun working on the Daily, but today reached new heights. ft. a hilarious assist from
@sam_fentress
:
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The University of Miami will be home to the country's first endowed chair for the study of atheism. I wrote about nonbelief in the U.S., what it means, and how it should be studied (and then
@petexryan
gave it some amazing art):
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"This is the way language evolves—not in an orderly line, but as a messy argument. And that is a blessing—words deserve regular interrogation."
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From this week’s newsletter, on why exactly humans are awkward:
The science behind what makes people awkward, tips for managing the holiday-party embarrassments that might lie ahead, and—perhaps most important—reasons to embrace the most graceless parts of yourself.
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This piece is important and fascinating. (Also, the first paragraph is gorgeous and
@SigalSamuel
is just such a beautiful writer.)
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"I had to stop and read that line over and over again. I’d never read a sentence like that one before, one that seemed to encompass an entire world."
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Today is my four-year anniversary
@TheAtlantic
! So grateful to do this work every day, but even more grateful for my colleagues, who are the best people ever.
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I called
@Yair_Rosenberg
to talk about those tweets, and about how anti-Semitism—one of the oldest conspiracy theories in the world—endures.
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"Americans are deeply religious people—and atheists are no exception. Western Europeans are deeply secular people—and Christians are no exception."
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This week’s edition is all about how we remember, and how we forget.
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Some news! This is going to be fun.
Absolutely giddy to share the happy news that the endlessly brilliant and talented
@IsabelFattal
is now leading our newsletters team! Our readers are in for such a treat. Congrats, Isabel!
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Come make newsletters with us!
Really incredible opportunity at
@TheAtlantic
for a recent graduate. Join our fantastic newsletters team as an associate editor (NY or DC) 60-80K. Bonus: you get to work with The Great
@IsabelFattal
!
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Really important piece about the way students are living with a growing sense of inevitability about school shootings:
Such shootings are rare, but each new one, each breaking-news alert announcing several more children who have been killed, can trigger widespread fear.
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"What do you do if it’s just too late to do the right thing—if the trolley has already careened past you and the switch, unflipped, is useless under your hand?"
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The latest Wonder Reader is about why human beings eat together, and how our rituals of food make us human. A little pre-Thanksgiving treat:
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“As a kindergarten teacher I would have no hesitation to lay my life down for one of my students. My family struggles knowing that statement is true."
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Really proud to have worked with
@RadioFreeTom
on this one. He’s in fine form here, guiding us all through the gravity of the moment without bombast or cynicism. Give it a read.
Trump is an enemy of the United States. We can no longer indulge the pretense that supporting him is just another political choice or that agreeing with his attacks on our democracy is just a difference of opinion.
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Wrote tonight’s Daily on what it feels like for the internet to become less human, with the help of some very smart work from
@cwarzel
and
@kathrynfiona
:
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Fun news: I’m heading up a new newsletter
@TheAtlantic
, launching tomorrow! It’s called The Wonder Reader—a weekly Saturday escape where we’ll recommend delightful and wonder-inducing stories.
Sign up now to get tomorrow’s (spooky, of course) edition:
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"To know that you are not alone in trying to walk alongside people has been really important." This week's Friendship File is so lovely:
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“I pulled the scooter over, grabbed the goose, and everyone was just like: What’s going on?” This story is the best:
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Tis the season for one of my favorites by
@maggiesmithpoet
, which I recommended in
@TheAtlantic
2 years ago:
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The Atlantic is one of the greatest institutions in American journalism—and a place I love so dearly, with colleagues who have become family. I’m joining
@theatlunion
to make sure our institution continues to grow and thrive for generations to come.
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“It’s both protocol and also a little bit of drama,”
@GrahamDavidA
told me when I called him to chat about the dramatic flair of the Mar-a-Lago photo and how the DOJ is co-opting Trump’s own methods.
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Speaking of great stories, don’t miss the piece leading today’s edition. It completely changed the way I think about the act of remembering.
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Chatted with the great
@russellberman
today about what the Kansas results might mean—and what they might not mean—for both the midterms and abortion legislation across the country:
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I wanted to know what kids' backpacks looked like around the world, so I curated this photo essay.
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"The ladies ... have survived much harder times."
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I was really struck by this phrase, "sustained outrage," used by National School Walkout organizers. I spoke with experts on youth activism about what makes today's outrage different from what we've seen throughout American history—and what it has the potential to do.
The protests are a means of "sustaining outrage"—outrage that started with protests at the Florida State Capitol in the days after the shooting and it is set to continue with upcoming marches and demonstrations —
@IsabelFattal
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i must disclose that this was me, in a moment of deep gratitude at having found my people
a recent slack msg from a colleague on which i much cosign. sorry,
@TheAtlantic
peeps. at least y'all were musical-theater stars.
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A bit of Wednesday joy: I got to write about the cute quirks of kid art—and to collect some child masterpieces.
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Over a dozen people were killed in a high-school shooting in Parkland, Florida, today. I reported on the complexities of compiling school-shooting data and why clear and useful data is important.
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Today’s Daily newsletter is an explainer from me about what’s going on with the tech industry, and what it portends for other industries:
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We’re hiring an associate newsletter editor! Come join my brilliant team (I’m biased but it’s true!) and make newsletters with us.
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So excited and very grateful to have worked on the launch of The Atlantic's Family section—go read the smart, important pieces we have up today! And stay tuned for much more.
Hi everyone! So excited to finally share my new project I've been working on: The Atlantic's FAMILY section
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I could look at this photo of tiny baby feet all day. But also scroll down and read
@aliaemily
's great analysis of 2017's most popular baby names.
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Had a great time talking with
@MarkLeibovich
(in real life!) about the case for a primary challenge to Joe Biden, inertia in politics, and more:
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In today's edition of our new app: my breakdown of three things our editors are thinking about re. tonight's debate (fourth thing, not mentioned:
@mimbsy
needs to charge her phone)
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I wrote last week on how activism can help with the process of grief, and how grief can fuel powerful activism:
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Speaking as a slightly biased person who writes this feed ... do check it out! We pore over the magazine's archives, new and old, and give you a daily collection of big ideas, long reads, fun facts, and more to keep you company throughout the day. (Yes, it is the best job.)
If you're looking for a morning (or midday) Twitter replacement, I've really enjoyed the new
@TheAtlantic
app Today feed
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"hahaha worth a shot" (i never tweet but this is too good)
The most recent text you sent is now your 2020 presidential campaign slogan.
Reply your results.
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Speaking with people who attended high school before and after Columbine, I started to understand how the shooting left its mark not just on the landscape of school safety, but also on all aspects of teen culture, from the little things to the big things. Read their stories:
For students who attended high school in the years after the Columbine shooting, the tragedy colored their school experience with nervous jokes, new fears, and new routines,
@isabelfattal
writes:
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Yes! Keep an eye out for more great work by this wonderful colleague who lets me nerd out about the history of mysticism with her by the water cooler every day.
I'm so excited to have been selected for the new Public Theologies of Technology and Presence initiative—this means I'll be doing more reporting for
@TheAtlantic
on the intersection of tech + religion! Thank you
@ShinIBS
&
@HLuceFdn
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"And then you understand that control is a delusion—that all you can do is what Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle never does, which is to love the people your children actually are, instead of the people you want them to be."
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I spoke with the toddler expert Alicia Lieberman about the empathy of little kids. Read until the end for the cutest toddler story—there are even harmonicas involved.
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I've learned so much from
@JuliaLMarcus
's pieces about what public health that accounts for the realities of human nature looks like. Her latest:
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Subscribe here to get this newsletter in your inbox on Saturday mornings: . Written by yours truly and includes snippets of
@LoriGottlieb1
's fantastic column, & other great family-related stuff!
Loving this newsletter featuring all
@theatlantic
pieces I want to read this week (and not just because it includes
#DearTherapist
) via
@TheAtlantic
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Had a fun conversation with
@XochitltheG
(who I have the pleasure of editing
@TheAtlantic
) about Brooklyn, pizza, and more. Xochitl’s so good at articulating the sounds, tastes, and feelings of growing up in a city.
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@RadioFreeTom
The pressure campaign begins … let it be known
@RadioFreeTom
only tried once before today! Now my time is running out …
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Thanks for having me! It was great getting to talk through this fascinating and complicated topic.
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Apply to work with the fabulous newsletter team
@TheAtlantic
!!
I'm hiring a chief writer for
@TheAtlantic
's soon-to-be-relaunched flagship daily newsletter!
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Lovely story of how 400 broken school instruments lived to play again:
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For this weekend’s Wonder Reader, I collected a bunch of great
@TheAtlantic
writing on how human conversation really works, from writers like Ed Yong and Julie Beck:
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This fantastic and really important project was announced yesterday. Highly recommend ordering a copy!
Today, we're announcing KING, a commemorative issue of our magazine exploring the life and legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. It features Jesmyn Ward, LaToya Ruby Frazier, Jesse Williams, John Legend, Bernice King, Kara Walker, John Lewis, and more.
#KingLegacy
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I’ve dreamt of starting this newsletter since I joined the team.
My favorite Atlantic articles are the ones that teach you something random and wonderful you didn’t know you needed to know—and now we have a place to showcase all those stories!
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This is a fantastic and important piece—a behemoth in the very best sense of the word.
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This is an interesting history of the ideas that animate anti-higher-ed sentiment (and a great example of the uses of theory/intellectual history for contextualizing current debates).
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Grateful to
@aliaemily
for helping me understand the nuances of a place often dismissed or belittled by other parts of the U.S.
For 38 minutes, I felt a combination of helplessness & absolute dread bc I thought a nuclear missile was heading for my hometown. w/ the help of
@ahofschneider
, I reported on what that moment was like for those on the islands and why it was so significant:
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In which a higher-ed futurist offers a bleak view of what's next for higher ed:
Less of a bubble that will suddenly pop, and more of a long, slow slide, and we may already be on the way down:
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The first of those things:
1/11 Today we’re introducing nine new newsletters from The Atlantic, from exciting voices you may already know and love. These newsletters are a benefit of subscription, but anyone can sign up for free during a trial period, which runs until November 30:
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Love when my roomie is the go-to source for things I've been curious about! This piece is thorough, smart, and really useful.
including Raleigh's and Indianapolis' surprising potential incentive packages; Virginia-related conspiracy theories; and a pic of Carrie Underwood
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Gave myself a little memory test in this week’s Wonder Reader, and it did not go well.
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Fascinating piece by the fabulous
@BelleTimsit
on the overhaul of the high-stakes college-admission system in Japan, where late winter is often called "examination hell":
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So glad I wasn't the only one thinking about religion and universalism during Star Wars: "The Last Jedi reminds viewers that even a fictional secular religion will likely reflect the spiritual economy of its time."
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This is a fascinating dialogue, and a great example of the meeting points between religion and science.
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I kept
@dlberes
on the phone for a long time today chatting about AI existentialism, what regulation looks like, and much more. Here’s a bit of our convo in tonight’s newsletter:
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So grateful to have been able to talk to a bunch of high-school students for this piece about their different visions for the future of the Parkland-inspired movement.
"A movement that first framed itself as a call to action from young people to adults is now just as much a dialogue among different factions of the country’s youth."
@IsabelFattal
's incisive analysis on where the Parkland-inspired campaign goes from here:
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I loved the opportunity to dig through our past education coverage and curate this list of notable moments from 2017:
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Making my (more vocal) Twitter return just in time for this Q&A I did w
@philnel
on racism in kids' books:
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"The idea of an Ali Smith universe, like the shared world Marvel superheroes inhabit, is an enticing one," writes
@sophieGG
. Taking this opportunity to recommend Ali Smith to all who haven't read her yet—she is remarkable.
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@mervatim
@wesleyan_u
Congratulations, Merve, from an alum and admirer! Makes me wish I could hop back over for a few more years at Wes :)
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Really important piece about a disturbing trend.
Women in prison take home economics, while men take carpentry—and it's been that way for decades, reports
@AdamHSays
:
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@YasmeenSerhan
oh yes i believe that. i am very passionately on the side of
@megangarber
on this
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Yair’s work on this topic is so clarifying. As a Jewish journalist I’ve spent years thinking about this stuff, and I still had so much to learn from him! Please do give it a read.
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Today’s Wonder Reader newsletter is a special one to me, about Judy Blume and the vulnerability of adolescence:
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Today’s Wonder Reader features an Atlantic essay from 1931 that made me laugh over and over again.
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"It would be easier to chase after fat globs of water than tiny beads."— a delightfully true statement from this great
@marinakoren
piece on day-to-day life in space:
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This conversation about conversations is meta in the best way possible.
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"People do not want to admit wrongdoing in America, Mr. Stevenson said, because they expect only punishment." Important discussion about culpability and collective memory in this piece about the new lynching memorial:
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