—

I think it’s safe to say I love Kate Bolick. The way a lot of women I know felt about her Atlantic cover on women and marriage is the way I feel about her (several) public remarks on long-form journalism: she’s very subtly, very gently pulling back the curtain on it and revealing just how much it’s driven by competing agendas, bad timing, and thankfully, more good intentions than bad. A part of me wants to say, “Suck it up, no one ever gets enough time, stand behind your work,” but a larger part of me is impressed that she’s thought through more than she was able to write and isn’t afraid to talk about those thoughts. I was super endeared by her list of specifics, too:

To be more specific, if I’d had more time I would have: talked to middle-class single black women rather than just Denean and her friends; incorporated ideas about religion and marriage; worded a few of the “personal” parts a little differently; shown a few more alternative futures and not just the all-female residence; and more gracefully explained what I was trying to get at about marriage and money, so that people couldn’t misinterpret me as saying that I think men aren’t marriageable because they’re broke — in fact I say the opposite, but not well enough.

She’s a writer who doesn’t define herself completely by her published work! Insanity.

This piece could have just as easily been written by Hanna Rosin (yay) or Caitlin Flanagan (groan), and I would bet my life that either of them would have been given near-limitless deadline extensions that Bolick obviously did not receive. The way the Atlantic chose to package Bolick’s story—“In today’s economy, men are falling apart. What that means for sex and marriage”?—isn’t just typical Atlantic bloviating but indicative of a much deeper “editorial agenda” she felt she needed to tow. The beauty of choosing Bolick for this piece (and she makes it clear she was indeed chosen, out of the blue) is the opportunity to showcase a fresh voice; the lament is that she barely sounds confident enough to back up the piece she produced. In the end, I’d chalk up a new female voice at the Atlantic or any of its competitors—especially a new voice on women’s issues—to a win.

It might be relevant to note that I’m currently procrastinating at the starting line of my own marathon of a piece (which may or may not be run entirely in a hamster wheel [at least I’m no longer subject to contracts and kill fees! I cannot decide if that makes it better or worse]).