True crime podcasts; Amazon gift card giveaway ($200)

This newsletter was sent to everyone on Jim’s email list (3,827) on Friday, Nov. 10, 2017.

Good afternoon from East Tennessee. I hope you’ve had a good week and are looking forward to a great weekend.

Viewing tip: Click the display images link above if you haven’t done so already.

Mystery lovers = Fans of true crime (sometimes)

Crime is aberrant social behavior, and murder is extreme aberrant behavior. Those of us who like mysteries — where murder is often sanitized and stylized — are often fascinated by true crime where murder is brutal, bloody, and sometimes without the logic of a good mystery. And another thing about true crime: it often goes unsolved. The mysteries are real mysteries, without tidy resolutions.

Examination of “true crime” is increasing in popularity on one of the newest media: podcasts. I have been spending a good bit of time lately listening to some of these podcasts. They vary greatly in style, approach, and length. I am going to review some of these over the next few weeks and make some recommendations.

My first recommendation is a series called Sword and Scale. This website and podcast, according to its own description, is about “the dark underworld of crime and the criminal justice system’s response to it.” The folks associated with Sword and Scale have spent a lot of time producing interesting and informative podcasts about serious crimes. One episode I listened to was episode 90. Here’s the description:

When Pulitzer Prize-nominated journalist Claudia Rowe, author of The Spider and The Fly, decided to write to a serial killer, she wasn’t prepared for how it would change her life. In her quest to understand the nature of cruelty, she ended up discovering much more about herself.

It was an hour well spent.

Where did English come from?

Last week I posted a link to a great sub-five-minute video from Open Culture on The Origins of English. It is embedded at the top of the JPROF.com website. I heard from a reader — Brett M., my good friend who lives in Baltimore — who says the English language is one of his favorite topics:

A book written by a layman but nonetheless very thorough is The Adventure of English by Melvyn Bragg. It essentially goes into very exhaustive detail about the same things in that video.

Thanks, Brett. Looking at the origins and uses of English will be a continuing feature of this newsletter.

Finally . . .

Watercolor of the week: Good morning, Chicago

If you know downtown Chicago, you know it to be an architecturally and visually stunning city. I lived there during the summers of 1998 and 1999 when I worked with the news graphics department of the Chicago Tribune. I did a lot of sketching and drawing when I was there, and I have never been able to get it out of my head. Here’s an attempt to capture some of what I felt when I saw the city.

Do not forget the victims of Hurricanes Harvey, Irma, Maria, and Nate. These and many other disasters mean that people need our help. The United Methodist Committee on Relief (UMCOR.org) is my favorite charity. Please make a contribution to yours.Keep reading and have a great weekend.

Jim

Jim Stovall
www.jprof.com

You can connect with Jim on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, and BookBub.

His Amazon author page is where you can find more information about his books.

Last week’s newsletter

Reviews:

Point Spread

Kill the Quarterback

5-star review: This is a top-notch read of investigative journalism. Mitch Sawyer is seeking the why to discover the who killed a college senior, star quarterback Jimmy Chin Lee. Tension rises as the body count climbs. It is a fast paced look at the inner workings within a news room as deadlines loom and the inner thoughts of Mitch as he struggles with life love, and angry cops. The mystery has more twists and turns than a rollercoaster and kept me guessing to the end.

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