ABSTRACT
This chapter talks about the personal story of Joel Anderson, a senior national writer at Buzz Feed News. He writes news and narrative stories about the role of race, justice, and sports in American life — from reporting from the streets of Ferguson and Baltimore during protests, to profiling professional athletes and public figures. In his 15-year career he's worked at the Associated Press, the Tampa Bay Times, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and the Shreveport Times, covering beats including cops, courts, city hall, and sports from the high school to professional levels. He's been a contributor to ESPN The Magazine. His 2014 piece, "The Two Michael Sams", is featured in The Best American Sports writing 2015. As a child, Mr. Hicks bounced between his father's home in New Orleans and his mother's in Douglas, Georgia, a dusty town of 12,000 between Atlanta and Jacksonville. As a teenager, he gravitated toward the small-town life and its restless streets.
