In Case You Missed It: April 2016
Some of the best stuff on Medium, month by month
Presidential politics
With the presidential primaries at a fever pitch, it was a busy month in politics: Carly Fiorina announced that she was joining Senator Ted Cruz’s ticket as the vice-presidential nominee, to which he responded in kind. Hillary Clinton’s campaign manager, Robby Mook, had strong words about the Democratic primaries, while Clinton also received an endorsement from America Ferrera. And even T. Boone Pickens waded into the election.
Elsewhere in government, Cory Booker reflected on his meeting with Supreme Court nominee Merrick Garland. The Treasury Department announced new U.S. currency — placing Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill — in an open letter from Secretary Lew (which they trumpeted on the department’s website).
Read on for much more about politics on Medium.
New tools for publishers
We launched new custom tools for publishers and a revenue beta, with partners including Pacific Standard, Electric Literature, The Bold Italic, and others. These publishers officially migrated their websites — including their extensive archives — to Medium, on which they will publish exclusively from now on.
Hollywood publishers migrate to Medium
Franklin Leonard’s The Black List and Women and Hollywood were pioneers in moving their sites entirely to the platform.
Individual voices also expressed themselves. Bachelor producer elan gale started using Medium for his creative output — personal essays, short stories, comedic pieces — while Holly Madison began blogging here. And Brian Rosenworcel of guster contemplated the band’s connection with its fans.
Women in tech set up shop
A powerhouse group of women in tech who have banded together as investors, #Angels, are sharing stories about the field and their investments. Founding member and former Twitter executive Chloe Sladden wrote about a gathering of female founders that the group convened. Her fellow members and publication editors are Twitter’s Vijaya Gadde, Jessica Verrilli, and Jana Messerschmidt; Slack’s April Underwood; and former Twitter executive Katie Jacobs Stanton.
Also helming publications are venture capitalist and prolific blogger Mark Suster and Greylock Partners, both of whom abandoned their standalone sites for Medium.
Big business
Executives shared news about their latest projects: Apple VP Lisa P. Jackson revealed a collaboration with the Conservation Fund to protect the nation’s forests. Former GE and NBC executive and cofounder of Autism Speakers Bob Wright explained how Google is using data to help shape the future of autism.
The future of media
Verge cofounder Joshua Topolsky wrote a widely read piece about the future of the media business that generated nearly 500 responses, including from Rebecca Searles, Wolfgang Blau, Danny Sullivan, Mark Glaser, John Borthwick, and Evan Smith. Mic cofounder Chris Altchek shared an internal memo on a similar topic. And media publishers Frederic Filloux (Monday Note) and John Battelle (NewCo) made the move to Medium.
Arianna Huffington explained her decision to join Uber’s board, while Glenn Beck wrote an open letter to Megyn Kelly (which was really directed at Joe Scarborough).
1927 Yankees
ESPN launched an ambitious project, The Diary of Myles Thomas, that brings the 1927 Yankees to life. Follow the publication for daily updates.
Bestselling books
Jon Krakauer revisited his bestseller Into the Wild, publishing an update about how Chris McCandless died. On a similar note, debut author Hope Jahren went deep on seeds in an excerpt from her memoir, Lab Girl.
Eric Ries conducted a Q&A with Steve Case about the latter’s book, The Third Wave. Gayle Tzemach Lemmon wrote about how women figure in storytelling about war.
Conversations of impact
On the occasion of Acumen’s 15th anniversary, founder Jacqueline Novogratz shared some of her recent thinking. She described the traits of moral leaders, to which IDEO.org’s Jocelyn Wyatt (jocelynw) and Jonathan Haidt responded, and advocated for changing the narrative of poverty, to which Seth Godin responded.
To commemorate an anniversary of a different kind, journalist Joshua Hammer visited Nigeria one year after Boko Haram kidnapped the Chibok girls.
