Writing Samples
More of Jenn’s writing can be found in her Distractify author profile. Below are some selections she is particularly fond of.
Psychopaths Are Incredibly Difficult to Treat but Not All of Them Are Murderers
The word psycho is tossed around rather lightly in the digital age. An entire spectrum of behavior can be described as psychotic, which somewhat dilutes its actual definition. Film buffs might reference the Alfred Hitchcock movie Psycho, which centers around a man obsessed with his domineering mother and ends up killing women who excite him sexually.
True-Crime Shows "Should Have a Social-Justice Reason for Being Made," Says Director Joe Berlinger
Filmmaker Joe Berlinger is a titan in the true-crime genre. Most people became familiar with his work through 1996's Paradise Lost: The Child Murders at Robin Hood Hills, which pushed the murders of three 8-year-old boys and the unfair imprisonment of three young men into the mainstream. These young men would later be known as the West Memphis Three.
Processing the post-election quagmire through the lens of Wayne’s World
When I was 20 years-old I moved to Los Angeles in January of 2000. I barely scraped by working for a dot com company. Does the youth know what that means? My studio apartment, by MacArthur Park, had a Murphy Bed. At the time I thought a bed that could hide in your wall like a deleted chapter from an Edgar Allen Poe story felt very fancy, as did the french doors that led to a deeply unsafe balcony. I couldn’t afford cable and since the Internet wasn’t the robust nightmare machine it is today I had a television/VCR and one VHS tape of Wayne’s World as my only form of entertainment. Excellent.
DATING TIPS FROM COLD CASE INVESTIGATOR PAUL HOLES
Cold case investigator Paul Holes, the man who caught the Golden State Killer, is a professional people reader. He can pick out a dipshit from a mile away but what I wanted to know is what about the potential dipshit who is sitting across from you at a restaurant.
DREAM JOBS: OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MEDICAL EXAMINER
Bruce Goldfarb is a fun guy. When I initially reached out to him about coming to Maryland’s Office of the Chief Medical Examiner he immediately replied with a joke. I think you have to have a sense of humor to work in a place that is mostly about death.
WE ASKED A CERTIFIED SOMMELIER TO PAIR WINES WITH DEATHROW MEALS
Travis Morningstar is one of the producers for Last Podcast on the Left but more importantly for this adventure, he is a certified sommelier. In his former, non-true crime life, Travis was a wine buyer for different wine shops and was a copywriter for wine businesses. One would think these two paths wouldn’t cross very often but when I wanted to know what wines would pair well with certain deathrow last meals he was the only man for the job.
AMANDA KNOX, A CAT, NO HATS
When I met Amanda at Death Becomes Us NYC, my first thought was, “She’s a little wacky in a way that speaks to me because I myself am strange and unusual,” (shoutout to Beetlejuice). The more I learned about Amanda, whether in conversation or via the ol’ Internet (she likes making hats!), I liked her even more.