Famous 5: Marin Cogan
If you don’t receive a tiny letter from Marin Cogan every now and then, you should probably rethink your life choices. She’s an award winning journalist based in DC and has a portfolio filled with some impressive ink. Currently a Contributing Editor at New York Magazine, Marin has also left her mark at GQ, ESPN The Magazine, POLITICO, and National Journal, to name just a few. Her area of expertise ranges from politics and pop culture to reading and recipes – all featured in her must-receive e-newsletter, the Mariner, which I personally give two huge thumbs up.
Here’s our Famous Five interview with Marin Cogan.
1. What’s your go-to remedy when suffering from a little writer’s block?
I take a long walk and listen to a podcast. That’s basically my favorite thing to do. Right now I’m devouring the latest season of You Must Remember This, Karina Longworth’s excellent podcast on the secret and/or forgotten histories of Hollywood’s first century. When I’m blocked, it’s usually due to stress and I find that when I’ve let go of the stress completely, the path forward is pretty obvious. So I walk, or I take a shower – I get all of my best ideas in the shower.
2. Favorite recipe you’ve featured in your newsletters?
It’s a tie between this black bean pumpkin enchilada lasagna and these tequila lime baked tofu tacos with chipotle crema. Shoot. Now I’m hungry.
3. Favorite place you’ve written/sent it from – what were you doing there?
Tough call — I’ve been writing it for about two months now, and I’ve sent it from New York, Pittsburgh, Calgary, Austin, and Camden, Maine — but I think Austin is my favorite, because I worked on it from a little gas station converted into a grocery store. They had the best breakfast tacos!
4. What tweet best fits your current mood?
Everything happens so much
— Horse ebooks (@Horse_ebooks) June 28, 2012
@dcmadness202 @DragonflyJonez pic.twitter.com/3ynitQNmAA
— Franky G (@FrankyG_) September 5, 2015
5. Your turn. Ask yourself a question and answer it:
Whose newsletter would you most like to read?
Part of why I started the newsletter is because my interests have really diversified over the last few years, and I’m writing a lot of longer things that aren’t necessarily about politics. So I wanted to find a way of saying to people: I’m not just about this one thing, I’m also into all of these other things, too, and here’s what I’m reading and thinking about this week. I suspect a lot of journalists are like that, and I think it’s a good thing. I think she’s probably that way, too.
