Longreads Best of 2012: Nicholas Jackson

Nicholas Jackson is the digital editorial director for Outside magazine.

尼古拉斯·杰克逊 (Nicholas Jackson) 是《Outside》杂志的数字编辑总监。

A former associate editor at The Atlantic, he has also worked for Slate,Texas Monthly, Encyclopaedia Britannica, and other publications.

作为《大西洋月刊》的前副主编，他还曾在《Slate》、《德克萨斯月刊》、《大英百科全书》和其他出版物工作。

Best Argument for the Magazine”The Innocent Man, Part One” (Pamela Colloff, Texas Monthly)”The Innocent Man, Part Two” (Pamela Colloff, Texas Monthly)

杂志最佳论据“无辜者，第一部分”（帕梅拉·科洛夫，德克萨斯月刊）“无辜者，第二部分”（帕梅拉·科洛夫，德克萨斯月刊）

I was going to give this two-parter from the always-great Pamela Colloff (seriously, go back through her 15-year archive at Texas Monthly for compelling narratives on everything from quinceañeras to school prayer to a piece on David Koresh and the 1993 Branch Davidian raid that should serve as a model for all future oral history projects) the award for best crime story, but it’s so much more than that.

我原本打算将最佳犯罪故事奖授予这部由永远伟大的帕梅拉·科洛夫（Pamela Colloff）（说真的，回顾一下她在《德克萨斯月刊》15年的档案中发现的令人信服的叙述，从成人礼到学校祈祷，再到关于大卫·科雷什和1993年大卫教分支突袭的文章，这应该成为所有未来口述历史项目的典范）的最佳犯罪故事奖，但它的意义远不止于此。

The tale of Michael Morton, who spent 25 years wrongfully imprisoned for brutally murdering his wife, has been told before, in newspapers and on television.

迈克尔·莫顿 (Michael Morton) 因残忍谋杀妻子而被错误监禁 25 年，他的故事以前曾在报纸和电视上流传过。

But it has never been told like this.

但从来没有这样说过。

Over two installments across two issues—who does that anymore?—Colloff slowly reveals the cold details and intimate vignettes that only months of hard reporting can uncover, keeping the reader hanging on to each sentence.

科洛夫在两期的两期文章中慢慢地揭示了只有几个月的硬报道才能揭示的冷酷细节和亲密的小插曲，让读者牢牢抓住每句话。

You already know how this story ends; you’ve read it before.

你已经知道这个故事的结局；你以前读过。

And that might make you wonder—but only for a split second—why it was assigned and pursued.

这可能会让你想知道——但只是一瞬间——为什么它被指派和追捕。

For the handful of big magazines left, this is as compelling an argument you can make for continued existence: only with hundreds of interviews, weeks of travel, and many late nights can you craft something this complete and this strong.

对于仅存的几家大型杂志来说，这是一个令人信服的论据，可以让你继续存在：只有经过数百次采访、几周的旅行和许多个深夜，你才能制作出如此完整和如此强大的东西。

It’s a space most publications can’t play in; it’s prohibitively expensive—and a gamble—to invest the necessary resources.

这是大多数出版物无法涉足的领域。投入必要的资源成本高昂，而且是一场赌博。

You may be able to tell Morton’s story in book form, but you wouldn’t have the tightness and intensity (just try putting this one down) that Colloff’s story has, even at something like 30,000 words.

你也许可以以书本的形式讲述莫顿的故事，但你不会像科洛夫的故事那样紧凑和强烈（试着把这个写下来），即使是大约 30,000 字的故事。

And you wouldn’t want to lose her for a year or two anyway; we’re all anxiously awaiting her next piece.

无论如何，你也不想在一两年内失去她；我们都在焦急地等待她的下一篇作品。

Best Crime Story of the Year”The Truck Stop Killer” (Vanessa Veselka, GQ)

年度最佳犯罪故事《卡车站杀手》（Vanessa Veselka，《GQ》）

Who is Vanessa Veselka?

凡妮莎·维塞尔卡是谁？

A self-described “teenage runaway, expatriate, union organizer, and student of paleontology,” she’s relatively new to the magazine world.

她自称“青少年逃亡者、外籍人士、工会组织者和古生物学学生”，对杂志界来说相对较新。

(Her first novel, Zazen, came out just last year—and won the 2012 PEN/Robert W.

（她的第一部小说《坐禅》去年刚刚出版，并荣获 2012 年笔会/罗伯特·W.

Bingham prize for fiction.) But she’s spent years building up a lifetime of experiences that, while many of us may not be able to directly relate to (and would never hope to), we all want to hear about.

宾厄姆小说奖。）但她花了数年时间积累了一生的经历，虽然我们中的许多人可能无法直接联系（也永远不会希望），但我们都想听到这些经历。

This, her first piece for GQ, takes you back to the summer of 1985, when Veselka hitched a ride with a stranger who may have been Robert Ben Rhoades, the sadistic killer who has admitted to killing three people, including a 14-year-old girl in Illinois, and is currently serving life sentences.

这是她为 GQ 创作的第一部作品，带你回到 1985 年的夏天，当时 Veselka 搭上了一个陌生人的便车，这个陌生人可能是罗伯特·本·罗兹 (Robert Ben Rhoades)，这位虐待狂杀手承认在伊利诺伊州杀害了三人，其中包括一名 14 岁女孩，目前正在服无期徒刑。

Best Profile of the Year”The Honor System” (Chris Jones, Esquire)

年度最佳人物简介《荣誉系统》（Chris Jones，Esquire）

Chris Jones, who made a stink on Twitter (he’s infamous for making stinks of all kinds on Twitter) when his excellent profile of Roger Ebert wasn’t named a finalist for a National Magazine Award a couple of years ago, must really be bummed to learn that the American Society of Magazine Editors, the awards’ governing body, has killed the category entirely this year.

几年前，克里斯·琼斯 (Chris Jones) 对罗杰·艾伯特 (Roger Ebert) 的精彩简介未能入围国家杂志奖决赛，因此在 Twitter 上引起了轩然大波（他因在 Twitter 上发出各种恶言恶语而臭名昭著）。当得知该奖项的管理机构美国杂志编辑协会今年彻底扼杀了该类别时，克里斯·琼斯一定会非常沮丧。

I’ve had some public clashes with the guy—he can turn your mood cloudy with 140 characters or less—but on this I do commiserate, because “The Honor System,” his profile of Teller (you know him as the silent one from Vegas superstar magic duo Penn & Teller), would have finally brought home that statue of which he was robbed.

我和这个人发生过一些公开的冲突——他可以用 140 个或更少的字符让你的情绪变得阴沉——但对此我确实表示同情，因为“荣誉系统”，他对泰勒的简介（你知道他是维加斯超级巨星魔术二人组佩恩和泰勒的沉默者），最终会把他被抢的雕像带回家。

And rightfully so.

这是理所当然的。

This story, which revolves around Teller’s attempts—legal and otherwise—to put an end to trick theft, a commonplace practice (who knew?) in that community, will leave you believing in magic.

这个故事围绕泰勒试图制止欺骗行为（无论是合法的还是其他方式）的故事展开，欺骗行为在那个社区是一种常见的行为（谁知道呢？），这会让你相信魔法。

Best Reason to Never Skip a Service Package Again”Daddy: My Father’s Last Words” (Mark Warren, Esquire)

永远不再跳过服务包的最佳理由“爸爸：我父亲的遗言”（马克·沃伦，Esquire）

Magazines are filled with service content: How to do this, when to do that.

杂志上充斥着服务内容：如何做这个，何时做那个。

Readers love it, no matter what they tell you.

读者喜欢它，无论他们告诉你什么。

That’s why every single month Cosmopolitan is able to convince its readers that there are 100 new things you must know about how to please your man.

这就是为什么《Cosmopolitan》每个月都能让读者相信，关于如何取悦你的男人，你必须了解 100 件新事情。

And why Men’s Health‘s website isn’t really much about health at all, but about lists and checklists and charts (most of them having to do with sex).

为什么《男性健康》的网站根本不是关于健康的，而是关于列表、清单和图表（其中大部分与性有关）。

Esquire‘s Father’s Day package was packed with similarly light content: how to plan for a visit from your now-adult kids, what to get dad on that special day, etc. But tucked between those graphics and croutons (the term some of the lady mags use to refer to those bite-size bits of content) was a knock-you-on-your-ass piece from the magazine’s long-time executive editor, Mark Warren, on the long and trying relationship he had (we all have) with dad.

《Esquire》的父亲节套餐也充满了类似的轻松内容：如何计划已成年的孩子的来访，在那个特殊的日子给爸爸买什么，等等。但在这些图形和油煎面包块（一些女性杂志用来指那些一口大小的内容的术语）之间，是该杂志的长期执行主编马克·沃伦（Mark Warren）的一篇令人震惊的文章，讲述了他与我们之间长期而艰难的关系（我们都有）和爸爸。

Best Technology Story of the Year ”When the Nerds Go Marching In” (Alexis Madrigal, The Atlantic)

年度最佳科技故事《当书呆子进军时》（Alexis Madrigal，《大西洋月刊》）

He’s been called the first social media president and he’s even done an Ask Me Anything on Reddit.

他被称为第一位社交媒体总裁，甚至在 Reddit 上做了“Ask Me Anything”。

You know all about Barack Obama’s Internet prowess from the 2008 campaign: his ability to get young people to follow his every word on Twitter and donate in small amounts—but by the millions—to his election fund.

你从 2008 年的竞选活动中就了解了巴拉克·奥巴马 (Barack Obama) 在互联网上的实力：他有能力让年轻人关注他在 Twitter 上的每一句话，并向他的选举基金捐款数百万美元。

The presence of Chris Hughes, a former Mark Zuckerberg roommate and a founder of Facebook, during that first cycle solidified this position for Obama.

马克·扎克伯格前室友、Facebook 创始人克里斯·休斯 (Chris Hughes) 在第一个周期中的出现巩固了奥巴马的这一地位。

(That he was running against a 72-year-old white dude from Arizona didn’t hurt).

（他的对手是一位来自亚利桑那州的 72 岁白人，这并没有伤害到他）。

But there’s a whole lot of work that goes on behind the scenes.

但幕后还有很多工作要做。

In “When the Nerds Go Marching In,” Madrigal, a senior editor and lead technology writer for The Atlantic, pulls back the curtain, introducing you to Harper Reed, Dylan Richard, and Mark Trammell, Obama’s dream team of engineers, and makes you wish you would have sat at the smart table every once in a while in high school.

在《当书呆子们进军时》中，《大西洋月刊》的高级编辑兼首席技术作家马德里加尔拉开了帷幕，向你介绍了哈珀·里德、迪伦·理查德和马克·特拉梅尔，他们是奥巴马的梦想工程师团队，让你希望自己在高中时时不时坐在智能桌子旁。

Best Story About Child Development of the Year”What’s So Bad About a Boy Who Wants to Wear a Dress?” (Ruth Padawer, The New York Times Magazine)

年度最佳儿童发展故事“一个想穿裙子的男孩有什么不好？” （露丝·帕达沃，《纽约时报》杂志）

Best Story I Thought I Would Never Like”What Does a Conductor Do?” (Justin Davidson, New York)

我认为我永远不会喜欢的最佳故事“指挥是做什么的？” （贾斯汀·戴维森，纽约）

If, like me, you’ve never really appreciated classical music (and statistics show that you are, in fact, like me—at least when it comes to Mozart), you’ll probably never feel compelled to click on that little link up there.

如果，像我一样，你从来没有真正欣赏过古典音乐（统计数据显示，事实上，你和我一样——至少在莫扎特方面），你可能永远不会觉得有必要点击那里的那个小链接。

But I have an obsession with Adam Moss’ New York magazine, which is certainly the best weekly currently being produced today, and I dogear my way through a stack that slowly grows as new issues arrive until I’ve read every story and every page.

但我对亚当·莫斯（Adam Moss）的《纽约》杂志很着迷，这无疑是目前正在制作的最好的周刊，我在一堆随着新问题的到来而慢慢增长的杂志中找到了自己的方式，直到我读完每个故事和每一页。

That’s how I came to read classical music and architecture critic Justin Davidson’s first-person feature story on stepping up to the podium to lead an orchestra on his own.

这就是我如何阅读古典音乐和建筑评论家贾斯汀·戴维森（Justin Davidson）的第一人称专题故事，讲述他独自登上讲台领导一支管弦乐队的故事。

You may not have the same compulsions I do—this is where we differ—but trust me on this one.

你可能没有和我一样的强迫症——这就是我们的不同之处——但在这一点上请相信我。

Best Adventure Story of the Year”Four Confirmed Dead in Two Days on Everest” (Grayson Schaffer, Outside)

年度最佳冒险故事《珠穆朗玛峰两天内有四人确认死亡》（格雷森·谢弗，《Outside》）

Earlier this year, we sent senior editor Grayson Schaffer to Everest Base Camp for a climbing season that turned out to be one of the deadliest in history.

今年早些时候，我们派高级编辑格雷森·谢弗 (Grayson Schaffer) 前往珠穆朗玛峰大本营进行登山季节，结果证明这是历史上最致命的登山季节之一。

For six weeks, he reported from 17,000 feet while body after body fell (10, by the time the season came to a close) as a record number of climbers attempted to summit the world’s tallest peak.

在六个星期的时间里，他从 17,000 英尺的高度进行报道，不断有人坠落（到登山季结束时已有 10 人坠落），试图登顶世界最高峰的登山者数量创下了纪录。

Everest, over the years, has become something of a sideshow, with sham outfitters promising to take anyone with a fat checkbook to the top, regardless of experience or ability.

多年来，珠穆朗玛峰已经成为一种余兴节目，虚假的装备商承诺将任何拥有丰厚支票簿的人带到顶峰，无论经验或能力如何。

But it remains a powerful symbol, and as long as we desire a challenge (or just an escape from day to day drudgery), it’ll continue to lure people in.

但它仍然是一个强大的象征，只要我们渴望挑战（或者只是摆脱日复一日的苦差事），它就会继续吸引人们。

Best New Writer Discovery of the Year”Riccardo Tisci: Designer of the Year” (Molly Young, GQ)

年度最佳新人发现奖《Riccardo Tisci：年度设计师》（Molly Young，GQ）

A little bit of post-read Googling (and messages from a couple of Twitter followers) quickly alerted me to the fact that Molly Young, with past pieces in New York, Elle, and The Believer, among others, isn’t all that new to the game.

读后的一些谷歌搜索（以及来自几个推特粉丝的消息）很快让我意识到，莫莉·杨（Molly Young）过去在《纽约》、《Elle》和《信徒》等杂志上发表过文章，对这个游戏来说并不是那么新鲜。

But I had somehow never recognized her byline before.

但不知何故，我以前从未认出她的署名。

After reading her profile of Riccardo Tisci, the Italian fashion designer who currently serves as the creative director of Givenchy (“Across from me a nucleus of attendants has formed around Amar’e Stoudemire, thanks less to his fame (there are better celebrities here) than to his height, which gives him a reassuring lighthouse quality.”), I’ll make sure to never miss it again.

读完她对现任纪梵希创意总监的意大利时装设计师里卡多·提西 (Riccardo Tisci) 的简介后（“在我对面，阿玛雷·斯塔德迈尔周围已经形成了一群追随者的核心，这不是因为他的名气（这里有更好的名人），而是因为他的身高，这给了他一种令人放心的灯塔品质。”），我一定不会再错过它。

Best Trainwreck of the Year”In Conversation: Tina Brown” (Michael Kinsley, New York)

年度最佳火车残骸“对话：蒂娜·布朗”（迈克尔·金斯利，纽约）

I was going to select a piece from Newsweek for this honor, given that this is the last year the publication will technically qualify (it’ll morph into a new product, Newsweek Global, when it transitions to online-only next year), but it hasn’t published anything this year that could crack my top 10.

我本来打算从《新闻周刊》中选择一篇文章来获得这一荣誉，因为这是该出版物在技术上符合资格的最后一年（当它明年转变为在线版时，它将演变成一个新产品《新闻周刊全球》），但今年它还没有发表任何可以跻身我的前十名的文章。

What does, though, is the interview between Newsweek‘s top editor, Tina Brown, and Michael Kinsley that ran in New York.

然而，真正重要的是《新闻周刊》首席编辑蒂娜·布朗和迈克尔·金斯利在纽约进行的采访。

It’s not great in any traditional sense—after every page you’re left wondering when Kinsley will ask this question or that question, and he never does—but it’s compelling from the first question to the last because of the oversize roles both subjects have played in our modern media.

从任何传统意义上来说，这都不是很好——读完每一页，你都会想知道金斯利什么时候会问这个问题或那个问题，而他从来没有这样做——但从第一个问题到最后一个问题都很引人注目，因为这两个主题在我们的现代媒体中扮演着巨大的角色。

Read more guest picks from Longreads Best of 2012.

阅读 Longreads 2012 年度最佳嘉宾精选。