Independent journalist Justin Glawe began his reporting career in small Midwest newspapers, from the Peoria Journal Star in his hometown of Peoria, Illinois, to the Bemidji Pioneer and then to the Grand Forks Herald in North Dakota.
In a recent What We’re Reading interview, Glawe noted that his time as a reporter in Bemidji was especially formative, particularly his work reporting on Bemidji’s homeless population, which eventually led to community action.
He explained, “The reason that I learned that lesson is because of the response of the community in Bemidji — that people paid attention to it. They took it seriously. I mean, they even went and started the [Nameless Coalition for the Homeless] and there's a shelter now, and that is almost unheard of in other parts of society where we, as journalists, write about and report on serious systemic problems all the time and nothing ever seems to happen.”
Glawe eventually began reporting for more prominent publications like The Guardian, Rolling Stone, The Washington Post, The Daily Beast and Vice, covering some of the country's most violent and controversial stories in the past decade, many of which are chronicled in his new book If I Am Coming to Your Town, Something Terrible Has Happened: The Life and Times of a Domestic War Correspondent.
The book is a visceral and compelling account of the stories in the past decade Glawe reported on, borne out of his need to personally deal with the rising violence and unrest he was witnessing.
He explained, “I was writing it to make sense of what I was seeing over all these years in all of these different places, sort of with the thought that, surely I can't be the only one who's viewing this through this lens.”
If I Am Coming to Your Town, Something Terrible Has Happened also delves into Glawe’s alcohol addiction and recovery, and how the work of covering so many violent events (police killings, Ferguson, Las Vegas massacre, etc.) seemingly influenced and mirrored his alcohol use.
Glawe noted, “I definitely think that I tended to gravitate more towards the darker aspect of American life and the more violent and chaotic events because of my mindset. … I was in active addiction. … I kind of had a more depressed mindset and so that's where my focus went.”
After being sober for almost four years, Glawe has found a balance between continuing to report on tough stories and allowing himself to enjoy bright moments.
He explained, “I've found a really good sort of system for me to continue doing the work that I feel is important, which often involves talking about and thinking about and reading and researching and reporting on some pretty bad stuff, [but then] take a step back from that and walk outside and recognize some of the really good things that there are out there around me.”
If I Am Coming to Your Town, Something Terrible Has Happened: The Life and Times of a Domestic War Correspondent is published by NewSouth Books, an imprint of the University of Georgia Press.
Learn more about Justin Glawe and his reporting on his website.
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