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Doug Mack on Muck Rack

Doug Mack

Minneapolis
As seen in: The New York Times, TIME, SFGate, Slate, Lonely Planet, Newsday, South Florida Sun Sentinel, Literary Hub, Belt Magazine
Covers:  Travel, food, history, design, culture, various topics relating to Americana beyond mythology.
Doesn't Cover: Breaking news.
bsky.app/profile/douglasmack.bsky.social // Book: The Not-Quite States of America // Agreeably nerdy food history newsletter: snackstack.net // He/him
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The Communities That Disappear When Restaurants Close

The Communities That Disappear When Restaurants Close

The Counter — Local restaurants can serve as a vital "third place" for people to gather, away from their homes and workplaces. When these spots shutter, the loss is keenly felt.
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Interpreting America at the Minsk Book Fair

Interpreting America at the Minsk Book Fair

Literary Hub — In early 2020, just before the Covid-19 pandemic spread around the world, I traveled to Belarus to represent the USA at the Minsk International Book Fair. This long story is my dispatch, covering everything from the meaning of diners to the parallels between diplomacy and travel writing to the cultural questions I got but couldn't quite answer. With a cameo by the KGB.
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Why are journalists always visiting diners in Trump country? | The Counter

Why are journalists always visiting diners in Trump country? | The Counter

The Counter — The "Rust Belt Diner" genre of journalism isn't new. But it has changed since 2016-underscoring the hardening of symbolic lines between an mythic "Real America" and the rest of the nation.
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People in U.S. Territories Can't Vote in This Election-but Here's What They Have to Tell the Next...

People in U.S. Territories Can't Vote in This Election-but Here's What They Have to Tell the Next...

Slate — More than 3.5 million people live in the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa. They don't have much political power at the federal level, but that doesn't mean they don't have opinions. I spoke to residents of each territory to find out what local issues they'd want a future POTUS to address.
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What It Means to Miss the Minnesota State Fair - The Statesider

What It Means to Miss the Minnesota State Fair - The Statesider

The Statesider — Fair superfan Doug Mack reflects on the loss of a singular event where entertainment and state pride collide and the biggest celebrities are carved out of butter.
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The wild history of the Memphis Pyramid - Lonely Planet

The wild history of the Memphis Pyramid - Lonely Planet

Lonely Planet — The Memphis Pyramid was always going to be a big deal. That was the point. But...things got weird.
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I went to a real Minneapolis diner to talk Trump, election season cliché of 'Midwest diners' | Ci...

I went to a real Minneapolis diner to talk Trump, election season cliché of 'Midwest diners' | Ci...

City Pages — Reporting live from a real (and stereotype-defying) Midwest Diner near a Trump rally.
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So long, sticks!: The Minnesota State Fair foods they are a-changin' | City Pages

So long, sticks!: The Minnesota State Fair foods they are a-changin' | City Pages

City Pages — On the changing nature of State Fair foods.
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Minneapolis by Segway

Minneapolis by Segway

Belt Magazine — One day, I decided to become a Segway tour guide on the Minneapolis riverfront. I needed the money. I needed the fresh air. I needed to get out of my comfort zone. And showing complete strangers around my beloved city from the perch of our era's most ridiculed mode of transportation checked all the boxes. [Personal essay.]
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Six Months Since Hurricane Maria, It's Time for the U.S. to Have a Conversation About Its Territo...

Six Months Since Hurricane Maria, It's Time for the U.S. to Have a Conversation About Its Territo...

Slate — Essay about the many ways the U.S. territories are left of the national conversation and the importance of understanding them beyond headlines of hardship.
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Bock of Ages | The Science of Spirits - Beer

Bock of Ages | The Science of Spirits - Beer

Southwest: The Magazine — Many beers have quirky origin stories, but the ones Travis Rupp brews come with epics that stretch on for centuries.
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The Racist Supreme Court Cases That Cemented Puerto Rico's Second-Class Status

The Racist Supreme Court Cases That Cemented Puerto Rico's Second-Class Status

Slate — Examination of the Insular Cases and other legal matters relating to the U.S. territories (published shortly after Hurricane Maria).
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Guam Is Suddenly in the News. But What Is It Like to Travel There?

Guam Is Suddenly in the News. But What Is It Like to Travel There?

The New York Times — On a nub-like point on the west coast of Guam stands a monument built as the Statue of Liberty's Pacific counterpart. The Latte of Freedom, which opened in 2010, is an 80-foot-tall concrete structure, shaped like a mushroom with an upturned top.
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Jeff Sessions' Hawaii Comment Was a Throwback to American Imperialism

Jeff Sessions' Hawaii Comment Was a Throwback to American Imperialism

Time Magazine — Sometimes, it’s hard to tell what year the Trump Administration thinks it is. Last week, Attorney General Jeff Sessions expressed amazement that “a judge sitting on an island in the Pacific” could block President Donald Trump’s latest travel ban. It seemed he was stuck somewhere pre-1959, before that far-off land, which most of us just call Hawaii, became a state.
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The More Things Change

The More Things Change

Southwest: The Magazine — On parenting as a Millennial. [Personal essay.}
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Go Your Own Way

Go Your Own Way

The Morning News — Why travel guidebooks deserve a place in the literary canon. Notable selection for Best American Travel Writing and Best American Essays.
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The Real Me

The Real Me

The Morning News — The internet is an unrelenting enabler of our flaws and an unforgiving archive of them—so should you google your new love interest, or hold off? And what if they google you first? [Personal essay.]
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Copenhagen on Two Wheels

Copenhagen on Two Wheels

Newsday — Shortly into my bike tour of Copenhagen, it became evident why our guide, Mike, wore a retina-burning chartreuse T-shirt. It was a beacon, necessary for spotting him in the sea of bicycles that pulse through the streets of the Danish capital. This is a city where bikes reign supreme.
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State Fairs in the Heartland

State Fairs in the Heartland

Newsday — Reported story on the Minnesota, Iowa, and Texas State Fairs.
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The Jaded Backpacker and the Anne Frank House

The Jaded Backpacker and the Anne Frank House

San Francisco Chronicle — On visiting the Anne Frank House in the middle of a European Grand Tour.
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The Old Ba' Game

The Old Ba' Game

South Florida Sun Sentinel — Scenes from a centuries-old game that takes over an entire Scottish town twice a year, and notes on why it matters so much to the people who live there.
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