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Michele Lent Hirsch on Muck Rack

Michele Lent Hirsch

Verified
New York
As seen in: Beacon Press, Yahoo Life, The Guardian, The Washington Post, Yahoo News, Psychology Today, The Atlantic, Cosmopolitan, Smithsonian Magazine, Consumer Reports, Glamour and
Writer, editor, queer. My book, Invisible—on gender, health, & inequity—is out now. Nonfiction/poetry @TheAtlantic @TheCut @BLReview @VICE @stopandfrisk project

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Michele Lent Hirsch’s Biography

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I'm a writer, editor, and educator. My first book, Invisible — a blend of journalism and memoir — came out in 2018 from Beacon Press, and was later translated by Mati Publishing in South Korea. It's been featured in Literary Hub, Longreads, The Advocate, and The New York Times, among other outlets, as well as on several NPR member stations.

My poetry has appeared in Third Coast, Rattle, Room, and Bellevue Literary Review, and my shorter nonfiction in The Guardian, The Cut, and The Atlantic. I'…

Michele Lent Hirsch’s Journalist Portfolio

What Quarantine Feels Like

What Quarantine Feels Like

An essay about my own experience in medical quarantine — and how we sometimes forget the patient is a person.

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How Bacteria Make This Underground Cave Shine Gold

How Bacteria Make This Underground Cave Shine Gold

The science and cultural history of ancient lava caves in Northern California, and why NASA wants to study th…

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Yum's the Word

Yum's the Word

It comes in a variety of shapes and colors. And it can even swim. It's umami, and although it's the latest fo…

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Touring the World's First Nuclear Power Plant in Middle-of-Nowhere, Idaho

Touring the World's First Nuclear Power Plant in Middle-of-Nowhere, Idaho

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No, War Doesn't Have To Mean Rape

No, War Doesn't Have To Mean Rape

Rape, they say, is just a natural part of war, and there's no way to stop it. Yet research shows that this is…

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Why the Best Way to See Iceland Is By Horse

Why the Best Way to See Iceland Is By Horse

Iceland’s landscapes can look post-apocalyptic: endless black volcanic sand, and nothing else visible for mil…

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Articles

How to compare melatonin, CBD and other popular sleep supplements

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By Ashley Abramson Verified, Michele Lent Hirsch Verified
| The Washington Post Verified
Consumer Reports has no financial relationship with any advertisers on this site. Americans have plenty of trouble sleeping. Only 42 percent say their sleep is good or very good, according to an October 2022 nationally representative survey of 2,084 U.S. adults by Consumer Reports. And nearly all Americans — 91 percent — say they’ve experienced at least one sleep challenge in the past year, according to the survey.
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Have trouble sleeping? Here's how to snooze soundly.

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By Michele Lent Hirsch Verified
| The Washington Post Verified
Placeholder while article actions load Sleep problems are a hallmark of modern American life - perhaps never more so than recently. In 2016, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that a third of Americans were getting too little sleep at night. But then came the stressors of the pandemic, job losses, disrupted schedules and closed schools, which kept record numbers of Americans up at night or unable to wake up in the morning.
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9 Rounds of Electroshock Therapy. 6 Years Lost. All Because Her Doctors Got It Horribly Wrong.

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By Michele Lent Hirsch Verified
| Cosmopolitan Verified
We may earn commission from links on this page, but we only recommend products we love. Promise. Courtney* is lying on a gurney in a white room, a blanket covering her body, an IV pinched into her arm. A nurse is sticking electrodes to the side of her head, like stickers. Soon they’ll send electric currents into her brain, inducing a seizure. She’s aware that she’s been in this hospital before. Twenty-four years ago, she was born here.
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Interview

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Have you ever used a typewriter?

Yep.

What's your favorite social network?

I've never been on Facebook — gasp, I know! — so perhaps Twitter, though it has its shortcomings.

Why did you become a journalist?

For the writing, for the chance to talk to fascinating strangers, and for the hope of a slightly more just world. You know, the usual.