Megan Burbank
@meganburbank.bsky.social
reporting on culture & post-Roe abortion policy at Slate, The Nation, NPR, The New Republic, Axios. helping out at The WSJ. girl about town at Burbank Industries. previously Crosscut, Seattle Times, Portland Mercury, The Stranger. meganburbank.substack.com
It's wild to think that just a year ago, I was logging onto zoom to find out my whole newsroom had been laid off because the company we worked for decided to kill its digital news operation. Fortunately, a lot has changed since then! Here's what I've been up to
respectfully if you are marketing something with “ballet-inspired details” I really would like it if you did five minutes of research on ballet
I'm watching Dancing with the Stars for the first time and... I love this? It's people who aren't (necessarily) trained dancers giving it their all and receiving enthusiastic but constructive feedback? This is the wholesome entertainment I crave!
same but a latte (ideally from Woodstar or Haymarket but honestly probably Starbucks due to parental gift card support) and a lap around the Broadside Bookshop
Mo Daviau@modaviau.bsky.social · 4w agoIt's fall and that means my brain tells me I should walk downtown to Thorne's Marketplace and get a Mad River cream soda at Cornucopia. I'm 3000 miles away but the heart wants what it wants. And there hasn't been Mad River soda in 20+ years.
I really miss the days when ChatGPT wasn’t something anyone used or cared about and I learned about it from a radio report where the enunciation left something to be desired so I thought it was called ChadGPT
not midlife but... took up ballet as a hobby at 30 and trained enough to be able to do a classical ballet variation en pointe 💃
Karen Attiah@karenattiah.bsky.social · last mo.What are you doing with your midlife existential crisis? No wrong answers. Just trying to see something, as the kids say.
"[We Heart Seattle]’s Gresham, Oregon-based co-founder, Kevin Dahlgren, pled guilty last year to identity theft, theft, and misconduct after stealing from at least one unsheltered person as well as the city of Gresham." 👀 ericacbarnett.substack.com/p/sakas-mess...
Saka's Messy Transportation Bill Gets Messier; Controversial Group We Heart Seattle Makes City's Official Volunteer Day Roster
Today’s Afternoon Fizz.
ericacbarnett.substack.com
Gloria Steinem was one of the reasons I went to Smith. Outrageous Acts was such a special book for me in college. She also was Christian Bale’s stepmom, which I just think is a delightful fact. What a long and amazing life ❤️
Something worth noting about Steinem is that the media made her a figurehead because she didn’t “look like a feminist.” Being an icon wasn’t her goal: When the New York Times asked her if there could be “another Gloria Steinem,” she answered “I don’t think there should have been a first one.”
I am once again on @yourewrongabout.bsky.social - this time talking with Sarah about starting ballet as an adult and reminiscing about the time we saw Giselle at Oregon Ballet Theatre 🩰 podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/b...
Ballet with Megan Burbank
Podcast Episode · You're Wrong About · September 1 · 1h 13m
podcasts.apple.com
it's crazy to be a millennial journalist because when someone asks me how to "break in" to the industry I'm like idk I did it by blogging? which doesn't exist anymore? I wish you all the luck I just truly don't have an answer to this question that will make sense in 2026
"One source of occasional murkiness was Flowers’ personal charity, Season of Justice, which handed out grants to law enforcement agencies to help solve cold cases — while some of those very same cases were also being considered for stories reported by Audiochuck’s newsroom staff." 👀
The Unraveling of Podcaster Ashley Flowers’ True Crime Empire
Flowers developed a big business around her show Crime Junkie, but over the past year, executives have cycled through the doors while workplace morale is cratering.
bloomberg.com
the end of PNW summer always feels like getting off a rollercoaster. like that was fun but I packed as much activity and adventure into a short span of time and now I need a break and a big lemonade and a funnel cake
I truly appreciate most reader feedback, but if I wrote a story about one thing and you're mad it isn't about something else I fear that's a you problem
"There will always be a need for clinics." - Mercedes Sanchez, Cedar River Clinics, Executive Director @chum.news @meganburbank.bsky.social @rangemedia.co bit.ly/4gUzAxi
ABORTION PILLS FOREVER? — CHUM NEWS
Telehealth was supposed to simplify getting an abortion. UW researchers found a messier reality on the ground, affecting in-person reproductive care in states like Washington.
bit.ly
Amazing to hear tech CEOs be like “AI is going to destroy the world, waste resources, and take jobs. Anyway, we love it!” Imagine this in any other industry, like doctors saying “reverting to the humors-based medical practices of the medieval era will kill people but we like it too much to stop!”
the Reggie Watts story in Rolling Stone story is so well reported but awful to read - especially the section about not having drugs in the house, a baseline expectation when someone you care about is recovering from active addiction, just not being taken seriously at all
Telehealth was supposed to simplify getting an abortion. UW researchers found a messier reality on the ground, affecting in-person reproductive care in states like Washington. Reporting from @meganburbank.bsky.social for us + @chum.news as the first co-published entry in our cross-state partnership:
Abortion pills forever?
Telehealth was supposed to simplify getting an abortion. UW researchers found a messier reality on the ground, affecting in-person reproductive care in states like Washington.
rangemedia.co
Exciting announcement— CHUM News and Spokane’s RANGE Media (@rangemedia.co) are teaming up: Starting tomorrow, and over the coming months and years, we’ll regularly work together to report and co-publish stories that impact people across Washington State. www.chum.news/chum-news-ra...
CHUM NEWS X RANGE MEDIA — CHUM NEWS
chum.news
Thank you @chum.news for making space for reproductive health policy coverage. I’m so glad to be back to reporting on this issue
CHUM News@chum.news · 2mo agoTelehealth was supposed to simplify getting an abortion. UW researchers found a messier reality on the ground, affecting in-person reproductive care in states like Washington. Reporting by @meganburbank.bsky.social for CHUM News and RANGE Media (@rangemedia.co): www.chum.news/telehealth-r...
With every new horrifying story about the child actor industrial complex I just think maybe child actor should not be a job??? If your kid wants to act they can do community theater. No Hollywood acting until you’re 18
animal hoarding situations are incredibly sad. I'm glad these cats got out and I hope the owner gets support as well www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news...
60 cats saved from abandoned Tacoma sailboat; owner tells his story
One of the cats bit Derek Hieb, he said, leading him to flee the boat while his hand recovered. He left behind dozens of cats, setting off a disturbing saga.
seattletimes.com
wrote about The Odyssey but it's paywalled so I could share my thoughts freely 🫠 meganburbank.substack.com/p/emily-wils...
Emily Wilson Could Have Been Meaner About The Odyssey
Christopher Nolan should've adapted The Iliad.
meganburbank.substack.com
IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII'm sorry but jetskiing to Luther Burbank Park? On Mercer Island? this guy on Married at First Sight clearly does not live in Seattle
you know what I think Christopher Nolan really did read some of The Odyssey but also? If you wanna spend that much time on the Trojan War, you are allowed to just adapt The Iliad like it’s not against the law
new TV project coming! I'm writing about shows that are under-appreciated by all, under-seen by me personally, or just really hard to find, starting with the Kirsten Dunst Floridian MLM saga On Becoming a God in Central Florida! meganburbank.substack.com/p/introducin...
Introducing Second-Run TV
Late to the discourse and loving it.
meganburbank.substack.com
