Write for the public

Is there a developing news story or historical anniversary that would benefit from your expertise?

Your expertise helps the public 1) make sense of breaking and developing news stories, 2) become discerning of "facts" and their sources and 3) see the urgent importance of Humanities scholarship. Besides it being a public good, it helps you establish yourself as an expert and increases the visibility of your work (and potentially any center, programs or initiatives you lead or are affiliated with).

Timely events you can leverage:

Historical anniversaries
National holidays
Breaking and developing news stories
Pop-culture moments (i.e. film releases, books, TV, etc.)
New research

Ways to leverage these timely events:

Work with SOH communications to pitch journalists via "expert pitch." These targeted pitches let journalists know you are an expert on a particular issue and available to comment and/or provide context.
Write a story for The Conversation or another public-facing outlet.
Write an op-ed (see more info. on this below).

Writing Outlets

These are just a few of the outlets you can consider, depending on the style of the piece you have in mind:

The Conversation is an independent, nonprofit publisher of commentary and analysis authored by academics and edited by journalists for the general public. Articles reach 6-7 million readers each month. They publish short articles (800-1000 words) by academics on timely topics related to their research.

The Conversation operates under a Creative Commons license, which means your authored work can be amplified across large, mainstream publications. Learn more here.
Vox has a first-person section edited by Karen Turner. You can send the story to her at: karen.turner@vox.com
Aeon bills itself as "a unique digital magazine, publishing some of the most profound and provocative thinking on the web." Email editorial@aeon.co and provide them with a short bio and a link to your faculty page or website. If you can provide a sample of writing for a non-specialist audience that will be very helpful.
Public Books is a free, online magazine of ideas, arts, and scholarship. Their editorial staff welcome pitches from professional and freelance writers, journalists, scholars, and artists. Public Books aims to publish reviews within 6 months of a work’s first publication or appearance. Keep your pitch to 500 or fewer words and direct your email to editorial@publicbooks.org. Their standard response time is four to six weeks.
Medium allows anyone to publish anything. Learn more here.

Op-Eds

An op-ed is an opinion-driven piece written for publication in a newspaper or magazine. Your op-ed should have a clear, persuasive point. Op-eds are important visibility opportunities because they can challenge damaging narratives that are taken for granted or mistaken as universal; they can illuminate meaningful voices, research and points of view that may otherwise remain obscure; and they can effect change via strong evidence-based reasoning. Resources for writing an op-ed:

The Op-Ed Project is a social venture that aims to increase the diversity of voices and range of opinions in the mainstream media through op-ed workshops targeting underrepresented voices. The Humanities Center has hosted workshops by this group before and may host them again. If interested in this type of workshop, please let Annabel know.
The National Endowment for the Humanities has a list of op-ed examples here.
Harvard University Kennedy School's Guide to Writing an Op-Ed or Column
This Science Op-Ed Writing Bootcamp (video), hosted by the Advanced Science Research Center at CUNY, is geared for scientists, but 100% applicable to humanists. Video is 48 minutes.
The Washington Post's guide to writing an op-ed (2022)

Should you be interested in writing an op-ed, you may consider first regional publications, which tend to receive less submissions. Op-ed information (word count, submission guidelines) is typically easily accessible on a publication's website (see Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, OC Register). Should you like some assistance, please connect with Annabel.

General tips for writing for the public

“Advice to young writers who want to get ahead without any annoying delays: don't write about Man, write about a man.”
- E.B. White

When it comes to making your research understandable to the public, it’s not ‘dumbing down,’ it’s translating.
People are more motivated by the why (why something matters) than the what or how. This means: convey impact – what are the stakes? Why does this matter? Why do you care about this?
Provide context – how did we get here? Don’t take your reader’s knowledge of history and context for granted.
Show human interest – who is impacted? Don’t tell me about all of humankind, tell me about a specific person or community.
Leverage news as a hook.
Have a call to action.
Make sure your bio invites further exploration of your work (link to your Twitter handle, website, latest book title, etc.).