When so many things feel like they’re ending, how do you make a start? That is the question at the heart of Jodi Kantor’s moving and eminently useful new book, “How to Start.” Kantor, an investigative reporter for The New York Times who has probed workplace abuses and helped ignite the #MeToo movement with her reporting on Harvey Weinstein and now covers the black box of the U.S. Supreme Court, has spent years chronicling power systems that govern what life is like for most people.
In her new book, which builds on a graduation speech she gave at Columbia, she pivots to giving young people advice about surviving the world whose making she has reported on. Young people are struggling in a labor market that doesn’t answer their queries, sends AI bots to interview them, and seems like it has no need for even highly skilled graduates. Into this world, Kantor makes an offering of advice, which she spoke to us about.
And, as a bonus, she gave us a tour of an empty New York Times newsroom.
