Alexandra Moe.
Journalist and writer
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Selected Work
We’re All Reading Wrong
Reading aloud is as old as the ancients. Why the practice has surprising health benefits for mood and memory - and why doctors are suggesting read-aloud groups (featuring Dickens and Shakespeare) for those with chronic pain in the UK.
The Atlantic
Let Them Cook
Is cooking a life skill, an art, a social glue, a stress reliever or a quintessentially human act key to our survival? It's all of those things, and in a sea of bad news, here's some good: Gen Z is cooking up a storm.
The Atlantic
Singing is good for you. Singing with others may be even better.
Humans have sung since the beginning of time, perhaps even before speaking. Why is it so beneficial – even if you "can't sing" – and why is the English National Opera teaching those with long Covid to sing lullabies?
The Washington Post
The Alzheimer’s Crisis in Indian Country
Alzheimer's is so new to the public consciousness in Indian Country that for many tribes, there is not a word for dementia. Yet it's everywhere.
The New Republic
How Theater Can Teach Our Kids to Be Empathetic
Communication skills are increasingly the most essential skills for navigating adult life, professionally and personally. Where are they taught? Theater class is one place where empathy grows.
The Washington Post
The Crisis Facing Nursing Homes, Assisted Living and Home Care for America’s Elderly
Hundreds of thousands of elder care workers are leaving the field, facing poor conditions and hourly pay that's often less than Chic-Fil-A. Who will care for America's elderly? Inside one nursing home's Covid ward – the "Hot Zone" – a profile in self-sacrifice.
Politico Magazine
An Increasing Role for D.C.’s Firefighters: Picking Seniors Up Off the Floor
As fires decline nationally, firefighters are stepping into a role where the real need is: elder care. They are first on the scene at falls, and have become something more: caregivers.
Washington City Paper (Cover Story)
A Mother’s Day letter to my daughter, after a year that changed our family forever
A pandemic personal essay
The Washington Post
Ailing, alone and 89. So how could Hilda Reynolds be joyous?
Her apartment walls feature photos of her son in "Raging Bull," and alongside Frank Sinatra. For 50 years, she's lived above Logan Circle, a witness to the city from race riots to the election of Obama. As her life narrows by illness and age, what is the source of her infectious joy? Her radiance, humor: How are they fueled when the ingredients that brought joy — work, other people — are gone?
The Washington Post Magazine
Table Talk
An essay on the word "squat," and a first job out of college trying to get runaway teens to write stories. Many lived beneath the sidewalk, in their squat. The writer (me) didn't know squat.
The Threepenny Review
