Sometimes when I’m editing a story, a single sentence can send me down a rabbithole of research that becomes just as fascinating as the story I’m working on.
This morning, a story sent me on the hunt for more information about two men named Nicola Sacco and Bartolomeo Vanzetti. I’d never heard the story of the two Italian immigrants, thought to have been wrongly convicted of murder during the Red Scare in the 1920s, a time when foreigners were looked on with hostility and suspicion. Their plight received international attention, including a privately-funded campaign to plead for their pardon or a retrial. (Those efforts failed.)
The men’s commingled ashes are part of a collection at the Boston Public Library.
It’s quite a story, and it feels particularly relevant in today’s globalized society. This experience is just one reason I love writing and editing so very much. It fuels my untamed sense of curiosity! What rabbitholes of research have you explored lately?
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