“Saslow humanizes big issues by embedding himself in characters’ lives, which allows him opportunity to observe the kinds of details that make for deeply personal, and moving, stories. His work always feels like it’s about the work, nothing more. He is building an impressive body of work with calm, fluid authenticity.”
- Nieman Storyboard at Harvard University
A selection of recent stories from The Washington Post
“I’m part of what’s broken.”
As American cities deteriorate, a psychiatric nurse reckons with the high price of compassion.
An American education
Amid a historic U.S. teacher shortage, a ‘Most Outstanding Teacher’ from the Philippines tries to save a struggling school in Arizona.
Anger and heartbreak on bus No. 15
As American cities struggle to recover from the pandemic, Denver’s problems spill over onto its buses.
The moral calculations of a billionaire
After the best year in history to be among the super-rich, one of America’s 745 billionaires wonders: ‘What’s enough? What’s the answer?’
The case of a lifetime
For a Buffalo lawyer, the investigation of one mass shooting leads him back to another.
The nuclear missile next door
What it’s like to live with a bomb stronger than 20 Hiroshimas in a time of rising worldwide tensions.
The death spiral of an American family
After generations of stability, a son reckons with an inheritance of debt, desperation and a fall from the middle class.
“Who’s going to take care of these people?”
As emergencies rise across rural America, a hospital fights for its life.
How's Amanda?
A story of truth, lies, and an American addiction.
Into the Lonely Quiet
Months after the Newtown shooting, one family arrives at a reckoning.
The White Flight of Derek Black
The former heir to a racist movement reconciles with the ideology he helped spread.
Voices from the pandemic
Americans tell their stories of crisis, courage and resilience in the first year of Covid-19.
“Out here it’s just me.”
In the medical desert of rural America, one doctor for 11,000 square miles.
A Father's Initiative
Paul Gayle had no job, no money, a new baby and 16 lessons from the Obama administration to teach him what to do next.
A Survivor's Life
Another mass shooting was over. The country had moved on. But one family was learning the unending extent of a wound.
“Nothing on this page is real.”
How’s lies become truth in online America.
A Dream Deferred
A policy change separated Javier Flores from his family and sent him back to Mexico, where nothing looked familiar.
"Why couldn't I stop him?"
Scot Peterson was the only armed deputy at a high school in Parkland, Fla., where he stood outside as the shooting continued.
"We don't know why it came to this."
A lonely death in rural Oklahoma.
"You're one of us now."
Ten years after Katrina forced them to rural Nebraska, the Williams were in need of rescue again.
Traveling the loneliest road
As basic medical care disappears from rural America, a husband and wife are forced apart after 63 years.
The mansion on Emerson Street
As homelessness continues to rise, an overwhelmed city issues an ultimatum: 48 hours to clear camp.
The battle for 1042 Cutler Street
As landlords and tenants go broke across the U.S., the next crisis point of the pandemic approaches
The missing students of the pandemic
A California school official searches his district for hundreds left behind by covid-19.
"Is Anyone Listening?"
Rachel Crooks was 22 when she first met Donald Trump by the elevator, and she's still trying to understand what happened next.
"What Kind of Childhood is That?"
Orphaned by the opioid epidemic.
“Are you alone now?”
After raid, immigrant families are separated in the American heartland.
"Where Are My Guns?"
He had broken no laws when police came to his door in the latest controversial attempt at American gun reform.
Seeking Custody and Answers
Two terrorists left their 6-month old at home and killed 14 in California. What would happen to their baby?
Stay Calm. Be Patient.
Weeks after live-streaming her boyfriend's death, Diamond Reynolds was being tested again.
An Overdose and a Mother’s Search for Truth
Gun Violence's Distant Echo
A teenager wanted to challenge the gun culture in her rural Wyoming town. Would anyone listen?
"Ugh. I miss it."
Transitioning from military to civilian life, and from camaraderie to isolation.
Life of a Salesman
Selling success in the age of failure.
Waiting for the First
Food stamps put a Rhode Island town on a monthly boom-and-bust cycle.
From Belief to Resentment
The decline of the American middle class reaches another Indiana town.
Devasted by one Shutdown, Dreading the Next
“Hunger is Hidden.”
In rural Tennessee, a school bus becomes a bread truck.
Waiting to Erupt
In the shadow of a volcano, a Washington town hires its first black police officer, and nothing goes as planned.
The Public Life and Private Doubts of Al Sharpton
The Man in the Van
A professional baseball millionaire lives by his own code.
Unaccompanied
A 10-year-old boy faces risk and doubts on his way across the border to reunite with his mother.
Going it Alone
At the center of the U.S. border crisis, one deputy works to police 1,000 square miles.
"I Killed Him."
Days after a fatal collision, a player returns to the field.