Insights

Chandler Dean

How to Nail Your High School Graduation Speech Even If You’re Not that Popular

By: Chandler Dean · 02/06/2024
In his new column, "How to Write Every Speech You'll Ever Need To Give In Your Life," Chandler Dean gives partly satirical, partly genuine advice.Congratulations!
Insights
Read @ McSweeney's about How to Nail Your High School Graduation Speech Even If You’re Not that Popular
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Klaus Schwab at the World Economic Forum in Davos, 22 January 2020

Headed to COP28 or Davos?

By: Kate Childs Graham & Vinca LaFleur · 11/20/2023
West Wing Writers executive directors Kate Childs Graham and Vinca LaFleur share their advice on how to lead a crowded conversation at a crowded event.
Insights
Read @ Devex about Headed to COP28 or Davos?
Chandler Dean and Sarah Gruen

The Friendly Ghost w/ Felicity Barber

By: Sarah Gruen & Chandler Dean · 10/25/2023
Conversations about the art of speechwriting with Felicity Barber and some of the top speechwriters in the game. What does it take
Insights
Read @ The Friendly Ghost about The Friendly Ghost w/ Felicity Barber
Headshots of Chandler Dean and Sarah Gruen

Punchlines With a Point: How to Use Humor to Make Your Message Heard

By: Sarah Gruen & Chandler Dean · 10/25/2023
As progressive speechwriters, published humorists and veterans of the political comedy world, Chandler Dean and Sarah Gruen have it on good authority: comedy is alive
Insights
Read @ Netroots Nation about Punchlines With a Point: How to Use Humor to Make Your Message Heard
Immigration Rally Death to Fascism Freedom to the People

Is There Fascist DNA in the U.S. Body Politic?

By: Jeff Shesol · 10/15/2023
Jeff Shesol reviews Rachel Maddow’s “Prequel” and Heather Cox Richardson’s “Democracy Awakening,” two new books about plots against America hatched by homegrown autocrats.
Insights
Read @ The New York Times about Is There Fascist DNA in the U.S. Body Politic?
58th Presidential Inauguration

The Tragedy of John Roberts

By: Jeff Shesol · 07/03/2023
The chief justice is portrayed by some as a tragic figure, powerless to save his court from itself. But the tragedy of John
Insights
Read @ The New York Times about The Tragedy of John Roberts
Ku Klux Klan parade

The Rise and Fall of a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan

By: Jeff Shesol · 03/20/2023
In a new book, Timothy Egan traces the Klan’s expansion in the 1920s across American political and civic life. Then its leader, David C. Stephenson,
Insights
Read @ The New York Times about The Rise and Fall of a Grand Dragon of the Ku Klux Klan
Kate Childs Graham & Jeff Shesol

What to Say When the World is Ending

By: Kate Childs Graham & Jeff Shesol · 03/10/2023
Kate Childs Graham and Jeff Shesol presented to a packed house at this year’s SXSW. They encouraged attendees to ditch old school crisis comms for
Insights
Read @ South By Southwest about What to Say When the World is Ending
Chandler Dean and Sarah Gruen

Why Speechwriters Take Humor Seriously

By: Sarah Gruen & Chandler Dean · 02/27/2023
In honor of silly season in Washington, our resident humorists Chandler Dean and Sarah Gruen unpack the strategy behind the hilarity — and share techniques that
Insights
Read @ West Wing Writers about Why Speechwriters Take Humor Seriously
Putnam Ave School, Whitneyville CT

A Murder Mystery Is Revisited in the #MeToo Era

By: Janet Potter · 02/21/2023
Janet Potter reviews Rebecca Makkai’s I Have Some Questions for You, a boarding school novel and a murder mystery, and the story of a woman reexamining
Insights
Read @ Reader about A Murder Mystery Is Revisited in the #MeToo Era