Francesca Mari on the Power of Story to Explore Personal and Public Issues Alike

Air Dates: September 2-8, 2024

The stories journalists tell can stretch from the personal to the public. Francesca Mari is no different, giving us narratives and an understanding of personal health crises, the challenge of housing, and the kinds of shelter offered by both families and physical structures.

Francesca Mari is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine focused on housing and equity.  She is also an assistant professor at Brown University.  Her cover stories for The New York Times Magazine explore the pandemic real estate boom, the rise of private equity landlords, and how the U.S. housing market became so dysfunctional and why it didn’t—and doesn’t—have to be this way. In addition, she has written features on homeless house sitters, con men, and other abuses of power for The New Yorker, The Atlantic, Texas Monthly, The New York Review of Books, The Cut, and others.

On this episode of “Story in the Public Square,” Mari dives into some of her most notable pieces from her rich account of walking alongside father through his journey with Alzheimer’s disease, to her piece, “Great Wall Street Housing Grab,” a deep dive into the lack of oversight in the housing market that has contributed to today’s housing crisis.

“Story in the Public Square” broadcasts each week on public television stations across the United States. In Rhode Island and southeastern New England, the show is broadcast on Rhode Island PBS on Sundays at 11:00 a.m. and is rebroadcast Thursdays at 7:30 p.m. Check your local public television listings for air times near you! An audio version of the program airs Saturdays at 8:30 a.m. and 7:30 p.m. ET, Sundays at 5:00 a.m. and 10:00 p.m. and Mondays at 2:30 a.m. ET on SiriusXM’s popular P.O.T.U.S. (Politics of the United States), channel 124. “Story in the Public Square” is a project of the Pell Center at Salve Regina University. The initiative aims to study, celebrate and tell stories that matter.