Anne Helen Petersen Explained

Anne Helen Petersen
Nationality:American
Education:Whitman College (BA)
University of Oregon (MA)
University of Texas at Austin (PhD)
Occupation:Writer, journalist, culture critic
Employer:BuzzFeed News

Anne Helen Petersen is an American writer and journalist. She worked as a Senior Culture Writer for BuzzFeed until August 2020, when she began writing full-time for her newsletter "Culture Study" on Substack.[1] Petersen has also been published in the opinion section of The New York Times.[2]

Early life and education

A native of Lewiston, Idaho, Petersen first graduated from Whitman College in 2003 with a BA in Rhetoric and Film Studies.[3] She then completed an MA in English from the University of Oregon in 2007, and a PhD in media studies in 2011 from the University of Texas at Austin, where she studied the history of the gossip industry.[4]

Career

While a visiting professor at Whitman College, Petersen began writing about popular culture topics for online news and entertainment sites (including the Scandals of Classic Hollywood series at the Hairpin)[5] [6] and found that she enjoyed non-academic writing.[7] In May 2014 she moved to New York to write for BuzzFeed News.

In 2014, she published her first piece for BuzzFeed, "Jennifer Lawrence and the History of Cool Girls."[8] She also authored her first book, the non-fiction Scandals of Classic Hollywood, based on her Hairpin series. Informed by her scholarship, she continued to write about celebrities throughout her time at BuzzFeed and BuzzFeed News, including Adam Driver,[9] Keira Knightley,[10] Taylor Kitsch,[11] Charlize Theron,[12] Justin Timberlake,[13] Kate Hudson,[14] Margot Robbie,[15] Jennifer Aniston,[16] and Kim Kardashian.[17] In 2017, Petersen wrote a piece about actor Armie Hammer, "Ten Long Years of Trying to Make Armie Hammer Happen", analyzing Hammer's star image from 2007 to 2017.[18] The article became controversial and provoked criticism and backlash from Hammer, film industry figures, and other journalists.[19] Subsequently, Petersen received online harassment.[20]

Her work at BuzzFeed was not limited to celebrities. She reported on the COVID-19 pandemic,[21] student loans,[22] Native Americans voting in elections,[23] expanding Medicaid,[24] refugee resettlement,[25] religion,[26] the Harvey Weinstein sexual abuse cases,[27] and bachelorette parties.[28] Being a native of Lewiston, Idaho, she was credited with being able to bring a Western small town and rural perspective to a national audience,[29] on issues such as Antifa,[30] gun politics,[31] 2017 Montana's at-large congressional district special election's relation with national politics,[32] and the COVID-19 anti-lockdown protests in the United States.[33]

In 2019, Petersen wrote a piece on millennial burnout for BuzzFeed News that has had over 7 million views.[34] She then expanded that piece into a book that was published in 2020, Can't Even: How Millennials Became the Burnout Generation.

In August 2020, she quit her job at Buzzfeed News to pursue her Substack newsletter Culture Study as a full-time venture.[35] Along with her partner Charlie Warzel, she wrote the book Out of Office: The Big Problem and Bigger Promise of Working from Home, published in December 2021.[36] A 2024 Forbes profile described Petersen as "the voice of a micro-generation," those born between 1977-1985.[37] The piece reported that Culture Study is "one of Substack’s top newsletters," with 184,000 subscribers.

From October 2022 to October 2023, Petersen hosted the Work Appropriate podcast on the Crooked Media podcast network. She launched a new podcast, Culture Study, in December 2023.

Personal life

Petersen lives in Lummi Island, Washington[38] with her partner Charlie Warzel, a former New York Times Opinion writer who now writes the newsletter "Galaxy Brain" for The Atlantic.[39] The couple have two dogs named Steve and Peggy[40] and previously lived in Brooklyn[36] and Missoula, Montana.[41] As of September 2020, Petersen is 39 years old.[42] She is of Norwegian descent.[43] Her younger brother, Charles Petersen, is a senior editor of the magazine n+1.

Works

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Culture Study . Substack.
  2. Web site: Opinion I Used to Go Out. Now I Go to The Home Depot. . Anne Helen . Petersen . The New York Times . September 10, 2020.
  3. Web site: Anne Helen Petersen on LinkedIn . November 17, 2022 . LinkedIn.
  4. Web site: Anne Helen Petersen . Penguin Random House.
  5. Web site: Classic Scandals . The Hairpin . Medium.
  6. Web site: What Do You Do with a PhD in Celebrity Gossip? . Emalie . Marthe . Vice . October 6, 2014.
  7. Web site: Anne Helen Petersen wants you to take 30 minutes to just read. O'Regan. Mary. 2019-09-18. Pocket. en-US. 2019-12-26.
  8. Web site: Jennifer Lawrence and the History of Cool Girls . February 28, 2014 . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed.
  9. Web site: Adam Driver Really Might Be *The* Actor of His Generation . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . December 16, 2019.
  10. Web site: A Unified Theory of Keira Knightley . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . September 25, 2018.
  11. Web site: How Taylor Kitsch Is Fixing His Broken Movie Star Image . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . February 27, 2018.
  12. Web site: Charlize Theron is Not Here to Make Friends . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . July 29, 2017.
  13. Web site: Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, and the Western Rehab for White Masculinity . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . January 5, 2018.
  14. Web site: Kate Hudson Was Destined For Hollywood Greatness. Then She Pivoted To Leggings. . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . May 25, 2019.
  15. Web site: How Margot Robbie Changed Her Hollywood Destiny . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . February 7, 2020.
  16. Web site: Jennifer Aniston is Angry Now and It's Thrilling to Watch . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . November 8, 2019.
  17. Web site: How Kim Kardashian Pushed the Boundaries of Celebrity Pregnancy. Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . June 15, 2017.
  18. Web site: Ten Long Years of Trying to Make Armie Hammer Happen . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . November 26, 2017.
  19. Web site: Sharf . Zack . Armie Hammer Slams Anti-Armie Hammer Buzzfeed Article: 'Your Perspective Is Bitter AF' . IndieWire . November 27, 2017 . 27 March 2019.
  20. Web site: Armie Hammer Revives Twitter Feud With Buzzfeed Writer: Maybe Try "Medicating". Aiello. McKenna. February 27, 2018. E! Online. 27 March 2019.
  21. Web site: This Pandemic Is Not Your Vacation . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . March 31, 2020.
  22. Web site: Here's Why So Many Americans Feel Cheated By Their Student Loans . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . February 9, 2019.
  23. Web site: Why Is It So Hard for Native Americans to Vote in This Utah County? . Anne Helen . Petersen . Graham Lee . Brewer . BuzzFeed News . October 28, 2018.
  24. Web site: These Volunteers Are Battling Idahos Government to Expand Medicaid . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . April 12, 2018.
  25. Web site: How Dallas Became One of America's Most Refugee-Friendly Cities . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . May 20, 2017.
  26. Web site: This Sort-of Socialist Church is Taking a Radical Approach to Christianity . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . December 12, 2019.
  27. Web site: How the Weinstein Revelations Became Hollywood's Biggest Scandal in 95 Years . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . December 20, 2017.
  28. Web site: How Nashville Became One Big Bachelorette Party . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . March 29, 2018.
  29. Web site: Lewiston native follows celebrity gossip to NYC, returns West in pursuit of political understanding . Michelle . Schmidt . Inland 360 . October 11, 2017.
  30. Web site: How the Antifa Fantasy Spread in Small Towns Across the US. Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . June 9, 2020.
  31. Web site: Why Do We Keep Having the Same Argument About Guns? . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . October 2, 2017.
  32. Web site: Why This New York Journalist Thinks Montana' Special Election is a Case Study for National Politics. Yellowstone Public Radio. May 18, 2017.
  33. Web site: This Doctor Is Suggesting COVID-19 Lockdowns Are A Conspiracy To Take Away Your Freedom . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . May 2, 2020.
  34. Web site: How Millennials Became The Burnout Generation . Anne Helen . Petersen . BuzzFeed News . January 5, 2019.
  35. Web site: https://twitter.com/annehelen/status/1295374665477627904. 2022-01-08. Twitter. en.
  36. Web site: Working 9 to 5? 'Out of Office' author says maybe it's time to rethink that. 2022-01-08. NPR.org. en.
  37. Web site: Shoenthal . Amy . The Voice Of A Micro-Generation: Anne Helen Petersen . 2024-01-30 . Forbes . en.
  38. Web site: Work-related: 'Out of Office' with Anne Helen Petersen. 2022-01-08. Montana Public Radio. en.
  39. Web site: 2021-11-01. Welcome To Galaxy Brain 2.0!. 2022-01-08. Galaxy Brain. en.
  40. Web site: Petersen. Anne Helen. Culture Study Anne Helen Petersen Substack. 2022-01-08. annehelen.substack.com.
  41. Web site: Anne Helen Petersen on BuzzFeed. BuzzFeed. September 21, 2020 .
  42. Web site: Anne Helen Petersen Talks Millennial Burnout. 2020-10-13. NPR. en.
  43. annehelen. Anne Helen Petersen. 1350646986463088641. January 16, 2021. Alright, weird question for a Saturday night: I've been very diverted and delightfully absorbed by researching my Norwegian family on http://Ancestry.com, and the roadblocks always come at that name transition point between Norway and the US...... January 18, 2021.

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