Articles & Essays
I was an inveterate reader before I became a writer. I was the kid who read constantly, coming off of the school bus, under the covers after my bedtime. If you consume books and stories that intensely, eventually you will want to write yourself.
And so, for the past two decades, I’ve written long-form articles (and shorter pieces), about everything from Latino immigrants living in New York to women politicians getting elected in New England.
I am a big believer in the power of storytelling. To a capture the essence of a person is challenging. Constructing narratives is hard, too. To do it well, you need to listen and observe. And then write, and re-write, again and again.
It’s humbling. But I really can’t imagine doing anything else.
She Knows the Secrets of the Women on the Frick’s Walls / New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/20/arts/design/aimee-ng-curator-frick-gainsborough.html
The Kids the Pandemic Left Behind / Mother Jones
Pushing the Limit / Harper's Magazine
https://harpers.org/archive/2017/11/pushing-the-limit/6/
American Hustle / Harper's Magazine
https://harpers.org/author/alexandrastarr/
Young Carlos / New York Magazine
http://nymag.com/news/features/undocumented-immigrant-children-2014-9/
Three Books on Immigration / New York Times Book Review
Luis Reyes: Entrepreneur as Revolutionary / Inc. Magazine
http://www.inc.com/magazine/201211/alexandra-starr/luis-reyes-entrepreneur-as-revolutionary.html
A Catch for Undocumented Immigrants in Recent Reforms / The Atlantic
http://www.theatlantic.com/national/archive/2013/05/a-catch-for-undocumented-immigrants-in-recent-reforms/275854/
The Problem with Basing Immigration on Economic Merit / Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/04/05/point_of_order_immigration_reform
What Anti-Torture Advocates Can Learn from Argentina / Foreign Policy
http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2013/02/26/cleaning_up_a_dirty_war
Incubating Ideas in the U.S., Hatching Them Elsewhere / Wall Street Journal
http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10000872396390443759504577631651529404854
Various Articles / Slate
http://www.slate.com/authors.alexandra_starr.html
Case Study / The New York Times Magazine
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/magazine/21obama-t.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Eloise at the Plaza / The New Republic
http://www.alexandrastarr.com/articles/TNR_12-5-02.pdf
How Oil Has Shaped Venezuelan Culture: The American Scholar
http://www.alexandrastarr.com/articles/america_scholar_spring_2007.pdf