What motivates you? No, seriously, I’d like to know.

My unshakeable curiosity about the lives of others is what motivates me, so I built a career that allows me the opportunity to find out. Reporting gives me the privilege of learning why people do what they do, and writing lets me do my best to explain it to the world.

I spent many years writing exclusively about professional athletes, who made me work very hard to find out anything about who they are beyond the jersey. They helped me develop temerity, tenacity, and my ability to earn a stranger’s trust.

Those are the skills that I am now using to explore the rest of the world beyond a locker room. I want to write about everything. I am curious about everyone. I think I annoy everyone in my life because understanding them on a superficial level is never, ever enough for me.

As for my own interests, I am an avid reader of literary non-fiction, a modern and contemporary art enthusiast, a devotee of the 1980s punk scene, and a fan of the hallmark sports of my native California (skateboarding, surfing, rock climbing). I enjoy writing about things that are meaningful to me. I also love the challenge of figuring out why people enjoy things I don’t understand.

Recently, I wrote a profile of author Melody Beattie for The Cut. I’ve also explored the legacy of Yoko Ono’s art and the band Brand New’s reunion tour over at Defector. GQ let me write about a man from Corsica who helps people dress like Tony Soprano. In the New Yorker, I explained why pitchers are tearing their elbow ligaments all the time. I wrote a story about Tony Hawk and big-air skateboarding for the New York Times.

On my own Substack — Critical Thinking — I wrote about The Libertines and the enduring aesthetic legacy of the early aughts. Readers also enjoyed this essay I wrote about my best friend and her adorable baby.

If you are an editor who needs an eager, curious, and open-minded writer, please let me know. You can reach me at hello@lindseyadler.com or on the top deck of the NYC Ferry.