Natasha Vargas-Cooper

Natasha Vargas-Cooper is an American journalist and author. Her writing has been published in the New York Times,[1] the Wall Street Journal,[2] The Guardian,[3] GQ,[4] Spin,[5] The Atlantic Monthly,[6] the New Statesman,[7] Good magazine,[8] Bookforum,[9] BlackBook,[10] New York magazine,[11] and Los Angeles magazine.[12] Her writing has also been featured on websites such as The Awl,[13] the Huffington Post,[14] E! Online,[15] The Daily Beast,[16] and Salon.[17]

Natasha Vargas-Cooper
Bornc. 1984
Los Angeles, California, United States
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUCLA
OccupationJournalist and Author
Years active2009–present

She resigned as a staff writer at The Intercept on January 15, 2015 to work for Jezebel;[18] she left in November 2015.[19]

Early life and family

Vargas-Cooper was born in and raised in Los Angeles, California.[20] She is the daughter of author and journalist Marc Cooper and teacher Patricia Vargas-Cooper. She attended UCLA, and graduated summa cum laude in 2007 with a major in history.[21]

Career

After graduating from UCLA, Vargas-Cooper worked as a union organizer and health policy analyst in both Los Angeles and Washington, DC.[21]

In 2009, Vargas-Cooper wrote a memoir/true-crime series on the trials of Jesse James Hollywood that took place in Santa Barbara.[22] It was widely praised and critics said that the series "remind us more than a little bit of Dominick Dunne.[23] In December of 2014 Vargas-Cooper published the first interview with Jay from the popular podcast Serial.[24] On February 27, 2015, Jezebel published an article by Vargas-Cooper falsely reporting that Wisconsin governor Scott Walker's proposed budget would cut funding for sexual assault reporting from the state's universities.[25] The article was widely condemned, and Jezebel subsequently acknowledged that its article had presented "an unfair and misleading picture. We regret the error and apologize."[26] The Daily Beast, which ran an article of its own based on the Jezebel report, likewise backpedaled, saying, "We deeply regret the error and apologize to Gov. Walker and our readers. Our original story should be considered retracted."[27] On Twitter, Vargas-Cooper initially defended the post claiming that Walker should have been aware of the "optix." Several days later she admitted, "I screwed up."[25] In April 2015, also at Jezebel, Vargas-Cooper published the leaked amazon shopping list of Amy Pascal.[28] There was some backlash as people thought this list violated Pascal's privacy.[29]

In February 2017, Vargas-Cooper wrote an article in The American Conservative, entitled "Womanhood Redefined" which called transgender women "men who decide to become women" that undergo "surgical mutilation." The New Republic's Jo Livingstone called her essay an "attack on trans people masquerading as an exercise in good faith" and "trans-exclusionary rhetoric."[30]

Books

Her book, Mad Men Unbuttoned: A Romp Through America of the 60's, was published by Harper Collins in 2010.[31]

Other works

Vargas-Cooper is the creator and host of Public School, a weekly live story telling series in Los Angeles where writers and performers tell personal stories, based on a theme. Some past participants include Starlee Kine, Paul F. Tompkins, Davy Rothbart, and Julie Klausner.[32]

References
  1. "We Work Hard, but Who's Complaining?". The New York Times. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  2. Natasha Vargas-Cooper. "'Mad Men': The Promiscuous Mingling of Art and Copy". WSJ. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  3. Natasha Vargas-Cooper. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper". the Guardian. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  4. "An Interview with Celebrity Rehab's Dr. Drew". GQ. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  5. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper - SPIN". SPIN. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  6. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper". The Atlantic. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  7. "New Statesman". Newsateman.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  8. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper". Good.is. Archived from the original on 30 January 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  9. "goldfinger - bookforum.com / current issue". Bookforum.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  10. https://web.archive.org/web/20130427035250/http://www.blackbookmag.com/movies/the-new-natural-alia-shawkat-1.33464. Archived from the original on April 27, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  11. "Sitewide Search - Natasha Vargas-Cooper , Natasha Vargas-Cooper -- New York Magazine". Nymag.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  12. https://web.archive.org/web/20130219233229/http://www.lamag.com/features/Story.aspx?ID=1535491. Archived from the original on February 19, 2013. Retrieved June 26, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  13. "The Awl". Theawl.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  14. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper". Huffingtonpost.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  15. https://web.archive.org/web/20150402123800/http://www.eonline.com/news/Review__Dreary__i_Law_Abiding_Citizen__i__Makes__i_Death_Wish__i__Look_Like_Fun/149321. Archived from the original on April 2, 2015. Retrieved June 26, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  16. "The A&E Reality Show "Intervention," with Jeff Van Vonderen and Candy Finnigan". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  17. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper". Salon.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  18. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper leaves The Intercept for Jezebel". Capital New York. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  19. http://www.theawl.com/2015/11/accounts-disabled
  20. "Natasha Vargas-Cooper". Natashaavc.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  21. World Archipelago. "author-details". Harpercollins.com. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
  22. Vargas-Cooper, Natasha. "Jesse James Hollywood On Trial: Part One". The Awl. Medium. Retrieved 27 May 2009.
  23. Graham, Mark. "Jesse James Hollywood Takes the Stand". Vulture. Vulture. Retrieved 24 June 2009.
  24. Vargas-Cooper, Natasha (29 December 2014). "Exclusive: Jay, Key Witness From 'Serial' Tells His Story for First Time". The Intercept. The Intercept. Retrieved 16 July 2018.
  25. "Daily Beast retracts story on Scott Walker". Politico. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  26. "Scott Walker Wants Colleges to Stop Reporting Sexual Assaults [UPDATE 2]". Jezebel. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  27. "Walker Unfairly Attacked on College Rape - ORIGINAL STORY RETRACTED". The Daily Beast. Retrieved 28 February 2015.
  28. http://jezebel.com/this-is-amazing-amy-pascals-cheap-crotch-intensive-bea-1698863025
  29. https://nymag.com/thecut/2015/04/about-that-amy-pascal-shopping-list.html
  30. "Transphobia Redefined". The New Republic. 2017-02-17. Retrieved 2020-06-19.
  31. https://web.archive.org/web/20120618031352/http://madmenunbuttonedbook.com/. Archived from the original on June 18, 2012. Retrieved June 25, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  32. "ABOUT PUBLIC SCHOOL". Public School. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
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