In her article, Like Something the Lord Made, Katie McCabe does a great job of blending a profile piece with medical history, as well as racial issues. She does all this, but still maintains the focus on Vivien Thomas's career. I was never lost, or bored, but always interested.
I noticed McCabe's ability to drop bits of medical fact/information into the narrative. For example, when describing her phone conversation with Dr. Cooley, she says they were able to talk for 47 minutes, which is, "just about the time it takes him to do a triple bypass." McCabe is informing the readers about heart surgery, but doing it in a more unconventional way. She's not just spitting out facts.
When she brings racial issues into the narrative, she doesn't just say that Thomas was discrimated against when he was working at Vanderbilt. She gives examples, such as the anectdote about Thomas's older brother Harold who sued for salary discrimination. Mixing stories and examples into the main arch of the piece make it much more interesting.
I felt that I got a good sense of what Thomas's personality was like. I think this is especially impressive in this piece, because McCabe did not actually talk to Thomas himself. She had to go from his autobiography, a recorded interview, and conversations with those who knew him. Despite all of this, we still get a sense of his soft spoken humility, his intelligence, his loyalty to Dr. Blalock, and his dedication to his family. We got to know the human behind the medical breakthroughs.
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You're right Camara. I think McCabe's task was very hard. She had to sift through a lot of documents and recorded interviews to paint a very close picture of Thomas' life that really portrays to the audience his true personality. But she did a great job!
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