Tommy Tomlinson spent more than 15 years as a local columnist at the Charlotte Observer. A 2005 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in commentary, he believes he is the only journalist in history to have covered the Super Bowl, the Bassmaster Classic and the National Spelling Bee in the same year.
EDITOR’S NOTE: It is not unusual these days to come across yet another announcement of the death of a notable journalist. Those who came into the profession during the heady times of the post-WWII boom, Vietnam and Watergate are now … Read more
This is the fifth of ten stories Storyboard will post from a new collection honoring Michael Brick [see our 5 Questions on the project], each featuring an introduction by a writer who loved his work. Today’s entry is introduced by … Read more
A few years ago an intern did a study of the writing that showed up in our newspaper. He ran our stories through a computer program that measured the reading level you would need to understand each piece. It turned … Read more
In the first scene of the last episode of “Breaking Bad,” Walter White opens the glove box of a car he’s trying to steal and the case to a Marty Robbins cassette falls out. At the end of the scene, … Read more
Sometimes, when I get stuck for ideas, I imagine some of my favorite songs as real-life narratives. What if you could find a real story as good as the song playing in your head? I’ve been thinking about that a … Read more
I spoke to the Public Relations Society of America’s Charlotte chapter on Wednesday, May 22, 2013. They’re a good group. Sometimes I speak off the top of my head at this sort of thing, but this time … Read more
Sometimes short nonfiction pays. Today we’re going to talk about a (mostly) nonfiction narrative of 457 words that made it to No. 2 on the pop charts. In 1975, a freighter named the Edmund Fitzgerald sank in a brutal storm … Read more
Songs speak not just to us but also to one another, crossing years and miles and even genres. One of last year’s best hip-hop singles, written by a rapper from Compton, Calif., has an echo in a 14-year-old … Read more
When I was little, my mama worked the early shift at the seafood plant. She’d drop me off at my Aunt Janice’s house before dawn and they’d lay me down on a pallet in the living room. Country music played … Read more
The hell with my lede. Let’s start with his: I’m sitting in a hotel room in Columbus, Ohio, waiting for a call from a man who doesn’t trust me, hoping he’ll have answers about a man I don’t trust, which … Read more
