Author

“Gary Robinson died hungry.”

Why is it great? My mentor Ron Speer of the Virginian-Pilot liked the opening line of the Bible for Greatest Short Lede Ever. I go with Buchanan. I’m hooked with four words.…
July 21, 2018

Take Two: Avi Selk on spiders, aggregation and writing fast

In the second of a two-parter, the Washington Post reporter describes his process for finding fresh stories from previously published work
July 19, 2018
Avi Selk eulogizes the long life and too-soon death of Spider 16, and what she taught us

Avi Selk eulogizes the long life and too-soon death of Spider 16, and what she taught us

In his elegiac profile, the Washington Post general assignment reporter talks about finding gems in previously published work, and doing it all on deadline
July 18, 2018
Can you say ... Thanks, and we miss you?

Can you say … Thanks, and we miss you?

On Mister Rogers, Tom Junod and the art of reverence
July 13, 2018

“She’s just telling what’s real out there that she sees.”

Why it’s so great: Tyler is a novelist, not a journalist. But the work of writing is the work of writing. In this New York Times profile by Charles McGrath  –…
July 11, 2018
"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances."

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

American flag, somewhere over Lake Superior off the shore of Bayfield, WisconsinWhat makes it great? Forgive the indulgence of the great-granddaughter of immigrants, and the decidedly American nature of this…
July 4, 2018
Shadows cast on the love of a game

Shadows cast on the love of a game

How the profile of a sweet sport led to news scoops and a dark mystery, and how the mystery drove a narrative
July 3, 2018
"You can't hit or write your way out of a shadow."

“You can’t hit or write your way out of a shadow.”

Maryland Capital Gazette editor Rob HiassenWhy is this so great? Before we get to that, let me say I wish I had not had reason to stumble across it. The…
June 29, 2018
Learning to see beyond first sight

Learning to see beyond first sight

Editor’s note: We are trying out a new feature. Call it writing practice (with a nod to Natalie Goldberg’s “Writing Down the Bones,” where I first encountered the term). Or…
June 28, 2018
"They have to do everything the men did, except backwards and with ideals."

“They have to do everything the men did, except backwards and with ideals.”

WHY IS THIS SO GREAT? Or … is it? This might cause eyerolls as a “great sentence” pick. It’s not what most would call high literature, and likely will be…
June 20, 2018