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The thing with feathers: Burkhard Bilger and his haute-couture "plumassier"

The thing with feathers: Burkhard Bilger and his haute-couture “plumassier”

Is participatory journalism a good thing? Burkhard Bilger may have pondered that while clinging to the subject of his recent New Yorker profile as the twosome zoomed through Paris on…
February 27, 2018
“An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite"

“An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite”

This week’s One Great Sentence by Susan Orlean, referenced in the headline above, could be my journalism mantra. Yes, we must know about the great events and people of our…
February 23, 2018
Peter Stark and “As Freezing Persons Recollect the Snow – First – Chill – Then Stupor – Then the Letting Go –”

Peter Stark and “As Freezing Persons Recollect the Snow – First – Chill – Then Stupor – Then the Letting Go –”

Peter Stark’s second-person rendering of a hypothermic near-death experience took its 1997 print headline from the closing quatrain of an Emily Dickinson poem that, depending who you ask, is either…
February 22, 2018

“An ordinary life examined closely reveals itself to be exquisite and complicated and exceptional, somehow managing to be both heroic and plain.”

Why is it great? This line is beautifully constructed, yes, but what stands out for me is the sentiment conveyed. It could be my journalism mantra. The sentence comes from…
February 21, 2018
How to break into The California Sunday Magazine

How to break into The California Sunday Magazine

Editor Douglas McGray doles out a million great tips and insights, including the possibly scary, "We really put a lot of weight on the pitch."
February 20, 2018
On bullets and planes that fall from the sky -- and, somewhere in the middle, love

On bullets and planes that fall from the sky — and, somewhere in the middle, love

This could have been a week of love — at least of the commercialized Hallmark variety. But hearts and flowers didn’t prevail for even one day before yet another person…
February 16, 2018
Finding the story in the parentheses and other adventures with Jeffrey Stern

Finding the story in the parentheses and other adventures with Jeffrey Stern

It wasn’t the sensational headline — “The Real-Life Mad Max Who Battled ISIS in a Bulletproof BMW” — that grabbed my attention. It was the next bit.[pq]”Here is a person…
February 15, 2018

“Love makes your soul crawl out from its hiding place.”

Why is it so great? For Valentine’s Day, we had to go with One Great Sentence on love (even if the holiday makes you go harrumph). This one is a…
February 14, 2018
William Langewiesche and "Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight"

William Langewiesche and “Inside the Sky: A Meditation on Flight”

William Langewiesche is known to readers of The Atlantic and Vanity Fair‎ as a kind of Jack London figure, a writer of sturdy, authoritative tales of modern life at the…
February 13, 2018
A tribute to audio storytelling, and to the memory of bedtime stories

A tribute to audio storytelling, and to the memory of bedtime stories

This is a very “audio” week on Storyboard, and I’d like to have more of them. Storytelling has so many forms, and sometimes we hear stories better than we read…
February 9, 2018