Jacqui Banaszynski retired as the endowed Knight Chair in Editing at the Missouri School of Journalism in 2017, is editor at Nieman Storyboard, and a faculty fellow at the Poynter Institute. She won the 1988 Pulitzer Prize in feature writing for “AIDS in the Heartland,” a series about a gay farm couple facing AIDS, and was a finalist for the 1986 Pulitzer in international reporting for her account of the sub-Saharan famine.
War can become an abstraction unless, of course, you’re in the middle of it. We can read about it or see images, which often are more powerful than words in conveying the realities. As the war in Ukraine lurches … Read more
It’s probably a good thing I missed the memo about suggested attire to the Chicks concert earlier this month. I don’t have a straw cowboy hat. My days of strappy tank tops and butt-tight cut-off jeans are best behind … Read more
The start of a new school year is upon us. That may have some feeling excited — days spent with old and new friends, new adventures in learning and all those yummy new school supplies. I retired from the … Read more
Tributes this past week to basketball great Bill Russell were as many as they were deserved. I couldn’t follow them all, which is a pity. Sportswriting and obituaries often display some of the best writing in journalism. Wedding the … Read more
A note from a professional friend landed in my inbox a few days ago, with this quick header: “… the best lede I’ve ever read.” So I clicked. (Wouldn’t you?) It took me to a piece by Dana Milbank, … Read more
The temperatures topped 100 Fahrenheit week (38+ Centigrade) up at the mountain cabin one day last week. The three-man yardscape crew seemed indifferent. They spent their first afternoon prepping the site; they dumped mounds of dusty gravel, unloaded heavy … Read more
A fave recent story find: a tight little feature in the Boston Globe: ‘Please do not erase’: A treasured whiteboard at Boston’s Children Hospital has not been touched for 15 years. Whiteboards are on my geek-love list, along with … Read more
Stand-out story craft never loses its luster. But it really is time to start sharing gems from my STORYBOARD SAVED file before they lose their sparkle. With no particular order or theme, here are a few that caught my … Read more
If there is such a thing as the perfect summer read, this might be it. First, it’s about baseball. Even if you’re not seduced by the sport, the writing it has inspired through the years can be superb … Read more
Much attention has been rightly paid to the congressional hearings into events before, during and after the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol. By any account, it qualifies as a big deal. Perhaps one of the biggest … Read more
