From the Editor

Common-sense questions don't always yield common-sense answers

Common-sense questions don’t always yield common-sense answers

We invite you to spend a few moments traveling the world with photographers who, despite the risks of COVID, have remained on the front lines of storytelling. For more than…
April 9, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Writing about nostalgia for homelands

Writing about nostalgia for homelands

Speculation runs hot these days about a return to some kind of post-pandemic normal. Among my employed journalism friends, that raises the question: When do you think you’ll go back?…
March 22, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
When the story of one is the story of many

When the story of one is the story of many

The number, when it landed, should have been no surprise. Even so, it held the power to shock. I spent a week  bracing myself for news that the COVID death…
March 1, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
The teaching power of obituaries

The teaching power of obituaries

The final "life story" demands sensitive interviewing, strong character development, the arc of narrative and foolproof fact-checking
February 23, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Metrics can't always or instantly measure impact

Metrics can’t always or instantly measure impact

It has become an all-too-common question, from students and young journalists and even struggling veterans: Why does this work matter if nothing changes?I could spend a lifetime of study and…
February 15, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Five days and five senses: Free writing as a daily practice

Five days and five senses: Free writing as a daily practice

About this time every year, the stories start rolling out, urging you to reset your  New Year’s resolutions — and make them realistic. That’s because by this time, every year,…
February 2, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Why journalists rise up in the face of fear

Why journalists rise up in the face of fear

The email that pinged my inbox Wednesday, as an assault on the U.S. Capitol was at its most intense, was quick and blunt:“Aren’t you glad you’re not out there?”I responded…
January 11, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Thrilling journalism in face of a terrible year

Thrilling journalism in face of a terrible year

A version of this essay was published as the Storyboard newsletter on Jan. 1, 2020 A flip of a calendar page and, just like that, 2020 is over. Of course, it…
January 5, 2021
Jacqui Banaszynski
Passports to authentic reporting: a foreign view, and a view through empathy

Passports to authentic reporting: a foreign view, and a view through empathy

At the end of this, a year that defies easy summary, we abandon attempts to try. Instead, here are two bits of lagniappe that came our way and we pass…
December 31, 2020
Jacqui Banaszynski
A very few of my favorite fiction reads of 2020

A very few of my favorite fiction reads of 2020

It was a year of great journalism about hard things — and fiction that soothed along the way
December 24, 2020
Jacqui Banaszynski