One Great Moment

"During six Sundays, he never varied his routine, faithful as a migratory mallard, his route taking him through a neighborhood of apartments that all seemed to be dying of boredom."

“During six Sundays, he never varied his routine, faithful as a migratory mallard, his route taking him through a neighborhood of apartments that all seemed to be dying of boredom.”

Sometimes a sentence stops me for reasons I can’t entirely explain, or even defend. Often it includes a moment of description or metaphor that teases out a personal memory, or…
August 15, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"I think of myself as a humble student trying to get better and just lucky to still be getting chances to do it.”

“I think of myself as a humble student trying to get better and just lucky to still be getting chances to do it.”

Why it’s so great: This isn’t a particularly elegant sentence. It may even come across as disingenuous – a popular, successful Hollywood actor who, at 65, still claims to be…
August 9, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"What is beyond grief?"

“What is beyond grief?”

Why is this great?  Writers wade into the world to witness it in all its dimensions, then remake it in the hieroglyphics we know as words – marks we use…
August 1, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski
"But the sea, too, took its toll."

“But the sea, too, took its toll.”

Why it’s great: Deadline reporting of natural disasters is a tightrope walk. Too little drama and events are reduced to factoids that don’t take hold in the readers’ mind or…
July 25, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski

“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
Tom Warhover

“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
Jacqui Banaszynski
"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
Jacqui Banaszynski
"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
Jacqui Banaszynski
"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
Jacqui Banaszynski
"A singing bagpipe joined the wind in the pines."

“A singing bagpipe joined the wind in the pines.”

Why is it so great? I have come to love bagpipes, perhaps because they conjur special moments in my life, perhaps because they are rooted in my maternal heritage. But…
June 11, 2018
Jacqui Banaszynski