We are living in a century of displacement, says Jessica Goudeau, award-winning author of “After the Last Border: Two Families and the Story of Refuge in America.” And because we are, journalists need to learn to … Read more
“If you know what you want to say, you’ll figure out how to say it.” That’s what Steve Padilla, editor of Column One at the Los Angeles Times, told a virtual gathering of the San Diego Press Club on … Read more
If you’re not a fan of “A River Runs Through It,” it can only be because you haven’t read it yet. Norman Maclean’s 1976 novella of family dynamics plays out on Montana’s Blackfoot River and is an enduring … Read more
My daughter Zara, who just turned 9, attended her first reporting interview as an infant, napping next to my chest in a snuggly baby wrap tied around my waist. Read more
Hemingway is having a moment. Again. The eponymous documentary by Ken Burns and Lynn Novick that has been airing and streaming on PBS — air streaming? — has exhumed the cultural conversation about the author. That … Read more
Pull up Roy Peter Clark’s website and you’ll see it leads with a reference to him as “America’s writing coach.” The source of that comment isn’t specified, but could likely be claimed by any number of the thousands … Read more
I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year. However, I did launch a new morning routine. Every morning I get up, make coffee, get the woodstove going, sit in my reading chair, and: write three pages in my … Read more
When I walk in the forest, my eyes almost always scan the ground. That’s not because I fear to lose my footing, but because poking through the duff or loitering on a mossy log or squatting at the edge … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Cathy Henkel, a retired newspaper reporter and editor from Seattle, was wintering on the west coast of Mexico when borders closed because of COVID. She turned a hobby of shell-and-stone creations into a daily practice and posted it … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This essay and analysis on journalistic language was first published by our friends at The Poynter Institute, and is shared with permission. One of my favorite songs by the great Aaron Neville is “Tell It Like It … Read more