Trevor Hughes likes to tell people he grew up on a dirt road next to an apple orchard in Vermont, where his parents received The Burlington Free Press every day. Hughes fell in love with the idea that journalists … Read more
Eli Saslow of The Washington Post has made a name for himself as one of the best narrative journalists in the country. His signature approach is to embed himself with a person or a family for an extended amount … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: A version of this essay was first published Feb. 19, 2021, as a Storyboard newsletter. That was two days before the tragic news that COVID deaths in the U.S. had topped 500,000. In retrospect, this reflection seems both … Read more
It’s been just over two years since we wrote about Tyrone Beason, then a Seattle Times columnist who had fallen out of love with the city as its tech-fueled growth seemed to discard funk and character and anyone without … Read more
I love that feeling when a passage promises you that a story is worth sticking with. I had this experience recently when reading Wesley Morris’ profile of the late Cicely Tyson, who died last month at … Read more
If you’re feeling stalled and rusty in your writing, you’re far from alone. The pandemic disrupted the rhythm of our jobs, and put a hold on most of the conferences or workshops we rely on for networking, training and … Read more
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 meditation to parse that question, and still find … Read more
Curiosity grounds all good journalism. Following up on curiosity — wondering about everything, and then caring to find out — is what makes journalism soar. Read more
Clichés are a bane of original writing. Unless you turn a worn and tired cliché on its ear (I sure hope you notice what I did just there) and make it new. Then all the meaning people attach to … Read more
Last week, Sen. Mitt Romney called for preserving evidence of the destruction caused by the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol “so that 150 years from now, as people tour the building, they’ll say, ‘Ah, this was … Read more
