One Great Sentence

“You can’t hit or write your way out of a shadow.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• June 28, 2018

Maryland Capital Gazette deputy editor Rob Hiassen Joshua McKerrow, Capital Gazette Why is this so great? Before we get to that, let me … Read more

“They have to do everything the men did, except backwards and with ideals.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• June 20, 2018

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 breezed by in a fast read. Some might even call … Read more

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

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• June 10, 2018

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 I know many cringe at their screech and whine. Outdoors … Read more

“…you can’t write about this stuff and be boring. That would be a sin against God.”

By Jacqui Banaszynski• One Great Sentence• June 6, 2018

Why is it great? I read Allison’s “Bastard Out of Carolina” when it was first published, about the time I was covering a range of social justice issues – gender, race, class, sexual orientation. I was clueless to who … Read more

“Man is a part of nature, and his war against nature is inevitably a war against himself.”

One Great Sentence• April 25, 2018

Why is it great? Fresh from celebrating Earth Day, we’re focusing on the environment and climate change this week at Storyboard. What better than a quote from Carson, who opened many people’s eyes to the pollution of the seas decades … Read more

“sweet spring is your time is my time is our time for springtime is lovetime and viva sweet love”

By Kari Howard• One Great Sentence• April 18, 2018

Why is it great? You know how it seems like spring will never arrive, you wait and you wait, and it’s dreary and cold, and then suddenly, in one day, it seems to arrive? In New England they call it … Read more

“The Sun specializes in short items unlikely to tax the mental capacities of its target audience: one-paragraph news articles, one-sentence paragraphs, one-word sentences.”

By Kari Howard• One Great Sentence• April 11, 2018

Why is it great? Well, first of all, it comes from the great Sarah Lyall, who was the longtime London correspondent for The New York Times. She has such a wonderful voice: charming, funny, intimate. This comes from her book … Read more

“Remember, remember always, that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.”

By Kari Howard• One Great Sentence• April 4, 2018

Why is it so great? When I was looking for a One Great Sentence dealing with immigration, I was struck by the differences between America’s two presidents named Roosevelt. In the one above, FDR reminds us of our common bond; … Read more

“I’d rather go down in history as one lone Negro who dared to tell the government that it had done a dastardly thing than to save my skin by taking back what I said.”

By Kari Howard• One Great Sentence• March 28, 2018

Why is it so great? I found this quote from the absolutely amazing Ida B. Wells after The New York Times righted an old wrong by publishing her obit — almost exactly 87 years after her death. She was so … Read more

“The Revolutionary Hill Estates had not been designed to accommodate a tragedy.”

By Kari Howard• One Great Sentence• March 21, 2018

This 1961 book has haunted me since I first read it about 15 years ago. Written at the birth of suburbia, and the accompanying conformity of such neighborhoods, it tells the story of a couple who believe they’re different from … Read more