By Jyoti Madhoosoodanan (from a Facebook post) Currently in an email thread that is 70 messages long (and growing) — all to check the accuracy of a 3,000 word story, with a special focus on a few sentences. Those … Read more
By Laurie Hertzel It had been seven months since I’d retired from the Minneapolis Star Tribune after nearly 50 years in journalism, and, like retired people everywhere, I realized it was time to clean out the basement. On the … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski My fandom of American TV police/crime procedurals goes back to sharing Agatha Christie mysteries with my mother, then watching “Perry Mason” on a not-very-sharp black-and-white TV. I loved trying to ID the bad guy (spoiler: on … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski A message popped up on my Facebook message box that captured, in short form, a not-infrequent lament I hear from reporters who long to stretch into deeper, more engaging stories but must write about specialty or … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski In the mood for an enduring romance? Mine came this week through the obituary of Marilyn Lovell, wife of Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell. The couple were … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski Enjoy an end-of-summer delight, courtesy of Ashley Lodato, a columnist for the Methow Valley News in the far north Cascades of Washington state. Lodato’s writing has caught our attention before; we featured a Why’s This So … Read more
By Jacqui Banaszynski I sat down to watch the State of the Union address this week out of a sense of obligation and, to be honest, a somewhat dark curiosity. How scripted would it be? How predictable? How long? … Read more
A note from a professional friend landed in my inbox a few days ago, with this quick header: “… the best lede I’ve ever read.” So I clicked. (Wouldn’t you?) It took me to a piece by Dana Milbank, … Read more
Earlier this month, we posted a short “One Great Moment” piece on a dazzling line of dialog from the new-this-season Netflix movie “A Boy Called Christmas.” Dame Maggie Smith is telling three fidgety children a story. Read more
By now, you’ve no doubt seen a few dozen — or several thousand — of the creative memes featuring Bernie’s Chair. Or is it properly thought of as Bernie’s Mittens? Maybe we need an art naming contest: “Bernie on … Read more