Short Takes

Tidbits of literary fun, surprise or miscellanea.

Browse Archives

By Date

Gratitude Notes (#6)

Short Takes December 7, 2019

Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. I’m thankful for my friend Andreea, a brilliant sports journalist in Bucharest, who’s been my … Read more

Gratitude notes (#5)

Short Takes December 6, 2019

Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. I am grateful to Knight-Ridder’s Jim Batten who delivered — essentially posthumously — on his … Read more

Gratitude Notes (#4)

Short Takes December 5, 2019

Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. (And full disclosure: I’m one of those people who has a thing about pictures of spiders … Read more

Gratitude Notes (#3)

Short Takes December 4, 2019

Editor’s note: This month, we bring you brief reminders from pros around the world about what or who helped them forward in their careers. My editor at the City News Bureau of Chicago, my first real, full-time journalism job, … Read more

Gratitude notes (#2)

Short Takes December 2, 2019

Editor’s note: As promised, we will spend December offering brief daily notes from fellow journalists about something or someone they are grateful for in their career. Here is the starter sampler from Thanksgiving Day. We’d love … Read more

Newsroom Ode #10: A loyalist’s last lament

By Short Takes March 11, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the tenth and last in a series of Monday odes that chronicle the legacy newsroom. Each is written from different first-person perspective. Together they create the mumbled narrative of a special and sadly contracting culture. The author,  … Read more

Newsroom Ode #9: Echoes from an empty desk

By Short Takes March 4, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the ninth and penultimate in a series of Monday odes that chronicle the legacy newsroom. Each is written from a different first-person perspective. Together they create the mumbled narrative of a special and sadly contracting culture. The … Read more

Newsroom Ode #8: Podium pontifications

By Short Takes February 25, 2019

EDITOR’S NOTE: This is the eighth in a series of Monday odes that chronicle the legacy newsroom. Each is written from a different first-person perspective. Together they create the mumbled narrative of a special and sadly contracting culture. The author,  … Read more