On most mornings the little brown dog could be found at the foot of the bed, often on his back with his hind legs spread and his front paws bent at the joint. That’s rest. Good rest. And better … Read more
“A plus-sized Jewish redneck lady died in El Paso on Saturday.” That’s the first line of the unforgettable obit of Renay Mandel Corren, who died in December at age 84. Written by her 52-year-old son, Andy … Read more
In late August, Jim Tankersley, a White House correspondent for The New York Times, learned he was going to be the pool reporter following President Biden to Dover Air Force Base for the arrival of the … Read more
A brief anecdote in a Denver Post story about Pulitzer Prize winner Jim Sheeler describes how a new reporter was seated next to him in the newsroom of the Rocky Mountain News. When he introduced himself, … 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
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
On May 23, 2020, (May 24 in print), the New York Times landed a daring and historic front page: A wash of overwhelming gray, which jumped to two more gray pages inside the print paper. To mark the deaths … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: This piece is published in partnership with our friends at the Poynter Institute I was half-way through an essay on how the experience of news — especially in the midst of a pandemic — felt like a … Read more
EDITOR’S NOTE: Storyboard can’t, alas, run tributes to every fine and influential journalist or journalism educator who dies. But some tributes do more than honor an individual at his passing — they reveal the very heart and craft of the … Read more
It’s 4:08 a.m. EST on Wednesday, April 8, as I type this, and John Prine has been dead for too long. Like many of you, I went to bed a few hours ago with the news. Like some of … Read more
