Ode. What A Great Word. Simple, full of meaning.
Since I was little, I’ve loved the written word. I struggled with it at first, but I overcame it, and I think that’s why I’ve picked my career path. I love how letters form words, how words form phrases, how phrases form sentences, which then form paragraphs, which then form sections in stories and chapters in books. This is my ode to these formations — with a dash of reporting talk mixed in. It’s going to be esoteric, and probably will interest only me. I do what I’ve done below in my head anyway, so I might as well put it in writing.
(I’m going to try to do something like this regularly [once a week], just because I’m obsessed with email newsletters right now and I think having one of my own would be fun; doing a blog post is a semi-slide into that world. I’ll h/t where I get stuff, unless of course I find it on my own, which in that case, uh, I won’t. And if someone comes up with a better name, please let me know.)
The Word That Stayed With Me
perquisite
It’s not the coolest sounding word in the world, but I like it’s definition. It can mean, simply, a perk. But it’s more like an unwarranted reward based on someone’s position. So, like, big Wall Street banks not getting destroyed after destroying people’s livelihoods is a perquisite. This past week was the first time I came across it, in David Halberstam’s The Powers That Be (more on that later). Surprised it isn’t used more often.
The Words I Wish I’d Written
This requires some context. James Kilpatrick, a staunch segregationist (and the subject of these words not the writer), was the editor of the Richmond News Leader, a Virginia newspaper in the 1950s and ’60s whose copy reflected that of its editor. He firmly believed the country wasn’t a unit, but a “collection of individual, sovereign states”:
“Consequently, Kilpatrick frequently noted, readers would never see the term ‘United States’ take the singular in his editorials. Awkward as it was stylistically, the United States was not mentioned in his editorials. But the United States were. Though a stickler on such things, Kilpatrick was not a prude about editorial humor.”
— The Race Beat by Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff
Obviously meta, but the writers don’t dwell on how clever it is, just get back to the narrative, and I think that’s so slick.
The Stories I Made Time For
“Double Jeopardy” by Paige Williams, The New Yorker
On judicial override in Alabama. I have a soft spot in my heart for that state because I have family there, but you can’t defend most of the shit that happens in there. A cool note: The “nut graf” comes about halfway through it.
— h/t about every long-form or “best links” thing I follow or subscribe to
“The Long Way Home” by Eli Saslow, ESPN The Magazine
Saslow is my favorite writer, and this story only makes me love his writing more (even though it’s about a Denver Bronco, and I still can’t forgive that team for beating my Packers in the 1997 Super Bowl; I know I was 6, but still).
The Older Story I Made Time For
“Some Dreamers of the Golden Dream” by Joan Didion
C’mon, it’s Joan Didion.
The Article That Got Me Thinking
“‘Serial’ and White Reporter Privilege” by Jay Caspian Kang, The Awl
Like many people, I love “Serial” (more for how it details great reporting, and what I can learn from it, more than for its storytelling). Unlike many people, I don’t like Kang’s writing, but he is an incredibly smart dude and he makes a great point here. I’m a white male, so I have a lot of built-in privilege already, so this article is about me.
When reporting on police shootings in Dallas, I think about the dynamic between white and minority communities a lot because I’m covering a community that’s essentially foreign to me. The balance of power seems so skewed in my favor; I’m surprised people talk to me. Good to be aware of that dynamic, but I haven’t found a way around it yet: Usually I just acknowledge that I know I’m white and can’t ever understand what you’re going through, but I’ll listen carefully as you describe it. (This topic deserves way more words than I’ve written here.)
What’s Burning a Hole in my Pocket App
Sometimes I scroll through my Pocket app like it’s a Netflix queue: What do I want to entertain me right now? I’ll pass a title and think, that would be a good film to watch, but I just don’t have the mental stamina to engage with something of substance right now. Same with some articles in that app: I know, at some point, I’ll want to read them, but I want to savor the moment. Needless to say, some stories get stuck in there a while.
This week: “The Ripples From Little Lake Nellie” by Gary Smith, Sports Illustrated
The Book I’m Engrossed In Right Now
The Powers That Be by David Halberstam
He has this tendency to start a paragraph with only a name, then a short or incomplete sentence to describe its owner. It’s pretty awesome, even though sometimes I feel he overuses it.
Examples:
- “Henry Robinson Luce. Harry. Everyone called him Harry, it was a sign of terrible ignorance to call him Henry, though he was not a good old boy, he was not easily approachable, and he did not grant intimacy easily.” Then, later in the book, Halberstam starts another graf about Luce like this: “A curious blend of a man. Part sophisticate and part hick. At once shy and incredibly arrogant.”
- “Chambers. His name is stamped indelibly on that era.”
- “It had started with Harrison Gray Otis. General Otis. General in title, but even more in spirit. A fierce man.”
Plus, the book is about journalism, and who doesn’t love talking ad nauseam about that? It’s really long; it might be here a while…maybe this wasn’t the best idea for a section.
Thanks for reading!
Behind Blue Skies 