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Popular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Sept. 5 — reported essays (Dam!)
Moving forward with trying to figure out how to approach the reported essay. We discussed some good ones today, mentioning their weaknesses as well: Didion on the Hoover Dam: An example of how to write about something that is beautiful and yet creeps you out. When something amazes and frightens you, you’re headed in the…
Read MorePopular Culture Journalism (JOUR494): Class recap for Aug. 29 — the reported essay
Wednesday in class we talked more about the reported essay, which the students are beginning to work on and will file on Sept. 17. What the heck is a reported essay? I think the adjective “reported” is there mainly to make those of us with journalism degrees feel a tiny bit better about publishing essays…
Read MoreMontana!
Let me bring you up to speed and then slow it way down: I’ve left D.C. behind for the next four months and driven 2,500 miles to beautiful Missoula, Mont., to be the 2012 T. Anthony Pollner Professor at the University of Montana’s excellent School of Journalism. The professorship is the gift of the Pollner…
Read MoreI’m giving away THREE free copies of Lou Berney’s new book — these’ll go so fast you’ll get WHIPLASH!
Hey. Five months since I blogged? Five?? Forgive me. But I come bearing another TONSIL book giveaway as small penance — perfect summertime reading. It’s Lou Berney‘s new book, Whiplash River, the sequel to his very enjoyable Gutshot Straight. Already! Lou is one of a kind: Born n’ raised in Oklahoma City, went to Bishop…
Read MoreGet your shine on with a FREE copy of Anne-Marie O’Connor’s ‘The Lady in Gold’! (Yours to kleempt!)
Let me make up for my dereliction of duty as a blogger with this chance to win one of THREE free copies of my friend Anne-Marie O’Connor’s new book The Lady in Gold: The Extraordinary Tale of Gustav Klimt’s Masterpiece, ‘Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer.‘ Yes, it’s another TONSIL book giveaway! Anne-Marie has been working on…
Read MoreAnother travel, PS: an epilogue about Barb Page, and a gentle request…
Back in May I wrote about the death of my good friend and mentor Barbara Kerr Page, with whom I had the pleasure of working with at The Albuquerque Tribune. If you missed that, it’s here. Many of you who didn’t know Barb wrote very nice notes to me. Some of you had a Barb-like…
Read MoreAnother TONSIL book giveaway! Eli Saslow’s fascinating TEN LETTERS, addressed to you!
Somewhere near the White House, on a non-descript floor of a non-descript office building, an entire team of people sift through President Obama’s mail — thousands of letters daily. This is actual mail, the kind people put stamps on and mail carriers deliver. (I know! Despite everything you’ve heard, people still do that.) Out of…
Read MoreReviewing the fall TV shows, or: Donating my brain to science, one micro-thin slice at a time…
Fall TV season! For you it began long ago, when NBC first started airing those endless commercials for “Whitney.” For me it began even longer ago, and involved a two-week press tour in Los Angeles in August. (Rough life, I know — boo hoo.) But at last I see a light at the end of…
Read MoreOne-Man Book Club’s summer reading credits
Oh, ranger! Summer is over! And so the One-Man Book Club reconvenes one last time* (more on that down below) for its summer vacation extra-reading credit. Books came along on a lot journeys since early spring: Out to Kansas and back, out to Albuquerque and back, on a train to Staunton, Va., and back, and…
Read MoreTonsil book giveaway: A deal with ‘The Devil Himself,’ at a price you can’t refuse (hint: free!)
I’m a bit tardy imploring you to read my friend Eric Dezenhall’s new historical thriller The Devil Himself. This book, which came out in mid-July, is a departure from Eric’s earlier crime/mob/PR-disaster novels, and it is the product of many years of Eric’s particular fascination with the mob’s involvement in WWII and his research into…
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