In our last post, the Editors’ Roundtable looked at a Seattle Times column about a record-setting Girl Scout cookie-seller who got to throw out the ceremonial first pitch at a Seattle Mariners game. Today, we hear from the Times’ Jerry Brewer about how he wrote the column. Brewer has been at the Times since 2006, with previous [...]
Tag Archives: The Seattle Times
Jerry Brewer on change-up pitches, round characters and how to ruin a perfectly good column
June 16, 2011 – 11:51 am
June Editors’ Roundtable No. 2: The Seattle Times, a first pitch, and the Queen of Samoas
June 15, 2011 – 11:01 am
We’re fine-tuning our Editors’ Roundtable, moving toward more frequent postings and smaller groups of editors looking at each story. As part of those changes, today we highlight our second June Roundtable (if you missed the first, you can see it here).
One classic daily newspaper narrative is the story of the very sick child. A member of [...]
The Small Story: long live the community-minded newspaper narrative
February 16, 2010 – 4:45 pm
Cara Solomon sweats the small stuff.
After a failed career as a television news intern and eight successful years as a print reporter, Solomon left her newspaper job on the West Coast to return home to Boston. Holding down a day job as an editor of a start-up Web site, she began to devote her free time [...]
Aging Father Agonizes over Fate of His Son
April 28, 2008 – 12:00 am
In this story of a father who takes care of his autistic adult son, reporter Maureen O’Hagan adroitly sketches the dilemma caused by longer life expectancies for people with developmental disabilities. The father, Ron Johnson, must have emergency bypass surgery to save his heart, while autistic son Ronny remains healthy but in need of constant care.
In [...]
Crossing America
June 15, 2006 – 3:34 pm
What stands out among all the lovely elements in this series is Tizon’s use of the first and second persons. Come join me on a journey, he says. And if you’ve just joined me, let me fill you in.
In discussions of craft we often talk about writing with a “conversational voice.” But of course [...]
What’s Best for Baby M?
January 4, 2006 – 1:08 pm
Martin and photographer Mike Siegel followed a couple for more than two years as they tried to regain custody of their baby daughter. We liked the ending to the piece, sad and intimate.
Suspicion in the Ranks
February 3, 2005 – 3:53 pm
This investigative-narrative series follows the story of James Yee, a Muslim chaplain at Guantanamo who was charged with espionage.
It’s a well-written and well-structured piece, an illuminating account with a clear narrative arc, and a good model for ambitious reconstructions. Still, it’s narrative told from a distance: We believe the piece would have been even more [...]
In Her Mother’s Shoes
November 16, 2004 – 4:45 pm
This is the last line of the first installment of Bock’s series on AIDS in Africa:
“For two days and two nights, while the men tend the fire outside, the women inside will clap and leap and cry, their grief amplified by the acoustics of a corrugated metal roof and the sorrow of so many [...]
The Terrorist Within
November 16, 2004 – 3:57 pm
This series was written by Hal Bernton, Mike Carter, David Heath and James Neff.
It builds plot skillfully, progressing through a classic beginning, middle and end. It also offers what seems to us to be rare in these dangerous times: a fairly complete, insightful account of the life of one Islamic man willing to die [...]
