Author: jbenton

social studies story, mefi link, neighbor leaves town

Here’s my story — which they completely overplayed in today’s paper, not that I’m complaining — about social studies dragging down school ratings.
I really didn’t mean to make Metafilter all weepy.
If you’re looking for a place to live near downtown Dallas, my neighbor’s moving out today. I won’t lie: he won’t be missed. Dumb as a box of rocks, annoying, deeply uninteresting at every level. (Mystery Of Life #3,267: He’s unattractive, stupid, unemployed, completely without charm — but has the hottest damned girlfriend in the building.) It’s an okay apartment, though, with a great location. With him gone, I officially have no neighbors, which means I can play bad guitar as loudly as I want at 2 a.m. That’s good for no one.

espn mag story on uab rapes, usa today

When ESPN The Magazine debuted a couple years ago, it was a joke — all flash and infographics, no substance. It’s remarkably how much they’ve turned it around; they’re even better than SI some weeks. The old ESPN The Magazine wouldn’t have been capable of serious magazine journalism like this.
(Maybe there’s a lesson in there about journalism style and substance. USA Today, the legendary McPaper, has also turned it around in the last few years — and, perhaps not coincidentally, finally become profitable. Their Middle East coverage, for instance, has been stellar. Best line from that story linked above: “Former USA Today editor John Quinn once joked that the paper had become famous for ‘bringing new depth to the definition of shallow’ and that if it ever won a Pulitzer Prize, it would be for ‘best investigative paragraph.'”)

deboer on millie

Roberta deBoer, The Blade’s city columnist, gives her take on Millie — and it’s surprisingly acerbic. Truthful, but acerbic.
Back when ABC ran a regular weekly feature that Peter Jennings introduced as the Person of the Week, Millie graced that show in a segment we all clustered around newsroom TVs to watch. When it ended, I wished out loud I could have met the sweet old lady they depicted, because whoever it was, it wasn

ray cromley, 91yo pentagon reporter

I’d like to thank Kim for emailing a link to this story with this note: This is your destiny. (For those too bored to click, it’s a story about a 91-year-old reporter who “covers” the Pentagon. Problem is, he hasn’t written a story in six years. Just keeps showing up to work, day in, day out. “Mr. Cromley has a cubicle in the Pentagon press room outfitted with an old Royal typewriter without a ribbon, a 1971 World Almanac and 17 toothbrushes in a plastic cup.”)

abandoning ratings story

Here’s my story on today’s front page, a scoop of sorts about the state likely abandoning its school ratings system next year. (This has been a busy week; when another story runs Friday, I’ll set my personal Dallas record with four page-one stories this week.)
I hate looking at my writing after it appears in the paper. The awkward word choices and phrase constructions leap off the page. Damn.

millie in the wpost, brains benton

As might be expected, the stellar Post Style section has the best take on Millie Benson, particularly on the bowdlerized editions of her books put out by her prudish successors.
“Benson used to make autograph seekers read the first paragraph of their editions out loud before she’d consent to sign the copy — she knew in an instant if the book was an update, and didn’t want to autograph books that were not ‘hers.'”
And while I’m sure Nancy Drew was fine for icky girls and stuff, I bet they don’t compare to the Brains Benton mysteries.