Archive: August 2008
Losing an Editor
It's an article of faith in the newspaper trade that every writer needs an editor, and good editors are few and far between. Fewer still are those who combine the eagle-eyed skills of the best wordsmiths with the human-relations talent of a great manager. Good editors also need to understand...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 28, 2008; 6:00 PM ET | Comments (1)
Steve Jobs's Premature Obituary
Yikes;every obit writer's nightmare, publishing an obit before the subject dies. In this case, Bloomberg News Service was updating its file on Steve Jobs, the founder of Apple, when someone erred....
By Patricia Sullivan | August 28, 2008; 1:14 PM ET | Comments (0)
Running Out of Time
Dave Freeman, co-author of adventure travel book "100 Things to Do Before You Die" has died at age 47 after an accidental fall at his home, a rather mundane end given the activities he advocated. His family said he had completed about half the adventures he listed (his co-author had...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 26, 2008; 10:59 AM ET | Comments (13)
Congressional Deaths
There have been six deaths of sitting members of Congress in the past 18 months, and with the death of Stephanie Tubbs Jones last night, three of them were African-American women. The others were Julia Carson of Indiana who died Dec. 15, 2007 and Juanita Millender-McDonald who died April 22,...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 21, 2008; 2:01 PM ET | Comments (2)
A Book You'll Be Dying to Use
The "Here and Hereafter" book helps people organize their post-mortem affairs before they're actually mortified. According to the New York Daily News article, it has all the basics that the executor usually has to dig around for....
By Patricia Sullivan | August 20, 2008; 1:46 PM ET | Comments (2)
Originator of R&B dies
Jerry Wexler, the producer and partner at Atlantic Records who coined the term "rhythm and blues," has died. He worked with all the greats: Aretha, Ray, Wilson, as well as some of the greats of rock and roll. Rolling Stone put up a great playlist of the tunes of which...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 15, 2008; 1:40 PM ET | Comments (1)
Julia Child was a spy
This has the makings of the most popular National Archives download of all time: Details about Julia Child's background and nearly 24,000 other OSS employees are revealed in the newly released documents, withheld from public view as classified records for decades by the CIA. The 750,000 documents identify the vast...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 14, 2008; 2:36 PM ET | Comments (1)
Windows into History
Writing an obituary, it's not uncommon to find yourself heading down fascinating tangents that have less to do with the life of the person than with the times in which they lived. So it was this week with Alexandria resident Hazel Frances Barnes Brown. Mrs. Brown was 103 at the...
By Joe Holley | August 13, 2008; 4:11 PM ET | Comments (0)
Isaac Hayes died of stroke
We hate publishing stories that don't answer the basic question -- why did the person die? Sometimes it can't be avoided if the death was sudden and the person is a celebrity, which means the story can't wait for the cause to be established. So now, days later, we're getting...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 13, 2008; 11:45 AM ET | Comments (0)
Bernie Mac Dies at 50
The comedian and actor Bernie Mac (full name Bernard McCullough) died Saturday at the age of 50. He had pneumonia, possibly complicated by a chronic lung disease, called sarcoidosis. Bernie Mac had a hard-luck life, growing up in poverty and holding a lot of dead-end jobs, and often spoke of...
By Matt Schudel | August 9, 2008; 6:50 PM ET | Comments (7)
Pentagon Papers figure dies
When someone says "Pentagon Papers," the name that almost everyone remembers is Daniel Ellsberg. But there were others involved in copying and distributing the secret history of the Vietnam war, and Ellsberg wasn't the only one prosecuted for it. Anthony Russo, another Rand Corp. analyst and a committed activist who...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 8, 2008; 1:07 PM ET | Comments (6)
Wildland firefighter deaths
Once you see the work of wildland firefighters, you never forget it. These young men and women confront one of the most dangerous forces in nature on some of the roughest terrain in hot and uncomfortable circumstances. Armed with little more than hand tools, an occasional chainsaw and the hope...
By Patricia Sullivan | August 7, 2008; 5:18 PM ET | Comments (0)
A Short Hiatus
Starting at noon today, we'll be taking a break from posting here and turning off comments for approximately 24 hours. This is to allow for scheduled software upgrades and other maintenance. We appreciate your readership and feedback, and look forward to hearing from you again tomorrow....
By Washington Post Editors | August 5, 2008; 9:49 AM ET | Comments (0)
