This article first appeared in the St. Louis Beacon, April 30, 2013 - For the Beacon's fifth birthday, we've asked people to share five favorite things from over the years.
- Election nights. There's the long, slow buildup when we wait and wait for results and then the frenzied reporting and editing as they start streaming in. Everything clicks into place -- the payoff for all the planning and preparation and we hum along, a well-oiled (and well-fed) machine.
- How can I single out one series from all the incredible series and in-depth reports the Beacon has done? The simple answer is: I can't. So here's a shout-out to Nancy Fowler for Beyond the Gender Box, Kristen Hare for her work on immigration, Robert Joiner for his Worlds Apart; Robert Koenig and Mary Delach Leonard for their Meandering Mississippi and work on the spillway; Jo Mannies for her coverage of Todd Akin and Claire McCaskill; Jason Rosenbaum for Power Players; and Dale Singer at his look back at the Hancock amendment.
- Sitting inside the Serra sculpture downtown while listening to an all percussion band during the first Beacon Fest. It was joyous, exhilarating and totally Beaconesque.
- The little series Highway 79 Revisited got me out of the office and on to one of my favorite Missouri byways to tell the story of some old river towns using art to try to revitalize themselves. Every once in a while, it's fun to exercise those old reporting muscles, just to see if they're still in shape.
- Dale Singer's story about Saint Louis University's law-school dean had the best Cheerios-spitter ever: "Life’s a bitch. If it was easy, they would call it a slut."