I recently posted on the reasons why I love freelancing. Once you know you want the gig, it also helps to know what you’re willing to do. There are four big reasons to agree to write a story, and every writer should know them – if only so he can decide if that writing gig, [...]

We are no longer in a golden age of newspapers. This we know. There was a time when newspapers carried greater weight and bigger staffs. Those left on big urban dailies are ideologues, clingers and the occasional innovator. I met someone who in the 1980s worked at one of those newspapers that were still power [...]

Editors have been cut. I assume there are more young journalists freelancing and those with staff jobs can’t be getting the same attention. College journalism professors are almost all naturally inclined to a generation no longer here. Who the hell is teaching the next generation of journalists? Number of Views:25437

Oh, they matter. If you don’t think they do, you missed it. Last week, I shook the hand of another young journalist. I suppose he felt eye-contact was uncomfortable, so he looked down, offered me an awkwardly limp, motionless form of his hand for a second and pulled away. It was a train wreck of [...]

I have submitted a story or post of mine to Digg three times in a half-year of membership. I readily know that I have friends who’ll swear that number is larger. I recently pledged to work on limiting my own shameless self-promotion and, admittedly, nothing is dirtier than submitting your own work to Digg or [...]

I graduated and am now, it seems, I am a professional freelance writer. So when do I stop presuming to address editors with titles, Mr., Mrs. and the like? I’ve had the conversation with friends and colleagues, and no one seems to have much of a real answer. Some say using a title in an [...]

The Devon Theater‘s proud reopening on Frankford Avenue in Mayfair was detailed in yesterday’s Sunday Inquirer by theatre critic Howie Shapiro and me. About 400 people, dressed for a gala, will take their seats Friday evening in what once was a dilapidated Frankford Avenue movie house. Three women in nun’s habits will pop up, administering [...]

Devon artistic director Michael Pickering oversees a rehearsal of “Nunsense,” the inaugural show for the new theater. AMANDA CEGIELSKI / Staff Photographer By Howie Shapiro and Christopher Wink | Philadelphia Inquirer | March 22, 2009 About 400 people, dressed for a gala, will take their seats Friday evening in what once was a dilapidated Frankford [...]

Devon artistic director Michael Pickering oversees a rehearsal of “Nunsense,” the inaugural show for the new theater. AMANDA CEGIELSKI / Staff Photographer By Howie Shapiro and Christopher Wink | Philadelphia Inquirer | March 22, 2009 About 400 people, dressed for a gala, will take their seats Friday evening in what once was a dilapidated Frankford [...]

I’m betting that a revenue model for newspapers will develop in the coming years -whether it be as a nonprofit or whether online advertising can be revolutionized. Many general interest newspapers will be lost, but a tier will remain for at least some time, I think. But, gosh, I wish more newspapers would make the [...]