Post by bob quarteroni on Oct 27, 2011 13:25:45 GMT -5
Writer of power, grace
Published: October 25, 2011
The wound clinic is small; one table in the middle holds all the supplies - cotton, rolls of gauze, peroxide, Betadine, tape. A narrow wooden bench lines the wall. The sick file in, cramming the bench with torn limbs, ripped breasts, gangrenous infections - and dirty, hurting people cloaked in incomprehensible dignity and patience."
In Journalism 101, the fundamental question initially is bewildering: What is news about? The answer should be obvious. Yet news isn't about fires, wars, technology, budgets, political maneuvers or social dysfunction. It's about people.
Marita Dempsey Lowman instinctively knew that. She wrote the italicized paragraph above for The Times-Tribune while reporting on a humanitarian mission to Haiti in 2000. Her reporting and writing were imbued with power and grace and - always - spoke to the human condition.
Marita spent the last decade of her illustrious reporting career with The Times-Tribune. She retired prematurely in 2005, suffering from a degenerative brain disorder that, cruelly, had begun to rob her of her remarkable skills. She died Friday, at 60.
Marita's body of work for The Times-Tribune and, before that, for the Times Leader, was notable not just for its consistent quality and craftsmanship, but its vast range.
Her coverage of mass murderer George Banks' shooting spree in Wilkes-Barre in 1982 could be used as a textbook on deadline reporting. She moved seamlessly and effectively into investigative reporting and, finally, to features.
At The Times-Tribune, her investigative series, "Our Enemies Within," opened the region's eyes to the pervasiveness of self-destructive behavior, including drug abuse, alcoholism and suicide. She wrote a deeply insightful series of profiles, "Lions in Winter," about the lives of some of the area's major figures in their twilight years.
Like all reporters, Marita loved to tell a story. More so than most, she did so with compassion and elegance that elevated the craft.
Published: October 25, 2011
The wound clinic is small; one table in the middle holds all the supplies - cotton, rolls of gauze, peroxide, Betadine, tape. A narrow wooden bench lines the wall. The sick file in, cramming the bench with torn limbs, ripped breasts, gangrenous infections - and dirty, hurting people cloaked in incomprehensible dignity and patience."
In Journalism 101, the fundamental question initially is bewildering: What is news about? The answer should be obvious. Yet news isn't about fires, wars, technology, budgets, political maneuvers or social dysfunction. It's about people.
Marita Dempsey Lowman instinctively knew that. She wrote the italicized paragraph above for The Times-Tribune while reporting on a humanitarian mission to Haiti in 2000. Her reporting and writing were imbued with power and grace and - always - spoke to the human condition.
Marita spent the last decade of her illustrious reporting career with The Times-Tribune. She retired prematurely in 2005, suffering from a degenerative brain disorder that, cruelly, had begun to rob her of her remarkable skills. She died Friday, at 60.
Marita's body of work for The Times-Tribune and, before that, for the Times Leader, was notable not just for its consistent quality and craftsmanship, but its vast range.
Her coverage of mass murderer George Banks' shooting spree in Wilkes-Barre in 1982 could be used as a textbook on deadline reporting. She moved seamlessly and effectively into investigative reporting and, finally, to features.
At The Times-Tribune, her investigative series, "Our Enemies Within," opened the region's eyes to the pervasiveness of self-destructive behavior, including drug abuse, alcoholism and suicide. She wrote a deeply insightful series of profiles, "Lions in Winter," about the lives of some of the area's major figures in their twilight years.
Like all reporters, Marita loved to tell a story. More so than most, she did so with compassion and elegance that elevated the craft.