One of our veteran reporters here at The Commercial Appeal is the insatiably curious and always energetic Cindy Wolff. She attended Nieman for the first time in 2004 and it has been remarkable to watch her get better and better and better.
This weekend, she gave our readers this deeply told story about a family, a tragedy and a small-town's embrace.
Sayeth Cindy: "I spent the first part of my career dancing around a writing style I didn’t really understand. I tried to be with sources during active moments and write about that but I never had any direction or understanding of why that worked until I went to Nieman for the first time. I listened to Tom French, Ken Fuson, Hank Stuever, Anne Hull, Kelley Benham, David Finkel, Jacqui Banaszynski and Alex Tizon. I started to understand. I still have to do my boilerplate stories, but every now and then I tried to slip in little bits of narrative. I try to be stronger in my observations and interviews to make the stories richer. I began reading these writers and trying to figure out a way to do a better job. I went back to Nieman last year and learned even more from Tom French, Jacqui B, Chip Scanlon, and someone I didn’t expect, Diana K. Sugg. I have a long way to go, but it’s a start."
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