Author Archives: janishaag

It was the shepherds who stayed, the youngest in their families remaining with the flock night after night, those of the lowest station, society’s outsiders, listening to the moaning of fat-tailed sheep under the stars, staying present in their ordinary … Continue reading →

As Dick’s best boyhood friend Kent Hancock famously said, “You’ve gone and done it this time.” In this case, I’ve dipped a toe into the cool pool of podcasts. Watching my student editors on the Express record a podcast each … Continue reading →

A winter solstice poem So much good arrives at precisely the worst moments, though we can’t see it for the flames, for the seizure, for the accident, for the illness, for the unknown thing that has befallen us. The way, … Continue reading →

People (often former journalists) frequently ask me what on earth my journalism students are going to do out in the world. “Newspapers are dying,” they say, which is true. I cited the most recent statistics for a lecture I gave … Continue reading →

In the old days of newspapers, when stories were typed on half sheets of blank newsprint, to indicate that a story continued on another page, you’d type this at the bottom of the page: (more) And when the story was … Continue reading →

Of all the California migrations in my family, the most recent ones might be the sweetest. This is my Northern California family at the Parrattos’ new house in Lincoln on Thanksgiving day. My second cousin Robyn with her husband Johnny … Continue reading →

When the bagpiper came in, playing “Scotland the Brave,” and walked up the center aisle as the small crowd of proud family members stood, I got the first lump in my throat. Then the color guard, firefighters in their perfectly … Continue reading →

for Dickie The day the right thumb is freed from its purple cast I attempt to insert it through manicure scissors, eager to clip the wicked talons down to a reasonable length. But the thumb is not yet fully operational, … Continue reading →

And just like that… four weeks passed, and the right thumb, swathed up to the wrist in purple, was freed to resume its life as a functional digit. Though it’s not completely functional yet, it’s giving it the old college … Continue reading →

So this happened. And in the great scheme of things, it is a mere annoyance, I have reminded myself dozens of times since Monday evening. No one died. No one died and stayed dead. (Thanks again to the speedy action … Continue reading →