Nieman Narrative Journalism Conference
On a late fall weekend in 2001, the Nieman Program on Narrative Journalism convened its first conference. More than 800 journalists traveled to Cambridge, Massachusetts to take part in three days of interactive seminars, lectures and readings with many of the nation’s leading practitioners. By the end of the conference, there had been 26 seminars, four plenary sessions, and three group readings, and it is from words spoken at these sessions that Nieman Reports compiled the report that follows. — Melissa Ludtke
My friend D. reports that when the Vietnam War was winding down, his young son told him that he wanted to celebrate on the day the war ended. “How?” D. asked. And his son said, “I want to blow the horn in your car.”
When the war ended, Americans made little of it. No parades. No band music, few outward shows of excitement. Except in a suburban area of Salt Lake City, when a nine-year-old boy got permission and pressed on the horn button of his father’s car until the battery died. —Steve Hale
