Lascher at Large » Writing and Reporting

Following a War Correspondent’s Footsteps to the Oil Spill

Bill — Sat, 12 Jun 2010 00:39:47 +0000

Will following the footsteps of Melville Jacoby, a World War II correspondent and my grandmother's cousin, help me cover the gulf oil spill? [...]

Guest Post – All for one and one for all: why writer communities

Bill — Tue, 18 May 2010 17:57:21 +0000

Michelle Rafter, Blogathon Organizer and Owner of WordCount

One of the more interesting features of the 2010 Blogathon is today’s guest post exchange day. Blogathon participants have wandered about the Internet to post on each other’s blogs. Visiting Lascher at Large today is Michelle Rafter, a freelance business and technology reporter who [...]

The Free(lance)dom to Investigate

Bill — Sat, 08 May 2010 06:15:17 +0000

Like Jen Willis, today I attended an investigative business journalism seminar organized by the Reynolds Center. Unlike Jen, though, I don’t feel as pessimistic about the potential for freelance journalists to do investigative work. Nor do I feel staff writers should lament, at least not for the long term. What I took away more [...]

In Transit

Bill — Tue, 04 May 2010 06:59:17 +0000

Last Spring, I wrote a commentary about my personal experiences with transit in Los Angeles. An assignment for a class, it was something of a companion to the reporting I’d done for my master’s project, the work that became “R We There Yet.” I was proud of the final piece that emerged, [...]

Telling the stories we aren’t searching for

Bill — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:48:23 +0000

I agree that SEO isn’t about conforming to a robotic standard, but it’s also not about speaking to people, it’s about speaking to some sense of the mean average of what people are looking for. The thing is, if we want to succeed — both in reaching people and in drawing them back to our work — we can’t just be producing what the public is looking for, what the public wants to read. We must, we absolutely must tell the stories that the public doesn’t know it is looking for, that the public isn’t looking for, that the public hasn’t even conceptualized the terms for. If we don’t, in very short order we will tell fewer and fewer stories that matter, that impact society and we will lose not only all impact, but all value we are capable of offering the public. [...]

All Things Not Considered in NPR’s Oil Drilling Coverage

Bill — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 22:18:25 +0000

Yesterday afternoon President Obama shocked the country when he announced plans to open parts of the Atlantic and Alaskan coasts to oil drilling. Though the Pacific Coast was left untouched, the move could open up huge expanses of ocean elsewhere.

Many environmentalists treated the news as a betrayal and yet another delay in the [...]

Writing (and driving) gone wild

Bill — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 18:52:53 +0000

Today I leave Los Angeles for Portland, Oregon. As I do, I look forward to taking an as-yet determined path to my new home hundreds of miles north. I don't know how exactly I'll get to Portland, though I've set a few ground rules. I won't set a firm date to get there. Though the trip could easily take as little as a day and a half, I don't want to constrain myself to any schedule, lest I miss the world I pass through (you can help me get there, too). I may backtrack. I may make detours. I may decide to linger in one spot staring at the sky for hours. I may rush. I may wander. Which brings me to rule #2, perhaps the most exciting and most questionable part of my plans. To best experience the journey I plan to completely avoid freeways and even divided highways. Getting to Oregon from Southern California in January makes this a rather daunting task, particularly because I also plan to steer clear of the coast. As stunning as the coast is, I've seen much of it and hunger for a new path, at least this time around. [...]

Making the most of making the media

Bill — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 00:08:35 +0000

Finding Community | Stopping to Breathe | False divisions | Continuing the discussion | Other Voices

I arrived in Los Angeles late Monday afternoon. As I landed, I watched the sunset turn the Santa Monica Mountains that golden hue they turn in late fall, caught glimpses of the skyscrapers [...]

The eyesore, history and the untold story

Bill — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 10:04:28 +0000

The Ventura County Star reported Oct. 30 that Ventura County Superior Court Judge Glen Reiser halted the demoliton of the Wagon Wheel hotel. The stay came after what seemed like the end of a long fight between developer Vince Daly and the San Buenaventura Conservancy.

Many comments posted to the Star‘s Web site featured [...]

Cooking Up Frustration

Bill — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 21:47:56 +0000

In the middle of the night I had it all figured out. In a journal rescued from stack of half-finished tomes, I penned thoughts about what I am doing here, free of school, free of work and ready to cast out on my own yet again. Writing with a sudden fervor, [...]