Read This

Library of Congress
Excellent article in the Chicago Tribune by Melissa Isaacson about the heartbreak of caring for her parents through their years of decline, and eventual deaths, from Alzheimer's disease.

Chicago Tribune: 'Something's not right with Mom . . . and now, Dad.'
Watching one parent die by inches is painful enough. When Alzheimer's takes both, your pain is more than the sum of the parts.

Good Journalism

Boston Globe: Courts strip elders of their independence
Within minutes, judges send seniors to supervised care

I was going to blog about this article as a great example of what good journalism is: finding a problem in society and exposing it to the light of day. Apparently Massachusetts courts have been shuffling old folks into guardianships without complying with legal requirements, and without caring very much about the people who are hurt by this.

Then I read the attribution at the end of the story. It's a project from a graduate seminar in journalism at Northeastern University (home of my co-op law school).

This article was reported and written for a graduate seminar in Investigative Reporting at Northeastern University by eight students: Nicholas Coates, Meghan Gargan, Jeff Kelly, Maggie Kowalski, Candice Novak, Yerina Ranjit, Amanda Smith, and Richard Thompson. Their work was overseen and this article was edited by Northeastern journalism professor Walter V. Robinson, former editor of the Globe Spotlight Team. Robinson's e-mail address is wrobinson@globe.com. Confidential messages can be left at 617-929-3334.

Seeing a piece like this gives me two reactions. One, continuing frustration with our corporate media, which concentrates so much on pointless fact-free opinionating, and so little on actual reporting. Two, happiness to see that good journalism is still being taught at schools like Northeastern. I look forward to seeing the bylines of these reporters in the future.