You're Overthinking It Nominated for Newhouse Mirror Award
But that wasn't the best news
Well, it’s been quite a week.
Let’s start with an email I woke up to on Thursday:
On behalf of Syracuse University’s S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications, congratulations on being named a finalist in this year’s 2023 Mirror Awards competition. The Mirror Awards are the most important awards for recognizing excellence in media industry reporting.
I have a habit of reading emails before I put my glasses on, but this called for a bit of focus.
Holy shit. This is a national award.
The other three people in my category are columnists for the Washington Post and the LA Times, and an epidemiology professor from Yale who writes for The Nation. (I think he’s gonna win. He’s been all over journalists being stupid about COVID.)
I write a Substack. The very newsletter you are reading.
Of course, I write this by choice. Because I am too old to do bad journalism. And I write about journalism with the passion of heartbreak. Which means it’s not really a choice at all.
Then the second thing happened. Or a series of things. First, I realized I had to get to New York on June 12 for the ceremony. Then I realized I had to choose who to bring. This is where having twins is problematic.
As I was contemplating this, a friend texted me a link to a story about this cool women’s sports bar in Portland, and said the girls and I could stay at her condo if we wanted to go. This person has been a big supporter of my work for years. I told her thanks, but at this moment, I was trying to figure out New York. And she said, “Oh, I have airline points. When do you need to go?”
I cried.
I’m pretty… independent. I don’t ask for things.
The next day, someone I have known for decades gave me an out-of-the-blue donation - without even knowing about the Mirror Awards - that far exceeded her yearly subscription. She said she had just read a bunch of my columns in a row, and felt this endeavor merited extra support.
Then I talked to Lisa Guzman, whose day job is, partly, about raising money.
“Lisa, I think I need to do a fundraiser. I’m not sure how. I hate asking for things. Can you give me some advice?”
“Oh,” she answered. “I’ll do it for you. This is important. You have to go.”
I cried again.
So here I am, humbled and grateful, and doing something that is hard for me to do - asking for help.
Because the best thing that happened this week wasn’t the nomination. It was my friends’ reaction to it.
So, I’m going to ask. And I’m going to do two asks at once.
First, head up to this GoFundMe that Lisa and my daughters put together. (I will not talk about the crying that happened when I saw what my daughters wrote.) I appreciate anything you can give to help us with accommodations for this journey.
Second, if you are currently a free subscriber, please consider becoming a paid subscriber. I promise, I will give you something to think about every week.
Sometimes you look around at what the world is giving you, and you lean in. I am leaning in.
Thank you for supporting my journalism.
This is the column that was nominated.
