Note: Yesterday
was the 156th birthday of Elizabeth Jane Cochran (1864-1922), aka Nellie Bly,
one of history’s most extraordinary and fearless journalists.
“For her first assignment, she got herself
committed to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum, on Blackwell’s Island. It was the
beginning of a pioneering career in stunt journalism that would include
pretending to be an unemployed maid, an unwed mother looking to sell her baby,
and a woman seeking to sell a patent to a corrupt lobbyist. She also dabbled in
elephant training and in ballet.
“In an era when Pulitzer and William Randolph
Hearst were engaged in a journalistic arms race for the most pyrotechnics in
print media, Bly was an industry darling, the woman who popularized a genre
that was as robust a century ago as it is today.”
—Alice
Gregory, writer, “Nellie Bly’s Lessons in Writing What You Want To,”
The New Yorker, May 14, 2014.
• Editorial Comment: About that elephant dabbling?
The Calla Lilies Are in Bloom
Check out the May issue of Senior News: “Humboldt Holds Its Breath.” Free everywhere.
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“I don’t think writers are sacred,
but words are. They deserve respect. If you get the right ones, in the right
order, you can nudge the world a little.” —Tom Stoppard
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