BLOG
JimRomenesko.com
It´s a safe assumption that Jim Romenesko — or just “Romenesko” — isn’t a household name. But to many people in the media and journalism trades, the name is synonymous with must-have information. Romenesko is to media-industry news/blogging/gossip what TMZ is to unnecessary celebrity obsession. The longtime blogger recently cut ties with the Poynter Institute, the journalism training center that hosted his blog for 12 years. In what may be the messiest divorce of journalism geekery since, well, ever, Romenesko left Poynter after questions arose regarding his attribution and quotation practices. It’s a truly messy affair. Now Romenesko is blogging on his own site, jimromenesko.com.
BOOK
Chicago: City On The Make
At first glance, there’s not much for flannel-bound Inland Northwesterners to love about Chicago. (Tall buildings? Gross. And where are the friggin’ mountains?) But give Chicago: City on the Make a whirl, and you might book the next flight to O’Hare. (Midway? Please.) The 1951 Nelson Algren classic is out in a special 60th anniversary edition, complete with annotations and an introduction by famed author Studs Terkel. A 1951 New York Herald Tribune review called the book “a love poem, a script in which a lover explains his city’s recurring ruthlessness and latent power.” Bonus: a well-placed picture inside a Chicago meat-packing house. Mmmm.
WEBSITE
Long-Form.org
Sure, you’d like to read the latest New Yorker missive delving into the heart of the country’s massive economic chokefest through indepth, analytical prose. But who has time for that during the work day? There are, after all, hundreds of Facebook profiles to peruse while filing your TPS reports. Longform.org has you covered. The site curates current and long-past nonfiction reporting and writing, allowing you to save the reading for later by sending to an ad-free, easy-on-the-eye reader for your computer or mobile device. It’s not all contemporary work, either. There’s an archive (sporadic yet growing) with incredibly tantalizing work dating as far back as 1879.
