In 1998 my pal Tom French won a Pulitzer Prize for feature writing. That year there were 8 winners and 12 more finalists among the metro daily newspapers. By my rough count, there were ZERO winners this year, four finalists. Don't need to be a weatherman....

So called writing coaches, like me, have to relearn, time and again, lessons they profess. Recently stuck on revision of manuscript. Too daunting. But I'm back on track. How? Stepped away from keyboard and cleaned every room in house. Clutter in house, clutter in the prose.

Today is Pulitzer Prize Day! Winners of the Pulitzer Prizes, the most prestigious awards in journalism, will be announced this afternoon.

As always, Poynter will cover the awards ceremony and notable stories about various prizes at Poynter.org.

Jemele, I screw up on golf shots any time I lose my nerve and decelerate; on short chips I don’t break my wrists at all; if the grass is short enough I use my Texas wedge, my putter. Writing is harder than golf! Cheers.

St. Pete friends. Mark your calendar for Thursday, May 23. Join big party, admission free, at Palladium to Keep St. Pete Lit -- in a literary sense. I will honor five stars of the word: poet, novelist, journalist, teacher, bookseller. stpetecatalyst.com/roy-peter-clar…
Who gets RPC award?

I had memory of my great 8th grade teacher, Franciscan brother Richard McCann, writing word 'nuance' on chalkboard. The ability to express or appreciate subtle shades of meaning. What we are seeing in current political and religious conflicts feels like the 'death of nuance.'

Whet their detested knives against your throats,
Spurn you like dogs…What would you think
To be thus used? This is the stranger’s case
And this your mountainish inhumanity. 8/8

Thank you William Shakespeare for this mirror so we can reflect upon our treatment of strangers.

Go you to France, Flanders,
To German province, to Spain, Portugal
Nay, anywhere that not adheres to England,
Why you must be strangers. Would you be pleased
To find nation of such barbarous temper
That breaking out in hideous violence
Would not afford you an abode on earth. 7/

…Alas, alas, say now the King,
As he is clement if the offender mourns,
Should so much come too short of your great trespass
As but to banish you: whither would you go?
What country, by the nature of your error,
Should give you harbor? 6/

For other ruffians, as their fancies wrought,
With self-same hand, self-reason, and self-right,
Would shark on you, and men like ravenous fishes
Feed on one another…
You’ll put down strangers,
Kill them, cut their throats, possess their houses...
4/

And you in ruff [proudly] of your opinions clothed;
What had you got? I tell you: you had taught
How insolence and strong hand should prevail,
How order should be quelled ; and by this pattern
Not one of you should live an aged man...3/

Imagine that you see the wretched strangers,
Their babies at their backs and their poor luggage,
Plodding to the ports and coasts for transportation,
And that you sit as kings in your desires,
Authority quite silenced by your brawl... 2/

On May Day, I recall Evil May Day of 1517, when London mob massacred foreigners. Thomas More, sheriff, tried talking them down. The incident dramatized in obscure Elizabethan play Sir Thomas More. Shakespeare thought to be author this speech on how we treat strangers... 1/

Politicians have long stonewalled journalists. But as sources increasingly dismiss journalists, Poynter has assembled a new report with best practices to help.
poynter.org/reporting-edit…

Love this new book by #PeterGolenbock . Looking forward to his talk Monday with Roy Peter Clark at Tombolo Books. The chapter of with poet Donald Hall about his dad and their shared experiences with #RedBarber and the Brooklyn Dodgers required some assistance.

Thanks to Jim Verhulst Tampa Bay Times for publishing my essay about speech, attributed to Shakespeare, in obscure Elizabethan play that holds up mirror for our times and begs us to look inside ourselves and way we treat immigrants and 'strangers.'
tampabay.com/opinion/2024/0…

This is cool. Thanks for sharing. RPC

Shoutout to new follower, Roy Peter Clark - thank you for teaching us the power of language and the responsibility of wielding it. And to Poynter, advocate for a free, authentic and accountable press.

.Maggie Prosser, meet Roy Peter Clark; Roy Peter Clark, meet @prossermaggie! dallasnews.com/news/2024/04/2…

kathy travis cried when i told her we won. then i cried because she cried.

icymi: tinyurl.com/mrsby7jb