Author Archives: Mallary Tenore Tarpley

A mother. A wife. A friend. A neighborly companion. Throughout her life, Dorothy fulfilled all of these roles and more. To me, she was Gramz – with a Z. My beloved grandmother. In a world that always seems to move too quickly, Gramz slowed things down. Her tendency to pause played out literally and figuratively.Continue reading “A eulogy for my beautiful grandmother”

 I’ve heard people say that runners like to run away from their problems. As a lifelong runner, I’ve always run toward something — a goal, a relief from stress, my mom’s arms. My penchant for running started at a young age. Shortly after my 3rd birthday, my mom signed me up for youth track and field. EveryContinue reading “My journey from a 3-year-old sprinter to a marathoner”

I’ve been struck this week by the media’s coverage of Cassidy Stay, the 15-year-old girl who lost her parents and four siblings in a tragic shooting last week. Cassidy, the lone survivor, was shot in the skull but pretended to be dead until the shooter — her ex-uncle — left the scene. She suffered a fractured skullContinue reading “How the media can do a better job recognizing the complexity of Cassidy Stay’s loss”

Hi readers! I haven’t had as much time as I’d like to blog lately, but I’m keeping up with my writing as part of my role with Images & Voices of Hope (ivoh). The best way to follow my current work is on my website, mallarytenore.org. I still hope to publish personal essays on my blog asContinue reading “Posting new work on MallaryTenore.org”

It’s hard to believe that Troy and I are getting married in just 10 days. As the planning comes to a close, I wanted to take time to reflect on what I’ve learned about planning for a wedding: 1. The planning doesn’t really end until the day of the wedding. A lot of people have recentlyContinue reading “7 things I’ve learned about wedding planning”

After six years at The Poynter Institute, I’m leaving to take a job as managing director of Images & Voices of Hope (IVOH) — a nonprofit dedicated to highlighting how the media can be a force for good. The job presents a lot of exciting opportunities, and it will help me reach some of myContinue reading “Taking on a new job as managing director of Images & Voices of Hope”

Some good news: I’ve finished a rough draft of my memoir. For the past few years, I’ve written several personal essays in hopes of eventually writing a memoir. Since getting some in-person inspiration from one of my favorite writers, Anna Quindlen, I’ve spent the past year researching, reporting and writing my book. One of myContinue reading “Making progress on my memoir”

Every day, I think about my mom. Sometimes I’ll look in the mirror and see a resemblance — the same high cheekbones, the same thin lips. Or I’ll hear a song she liked and start singing along to it. “Love shack, baby love shack!“ Other times I’ll see material things that remind me of herContinue reading “Planning a wedding without your mom”

When I started wedding planning the first week of November, I thought it would be easy to find affordable venues that we both liked. It turns out, planning a wedding is more complicated than I thought it would be. My fiance Troy and I looked at several different venues that we both liked. We wereContinue reading “Planning a wedding — and a life together”

December has been a busy month of writing, editing — and teaching. My priority at work is Poynter.org, but I try to teach on the side when I can. I find that my reporting informs my teaching and vice versa. After I teach a session, I often write a related article. Similarly, I refer toContinue reading “Getting more opportunities to teach (& learn)”