Author Archives: Mallary Tenore Tarpley

My grandma and I were on a mission this afternoon to find the nearest library. Not knowing where we were going, we started to drive toward the gulf when we should have been heading toward the bay. We turned around and around. My car was starting to make funny noises, probably from dizziness. “Is that it over there?” my grandmaContinue reading “Trip to the Bright Blue Library”

During my half-hour commute to work, I hear a lot of songs. My 14-year-old, Bimmeny Blue Tempo is too archaic to have a CD player, so I listen to the radio, switching back and forth from station to station, hoping I don’t miss a song I like. If I hear a song multiple times in a rowContinue reading “Songs with stories, signs”

OK, I’ll admit it. I’m a people watcher. I find people — their mannerisms, their facial expressions, their voices — fascinating. I went to the pool today with the intention of swimming, reading my book and minding my own business. But then a woman, who I’ll call Martha, arrived. I heard her from the street as sheContinue reading “The Perks of “People Listening””

http://www.esquire.com/fiction/napkinproject Sometimes napkins are just better, especially when dining out. Why dirty your hands with ink on a hot date or scramble through your purse to find that crumpled-up receipt to write on when you could just reach across the table and grab a napkin? This is what Esquire magazine had in mind when crafting “The NapkinContinue reading “Napkin Narratives”

During my lunch break today, I decided to take a detour and go into a gift store down the street from Poynter. I was immediately drawn to a row of cards that featured poignant photographs of people. Somehow, the cards made me feel connected to the people in the photos, even though I obviously don’tContinue reading “Unexpected Lunch Break Excursion”

I’m going to try to keep this post short …. but we’ll see how that goes. I’ve always been known to write overly long stories, poems, articles, etc. There is always so much to say and never enough space. The English language is full of phrases that refer to the abbreviation of longer stories: “To make aContinue reading “Cutting the Clutter”

During our last week at Poynter, the summer fellows and I were asked to choose a theme song to describe ourselves and our time at the Institute. The songs ranged from classical to rap to classic rock. “Dancing Queen,” “Walk It Out,” and “Don’t Stop Believin,” were just a few of the songs on ourContinue reading “Dancing the Day Away”

   http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=101&aid=127490 We see glimpses of the war in Iraq on TV. We read about war stories in books. Maybe we even hear stories firsthand from loved ones fighting abroad. Martha Raddatz, chief White House correspondent and author of “The Long Road Home: A Story of War and Family,” and Rajiv Chandrasekaran, national editor of The Washington Post and author of uthor ofContinue reading “Storytellers of War”

http://www.icons-land.com/images/products/VistaEmoticonsPreview.jpg A friend told me yesterday that he was banning me from ever using the exclamation point again. OK, I’ll admit it: I’ve been known to use a few too many exclamation points in Instant Message chats. I tried to justify my usage of them, telling my friend that I don’t ever use them inContinue reading “Where Punctuation Fails, Do Emoticons Speak?”

Stories of serenity, hope, that keep us well   Photo taken by Don Holtz of National Geographic.  As journalists, we’re often told we have to be objective. We’re advised not to get too close to our subject and to replace tears with stoic composures so as not to appear biased. Sometimes, though, we forget we’reContinue reading “The Tales we Tell”