I just went digging for some clips and realized two of my favorite America stories aren’t on my website. So I’d like to introduce you to them.
In 2008, I wrote one of many, many stories about the one-year anniversary of the heroics of Wesley Autrey, the ‘subway hero’ who threw himself in front of an oncoming train to save a man who’d fallen onto the tracks. Everybody pre-reported their stories and ran them on January 2, the day of the anniversary. I spent that day with Autrey to get a look at what it’s like when your celebrity expires — literally.
In 2009, I had a chance to collaborate with my friend, the journalist and photographer Larry Lerner, on a multimedia piece about water towers, the giant barrels on New York City rooftops that bring much of the city’s residents their water. We spent the day on a rooftop, watching a team build a new barrel from scratch, documenting it along the way.
