Pulitzer for a Friend….One of the cult-like traditions at the Washington Monthly is for young editors to guilt trip those who have left our staff for better-paying jobs into continuing to write for the magazine. Hence the bylines of people like James Fallows, Matt Cooper, Walter Shapiro, Josh Green and Gregg Easterbrook continue to show up in our pages despite our penurious freelance rates. Part of the alumni’s motivation is loyalty to and admiration of the magazine. Also at work, I think, is the ever-present fear that any one of the young editors might turn out to be a star, and maybe even your boss someday. I certainly had that sense in the mid-1990s when, while working at U.S. News & World Report, I wrote a couple pieces for a smart Monthly editor named Gareth Cook. Gareth went on to become an ace editor and reporter at the Boston Globe. Today he won a Pulitzer for his writing about the science of stem cells. Can’t say I’m surprised, but I’m definitely thrilled. Congrats, Gareth!
