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. People writers Susan Schindehette and Gail Cameron Wescott told the story of their unique relationship in an article that began in this manner:The stadium was silent on this chill, gray afternoon, serving only as backdrop to a poignant tableau: A tall, ruggedlooking man, revisiting the scene of so many triumphs, walks hand in hand Page 167with his grown son as they amble across the playing field, apparently oblivious to anything but each other. "The whole relationship between Coach and Johnny, well, it somehow just lifted up the spirit of the whole team," says Mike Crocker, a studentequipment manager of the University of Alabama football team, surveying them from a distance. "And everyone really, really misses them."A year after leaving his post as head coach of the Crimson Tide, Gene Stallings is remembered not only for the national championship he brought the team in 1992 but also for the powerful and affectionate bond between him and his only son. Thirtyfive years ago, Johnny Stallings, the third child in a family with two healthy daughters and two more to come, was born with Down syndrome. At the time, children with his disability were often shunted aside, institutionalized as a family's unspoken embarrassment. (Schindehette & Wescott, 1998, p. 40)For humaninterest articles that are based on human suffering, disability, and illness such as the People article or the Houston Chronicle story earlier in the chapter, the ones that seem to touch readers most, you have to proceed with caution. Check medical facts and diagnoses. Be clear about the situation. Medical and legal issues need to be explained carefully and in detail. Some sources may attempt to fool you. In cases such as that of the Stallings family, there is no doubt of the son's disability. Of course, most experiences that are told to you by a source will be true. However, a story occasionally is exaggerated or simply untrue. Not long ago, newspapers and magazines in South Florida were contacted by a woman who was having difficulty getting public assistance for her ill child. She painted a picture of bureaucratic delays that might cost the child its life. A newspaper reporter checked the woman's story and found that most of the facts were true. Yet, because she did not reveal all the facts about the illness, there were missing pieces. The reporter found out from a physician whom he had telephoned for background that the illness was serious, but not as immediate a problem as the woman claimed. In fact, the child could expect to live a number of years before the illness turned serious or fatal. The newspaper decided not to publish the written story in light of the new information. Another newspaper, however, did not check the facts as closely and did run the story.Children, as you saw in The Boston Globe story at the beginning of the chapter, make good humaninterest subjects regardless of their Page 168plight or the location of the story. Although it has been argued that the local humaninterest story is preferred, occasionally some stories are so compelling that geography matters little. To find these sorts of stories, feature writers must keep in touch with the world around them and people in that world. Stories are found in many places. For starters, try the local courthouse. Criminal and civil courtrooms are filled with this type of human drama that has, for various reasons, reached the need to be resolved before a judge. Usually the best court cases that make humaninterest stories have a broader social issue element within them, McKinney (1986) explained.Certainly good humaninterest articles come out of hospitals and other health care institutions. Similarly, you can expect to find good stories at schools and churches. Government social services offices can often bring you in contact with good stories, too, if you can build dependable sources there. Each of these is a place where people gather and interact. You can expect to learn a lot if you take the time to talk and listen. Established writers know these stories find their way to them. If you are new to a community, it might take some time before people seek you out to tell you their stories, but eventually they do. Certainly neighbors and acquaintances often can lead you to stories. Listen to what they have to say. Remember people you meet and where they live and work. Even other publications can produce good ideas for you if you take time to read the newspapers, magazines, and newsletters in your area carefully. Reading carefully for runofthemill news stories, you might find a missing angle or perhaps the next step that was not taken. Try it and see for yourself.In searching for that good humaninterest article, awardwinning Massachusetts feature writer Blais (1984) recommends not heading into the story right away. Give yourself time to look around even when you have a subject before you zeroin on a theme or unifying thread. "My technique . . . was listening, hanging out, absorbing a kind of inventory. It seemed ridiculous to be standing here stockpiling every little quote or whatever because I really needed more to get impressions than facts," she explained about her strategy on one assignment (Blais, 1984, n.p.). Blais also suggests looking for the little things in your prospective articles. "I love, as a writer," she says "to take things that are not readily observable as monumental and try to find the monuments in them."Minnesota freelance writer Perlstein (1993, personal communication) added that humaninterest article writing often depends on the editor you serve: Page 169Humaninterest is dicier [to freelance] because it is so subjective. What one editor thinks is a great humaninterest piece, another thinks is just dumb. I wrote a piece for Modern Maturity about Garrison Keillor and how he puts together his radio show every week. That magazine thought it was a wonderful idea and commissioned it almost on the spot, but when I tried to sell it to other markets I got nowhere. The second book I'm working on is going to be 300 solid pages of humaninterest the chronicle of the first year of the Northern League, an independent minor league, which one principal has called "the second chance league." It will be made up of young hopefuls passed up by the bigleague organizations and veterans who've been released and are looking for another goround. It's dripping with emotional potential
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