Remembering Marie Colvin, "The Best There Was"

Writing in New York magazine, journalist Eliza Griswold, who visited the Writers Institute in September 2011, joins with journalist Emily Troutman to eulogize journalist Marie Colvin, who was killed recently by rocket fire in the Syrian city of Homs.

"Just to start off with a few words about Marie, who was the best — not one of the best — woman in the field today. I first met her in a minefield in northern Iraq, eye patch and all. Stories about Marie's courage, almost insane courage, precede her. She had her eye shot out when reporting on the Tamil Tigers, she married the same man twice — which is very brave — she wedged herself into Gaza's tunnels."

"But she was in no way a gonzo crazy person — one of those, I hate to say it, mostly American war reporters (not women usually) who is all about themselves. She was about the people living and dying in the field, and it is in no way surprising to me that she died doing what she felt called to do. She was tough as hell, but not the empty bravado, bearing-witness-in-leather-pants type of reporter. For an entire generation of women, she was the best there was, and that there could be." More.

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Apologizing to Syria

Masha Gessen, who visits from Moscow on 3/8, apologizes to the people of Syria on behalf of the people of Russia in the New York Times.

She also talks about what it's like to attend a Moscow protest in temperatures of minus 5 degrees Fahrenheit.

"I cannot speak for all Russian citizens, but I can tell you this much: the government that on Saturday blocked the U.N. Security Council’s resolution on Syria does not represent the people of Russia. It holds power in my country because it has rigged elections and has used money and fear to keep tens of millions of people in line for years — you know how that goes. Russians were far too complacent for far too long, and for that I am sorry." More.

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