SI story on Darrent Williams murder (by Thomas Lake)

All that violence, all over foolishness.

 

I understand what typefitter is writing, but Lake did not exactly start at Atlanta, the magazine. He worked at a twice-weekly in Georgia, a daily in Salem, Mass., then Jacksonville, then St. Pete. A twice-freaking-weekly in Georgia. He wasn't handpicked out of some big-time journalism undergrad or grad school. A preacher's son, home-schooled by his mom who didn't go to college, according to his bio. Just fantastic. There is no one way to get where you want to go if you have the goods.

 

This is cross-threading a bit, at least to point that it directly relates to the thread right above it, but wow.

Lake is six years older than me, though he looks younger, and the fact that we're even in the same age range just shocks me. His depth of emotion and knowledge is stunning, and a brief look at his resume shows you that he simply catapulted up the ranks because of his immense talent. I actually sent him a message on Facebook, congratulating him on the piece, and sharing one tidbit.

Like Grann to Jones, Lake's writing keeps me up at night. Wow.

 

Part of the credit for Lake's success - as I'm sure he will attest - is that he sent a story to Gary Smith to see if he thought it might be good enough to submit on spec to SI. I believe it was an article on the aftermath of the three players who beat five in an Alabama high school game - and it ended up in the BASW.

 

This is right on point. And I'm not even exaggerating. That story was fantastic, so good that it felt like a movie.

As far as SI, the last few weeks have been really great. The last issue was awesome, from the DH story and even the story on the championship game (Layden did a remarkable job with it). The SI story a few weeks back on spring football was also dynamic.

 

Here's that article:

http://tinyurl.com/3m5q8jv

And, here's an interview with Gary Smith from '08 in which he mentions Lake:

 

For the most part I would agree with you, though I'd also like to think that exceptional talent will rise to the top.

But, based on Dan's comment (that he sent an article to Gary Smith) and this item:

I'd say that he was also pretty aggressive/smart about marketing himself.

So, if there's a lesson to be learned, I'd say this is a pretty big one.

 

Read it on the couch last night, and of course it is an amazing read.

A few things that jump out at me...

He is a preacher's son and home schooled, but he does a very good breaking down what is "normal" and "acceptable" in a culture far different than his.

Driver's before/after numbers just blew me away.

He saw what many people did not; that it's who is not spoken about (the cousin) which is the key to the entire story.

It's amazing how just doing a simple thing the wrong way (a hat, getting someone wet, looking like another person) can end your life when you put yourself in certain situations.

 

Lake discusses how he reported the story:

http://gangrey.com/2844#comments

 

Tremendous story. And I think 93Devil means Walker, not Driver, 2 posts up.

But SI's back-page columns have been terrible for a long time. There's a rare Pos exception - few & far.

 

Tom actually got his start at the St. Pete Times before moving on to Atlanta. If you really want some inspiration, check back at some of the stuff he did while operating out of one of their bureaus. He's Example A of talent playing regardless of its arena. He'd be damned if he let you know it though.