Pain, Courage and Perfection

Spring is the harbinger of the award season in American journalism. In broadcasting, the College of Journalism and Mass Communication at University of Georgia already has announced the winners of its George Foster Peabody Awards for work done in 2008. Columbia University will reveal the recipients of the 2009 Pulitzer prizes next Monday.

Midway through the season comes the Medill Award for Courage in Journalism, presented by the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University (disclosure: I attended grad school at Medill). The 2008 Medill Medal went to Cleveland Plain Dealer reporter Joanna Connors for her series "Beyond Rape: A Survivor's Journey."

Connors recounted the story of her 1984 attack and rape, and her subsequent journey to address, confront and regain control over the aftermath of those events.

I first read Connors extraordinary self-reporting in May 2008, when the Plain Dealer ran the multi-part series. What blew me away was not only the quality of the writing (which was superlative), but the exacting standard of truth which permeates every detail. Connors' self awareness is painful at points: the blame she assigns herself for entering a dangerous place; her admission of how fears of racial discrimination lead her to doubt her instincts; her acknowledgment of how race and class differences affected the outcome of her case; the balance of her empathy for the violent and disadvantaged life of her attacker against her understandable lack of forgiveness for his crime; and how her love and concern for her teen-aged daughter lead her to confront long-buried wounds and unresolved fears.

I wanted to blog about Connors' series as soon as I read it, but I worried that writing about her journey in a blog titled "Present Perfect Coach" might dishonor her testimony.

Almost a year later, I know that people who read Connors' series, or hear her description of her journey (found here in an interview with NPR's Michel Martin on the show "Tell Me More,") will embrace what is perfect about Joanna Connors and her courage.

I have made this point before in this blog, but it cannot be repeated enough: all of us get crap in our lives; some more than others and sometimes beyond our imaginations.

It's not what you get; it's what you do with it. Even 23 years later.

Congratulations, Ms. Connors, and thank you.