Slices of Life

Slices of Life collects the artful journalism stories done by students in the literary feature writing class of master nonfiction storyteller Walt Harrington. They are tone poems that describe and evoke the "music of ordinary life" - Rabbi Isaac Neuman remembering the good even in the Nazi death camps; Charlie High mourning the death and praising the life of his wife; Gino Baileau struggling to establish his unusual sexual identity; Chike Coleman trying to take joy in every moment of a life debilitated by disease; Bishop Morris Paul Lockett preaching to his abjectly poor congregation; Charlie Sweitzer making a beautiful chair with his hands. And the stories of many more ordinary people searching out their hopes and dreams, as they seek to find meaning in their lives.The stories grew from a collaborative effort between Mr. Harrington, a journalism professor at the Univ. of Illinois, and Champaign-Urbana's News-Gazette daily paper, which published the articles. They are in the long tradition of human interest journalism that gives readers an understanding of the anonymous people with whom they mingle daily, people who at first glance seem different from us-richer or poorer, younger or older, more educated or less, gay or straight, religious or agnostic, black or white. They remind us that beneath all of that we are much the same.An excellent companion book for journalism classes-a book that reveals the excellent work that aspiring young journalists can accomplish beyond traditional news reporting.In the words of the stories' subjects: "We didn't do nothin' big. We just liked bein' together. It was a real good life." -- Charlie High / "Ani ma'amin, ani ma'amin b'emunah sh'leimah - I believe, I believe, with perfect faith." - Rabbi Isaac Neuman / "And Lake Michigan, why do they call it a lake? It is like an ocean." - Zina Bhaia / "I do it entirely for the birds, not the people." - Cindy Eaglen