Lascher @ Large

Portfolio Pick: Books Remain on My Brain

Bill — Thu, 30 May 2013 06:51:17 +0000

Yesterday, I shared a picture from my portfolio of the Seattle Public Library. I’m still thinking about books today, and I’m often thinking about Los Angeles. So why not share another of my favorite pictures? This ...

The post Portfolio Pick: Books Remain on My Brain appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

From the Archives: Virtual Humans and Media Making

Bill — Tue, 28 May 2013 22:36:08 +0000

Every week, I dig into my past posts and clips in search of some of my favorite work from the past. This week, I turn back the clock to the waning days of the aughts to share two pieces displaying unique aspects of my writing. One illustrates the science-journalism and storytelling I learned while a master's student at USC. The other highlights my approach to media analysis.

The post From the Archives: Virtual Humans and Media Making appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

Portfolio Pick: Books on The Brain and The Seattle Public Library

Bill — Tue, 28 May 2013 18:44:09 +0000

img class="aligncenter" title="Seattle Public Library. Copyright Bill Lascher" alt="Seattle Public Library. Copyright Bill Lascher" src="http://www.photoshelter.com/img-get/I0000lSVrhmFzQu8/s/640/480/Seattle-Public-Library.jpg" width="640" height="480" />

The post Portfolio Pick: Books on The Brain and The Seattle Public Library appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

Notes From The Starting Line

Bill — Mon, 01 Apr 2013 22:33:34 +0000

Today brings a bloom of beginnings from a tangle of endings. Perhaps that's not surprising. I suppose beginnings and endings all occupy coterminous space. And as I write, I'm struck by how my own beginnings and my own endings weave around one another and, often, between two places — Los Angeles and Portland. But I'm writing today to recognize one simple beginning: the redesigned, relaunched version of my website*, upon which, presumably, you're reading these words. I do so hoping to re-introduce the world to my own background as a writer and journalist and as a storyteller, and to re-pique your curiosity about Melville Jacoby, whose adventures, romance and experiences as a journalist in World War II-era China and the Philippines will be the subject of a forthcoming book.

The post Notes From The Starting Line appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

The Thinkingest Episode 6 – Patrick Nork on Creativity

Bill — Wed, 19 Dec 2012 23:14:23 +0000

Download audio file (Episode-6-Patrick-Nork.mp3)
Freelance writing is far from the only game in town when it comes to striking out on one's own as a creative professional. For the most recent edition of The Thinkingest I sat down with Portland-based visual artist and creative consultant Patrick Nork to talk about going into business for oneself as a creative professional. Nork is the proprietor of Well-Inked Hand, which provides creative problem solving, design and other services. He is also an accomplished printmaker and a board member at Print Arts Northwest.

The post The Thinkingest Episode 6 – Patrick Nork on Creativity appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

No Exit – How Low Car Life Will Save Portland When The Big One Strikes

Bill — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 22:29:58 +0000

Bridges will tumble, rail lines will shut off and fuel will run low. But when the Big One strikes, 20-minute neighborhoods, bikes and even food carts may save Portland.

The post No Exit – How Low Car Life Will Save Portland When The Big One Strikes appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

Pearl Harbor as a Reporter Experienced it in Manila

Bill — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 00:30:55 +0000

"Manila has not yet digested the fact of war. Balloon and toy salesmen and vendors on the streets with extra editions are just appearing as fully equipped soldiers are appearing," After news reached Manila that U.S. forces had been attacked at Pearl Harbor, Melville Jacoby cabled news to his Time Magazine editors about how the Philippines capital digested news of the Japanese raids.

The post Pearl Harbor as a Reporter Experienced it in Manila appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

Introducing “Monsieur Big-Hat”

Bill — Thu, 29 Nov 2012 01:30:35 +0000

Most of my posts about Melville Jacoby focus squarely on nonfiction. He was a journalist. I am a journalist. Though Mel worked for a time as a broadcaster and was handy with a camera, he was first and foremost a writer. So it shouldn't be terribly surprising that he dabbled in fiction a bit. I found one of those stories — "Monsieur Big-Hat" — and put it together with some photos Mel took of an air raid in Chongqing to make a short ebook that's now available online. The story describes what happens when an American correspondent meets a French diplomat as bombs fall on the Chinese wartime capital in June, 1940.

The post Introducing “Monsieur Big-Hat” appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

The Thinkingest Episode 5: The Fluidity of Freaks

Bill — Wed, 21 Nov 2012 20:14:40 +0000

Download audio file (Episode-5.mp3)
What's behind the term "overthinking?" What's behind this urge to have a podcast of the things we over-analyze and dissect to exhaustion? In some sense there's an anxiety about being thought a freak, about doing things "wrong" by some sense. So I thought I'd spend some time having a conversation with Stevi Costa, an old friend of mine who devotes most of her overthinking to studying freaks and their portrayal in literature.

The post The Thinkingest Episode 5: The Fluidity of Freaks appeared first on Lascher @ Large.

Motion Picture Treat: “When The Whole World Is So Upset”

Bill — Wed, 31 Oct 2012 11:07:11 +0000

For the first time ever, I'm able to share a movie of Melville Jacoby himself. These snippets of 16mm movies were shot in the 1930s and are accompanied by excerpts from a moving letter he wrote his mother in early 1941 about why he pursued his dangerous careert.Mel was on a boat from China bound for Manila and, eventually, to the United States. He had just finished a year's work as a stringer in China and the region of Southeast Asia then known as Indochina. There, in the city of Haiphong (a part of modern-day Vietnam), Mel had been arrested and briefly detained by the Japanese, who'd accused him of being a spy. As he traveled back to the United States, he wrote a moving letter to his Mother in which he attempted to reassure her about the risks he'd taken in the previous year. Check out the full post to see the video.

The post Motion Picture Treat: “When The Whole World Is So Upset” appeared first on Lascher @ Large.