A professor once said to a whole class of writing students,
"You want to write? Then read. Read it all. Read everything."
Sounded kind of daunting.
But she went on: whenever anything you read is particularly good,
notice it. Try to find the exact moment it's good and then listen.
Listen hard and you may hear just what the writer is up to.
They'll be your best teachers, she said, if you listen closely
enough.

So today I was lucky enough to listen to Joel Lovell who wrote a piece on the
short story writer George Saunders in The New York Times online.
I wanted to lean in and listen all afternoon, the article had so much to say about Saunders, about his life and his work and what writing is and even, what it means to be us, people just trying in every way to get by and the grace of connection books can give us. It was one of the most thought-provoking and tender pieces of writing I've read in the longest time.

  http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/06/magazine/george-saunders-just-wrote-the-best-book-youll-read-this-year.html?hp&_r=0 

The Times had many beautiful pieces in its annual "The Lives They Lived" Sunday magazine, paying tribute to people who died in 2012. Sandra Cisneros began her tribute to singer Chavela Vargas this way: "Once, when Mexico was the bellybutton of the universe, Isabel Vargas Lizano ran away from home and resolved to make herself into a Mexican singer." How could I not read what came next - a piece as vibrant as Vargas seemed to be.  http://nytimes.newspaperdirect.com/epaper/viewer.aspx