Fifteen years ago today, Dan Barry published a piece in his About New York column that I consider some of the greatest 750 words of news-writing of all time. Give it a read on the NYT archives.
I found this particular column linked on Twitter back in the early 2010s. I read it, was struck by its affect, then promptly lost track of it. A few years ago, I finally dug it back up and put it in my Permanent Set Of Very Important Bookmarks and ever since I’ve re-read it every few months.