I a few days ago came across a story on new fathers serving in the military and that got me thinking about some past great writing I've linked to that's at least somewhat related.
The piece I just saw for the first time was "On their first Father's Day" by Michael Mooney. He wrote it in 2007 as an intern for the Dallas Morning News and the story has the subtitle "On their first Father's Day, new dads serving in Iraq cling to sights, sounds of newborns, look forward to the day they'll meet face to face." It's an emotion-inducing piece that got me thinking about the story which more than any other started me regularly writing this blog some five years ago.
"The Things That Carried Him" was written by Chris Jones for the May 2008 issue of Esquire and in July 2008 I did a (very short) post on it and the book Too Far From Home also by Jones. As I noted back when, the Esquire feature is about the death of a U.S. serviceman (and father) Joe Montgomery and his return home and recently reading the piece again reminded me of how it's just incredibly well-done writing that leaves an impact.
On the more general subject of writing about fathers and fatherhood, there's certainly more excellent writing I've linked to than this, but what stands out in my memory are the books (both memoirs of sorts) and pieces noted below...
The Longest Trip Home by John Grogan - a book I wrote about here.
Home Game: An Accidental Guide to Fatherhood by Michael Lewis - a book I wrote about here.
"The Wheels of Life" by Gary Smith for Sports Illustrated on Dick Hoyt and his son Rick Hoyt - a story I linked to and wrote about here.
"You Blow My Mind. Hey, Mickey!" by John Jeremiah Sullivan for the New York Times and "Buzz Bissinger on Raising a Special Needs Child" excerpted from his book Father's Day: A Journey into the Mind and Heart of My Extraordinary Son - both stories I linked to and wrote about here.
"Holy Ground" by Wright Thompson for ESPN and "Autistics" by Chris Jones for Esquire - both stories I linked to and wrote about here.
Definitely some great writing worth remembering in all of these works.
