The Editor’s Note

Clint Easley’s photography – here’s his shot of Bryan Harris fishing the Chena – illustrates the kind of visual storytelling that inspired the editor to embrace journalism’s written storytelling. (CLINT EASLEY)

Clint Easley and I wanted to catch up and considered meeting for lunch or coffee. But between the 70 or so miles separating our homes and the ongoing COVID-19 odyssey, we opted for a lengthy FaceTime chat instead.

We shared pandemic thoughts and Easley showed me some of his high-tech but compact camera gear that comes in handy capturing images on his outdoor adventures. And we also talked a lot about storytelling.

I love a good story – historical stories, fiction stories and downright malarkey fishing stories. It’s what drew me into this crazy journalism business and has drawn Easley into the fray as well. He was one of the collaborators of what they call Alaska Project, the Yukon River basin fishing and hunting adventure chronicled on page 46 and that will become a documentary film set for release in early 2021.

My favorite moments in a long career as a sports reporter and now an outdoors editor are always using my keyboard to tell someone else’s story. Sure, I’ve covered some spectacularly dramatic games over the years. And granted, there’s a special feeling thumbing through the finished product of a newspaper or magazine you played a part in producing.

But there’s something about creating a profile of a man or woman who’s likely more interesting than me. In a high school English class, our teacher assigned us to write a short fiction piece. The topic was equal parts creepy and exhilarating: A highsociety couple’s wedding reception ended in the bride and groom dying due to fatally poisoned glasses of wine.

The night before our deadline I called a close friend and we compared our opening paragraphs (I opted for something resembling this: “It was to be the best night of their lives. It turned out to be their worst. And last.”)

I can’t remember what my grade was, but it was solid, my teacher complimented me on my creative writing and I’ve been in love with telling stories ever since. Clint Easley, who told me about upcoming bear and elk hunts and the stories he hopes to craft from them, knows that feeling too. -Chris Cocoles