David Halberstam is dead.

David Halberstam is dead. I note the difference in feeling, from “died yesterday,” to “is dead.” As I listened to a recorded “Fresh Air” interview with him, I heard his clarity of satisfaction as he described that watershed moment at Harvard, in college, of choosing journalism as his career. It is the satisfaction, almost the inevitability of finding something we’re good at and diving into for good, and such satisfaction it is, for someone reasonably good (as he said) at other things, socially awkward or shy, to fall forward, headlong, into such a living and stay there. His record is clear, and I’m glad for it.

I aim to acknowledge just such a passing, the record and ripples that live on. I will never again forget the way a voice sounds, making itself known.

And a footnote: to acknowledge my old college friend, brilliant historian even then, here’s his link: Paul Harvey