When experiments work out

At Monday's conversation, Inara and Seth cracked open their work on the lovely Kyle at PSU story from two weeks ago. Seth said he had been inspired by the Moehringer profile of Pat Carroll and talked with Mark Hester about getting someone from outside of the sports department to jump into a sports profile. Then the Vikings got the invitation to the Big Dance, and Seth kicked up the game. With Barry Johnson's blessing, Seth recruited Inara, who with her customary enthusiasm dived right in. She spent the day with Kyle then had two hours to write. No big struggle over structure or direction . . . just an editor trusting a writer, and a writer relying on an editor. They call it an experiment -- we call it what we should be doing every day. PLUS: A visit from none other than Lori Tobias, fresh from the seashore with a killer story in the works. ...