I’ll happily acknowledge my six degrees of separation on this one but I’m going to brag anyway. Raising Arizona Kids has published the works of a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist.
Paul Giblin and sons in 2006.
Our June 2006 Father’s Day issue included several Q&A essays written by local dads. One of the essays was written by then Tribune News reporter Paul Giblin.
Giblin and colleague Ryan Gabrielson were recently honored with the Pulitzer Prize — the granddaddy of all prizes to professional journalists — for a series of articles they wrote in 2008 criticizing Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The awards committee noted “their adroit use of limited resources to reveal, in print and online, how a popular sheriff’s focus on immigration enforcement endangered investigation of violent crime and other aspects of public safety.”
Ironically, as the New York Times reports in today’s business section, Giblin was one of many reporters laid off when the Tribune, owned by Freedom Communications, downsized in January. Giblin and a few colleagues now run The Arizona Guardian, a news website focusing on Arizona government and politics.
For our story, Giblin described the most difficult aspect of being a dad. He said it was “trying to set an example all the time” for his sons Casey and Tim. Reaching the pinnacle of one’s profession is setting a pretty good example of what can happen when you work hard, care a lot and give it everything you’ve got. So I’m sure the old man has made his sons proud. But I’m guessing it’s not just because he won a prestigious award. They saw him absorb a tough blow, pick himself up and — taking no time for self-pity — move on. I can’t think of a better example than that.
Karen Davis Barr 