Pi Alley, responsive design and 140 years of The Boston Globe

One hundred and forty years ago today, on March 4, 1872, The Boston Daily Globe published its first edition.

A lot has changed since that first issue: For starters, the word “Daily” has dropped from the name.

In looking back on the paper’s history and how the newspaper industry has changed, I’m reminded of one of my parts of Boston: Pi Alley. Particularly, I’m reminded of how it supposedly got its name from typesetters.

There are a few stories. According to the web site for the Pi Alley Garage:

As downtown Boston evolved from a residential to commercial area by the end of the 19th century, the name of this alley evolved from the names of local landowners to one more descriptive of the area. Many small restaurants set up shop in the alley to serve the area’s workers. A staple in many of these places was meat pies, often ordered by colorful names such as “Cat Pie” earning the alley the name “Pie Alley.”

In the days that Washington Street was home to most of the city’s newspaper printing plants, many of the printers and typesetters frequented a tavern in the alley called the “Bell in the Hand” In their haste to get refreshments, newspapermen would often drop pocketfuls of mixed up, loose type (called “pi” in the printing business) on the ground, leading to the name “Pi Alley.” Today, the alley continues the tradition of small businesses serving the people who work in the area, as well as the many tourists and visitors.

There is a sign in Pi Alley that repeats those stories almost verbatim. I took a picture one night as photographic proof for a friend who dismissed the newspaper connection as bullshit.

The newspaper is no longer downtown and thus no longer near Pi Alley, but I think of the Globe every time I walk through that neighborhood. Not that I don’t think of the Globe anyway; it’s what brought me to Boston.

It’s a news organization of which I am proud to be a part. I could list 140 reasons why, but that would read like a sloppy love letter written by some infatuated teenager. Indeed, I am infatuated with the Globe, and there are many reasons. The newspaper’s Pulitzer-winning coverage of abuse in the Catholic church was instrumental in exposing abuse in parishes across the country. When I first got here, I would pass some of the reporters who worked on those projects and feel like the freshman walking by Johnny Football Hero, although those reporters were much nicer than Johnny Football Hero.

Late last year, the paper launched BostonGlobe.com, a subscriber-only site. It is responsive, meaning it resizes based on the user’s browser and platform. This responsive design sidesteps the need for individual apps for each device. Whether you’re on an iPhone, a Kindle, a P.O.S. with Internet Explorer or even R2-D2, you can read BostonGlobe.com.

Even if you’re in Pi Alley.

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To download the first front page, click here.

To see a gallery of Globe pages, click here.

To read Louis M. Lyons’ piece that marked the centennial in 1972, click here.

Coverage of the final Border War basketball game between Missouri and Kansas

Yesterday was a historic day for fans of Missouri and Kansas, as the two universities’ men’s basketball teams faced off in what is ostensibly the last of their meetups in the historic Border War rivalry. Mizzou is leaving the Big 12 Conference and will play with the SEC next season. Coaches and officials at the University of Kansas have said Kansas will not play Missouri out of conference. KU basketball coach Bill Self even said, “The majority of Kansas fans don’t give a flip about playing Missouri.”

When the teams played their last football game against each other in November, Mizzou won the game and the distinction of winning most of the football games between the two teams.

 

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THE LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Lawrence, Kan.

The University of Kansas’ hometown paper stripped a photo of victorious fans celebrating the “grand finale” of the “epic border battle.” Not that these fans “give a flip.”

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THE HUTCHINSON NEWS
Hutchinson, Kan.

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THE TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Topeka, Kan.

Here’s a close-up of that photo:

So, Bill Self, when you say that Kansas fans “don’t give a flip” about playing Mizzou, what fans are you talking about? These guys seem to give pretty much of a flip.

As they should. Their team was behind and then Mizzou blew a 19-point lead. That’s flip-worthy.

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THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Kansas City, Mo.

This was pretty fitting play for the Kansas City Star, the biggest daily newspaper between Lawrence and Columbia.

It pains me to see that photo of smiling Jayhawks celebrating. But that’s a great photo, showing a majority of beakers… giving a flip.

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THE COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia, Mo.

What a heartbreaking photo by Andrew Mitchell of The Missourian, showing Missouri guard Michael Dixon on the court after the game. With the Jayhawk mascot in the background, even.

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THE COLUMBIA DAILY TRIBUNE
Columbia, Mo.

The other daily paper in Columbia picked a slightly less heartbreaking photo, though the disappointment is still apparent.

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THE ST. JOSEPH NEWS-PRESS
St. Joseph, Mo.

The News-Press does a good job picking above-the-nameplate photos. They used a variation of the Dixon scene. This photo shows more of the Jayhawk mascot than the Missourian photo, but it makes sense: St. Joe is a lot closer to Lawrence than it is to Columbia, so News-Press readers aren’t necessarily reading this outcome as heartbreak.

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As a Missouri native and Mizzou alum, I can’t overstate how big this rivalry is. Games against KU were as important to Mizzou sports as the “Battlestar Galactica” episodes when you found out the identity of another Cylon. To Mizzou fans, Kansas was the rival among rivals. Kansas is the Cavil among the other Cylons. If the Big 12 were “The X-Files,” Kansas was Cancer Man among the Syndicate, foiling Mizzou’s Mulder and Scully. Watching Mizzou beat KU was like watching the trailer scene in “Kill Bill” when Darryl Hannah gets what she has coming.

I could come up with dozens more pop culture references, but you get the point: This was a big deal, about which we gave a huge flip.

As you can see, I’m pretty hacked off about that Bill Self comment. A friend of mine who used to cover the rivalry for a radio station put it pretty aptly: “He can say that, but I sure don’t ever see Kansas fans making ‘Muck Febraska’ T-shirts.”

Touche.

Florida Times-Union piece brings change — before it runs

A Florida Times-Union investigation of Jacksonville Transportation Authority bus drivers led to three employees losing their jobs and four bus drivers being suspended. Three of those drivers have been reinstated, though they could still face some punishment.

Newspaper investigations into public agencies result in firings and changes, but in this case, the moves happened in the week before the piece was even published.

Transportation reporter Larry Hannan wrote in Sunday’s piece:

JTA Executive Director Michael Blaylock said he was unaware of the background problems until the Times-Union investigation began. He promised major changes.

“I have to accept full responsibility for this,” Blaylock said. “And the [JTA] board expects me to fix it.”

What there is to fix: The Times-Union investigation found there were JTA drivers who were cited for driving with suspended licenses while continuing to drive buses. Additionally, 258 of 330 drivers had a total of 1,276 criminal and driving violations, including domestic battery, child abuse, driving without a valid license and writing bad checks.

The newspaper’s investigation began after a passenger was run over and killed downtown by a JTA bus in October.

Here’s how the story was played in this past Sunday’s Times-Union. Click for a larger view.

 

Larry Hannan and Florida Times-Union investigation of Jacksonville Transportation Authority bus drivers

 

On the inside:

 

Larry Hannan and Florida Times-Union investigation of Jacksonville Transportation Authority bus drivers

The main Jedi behind this investigation is Larry Hannan, the Florida Times-Union’s transportation reporter. He previously worked at News-Herald in Ohio and the Naples Daily News in Florida.

How Kansas area newspapers covered Turner Gill’s firing as KU football coach

On Sunday afternoon, acting KU athletic director Sheahon Zenger fired Turner Gill as football coach. Gill had been at the University of Kansas for two years.

This move comes after Saturday’s Border War loss to Missouri, which you can read about on the blog here. The Jayhawks, once a dominant force in Big 12 football, have had a string of losses in the last two seasons. And by “string of losses,” I mean, they’ve only won one Big 12 game.

I saw this firing coming, even before kickoff on Saturday. But hey, at least he’s not the Kansas coach who said, “The majority of Kansas fans don’t give a flip about playing Missouri.” Not that I’m bitter.

Here’s a round-up of newspaper front pages from Newseum.

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THE LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Lawrence, Kan.

To read Matt Tait’s story, go here.

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THE KANSAS CITY STAR
Kansas City, Mo.

At the bottom of that package is an info box about potential replacements for Turner Gill:

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THE TOPEKA CAPITAL-JOURNAL
Topeka, Kan.

The subhed gets at a point that the others didn’t: Gill only had one Big 12 win in two seasons. One. It was against Colorado in 2010.

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STRIPPED SKYBOXES

Several Kansas papers stripped the story in skyboxes. Hutchinson gave the all the skybox space to the story, whereas Wichita and Garden City split the space among a few stories.

 

THE HUTCHINSON NEWS
Hutchinson, Kan.

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THE WICHITA EAGLE
Wichita, Kan.

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THE GARDEN CITY TELEGRAM
Garden City, Kan.

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Overall, I was surprised that it was not a bigger story, though this was no surprise. This season has been appalling, especially when you consider that these guys were once considered pretty good. For the fans, this can — and should — be good news.

Ya know, if you give a flip about playing Kansas.

RELATED
Coverage of Missouri/Kansas Border War and Mizzou’s SEC move

 

 

 

 

Coverage of Missouri/Kansas Border War and Mizzou’s SEC move

College Football just finished its annual Rivalry Week, that great week when college sports fans most resemble WWF fans in their rabid hatred for the other guy, whomever the other guy might be.

For Missouri and Kansas fans, this rivalry goes way back and runs deep. The University of Missouri first played the University of Kansas in 1891, making it the second oldest rivalry in college football, and the oldest west of the Mississippi River.

The Associated Press wrote a few weeks ago:

The rancor is understandable. The rivalry predates college sports to a time when pro-slavery forces in Missouri battled free-state Kansans 150 years ago. Missouri fans have been known to invoke William Quantrill, a Confederate guerrilla leader whose Civil War assault on Lawrence in 1863 killed nearly 200 civilians and burned down most of the town. The series was officially known as the Border War before it was changed to Border Showdown several years ago when the country was fighting in two wars.

The Quantrill thing is serious. There are T-shirts featuring depictions of that massacre:

Courtesy of CollegeFootballResource.com

So, you see why the word “rancor” was aptly used in the AP article, right?

This year’s game, which was the 120th meeting of the two teams, took on even more importance after the University of Missouri announced it was leaving the Big 12 to join the SEC, effective July of 2012. Coaches and officials at the University of Kansas have said Kansas will not play Missouri out of conference. KU basketball coach Bill Self even said, “The majority of Kansas fans don’t give a flip about playing Missouri.”

So, I was kind of surprised to find minimal references to the Border War game when perusing Newseum in the last week. I wasn’t expecting big centerpieces, as it’s had to contend with Thanksgiving, Black Friday, the Super Committee and other news, but I was expecting at least a skybox here or there.

Today’s front pages didn’t have as much Border War coverage as I would have expected.

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THE COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia, Mo.

The deck explains that “UNDENIABLY AHEAD” headline:

Before Saturday, there was an argument over whether MU had the most wins in the Border Showdown’s history. Now, there’s no question.

Which is a polite way of saying what many Mizzou fans have been saying with their middle fingers for years.

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THE LAWRENCE JOURNAL-WORLD
Lawrence, Kan.

The Jayhawks’ hometown paper played the game up top in bigger-than-normal skybox with the nameplate.

That subhed says it pretty well: “Jayhawks blow early lead in last Big 12 game against Tigers.” As a buddy said at The Boston ‘Zou watch party, “When did Kansas become the ’85 Bears?”

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THE ST. JOSEPH NEWS-PRESS
St. Joseph, Mo.

The St. Joseph paper doesn’t mention yesterday’s game, but instead has a piece describing fan reaction to Mizzou’s move the SEC.

Most interesting, though, is the info box giving “A little history”:

The University of Missouri was a founding member of the league that would someday become the Big 8 and later the Big 12 Conference. Kansas, Nebraska and Washington University in St. Louis formed the Missouri Valley Intercollegiate Athletic Association in 1907. Teams were added, and teams left in the next few years including the exit of Washington University. A league recognizable as the Big 8 formed in 1958 and the MVIAA officially changed its name the following year. Four Texas schools were added in 1996 to form the Big 12. With Nebraska recently leaving the league and Missouri leaving after this year, the only original member of the Big 12 will be Kansas.

There was a lot in there that I didn’t know.

When the announcement was made, one of the Columbia papers covered the hell out of it, especially in graphics…

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THE COLUMBIA MISSOURIAN
Columbia, Mo.

The Missourian had several graphics about the move to the SEC, including some maps by Rachel Rice explaining how Missouri fits into the new conference. She touched upon something many of us have been saying: “But we’re not in the South!”

To see the rest of Rachel’s maps of Missouri’s new role in the SEC, go here. To see how Missouri stacks up academically against the SEC schools, go here.

I’ll be interested to see more coverage once we’re actually playing in the SEC, without Texas.

And without Kansas.

RELATED
How Kansas area newspapers covered Turner Gill’s firing as KU football coach

Florida Times-Union’s National Coming Out Day coverage

Today, Oct. 11th, is National Coming Out Day in the U.S. The Florida Times-Union in Jacksonville, my former paper, featured three vignettes on local people and their coming out stories.

The piece, written by reporter Mary Kelli Palka, begins with this:

Throughout the United States today, people will openly support equality to mark National Coming Out Day. Others will first share that they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender. But people don’t just come out one day of the year. They tell people all the time – family members, co-workers, new people they meet. Sometimes they’re met with support and love. Sometimes they’re not.

Here’s how the package started on A1:

And here’s an inset of that package:

Photographer Bruce Lipsky shot that photo of Charlas “Charlee” Dehling, the first person profiled in today’s piece. Dehling has a great quote:

“[Staying in the closet was] fueled by fear of being ridiculed, rejected, passed over, being held back in my ambitions and self-preservation,” she said.

Later, Mary Kelli writes:

Dehling said she’s telling her story not as a rally cry to get others to come out. Instead, it’s a rally cry for normalcy. She just wants to be treated like everyone else, with the same rights as people who are heterosexual.

To read the full piece, go here. To read Florida Times-Union reporter Kate Howard’s piece for Coming Out Day in 2010, go here.

Did your publication do something for Coming Out Day? Feel free to send it. I’ll gladly post it up here.

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How Massachusetts, Canadian papers played Stanley Cup win

Last night’s Stanley Cup game was big news for a few reasons. It was the first time the Boston Bruins had won in 39 years. And on top of that, there were riots. In Vancouver.

So, take a look at how papers in Massachusetts and Canada played the game and the riots. Click any of the pages for a larger view. In a few days or so, I’ll have a look at how The Globe has played the Bruins in the playoffs and finals.

All images come from Newseum.

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The Boston Globe
Boston, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Boston Herald
Boston, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Enterprise
Brockton, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Telegram & Gazette
Worcester, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Herald News
Fall River, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Cape Cod Times
Hyannis, Mass.

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Vancouver Sun
Vancouver, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Province
Vancouver, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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The Globe and Mail
Toronto, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Edmonton Sun
Edmonton, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Calgary Sun
Calgary, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg, Canada

Stanley Cup newspaper fronts

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How The Boston Globe/Boston.com covered the tornadoes

The Boston Globe and Boston.com have done a great job covering Wednesday night’s tornadoes in Western and Central Massachusetts. I’ve included the last three days’ front pages, as well as some inside pages, photos and graphics. To see all of the Boston Globe/Boston.com coverage, go here.

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THURSDAY, JUNE 2

The inside page:

The top photo is by Matthew Cavanaugh, for the Boston Globe:

We used NOAA’s updates to put together this map of reported touchdowns and deaths:

Javier Zarracina quickly put together this explainer on the anatomy of a tornado:

To read the main bar (gang byline of Travis Andersen, Eric Moskowitz, Martin Finucane, Glen Johnson, Bryan Marquard, and David Abel), go here.

To read Carolyn Y. Johnson’s story on how tornadoes form, go here.

To see Tom Giratikanon’s map of the history of tornadoes in Massachusetts, go here.

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FRIDAY, JUNE 3

We had several inside pages, including this color photo page:

Which included this great photo by David L. Ryan:

Elsewhere inside was this great map by James Abundis with reporter Brian Ballou. It shows the varying damage of houses on Pennsylvania Avenue in Springfield.

To read Ballou’s story, go here.

With updates from the National Weather Service, we were able to show which cities had warnings, and more reported touchdowns:

Javier Zarracina put together an explainer showing how the National Guard and FEMA were deployed to coordinate the search and rescue operations:

To read Brian MacQuarrie’s story, go here.

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SATURDAY, JUNE 4

The photo up top is by John Tlumacki:

To read Stephanie Ebbert’s story, go here.

To read Brian MacQuarrie’s story, go here.

To see all of the Boston Globe/Boston.com coverage, go here.

A tale of two visits: Obama and the Queen in Ireland

Yesterday, President Obama and his wife Michelle visited Ireland. Last week, Queen Elizabeth II was in Ireland. All in all, a pretty big week for the country.

Obama was there pay tribute to his lineage in Moneygall, which Mark Landler of The New York Times described as “a postage-stamp Irish hamlet of 300.” Obama hugged people, shook hands and — most importantly — had a Guinness.

The Queen’s visit was more somber, as she addressed — but came short of apologizing for — the history of violence between England and Ireland. There were several protestors, and the pictures of them are more striking than the photos of the Queen’s visit. To see photos from The Big Picture, click here.

The way the two visits were played in the press highlight the differences of the trips. The usually playful Irish Examiner had a clean, serious front for Elizabeth’s visit, but returned to its normal relaxed form with a scrapbook-y collage of Obama’s visit.

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THE QUEEN’S VISIT TO IRELAND

The Irish Times focused on the conciliatory nature of the Queen’s visit, showing her with Irish president Mary McAleese laying wreaths in honor of the dead Irish at the Garden of Remembrance in Dublin.

Miriam Lord writes:

This was the moment many thought they would never see.

The Queen of England, standing in the Garden of Remembrance, head bowed in a mark of respect for the men and women who fought and died for Irish freedom.

Here, in this revered shrine to republicanism, the strains of God Save the Queen swelled in the quiet of a Dublin afternoon, played with the full blessing of the President of Ireland and the political establishment.

These electrifying minutes signalled the end of a long and very difficult journey, when two neighbouring heads of state finally stood together as equals in a display of friendship and reconciliation.

To read the rest of Lord’s story, go here.

The Irish Examiner showed several photos of the Queen’s visit, but the largest play went to the photo of Queen Elizabeth II signing the guestbook at Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the president of Ireland.

The importance of this was summed up in the main copy block under the photos:

At precisely 12:47 yesterday afternoon the course of Anglo-Irish relations changed forever when Queen Elizabeth II signed the visitors’ book at Aras an Uachtarain. It was a deeply psychological and symbolic moment, an acknowledgement by the British head of state that she was in Ireland as a visitor, a guest of the Irish head of state, President Mary McAleese. It was a meeting of equals, a coming together of the representatives of two neighboring nations in mutual respect, a moment of which the people of Ireland can rightly be proud.

To read Shaun Connolly’s story, go here.

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OBAMA’S VISIT TO IRELAND

The Irish Times played the story the way it plays many of its centerpiece stories: with one main photo, one headline and one deckhead. The photos fascinated me, because I was trying to wrap my mind around the glass-looking partition thing from which Obama delivered his speech.

What the Irish Times front didn’t show, though, but did show on its website:

That photo was uncredited on the site. To see that photo (and to read the story by Stephen Collins and Mark Hennessy), go here.

That Guinness moment did make it on the Irish Examiner front, though:

Similarly to the front featuring Queen Elizabeth II, the importance of this event was summed up in the main copy block under the photos:

The visits of US presidents emphasise the importance of what is one of this country’s major resources — Irish descendants in the United States and, indeed, Irish descendants scattered throughout the world. We need to cultivate those resources wherever possible.

To read Paul O’Brien’s story, go here.

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UPDATE

The Queen did NOT have a Guinness. Read about it here.

How the Florida Times-Union covered historic victory

This past week, the people of Jacksonville, Fla., elected its first black mayor in the history of the city. Democrat Alvin Brown beat Republican Mike Hogan in a runoff on May 17. The runoff followed the March election in which the two garnered the most votes.

Many of my former colleagues at The Florida Times-Union did great work this week. Here’s some — but not all — of that work.

By the time Wednesday’s paper went to bed, the two were 603 votes apart. Brown photo shot by Bruce Lipsky, Hogan shot by Bob Self. But by Wednesday afternoon…

…Alvin Brown was declared the victor. The victory shot from Thursday’s paper by Don Burk.

Reporter Matt Galnor explained the historic win’s statistics and graphic artist Annie Liao made this graphic showing the precinct-by-precinct results. Click for a larger view.

Annie Liao infographic Jacksonville mayor's race precincts

And Sunday, Tim Gibbons wrote a piece analyzing Alvin Brown’s campaign and how he won.

Jacksonville was my home for four and a half years, and because of the time I spent there with such great friends and colleagues, I will always think of Jacksonville as one of my homes. Thus, even though I no longer live there, this mayoral race was pretty interesting to me. And it reminded me of a few graphics I did that can now be updated.

In January 2009, I researched and put together this graphic in time for Obama’s inauguration. This timeline-chart hybrid shows which party was in control of the presidency, U.S. Senate and House, Florida Governorship, Senate and House, and the Jacksonville mayor’s office and city council from 1960 to 2009.

A month later, I researched and put together this graphic showing how long it took for black men and women to be elected into various political offices, from the White House down to Jacksonville positions. Jacksonville’s first black city council members post-Reconstruction were Sallye Mathis, Mary Singleton and Earl Johnson. Nat Glover became the first black sheriff in 1995. He ran for mayor in 2003, but lost to John Peyton. Jackie Brown, a black woman, ran for mayor in 2007, but also lost to Peyton. She died shortly after the election.

I’m looking forward to the possible graphics that can come from this election. Between Brown’s victory, Peyton’s administration coming to an end and the shift of influence in the city, there will be no shortage of graphics.

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UPDATE

Denise M. Reagan, AME for Visuals at The Florida Times-Union, writes:

The blogs on election night and all the next day during the count of provisional and absentee ballots were well done and featured a lot of participation from the community.

Additionally, on Monday, #AlvinBrownVictorySongs was a hashtag on Twitter for — you guessed it — potential victory songs for Alvin Brown.