Newspapers deserve to survive if only to tell a few more stories like this

Back in journalism school, I learned this mantra: Always get the name of the dog, the brand of the beer, the age of the kid. It's the details, in other words, that make a story on the printed page come to life. So, to read a feature—in a daily newspaper, of all places—that explained to me the significance of Nextel cell phones, Snickers bars, Tecate beer and Jacuzzis in the lives (and deaths) of Mexican drug traffickers? Irresistible. (And written without the purple prose that would've been an easy fall-back? Refreshing!) The recent Los Angeles Times story profiles a gifted painter/sculptor named Jose Espinoza who's become the go-to artist-in-residence for the most notorious drug dealers in Sinaloa, the epicenter of Mexico's narcotics trade. What he does is fascinating: Without questions or judgment, he paints murals and frescoes, mostly religious icons, in homes so grand they make Scarface's Miami pad look like a hovel. (The local term for the palaces? Narcitecture.) What the reporter did was equally nervy: follow along with the subject, who also adorns the elaborate mausoleums of those felled in the trade, to illuminate a man who creates beauty amid violence. Not that stories like this are going to save dying newspapers—or even that this one sold any more copies that day—but it sure was a rare weekend gem. Take a look here.

—Posted by T.L. Stanley