I’ve been doing Monitor journalism for nearly 28 years, but there’s something I never really realized until I read Cameron Pugh’s story today. The best Monitor stories are both big and small. 

There’s a largeness to Cameron’s story about many Black families turning to doulas for childbirth – a broad societal question that must be wrestled with to see progress. Yet there is also an intimacy that is deeply human. I smiled at the “labor DJ.” 

The world often tries to force us to choose among seeming opposites. Big or small. Red or blue. Us or them. The most meaningful Monitor journalism shows we get the best of both.