I dare you to not cry
The Pulitzer Prize for feature photography goes to Renée C. Byer of the Sacramento Bee. I dare you to look at her work and not cry. Start with the first photo and read the text with each photo (easy to miss cause you have to scroll to read it).
Thanks to Thomas Hawk for linking to this.

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April 19th, 2007 at 6:17 pm
Aww, you really do need that hug.
April 19th, 2007 at 6:24 pm
Pretty amazing. I wasn’t prepared to go there emotionally tonight having suffered this loss myself. Didn’t realize this was something you would make room for on your blog. kudos!
April 19th, 2007 at 6:25 pm
Ahh, Goebbels has a heart. :-)
April 19th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Joe: I can’t even imagine. It’s one of my greatest fears of bringing another life into the world. I have written about things of the heart before, though. When my mom died last year I wrote about that. That post is here. http://scobleizer.com/2006/05/10/bad-news-gets-worse/
April 19th, 2007 at 6:40 pm
Congrats to Renée!
I have always been a big fan of The Sacramento Bee!
April 19th, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Yeah, she’s a local celebrity of sorts…saw her on trivia nights at Streets of London.
April 19th, 2007 at 7:20 pm
I sit here tonight and know that I am on the verge of another trip to see a critically/chronically ill child and my heart breaks for that mother. Thank you for this. I could use a hug myself. Hug Maryamie. Dang that was heartwrenching to view.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:09 pm
That was so sad, I’m in tears! Thanks for the link. It was really powerful.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:14 pm
I saw it last night (via Metafilter) and I couldn’t stop crying.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:31 pm
Death is a part of life, and just like not all lives are easy, not all deaths are easy either.
April 19th, 2007 at 8:52 pm
I urge you all the read the complete series of articles. Incredible writing.
April 19th, 2007 at 10:10 pm
[...] of a Mom dealing with the last year of her dying son’s life. It won a Pulitzer Prize. [via] To Do: Add to Digg | Add to Del.icio.us | Print this Post | Email to a friend | Leave a [...]
April 19th, 2007 at 10:39 pm
Love is watching someone die. I just hope that when it comes my time I’m lucky enough to have people around me as devoted as Cyndie.
http://www.avalen.com/movabletype/archives/2006/08/love_is_watchin.html
April 20th, 2007 at 12:33 am
Thanks for this fab post…I added the photo and song she sang to her son the last day - in case it might add to the experience…
Here:
http://kimklaverblogs.blogspot.com/2007/04/i-dare-you-not-to-cry.html
April 20th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Having gone through a very similar thing with my mom, all I can say is “wow”.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Words fail me. As gut-wrenching a piece of work as I have ever seen.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:50 am
Very sad.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:53 am
As with Paul Fabretti, words fail me. Very moving set of photos. *wipes away the tears*
April 20th, 2007 at 5:09 am
[...] Robert Scoble and Thomas Hawk already has linked to this. But I have to do it too. [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 8:19 am
[...] via Thomas Hawk und Scoble. [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 8:35 am
[...] Virgina Tech murders, and other heart wrenching stories of sadness and grief. Robert Scoble’s I dare you not to cry references the story of a mother dealing with a son’s battle with cancer, as captured by a [...]
April 20th, 2007 at 11:20 am
Thanks for posting the link. For such a sad time, it’s inspiring to see a mother’s unwavering devotion to her son. In this day, we don’t hear enough about all the good and love and nurturing parents do. I’m extremely sorry for their loss.
April 20th, 2007 at 1:31 pm
Thank you.
April 20th, 2007 at 2:42 pm
Renee C. Byer did much more than that. She chronicled the boy’s life for what appears to be more than a year.
Some of these photos (there are a lot more — in color this time) are just heartbreaking.
http://www.sacbee.com/static/richmedia/swf/journey/part1/
http://www.sacbee.com/static/richmedia/swf/journey/part2/
http://www.sacbee.com/static/richmedia/swf/journey/part3/
http://www.sacbee.com/static/richmedia/swf/journey/part4/
April 21st, 2007 at 10:04 am
[...] agree with Scobleizer that it’s hard to imagine anyone looking at these photos without having a tear come to their [...]
April 22nd, 2007 at 5:16 am
That was incredibly powerful. I sat here crying my eyes out. Life can be so sad at times, and I felt so deeply for this family, as they exposed themselves so honestly in these pictures.
April 22nd, 2007 at 11:07 pm
Thanks for linking. It stole two hours of my night, but it was worth it. It reminded me again, as a father of a young child, how lucky I am and how precious life is.
I remember what you went through with your mom last year as well.
Peace,
Tim
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:05 am
All the more poignent as death takes a young life. Yes, tears fall. A child’s death is the most harrowing and prompts us to look at ourselves and reach for spiritual fulfilment.
Ernst
April 23rd, 2007 at 10:53 am
May he rest in peace.
April 24th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Why I’m crying now
In a corner of the blogosphere dominated by the latest software release or hippest 2.0 venture or biggest acquisition, Robert Scoble injected a bit of sobering life and death reality, and when I say life and death, I really mean
April 30th, 2007 at 9:37 am
[...] Robert Scoble dares you not to cry as you look at Renée C. Byer’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning photos, reading the captions below as you work through them. [...]