Photo by Cydni Elledge (Courtesy: Outlier Media)

Last year, when Amy Elliott Bragg decided to leave her newsroom job for her dream job, her boss wondered if they couldn’t build that dream job in the newsroom.

No, she replied. I’m going to work at the cemetery. 

Last weekend, journalism came to see her there. 

On a sunny Saturday, 91 people gathered at Detroit’s Elmwood Historic Cemetery for a walk, some history and a little pie. Elliott Bragg, in her role as Elmwood’s director of education and communication, provided the tour as part of an event with Outlier Media.

“Elmwood is more than just a cemetery,” said Ashley Fassett, operations and membership coordinator with Outlier Media. “It was always meant to be viewed as a space for people to enjoy.”

The nonprofit Detroit newsroom’s recent event, “Girls In The Graveyard,” offered books from a local independent bookstore, pie from a local pie shop, and a 75-minute tour with stops by the graves of some remarkable women. 

Among the women at Elmwood:

• Katie Lim’s husband, Victor Lim, was a well-known restauranteur who opened Detroit’s first upscale Chinese restaurant. 
  
  “His is a name that everybody knows, but fewer people know about Katie,” Elliott Bragg said. 
  
  Katie Lim was the first woman to graduate from Wayne State University’s School of Pharmacy. She built a successful career as a pharmacist, was a civic leader and helped her husband run the restaurant.

• Martha Jean “The Queen” Steinberg was a DJ, activist and radio station owner who was recognized by the Black Radio Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, according to the Detroit Historical Society. 

• And Jennie O’Starkey was the first woman to be employed full-time as a member of the Detroit Free Press’ editorial staff.  

Tickets for the event cost $30. The goal wasn’t to make money, Fassett said, but to get people engaged — with the historic space and with Outlier. That engagement included signups for Outlier’s newsletter, its membership program and Elmwood’s newsletter. 

“Our mission is to fill information gaps and accountability gaps in the city,” Fassett said. “We want to have everybody together, everyone civically engaged, knowing what information they’re lacking so they can thrive in the city.”

It’s something Elliott Bragg is thinking about, too.

“As a very old institution and as a very old business we are also looking at how to meet the future and rethinking how we program the cemetery, rethinking how we invite people through our gates and welcome them to our grounds.”

In either case, pie and books don’t hurt.

While you’re here:

• Speaking of the dead, from The Pivot Fund, read how The Courier Eco Latino is turning obituaries into opportunity. 

• This Friday at noon Eastern time, join The Institute for Independent Journalists for a webinar on “The Impact of Layoffs – And How To Weather Them.” This webinar builds off of IIJ’s survey of laid-off journalists. 

• Read about the three local nonprofit newsrooms that got $3.6 million from the American Journalism Project.

• Last week, Medill’s annual State of Local News report came out. Here’s my colleague Rick Edmonds’ coverage of it. 
   

• From LION’s Chris Krewson, read about the lessons he’s learned about independent publishing a decade after launching a Philly newsroom. 

• As a lifelong features writer, I’m really sad to see The Baltimore Sun dissolve its features desk. I recommend following the work of the Baltimore Beat and The Baltimore Banner. 

• And check out Pivot Fund’s Style Guide For Covering Communities of Color, which uses three inclusive style guides and ChatGPT. 
  
  That’s it for me. Do you have a good Halloween costume this year? I shuffle each year between Minnie Mouse and Maleficient. I think this year the mouse will win.