I suddenly have a craving for a nice cold Schlitz.

A refugee new to the country, nearly blind and unable to speak English, is left in a parking lot by Border Patrol agents who mistakenly had detained him. For six days, his family searched the cold streets of Buffalo. Where was Nurul Amin Shah Alam? My story, with images by Brendan Bannon.

Aurora and Cephalus, by Pierre-Narcisse Guérin, 1810, 📸 by Jesse D. Garrabrant

Remembering Breonna Taylor and how the insane incompetence and recklessness of Louisville police took her life. She would have turned 33 in June. www.youtube.com/watch?v=lDaN...

American Life. Maplewood, New Jersey May 2026

As you no doubt remember, today is the 45th anniversary of the longest game in baseball history: a contest between the Rochester Red Wings and the home team Pawtucket Red Sox that simply would not end. There's a book about it. Raise a plastic cup of beer and thank God for baseball.

“My journalistic focus was shifting away from afflicting the comfortable to …comforting the afflicted?” A journalist’s coming of age with suffering. Stellar writing from @danbarry58.bsky.social www.commonwealmagazine.org/barry-dan-su...

Read @danbarry58.bsky.social for Good Friday, whether a Catholic of any sort, a Mets fan, or simply human: "Ultimately, I think we suffer because we have no other choice in the matter. The only choice we do have is: What do we do with our suffering?" www.commonwealmagazine.org/barry-dan-su...

"If we have to suffer—and we do—I think the challenge for us is to see suffering anew." @danbarry58.bsky.social pens a reflection for Holy Week:

Commonweal Magazine asked me to join a public conversation with the prominent medical ethicist Lydia Dugdale on the question: Why suffer? To which I responded: Why me? And: What did you expect? Here, during Holy Week, is a meditation on one of my favorite activities: suffering. Now you can too.

Smithy of Soul Forged. Buffalo, New York March 2026

Play it. Midtown Manhattan. March 2026

Up the rebels! Now go read some Clare Keegan, or Billy Collins, or Alice McDermott, or Colum McCann, or, or, or. Maybe with something amber; could be tea, could be whiskey... (And a tip of the hat to the gifted photographer Jill Krementz)

I'll be joining the clinical ethicist Lydia Dugdale on Thursday in a conversation sponsored by Commonweal Magazine. The subject: Why do we suffer? In response, I will asking a question of my own: Why me? Free and open to the public. RSVP required to witness the continuation of my suffering.

Unedited. Maplewood, New Jersey March 2026

To celebrate the country's 250th, the Trump administration is proposing a SECOND coin featuring the sitting president -- one of gold, of course. My story: www.nytimes.com/2026/02/25/u...

A few weeks ago, from out of nowhere, I received an email from a book-club organizer who raved about my long-out-of-print memoir. I was flattered, no question. But then I received another effusive email about my books, and another, and another. Things got weird. Here's my story -- about scams!

How do you write about a slur? My New York Times colleague Sonia A. Rao and I recently grappled with this. Here's the backstory:

The R-Word has returned with a vengeance. In recent months it has been used by President Trump, various right-wing influencers, and Justice Department official in charge of civil rights. If the term is known to be offensive, the question then is: Why? Why use it? My story, with Sonia Rao.

Five years after the Capitol riot, and nearly a year after President Trump granted clemency to those who attacked police officers, vandalized the landmark, and disrupted the orderly transfer of power, conspiracy-obsessed J6ers even want more. By Alan Feuer and me. www.nytimes.com/2026/01/05/u...

President Trump began his second term by granting wholesale amnesty to those implicated in the Capitol riot stoked by his stolen-election lies. Now those J6ers hunger for more payback - a zombie-like hunger rooted in the conspiracy theories pushed by Trump and his allies. By Alan Feuer and me.

This Christmas, the Barrys have moved up. No longer just Entenmann’s. Now: Entenmann’s PREMIUM! A joyous Christmas to all!

The Trump administration rejected coin designs that would, in honor of the country's 250th anniversary, feature Frederick Douglass, a women's suffragist and Ruby Bridges. Instead: Pilgrims, founding fathers - and the sitting president. My story, with photos by Rachel Wisniewski:

The Village Green was kind enough to feature an article about the upcoming movie "The Lost Children of Tuam," now in post-production. Thank you very much, Mary Barr Mann!

Coins tell the story of us. One of the world's finest collections can be found in lower Manhattan, but almost no one ever sees these coins, and so off to Toledo they go. My story, with the typically excellent photos of Todd Heisler. www.nytimes.com/2025/11/20/a...

After they were finished catching up, he ended the call with, “I’ll see you all of a sudden, kid. Bye-bye.” How could we be so lucky to get the combination of William Kennedy and @danbarry58.bsky.social all in one story? www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/a...

I went up to Albany all of a rainy night and what mug do I find but William Kennedy, THE William Kennedy. Author of "Ironweed," "Roscoe," and so many other novels that endure. He's 97, he's still writing - and he'll drink you under the table. So here: Your "Great Read."

“It is anti-American at its core.” A great story from @danbarry58.bsky.social about yet another Trump fiasco of ego and sycophancy in the making www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/u...

The Trump administration is planning to feature the sitting president on a coin, upending an anti-monarchical custom dating to George Washington, who might as well have coined the phrase “No Kings.” My dive into the numismatic past: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/09/u...

Sometimes I feel like Una O’Connor’s scream.

The filming of “The Lost Children of Tuam” in Tuam, Co. Galway. A scene from my story: “Their oversize hobnail boots beat a frantic rhythm as they hustle to their likely slap at the schoolhouse door.” h/t: The Tuam Herald

"As in, now." Today's article pick from Damn History, a free monthly newsletter for readers/writers of #popularhistory. Congrats to writer @danbarry58.bsky.social & @nytimes.com! Read/subscribe to Damn History: damn-history-16d93f.beehiiv.com/subscribe www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/n...

So very honored to talk about storytelling with the great journalist Line Vaaben at the Fortellingens Kraft 2025 conference in Bergen, Norway. I assured everyone that speaking truth to power continues in the United States.

Bergen, Norway September 2025

So they're shooting a movie this month in Ireland that is based on my 2017 story, "The Lost Children of Tuam." It's about the scandalous mother and baby homes and the indefatigable Catherine Corless, who exposed the heartbreaking truth -- forcing Ireland to reckon with its past.

Today is my 30th anniversary at The New York Times. The parade up Fifth Avenue begins at noon. It will feature Jumbo the elephant, Mayor Jimmy Walker, Mr. Met, Miss Rheingold, and various Tammany dignitaries assembled by Big Tim Sullivan. Thank you for your attention to this matter.

Dedicated public servants, sacrificed at the altar of Trump. A great and galling story from @danbarry58.bsky.social and @alanfeuer.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/n...

A prosecutor's firing "confirmed for him his view that the Justice Department he had been honored to work for was now helping to whitewash a traumatic event in American history, supporting President Trump’s reframing of its violence as patriotic" and of some DOJ lawyers as villains or traitors.

And, for those who prefer, there's an audio version of our DOJ pardon/purge story, with a brief explanation of how Alan Feuer and I approached it. Produced by @adriennehurst.bsky.social and read by me. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/n...

After Trump’s pardons of Jan. 6 rioters, there has come the purge - of the federal prosecutors who handled the cases. Fired or demoted for doing their jobs. Story by Alan Feuer and me. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/24/n...

The President of the United States: Too much focus at the Smithsonian on “how bad slavery was.” www.nytimes.com/2025/08/19/u...

Out of Order Ocean Park, Maine August 2025

Celtic Swirl Ocean Park, Maine August 2025

The Script of Snails Ocean Park, Maine August 2025

Artist: Low Tide Ocean Park, Maine August 2025

Summer Blur Queensbury, New York August 2025

To all professionals (and retirees) in the journalism, film, television, radio, theatre, entertainment, and arts world, join the challenge to post a photo of yourself in your job. Just a picture, no description. The goal is to flood social media with our profession.