John Nagy, The Pilot Journalist Profile

Articles

Column: The Kids Are All Right, and Maybe Newspapers Also?

6 days ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

I’ve always believed that journalism is a young person’s business. It takes stamina to sit in tediously long meetings, chase after the reluctant source and be willing to put your personal life on hold in the pursuit of a story. I can think of many instances early in my career where I had no problem with all three. A controversial zoning case in Cocoa, Florida. once began at 6 p.m. and didn’t conclude until a vote occurred around 3 a.m. We all went out for pancakes afterward.
Column: Our Gardens Depend On What We Add in, Leave Out

1 week ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

Growing up in Maryland, I can remember every spring Dad would carve out a small plot in the backyard for a garden. It was standard suburban garden fare: tomatoes, zucchini, squash, maybe an occasional pepper plant or two. And there’d usually be fresh basil and parsley growing either there or in nearby pots.
Column: When Your Heart Takes a Walk, Parents Get Hollow Feeling Inside

2 weeks ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

To have children, author Elizabeth Stone wrote, is to have your heart “go walking around outside your body.” On Saturday morning, the youngest half of that heart walked across the graduation stage on the football field at Pinecrest High School. While he celebrated the end of a 13-year journey — begun in the Pinehurst Elementary kindergarten classroom of Meg DeMolet — he was not the only one marking the closure of one of life’s chapters.
Column: Dad, the African Dictator and A Story You Won’t See Online

1 month ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

It’s hard to see photos of your father sucking up to a dictator and one of history’s great kleptocrats. But when you’re a government public affairs officer and part of your job is to give tours to visiting dignitaries, you cinch up your tie and put on your best “right this way, Your Excellency” smile, right? In cleaning out the garage recently, I came across a few old boxes of Dad’s stuff that somehow had stayed behind with me.
Column: The Steal of a Lifetime, or My Weekend in Las Vegas

1 month ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

Having fun is no fun these days, and it sure isn’t cheap. Our monthly entertainment spend is normally appropriated for TV streaming services. But last month my tie-dyed-in-the-wool Deadhead wife brought up the idea, for her birthday, of traveling to Las Vegas to catch one of the few remaining residency dates for Dead & Company, the latest — but probably not last — iteration of The Grateful Dead.
We’re Going More In-Depth to Tell Unique Community Stories

1 month ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

When your news staff here at The Pilot began talking at the end of last year about goals for 2025, more in-depth reporting was on everyone’s list. The results of that have been borne out over the last several months. You have no doubt noticed that Sunday editions of The Pilot frequently have been anchored by one prominent story on the front page. Those stories have continued inside to one or two full pages and include additional photography and design.
Column: I Never Heard Knocking, But The Old Man Got in Anyway

2 months ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

My wife and I were fortunate enough last month to catch the performance of former Prairie Home Companion creator Garrison Keillor at Sandhills Community College. From the stage of the Bradshaw Performing Arts Center, Keillor spent much of his 90-minute act reflecting about the relative freedom of getting old. It’s a subject the writer, humorist and keen observer of life turns to frequently these days as he approaches 83.
Column: We’re a Great Place to Live, But Success Comes at a Cost

2 months ago | thepilot.com | John Nagy

If you think you’re seeing more traffic these days or finding it harder to avoid a crowd, demographers have a warning: Get used to it. According to new data, those who study population trends project North Carolina will become the seventh most populous state within the next 10 years, if not sooner. We’re already ninth largest, and Georgia and Ohio are within a makeable reach. kAm|@@C6 r@F?EJ A=2JD 2 3:8 A2CE :?
Column: A Sound Decision? Our Spring Soundtrack Is Changing Its Tune

Mar 29, 2025 | thepilot.com | John Nagy

Aah, spring — a season when a young man’s fancy turns to love and an old man’s turns to opening the windows. I’ve always been a big fan of fresh air in the house. Mom would crank open the windows at the first cracks of a warm early spring day to “air out the house.” Since she was the only woman in a house with four boys and a husband, I suspect there was a lot to air out. kAm%96C6’D 2 E9:? =:?6 @7 E:>6 — 2?5 3J E96 E:>6 E9:D 4@=F>? CF?D H6 H:== 92G6 4C@DD65 :E — 36EH66?
Column: Losing Sleep Over How Some Are Using the Events of Jan. 6

Mar 16, 2025 | thepilot.com | John Nagy

Fever dreams and sleepless nights have a lot in common. There’s the tossing and turning, the nonsensical images that flash before your mind’s eye, the hallucinatory fog that makes perfect sense of nonsense. Either way, all you want to do is get to dawn’s reality. kAmx DA6?E 2 =@E @7 E:>6 2H2<6 :? E96 A2DE >@?E9 H96? x D9@F=5 92G6 366? D=66A:?8] p?J@?6 H9@ 92D <?@H?