Reporters’ Notebook

We asked two of our journalists what it was like to develop stories for this issue of TIME. Their thoughts:

SALLY DONNELLY, TIME’s aviation correspondent, reported out of the Denver airport (above, with local police):

“The managers of the country’s airports have a compelling story to be told. On one side they have to deal with the nearly 2 million passengers trying to get through the air-traffic system each day, and on the other they have an entirely new agency with no aviation experience–the Transportation Security Administration–telling them how they should run their facilities.

“Denver’s Bruce Baumgartner has been one of the country’s most outspoken critics of the TSA, and he took a great deal of time to explain to us the alternative systems he has researched and proposed for his airport. It’s a thin line for Baumgartner, and for me, really. Of course we want airport security to be airtight, and we do not want to reveal anything that might aid someone who wants to do harm. In my reporting since Sept. 11, I have discovered a number of security issues that I have in the end not written about because I have concerns about providing too much information to potential terrorists. Still, in this case, Baumgartner has compelling arguments about the problems with the government’s plans. And his questions raise real concerns about whether those plans are making us more–or less–secure.”

MATTHEW COOPER, deputy chief of our Washington bureau, was first to suggest that TIME do a cover on vegetarianism:

“I love food as much as I love politics. More often than not, both inclinations have left me, well, a bit bloated. That’s how I got interested in vegetarianism. Instead of the popular low-carb diet, which had left many friends thin but slightly gray from consuming virtually all meat, I decided to skip all meat and dairy, like the vegans do. It would, I thought, be a great way to melt away those lunches with sources.

“I also thought it would make a great cover for TIME. Is being a vegetarian really good for you, and does it, as some of its adherents claim, help save the planet? How did this trend go from odd to mainstream? It all tied in, too, with animal rights, which could be the next big social movement in American life. The anti-fur campaign, organic dairies, free-range chickens–they strike me as harbingers of something big to come, maybe not in a decade but during this century. Although I admire the commitment of the animal-rights folks–except for their great moral lapse on animal testing of drugs that can fight aids and other diseases–I’m quite likely to be on the other side of the lunch counter. My vegan phase was great, but after three weeks I broke under the torture of a grilled-cheese sandwich (with bacon!). Chili and steaks and sausages weren’t far behind. Ambivalent, I often still order the veggie plate.”