Nice list of good journalism, nicer to be on it

Journalist Conor Friedersdorf of True/Slant pulls together an annual compilation of the best journalism he encounters over the year. The 2009 group is an impressive gathering, if eclectic and unabashedly personal:

Although I endeavored to remain as impartial as possible, note that I’ve been an employee of The Atlantic, that I’d eagerly write for numerous publications that received awards, that I have too many friends/acquaintances/professional contacts in journalism to disclose them all, and that the number of pieces I miss every year far exceeds the number I’m able to read.

I'm struck by how often Ira Glass's "This American Life" and Michel Lewis turn up, deservedly. Of local note, he singles out Mark Groubert's great piece in the LA Weekly on tracing the contents of a random box of stuff found on a Hollywood street, plus Amy Wallace's cover story for Wired on the dangers created by the anti-vaccine crowd. LA Observed contributor Nancy Rommelmann earns a spot for her Reason story on the overreaction that can happen when adults catch teenagers sexting photos of each other. There are several stories I hope to catch up with, probably led by Sheri Fink's NYT Magazine piece on Memorial Medical Center in Uptown New Orleans ("Arguably the most impressive reporting job this year"), Hendrik Hertzberg's obituary on William Safire ("A lesson in how to write an obit for someone with whom you profoundly disagreed") and Katie Roiphe's personal piece on the narcotic of being the mother of a newborn.

Singled out so I don't forget it: Boston.com's Big Picture