In the sea of Daily Cardinal alumni who gathered in Madison for the newspaper’s 120th anniversary last weekend, a small group of two dozen, reconnected by hope, comforted each other in a time of tragedy.
A group of approximately 50 alumni created the “Shadid Brigade” on Facebook last spring, after their friend, former Cardinal colleague and The New York Times Foreign Correspondent Anthony Shadid was kidnapped in Libya. But tragedy soon struck when Shadid passed away in February from an asthma attack in Syria.
During the weekend, alumni introduced an Anthony Shadid internship for potential future students interested in becoming foreign correspondents. The internship is spearheaded by the brigade and the UW-Madison School of Journalism.
Brigade Member and Assistant Wisconsin State Journal City Editor Mark Pitsch said the 120th anniversary was the first time a large group of the members had formally reunited in person since working at The Daily Cardinal in the late 1980s.
“We were holding hands,” he said, reflecting on being with the group as they watched a video tribute to Shadid. “Some of us were crying. We had our arms around each other.”
But despite the tragedy, Pitsch said it was “easy” and “comfortable” to reconnect with the friends who he said came to feel like family.
“Anthony’s death has sort of brought us back together [and] it’s nice to be able to do that,” he said.
CORRECTION: Alumni introduced an Anthony Shadid internship, not a scholarship.
