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"Glocal journalism," he adds, "exposes the local effects of global causes, the local reactions to global actions, the local opportunities of global trends, the local threats of global dangers, and the love of local and global neighbors."

Allison and Amy had the same goal: to write about local people involved in worldwide news stories. Both made global stories local.

While on leave to visit her husband in Kuwait, Allison filed a series of articles about life for local soldiers and Marines stationed in Kuwait and Iraq. Her work went well beyond the traditional newspaper article.

She shot video of Marines saying hello to friends and family. She interviewed two Marines on camera about what they did on convoys. She videotaped a Marine’s gospel dance ministry in Iraq. She taped three interviews in which she described what she saw and felt. And she took the photos that make up the Iraq photo gallery online. (All of her work – articles, photos, audio and video – is online.)

We thought her work so compelling that we devoted the entire July 28 front page to "the Faces of War," photos and stories of nearly two dozen soldiers and Marines in Iraq from the Triad.

Readers responded quickly and passionately.

"I am the mother of LCPL Nicolas Wylie," Debbie Wylie wrote. "You will never know how much your articles have meant to us Marine parents. Just seeing Nick's smiling face and knowing that someone locally had visited with him at Al Asad, Iraq, was very comforting."

My favorite e-mail came from Zane Zeneghi. "Good writing," was all it said. It's probably all Zeneghi had time for. He is a Blackhawk pilot stationed in Balad, Iraq.

Allison has experience with the military; she was a reporter for Stars and Stripes before she came here.

Even so, I didn't want her to go into Baghdad. I -- and everyone here -- worried for her safety. She worried, too. But she felt the calling to tell the stories of those she met.

"I wish I could have stayed longer," she told me. "Everybody I met had an incredible story to tell. I feel I left people behind. There are more stories to tell. Even after I left, I got e-mails from soldiers there asking me if I was going to be in their area and could I come see them.

"It breaks my heart."

She's already vying for another adventure. "You know, there's still a war going on in Afghanistan,” she said to me with a smile after I welcomed her home.

As Allison returned, Amy headed out. Her mission is twofold: to tell the stories of the local volunteers for the hurricane relief effort in Meridian, and to write personally what it means to be there as a volunteer.

She participated in the required American Red Cross training last Saturday and left on a bus with the N.C. Baptist Men's Association at 2 a.m. Wednesday. She returns this week.

Amy's and Allison's work -- their initiative and ingenuity -- reflects our efforts to tell you stories that help you understand the community, even when it spans halfway around the globe.