My Clips
I have a variety of tools in my toolbox, which translates to an assortment of work samples from the written word to the spoken, to flash presentations and videos. Here is some of my best work.
NEW MEDIA AND DESIGN
For News 21, a fellowship program sponsored by the Carnegie and Knight foundations, I designed and produced a multimedia piece on the Tennessee Valley Authority. For this Flash presentation, which includes four audio-photo slideshows and more than 20 video clips, I sketched the original concept on paper and followed it through to the final product you will see here, which included writing Action Script, recording and editing video and audio, writing two audio scripts and a week on the ground reporting in rural Tennessee. Be sure to read the story I co-wrote while you’re there.
Also for News 21, I designed and produced the Flash multimedia component of a story on Pampa, Texas, the town in which Texas tycoon T. Boone Pickens is investing between $10 billion and $12 billion to build the world’s largest wind farm.
I also was part of the team who produced the Green Voter’s Guide to the 2008 Presidential Race.
AUDIO STORYTELLING
As part of an audio documentary course at the Medill School of Journalism, I worked on a three-person team to report, edit and produce a nine minute documentary about life in a co-op. I did much of the reporting, wrote the script and narrated the piece. The documentary was aired on Chicago Public Radio’s 848 program and can be found here.
I had the opportunity to complete an audio story for Intern Edition while interning at National Public Radio in Washington D.C. I came up with the story idea, reported and narrated the piece, which can be found here.
While living in Chicago I became connected with some folks over at Chicago Public Radio’s experimental new radio station, Vocalo Radio. In addition to doing live interviews from Obama’s election night party in Grant Park and other live radio spots, I completed a series about the history of domestic violence in Indiana. For the four-part series, I interviewed legislators who helped change the way domestic violence was viewed by both the police and the courts. I spoke to those responsible for running women’s shelters in Hammond, Ind. One of my interviews was with a woman who had lived through more than 10 years as a victim of domestic violence. From this interview, Vocalo created a podcast that can be found here.
HIGHLIGHTS FROM MY WRITTEN COLLECTION
“Battling Swine Flu: The Lessons from SARS”
Published April 27, 2009 on TIME Magazine’s website, TIME.com
(This story was reported in one day, and was the lead story on the website for more than four hours)
Read the full story here.
The same Hong Kong scientists who followed SARS from the moment it emerged as a mystery disease until they had identified its cause warned on Monday that swine flu poses an even greater challenge. While scientists have studied influenza for many years, the nature of the disease makes it a tough enemy to combat. With Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, or SARS, patients developed symptoms around the same time they became contagious. But with the flu, a person can spread the infection days before they feel sick enough to go to a doctor. “The flu is a known devil,” says Malik Peiris, one of the scientists at Hong Kong University who helped trace the 2003 outbreak of SARS to the civet cat. “This is a different ballgame.” … (more)
“Why Americans Are Adopting Fewer Kids from China”
Published April 28, 2009 on TIME Magazine’s website TIME.com
(This story was enterprised and was the #2 story on the website. A version of this story was published in both the Asia and U.S. editions of the magazine.)
Read the full story here.
Becky Freer says adopting a 10-month-old girl from China was the best thing she ever did. So when Freer, a 44-year-old resident of Austin, Texas, recently decided to further expand her family by adopting a sister for her now 3½-year-old daughter, she thought China was the obvious choice. But as a single woman, Freer is no longer eligible. “Three years ago I was an acceptable parent, and now I’m not,” she says. “It seems kind of unfair.” … (more)
ALSO: I built a flash graphic (in one night) to go along with this story. See the graphic here.
“With HIV/AIDS Deaths on Rise, China Struggles to Improve Outreach”
Published April 8, 2009 on TIME Magazine’s website, TIME.com
(This story was enterprised)
Read the full story here.
It’s hard to fight an epidemic when no one wants to talk about the cause. In China, a country whose last decade has been defined by economic growth and social opening, silence still enshrouds many aspects of the nations’ sex life, and not, health experts say, without consequences. While most industrialized nations have seen HIV/AIDS death rates steadily decline in the past 10 years, China announced in February that the HIV virus took the lead as the deadliest infectious disease in the nation in 2008, killing nearly 7,000 people in the first nine months of the year. … (more)
“East Tennesee: Conservative and Green”
Published July 9. 2008 on The Huffington Post.
(This story was enterprised)
Read the full story here.
It isn’t every day that a self-declared conservative looks you in the eye and says, “I’m an environmentalist.” Odd, to say the least. Yet many residents and officials in East Tennessee — a traditionally Republican stronghold in a wide swath of the eastern edge of the state — are embracing conservation and environmental stewardship like their green-minded Democratic counterparts. … (more)
“Reversing Care Roles: When Mom and Dad Move In”
Published February 28, 2008 on the Medill News Service
(This story was enterprised)
Read the full story here.
Marshall Stern, 52, has two weeks to prepare his new home before his 82-year-old mother, who has Alzheimer’s, moves in. He put a plaque with her initials on her bedroom door so she will have less trouble finding her room each day. He made signs that direct her from her room to the backyard patio so she can sit outside and complete crossword puzzles. Stern is taking over the role of primary caregiver from his sister who couldn’t do it anymore. His mother has stayed with him and his live-in girlfriend, Nancy Howland Walker, for months at a time in the past, but never full time. Taking in his mother meant moving into a bigger apartment in Rogers Park. “I go back and forth between really excited to have her here and absolute terror,” Stern said. … (more)
“Is Faith a Factor?”
Published January 28, 2008 on the Medill News Service
(This story was enterprised)
Read the full story here.
At age 26, Debra Barford confronted the sudden reality of her own death. … (more)
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