Archive for December, 2005

Date: December 21st, 2005
Cate: Advertising/Business, Current Affairs/Politics, Internet/Technology/Gadgets, Links and People, New York/San Francisco, Straight Geek, Weblogs

When Disaster Strikes: Craiglist

I biked to Columbia today from Greenpoint Brooklyn. That’s a bit of a trek. About 9 miles as the car drives, but I probably did more since I had to veer here and there. The MTA strike is killing me. But it brings to mind possible stories.

Yesterday as my roommate hitched a ride via Craigslist to the airport I pitched a story to Wired. I was too late with the pitch and curious who beat me to it. When I read the story today, stranded in New York, I was happy it was Rachel Metz, a good writer that I admire.

This story was pretty much what I imagined myself writing. I got the idea from Keith Axline’s piece Craigslist vs. Katrina. Perhaps it’s wrong to compare the two (one a serious crisis and the other a mild inconvenience), but the parallels exist and although Metz never made the direct analogy it goes to show that Craigslist has solidified itself as more than just an electronic classifieds section but a community gathering place.

In some sense Met’z piece is formulaic — but I don’t say that with a negative connotation. A good journalist recognizes that certain situations have many facets. While some reporters are out on the streets archiving responses from the frustrated commuters, others are going to have to find a fresh angle. For a tech journalist the role of technology in a crisis like this is an obvious and important way to get inside and behind the story.

As for me, I’m tired from the bike ride. Too tired to upload a picture. This exhaustion will probably continue as long as I am forced to bike. With this in mind and my last post — I’m definitely taking the rest of the week off from blogging.

Date: December 20th, 2005
Cate: Journalism Practice, My Work, New York/San Francisco
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Drum Roll Please

Sorry for neglecting “Adventures” the last couple days. As I said in the last post, I’ve been waiting on some important news. The verdict is in: I am a student again. I will be going to Columbia for journalism school.

This is a very exciting opportunity for me. While I’m going to school part-time I’m probably going to freelance or find a steady job writing for someone. I don’t know yet. I do know that I am going to grow as a journalist through this program and I will use this blog to explore that growth. Maybe I’ll change the name of this blog to “Adventures in Journalism”
considering I’ll be studying the field now in a general sense as opposed to simply freelancing.

But before I dive deeply into that I should also warn that the holiday season might find me neglecting the blog a little more. I’ve been working for the last 2 years non-stop to try and get into this graduate program. I start in a month. Before I begin I deserve a vacation. I’ll be going to Los Angeles to visit friends and family. Posts might continue but they may have a more personal tone than useful. For now I am celebrating.

Also. What’s up with this MTA strike in New York. I’m stuck in my apartment and can’t go anywhere.

Date: December 16th, 2005
Cate: Art and Design, My Work

Art and Magazines

Today I went to the New York Arts Magazine studio. I sent them a pitch and they asked me to come in. I talked a bit about the pitch but it turns out the real reason they wanted me to come in was to talk about webmaster stuff. Whenever people see that I write for Wired they assume I’m a tech-master. I know more than the average coach potato, but New York Arts Magazine needs a whole revamp. I think it’s within my ability to do, but I don’t know just yet if I want to commit to that.

It’s a good option: I’d be doing online publishing and writing about technology and art, but I couldn’t tell what the rate was or if they thought I was going to volunteer (I tend not to bring up money in the first meetings with people unless they do).

Also and most importantly, I’m waiting on important news that is going to arrive on Monday. The news is vastly important to me, to the point where i might not continue this blog if it doesn’t go my way. If it does turn out how I want I might just keep this blog for at least 2-3 years and see how it turns out.

And with that over-dramatic thought I go back to waiting.

Date: December 14th, 2005
Cate: Journalism Practice, Journalism Theory/Analysis, Links and People

Small But Fiesty

This gets my idealistic juices flowing. Small Newspaper Group, a small publisher in Illinois (has three or four local papers) has recently published a six-month investigation, the largest they have ever attempted.

The result is a strong and poignant series on the state of teachers tenure in Illinois. Apparently things have gotten so bad only two teachers out of 95,500 are fired for incompetence a year. More than that, the newspaper exposes a few teachers who had sexual relations with students and weren’t fired because tenured teachers are so strongly protected.

Small Newspaper group isn’t the New York Times, but they show that a small publishing group and one reporter can still make a difference. I hope they get the recognition they deserve. And they deserve more than just a post from a struggling freelance writer like me.

Date: December 14th, 2005
Cate: Current Affairs/Politics, Journalism Practice, Quote

Stripping the Award: Mumia Abu-Jamal

Apparently there is a bit of an urban legend that Mumia Abu-Jamal won a Peabody award in 1981, the year before he was found guilty for killing a cop.

The discrepancy was pointed out to me while fact-checking for Columbia Journalism Review. The tip was pointed out via a wikipedia article on Mumia.

In the end, to be conclusive, I called the Peabody Institute, run by the University of Georgia.

Drum roll please: No, Mr. Jamal never won a Peabody award. Although Mumia Jamal was an accomplished radio journalist in Philadelphia before his arrest, he has never, despite the claims on the cover of his book “Live From Death Row” won a Peabody award.

I’m not saying Mumia is guilty or innocent. Hell, if I was on death row and I thought it would help me I’d claim I won a Pulitzer. But the cold hard fact is, he simply was never awarded a Peabody.