Archive for May, 2006

Date: May 29th, 2006
Cate: Current Affairs/Politics, My Work, New York/San Francisco
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Greenpoint in the Times

Greenpoint has been the NY Times a lot lately. We had a large 10-car alarm fire a few weeks ago. There has been talk about the Newtown Creek oil spill. I even saw one really bad feature on “The Thing” a famous record store in our neighborhood.

Then there was this story about Pastor Ann and the Greenpoint Reformed Church. Right now this is my favorite Greenpoint story because… well, to be honest because I wrote it.

My first New York Times piece. Needless to say, I am excited.

The story is about a lesbian Pastor in my neighborhood. Her father was also a minister and he presided over her wedding to her partner when it was legal in Massachusetts. But soon afterwords her father was stripped of his title as minister. It’s also believed that she would have been granted the title of minister had she not been so open about her sexuality.

It’s a pretty interesting situation. The Pastor was very nice while I was researching for this story. She talked very candid with me and got me in touch with her father.

more))

Date: May 19th, 2006
Cate: Links and People, Travel

Slow News Day

I am in San Francisco right now for Bay to Breakers. Soon I’ll be back in New York where I already have a few freelance stories lined up.

But in the meantime, I decided to create my own newspaper, which takes surpisngly little energy these days.

Actually, anybody can create their own newspaper now. It’s just a fun little game to play.

enjoy.

Date: May 15th, 2006
Cate: New York/San Francisco

New Media

The New Media Master’s projects are up and running.

This one on North Brooklyn Rezoning caught my eye for obvious reasons (Greenpoint is my beat and I live here).

From what I can tell so far, it’s pretty solid and complete. I also like the idea of a New Media masters project. From what I can tell of the other examples it’s basically a web special.

Update: October 13th: This project won a New Media award.

Date: May 14th, 2006
Cate: Links and People

Mother’s Day

A good piece of breaking fluff on Mother’s Day.

(Note: There is also a hidden/annoying advertisment in there for McAFree, but I’ll let that slide for this example)

Date: May 10th, 2006
Cate: Advertising/Business, Environment/Geography, Journalism Practice

A photo is worth…

Yes, they are worth many many words.

I used to scoff “photo journalists” because I knew nothing about it. In my mind it was a simple matter of owning a good camerae, pointing and shooting. Period, the end, no skill.

But a good news story, no matter how descriptive the language is, can always use a photo. A picture of a baby, kitty, or some other adorable animal won’t always cut it either. You need someone to grab the moment. Or, in the case below, create a visual that really gets to the point of a story and hits the facts home.

This is an info graphic of the Wal-Marts in America. Blue dots have already been made and red ones are in the works. Since the Wal-Mart phenomena is constantly used as a news story, this graphic makes for a good visual to really emphasize the point.