April 16, 2009

I write stories

You can find links to my most recent work, published in The Star-Ledger, on my Google Reader page.

For those who don’t want to click a link to click a link, here’s direct links to a few of the pieces I’m particularly proud of:

Community FoodBank of N.J. hiring due to increased demand

Hillside couple caught in mortgage scam finds a potential savior

Summit support group for families with autism to expand

April 10, 2009

Half a year worth of updates

I’ve been amiss from this blog. 

In the last five months, I have graduated from the City University of New York’s Graduate School of Journalism, worked as a freelance designer at The New York Times, moved from Greenpoint, Brooklyn to Jersey City and started as a staff reporter for the New Jersey Local News Service – a news service owned by Advance Publications and providing content to The Star-Ledger and its Web site, NJ.com. 

I’ve been climbing up the steep learning curve involved in going from graduate journalism student to staff reporter for local news – finding my footing and riding through several bumps along the way. You can find most of my recent work here.

November 16, 2008

Bush Says G20 Made Progress, Warns of Slow Recovery

nbcbyline

Check out this piece I wrote for nbcnewyork.com.

October 27, 2008

My Vernon Boulevard Soundtrack

Last Friday night, I stumbled on This is Only a Test, a new program from WFUV. The host, Rich McLaughlin, played a track by Bushwick’s The Menahan Street Band – a collaboration of artists from Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, El Michels Affair, Antibalas and the Budos Band – during the show which served as a great soundtrack for my drive along Vernon Boulevard in Queens. I suggest you check both the band and the program out – on air or online.

October 15, 2008

‘Mad Men,’ ‘The Sopranos’ and two alpha males

Check out this article Arienne Thompson and I put together for USA Today.

October 10, 2008

Presidential election cycle effect impotent in unstable market

September 19, 2008

Historical evidence weaves a tale of courtship between the stock market and presidential elections – where the former responds to the rhythm of the latter – but in an economy plagued by the subprime fallout, Wall Street might buck the trend.
The year prior to a presidential election normally courts a bull market. In the first six months of 2008, however, the markets suffered a loss greater than any presidential election year since 1940, according to data culled by InvesTech Research, a Montana-based financial research firm.

The more recent implosion of the financial sector, including the Lehman Brothers’ bankruptcy, collapse of Bear Stearns, government bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and federal rescue of insurance giant AIG, exacerbated that already instable market; the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeted 504 points on Sept. 15 – the biggest one-day drop since the markets re-opened six days after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11.
The Dow closed at 11,020 on Sept. 18, down almost 20 percent from the beginning of this year. Only four times over the last 116 years has the Dow failed to hit, or come within 5 percent of, the year’s high during the three months surrounding a presidential election, according to InvesTech. “There might be a small rebound in the markets,” said long-term investor and financial blogger Eddy Elfenbein, who authors CrossingWallStreet.com, “but the American economy is in pretty rough shape.”

Keep reading →

October 4, 2008

Erin falls off face of planet

In 72 days I will be a master of journalism. Until then you’ll have to satisfy your craving for sassy Irish wit here.

September 9, 2008

The Bare Necessities: Reader Forum

You’ve read, heard and watched the stories of other single mothers, now share your own.

Leave your tale of managing finances with motherhood or other cost saving tips in the comments.

August 14, 2008

Virgin Mobile Festival rocks Baltimore

I brought my camera to the Baltimore music festival, and I was allowed in the press pit for Rodrigo y Gabriela and Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. I took a ton of pictures – you can find a selection of the ones I deemed the best below, and find more after the jump.

Sharon Jones

Sharon Jones

Guitar picks portrait

Guitar picks portrait

Keep reading →

August 13, 2008

It’s what y’all been waiting for, ain’t it?

Hi. I disappeared for a while, but now I’m back.

I spent the last three months shuttling between northern Virginia and southern New Jersey – working as an editorial intern at USAToday.com’s Life section by day and a barista at my sister’s coffee shop by night – as well as finishing a few neglected projects, procrastinating a few new ones (master’s capstone, what?) and listening to Kanye West’s Graduation one too many times.

A few highlights of my time at USA Today: I covered the Virgin Mobile Festival in Baltimore with Korina Lopez, sussed out the fashion of the Jonas Brothers with Arienne Thompson and worked with Whitney Matheson on her Pop Candy blog (my self-granted title: mistress of all things RSS, Wikipedia and social networking).

This friday marks the end of my internship and my time south of the Mason Dixon line. I return to New York at the end of August, when and where I will start my final semester at the CUNY Graduate School of Journalism – you can find me there, or, as always, waiting for the G train.