Category Archives: Uncategorized

Here’s a new story I wrote for Poynter Online: Four months before Lovelle Svart died under Oregon’s Death with Dignity Act last September, Rob Finch, multimedia reporter at The (Portland) Oregonian, began conducting a series of interviews with her. Through 27 videos that came together in a piece called “Living to the End,” Finch capturedContinue reading “‘Linking to Life with Multimedia Obits’”

It’s up there somewhere …  Twirling behind fire engines … worst place to twirl in a parade! Part of the Poynter posse  Keith trying to twirl.  Have to get ’em started at a young age.  I told you in my last post that I would show you some footage of me twirling in St. Petersburg’sContinue reading “Baton Twirling in the MLK Parade”

In recognition of Martin Luther King Jr. Day, at least one radio station in St. Petersburg has been playing Dr. MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech. I twirled baton in today’s parade in St. Petersburg, Fla., (I’ll post twirling photos tomorrow) and was happy to see so many people turn out in support of theContinue reading “Appreciating the Doctor”

[James Borchuck | St. Petersburg Times] When I talked to Thelma Neely on the phone for the first time, I could hear the excitement in her voice, could feel the passion she exuded for life, could sense how much she loved to dance. There was a story there waiting to be told. So I metContinue reading “‘All She Wants to Do Is Dance’”

She looks up and recites the first of several “po-hems,” as she calls them: “But the caged bird stands on the grave of dreams, his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream, his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.” Singing from her perch on the stage atContinue reading “Maya Angelou: Freeing the Caged Bird”

As someone who likes looking for unusual stories/sightings, I’m generally pretty aware of my surroundings. When I talk on my phone, I often park my car and walk around outside rather than sitting inside and talking. I want to see what’s going on in the outside world. I want to be where the action is,Continue reading “Strange Sightings from the Road”

I recently came across two of the following features — widgets showing the 2008 primary delegate counters and “Politweets,” a site that features political-related Tweets, fed from Twitter. Does anyone know of other fun widgets/social networking tools that journalists are using to report on the 2008 elections? In the spirit of the elections, I wroteContinue reading “Widgets, Twitter and the 2008 Elections”

After a brief hiatus, Word on the Street is back! When I went home to Massachusetts, I made a couple of trips to Boston. I went to a cute independant bookstore on Newbury Street called Trident Booksellers and Cafe. Stacks of literary magazines and journals — a former English major’s haven — filled a smallContinue reading “Creativity Outside the Cubicle”

Billy Kulpa/Poynter The term “digital identity” used to bother me. I didn’t like the idea of having an “identity” online, but as I researched the topic more, I realized that a digital ID is more about one’s presence or activity online than a sci-fi kind of identity. My desire to learn more about digital IDsContinue reading “Developing a Digital Identity”

(Photo: By Brad Paris/New York magazine) As I read New York magazine tonight, I couldn’t help but smile when I stumbled across the #50 reason why New York is a city worth loving: “Because Even Our Kids Are Book Obsessed.” The magazine devoted a two-page spread to photos of children holding books and quotes detailingContinue reading “Happy for ‘Book-Obsessed’ Kids”