|
The top news:
After the Tsunami
On December 26, 2004 an epic earthquake rumbled the ocean
floor just off the northwestern coast of Sumatra causing a
tsunami of apocalyptic proportion. The wave rolled through
the Indian Ocean destroying everything in its wake. Hundreds
of thousands were affected and even killed. Shortly thereafter,
MTV
News decided to produce a one-hour special to tell the
personal side of the story and air the piece to a global audience
in association with a benefit concert it hosted in Thailand.
The hour-long show consisted of reports from four teams who
were dispatched to India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Indonesia.
I was fortunate enough to be part of the Indonesian team and
traveled to the town of Banda Aceh, Sumatra. While there my
team focused its story on aid distribution-- how was it getting
to the people and what affect was it having? A short-lived
but intense experience, I witnessed the extremes of human
drama—from death, devastation, total loss to resilience,
bravery, and unparalleled compassion for the fellow man, which
transcended religion and politics. Our story took us on two
main journeys: through the eyes of the U.S. military as it
transformed from a finely tuned war machine to a keenly focused
humanitarian organization—with their helicopters and
boats they were able to reach remote villages that other aid
organization could not. The other angle drilled down to the
ground level and showed how one specific aid organization,
Mercy
Corps, organized and helped local residents help themselves.
This is where we met Dessy, a 21-year-old college student
who lost her grandparents, house, and college professors and
now lives in a make-shift camp. We traveled with her back
to her neighborhood for the first time since the tragedy.
As I try to do with all projects, I covered these stories
in as many forms of media as possible. Click here for Part
1, Part
2, and Part
3 of the video aired on MTV (right cvlick to save and
view-- you will need Quicktime).
Click here for my
personal still photo essay and here for the photo
essay posted on MTV's website. And click here for a written
piece specifically about the experience of traveling back
to Dessy’s neighborhood. For information on how to donate,
click
here for MTV’s companion website to the TV show.
Video the Vote
I didn't vote. I know, I know, how un-American of me right?
Well, it was a tough call but at the end of the day I decided
to take advantage of a cool opportunity to help the voting
process where it counted, Ohio. Michael
Moore bussed 20 or so filmmakers from New York City to
Cleveland in order to stand outside polling places to document
any "odd" or "harassing" activity. It
rained all day and wasn't comfortable but I did feel like
we made a difference because there were some strange patterns
that developed throughout the day. One of the filmmakers on
the trip cut together a five-minute segment from all our footage,
an posted it on the BoinBoing blog website. Click
here to check out the story and the footage. Update:
more clips have been produced from the footage and can be
found at this
site.
True Life: I'm
Rallying to L.A.
I recently learned that people like to drive fast, and for
no particular reason sometimes. In my first job for MTV
I served as a field and segment producer for an hour-long
documentary about a road rally race from New York to Los Angeles.
The race was intense and included about 50 cars. We focused
on three teams to really try to get inside the minds of these
people as they weave in and out of traffic at 150 mph during
rush hour! The coolest part for me was hanging
from the ski of a helicopter shooting the final leg from
above as the crew sped through Death Valley from Las Vegas
to L.A. Click
here to see the MTV web info about the show.
Phish Phinale
This summer saw the end of an era. Legendary jam band Phish
performed its final concert at an air field in home state
Vermont over the weekend of August 15th. Thousands of phans
came from all over the world to celebrate, commemorate, and
commiserate with themselves and the band. They endured miles
of walking and rain and mud but would not be turned away.
From the perspective of a Grateful Dead fan, as I am, to see
the legacy of a jam band who touched millions of people dissolve
twice in a lifetime was, well, moving to say the least. Luckily
I was hired by AMNY,
a free daily newspaper in New York City to capture and write
about the experience. Click
here for the article.
Afghan Blog
In the summer of 2004 I traveled to Afghanistan with an old
friend named Faridoon Baqi to make a film about his return
home for the first time in 22 years. Along the way I kept
a journal or "blog" about the experience, click
here to read it and see photos. Faridoon also kept his
own account, which you can view by clicking
here. The film is currently in post production and looking
for distribution. Updates and clips will be posted when available.
Daniel Pearl Remembered
at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism
Since the abduction and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter
Daniel Pearl, journalists around the world have had to come
to terms with increased risks, especially within conflict
zones. On Tuesday night, February 21, four journalistic professionals
gathered in the Lecture Hall at Columbia University's Graduate
School of Journalism for a panel titled: "Press Under
Fire" to remember Danny and discuss the realities and
myths of foreign corresponding and to offer tips to students
in the audience who may soon find themselves reporting from
abroad. Kenneth Cukier, a fellow at Harvard’s Kennedy
School of Government and a representative of the Daniel Pearl
Foundation, was scheduled to be the moderator of the event
but he could not make it into New York due to the weather.
Columbia University professor Sreenath Sreenivasan was set
to take his place but had to attend to a personal emergency
at the last second. I spoke with Sree about a half hour before
the panel started and agreed to fill in. Never having moderated
a panel before, I was a bit nervous. But the guests were extraordinary
and the audience posed some very interesting questions. The
evening ran smoothly and many moving words were shared in
Daniel Pearl's honor. A fellow student of mine, Allison Hoffman,
put together an excellent write-up of the night. Click
here for the full story.
Juliet Jones
In August of 2002 I celebrated with friends as we found out
Juliet and her husband Richard had successfully conceived
their first child. In September, the joy took a 180 degree
turn as we learned she was diagnosed with a rare, aggressive
form of breast cancer. I started following Juliet with a camera
in November and through December when she gave birth and underwent
a full mastectomy of the left breast. "I want my daughter
to have a record of this," Juliet said. "It may
be morbid to think about, but I don't know how long I'll be
able to be with her. I want her to be able to see what her
mother was like." Learn more about Juliet and follow
her progress on www.julietjones.net.
Rasta Raid
The first two weeks of a new job or
a new school are hectic. There's a lot one does to become
acclimated and confident in his or her new environment. Sometimes,
however, situations thrust themselves upon you and you find
yourself learning through that classic teacher, experience.
In The
Rasta Raid, find out how a gun in the face can be a warm
welcome to covering East Harelm as your beat.
The conversation:
I was sitting across from the Columbia
University Journalism School's new media guru, Sreenath
(Sree) Sreenivasan, discussing our relative experience
since the advent of Mosaic, that eons-old web browser-- eons-old
in Internet years, that is, which some say is comparable to
dog years.
Anyway, I was proud of my accomplishments
to date, having had my hand in web development since the term
web development entered our vernacular. I remember taking
a class in undergrad around '93 or '94 when my classmate and
I high-fived after creating a "horizontal rule,"
or "HR" bar, which is a very basic HTML command.
It would be like the day you mounted your bicycle and cruised
down your street at top speed with no hands… on your
training wheels.
Then, Sree said while checking out some
of my sites, "Very nice… now, where's YOUR site?"
"…," I replied. "…my
site? Hmmmm, yeah, uh, my site. Y'know, that's funny, I don't
have a site."
It was true. I had been so busy developing
other sites that for some reason I never put any thought or
energy into creating my own. To be honest, I never really
saw much reason for it. I definitely didn't want to create
one of those weblog sites where the page counter flips only
once per day when I log on to post my rants or ramblings de
jour. Moreover, I'm not a hardcore coder or technogeek who
will eventually meet my wife online (no offense to those that
do, I know many couples who have met that way and they are
quite happy).
But Sree did have a very important point.
Every modern journalist should have at least a simple site
showcasing some of his or her work.
The mission:
So, with that, I'm creating this site, which
is a bit more than a simple portfolio. My mission here is
to show samples of my work, in all forms of storytelling,
and to share bits and pieces of my personal interests so visitors
get a full sense of who I am.
What's more, because I am obsessed with
storytelling in general, I like to span as many forms of media
as possible. Borrowing the words of a great freelance journalist
who shares my views on storytelling, Smita
Paul says on her site, "In my ten years as a journalist,
I have been lucky to work in various media. I enjoy each one
for different reasons: print for the beauty of words, radio
for the ability of sounds to create images, photography and
television for their immediate and emotional impact. And of
course, working on the Web allows me to bring all these elements
together."
Finally, you may have already noticed, this
site is not too flashy. I have kept it very text-based and
bland on design elements. I have done this to provide a site
that loads quickly and is easy to navigate.
I hope you enjoy this site and if
you have any comments or questions, please email me at .
|
&