Category: Personal Updates

My life

My internship with the Philadelphia Business Journal

With the editorial staff of the Philadelphia Business Journal on May 5, 2008.

Last Thursday, during a week revisit to Philadelphia, I shared happy hour with a few friends from my internship with the Philadelphia Business Journal, with which I had a great six month-internship the last semester of my college career.

With a little work, I got tons of solid clips and great experience (detailed below) with the Journal, and so I thought it was worth pointing that out.

The primary responsibilities of editorial interns with PBJ, owned by American City Business Journals, are to keep up their pages that follow the region’s philanthropic community, profile business leaders and all managerial movements in and around the city. While I pitched other stories of greater size, these base-level jobs never offered anything more than a few hundred words. Still, I worked hard to make them worth reading – if only to keep me focused and interested.

The internship meant a lot more than all of that, though.

Continue reading My internship with the Philadelphia Business Journal

A post-graduate internship done: what comes next?

Working in the Capitol bureau of the Patriot-News in Harrisburg in August 2008.

My last day in Harrisburg for came at the end of last month, with the close of my lease with the International House Aug. 30 and the end of my post-graduate internship with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association (PLCA).

I came home with lots of experience, dozens of great references, and a pile of clips. Browse my clips by publication here.

I pitched my own stories, was sent to dull and fascinating hearings, and got great clips, including front cover, A1 bylines for the Philadelphia Inquirer, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, Patriot-News and the Morning Call – not too bad. Below are my best six clips of the summer:

Continue reading A post-graduate internship done: what comes next?

Harrisburg International House

Mostly foreign students and temporary workers living in the Harrisburg International House.

While in Harrisburg until last week, I lived at the International House at Third and Chestnut, right in its center city. I left Aug. 30 – leaving my recommendations about what to do in Harrisburg.

During the summer, most of its residents are foreign-born on temporary visas working at Hershey Park, nearby hotels or studying. That provided a fun experience in the hostel-like atmosphere: dancing with a bunch of young men from the United Arab Emirates, playing Uno with girls from the Dominican Republic and watching the NBA playoffs with a group from the Ukraine. I didn’t need a car, could walk to work and play basketball and the grocery store.

Continue reading Harrisburg International House

Harvard University rejected me

Got an e-mail from Harvard University yesterday:

Thank you for your application to the following position at Harvard University. Although we are unable to further your candidacy for this specific position at this time, we appreciate your interest in Harvard.

I applied Aug. 15 for a full-time position I saw on Journalism Jobs, called the assistant editor of the Digital Journalism Project, part of the school’s Nieman Foundation.

The position appears to have been taken down from J-Jobs, so I’ll post the description here. Sounded like fun.

Continue reading Harvard University rejected me

Bank error in my favor, for a day

On Tuesday, I logged into my bank account to find $6,000 had appeared – more money than I ever had in a savings or checking account. While I hoped I had forgotten about some windfall coming my way, I knew I was part of a rare bank error, that just happened to be in my favor. By yesterday evening, the money was gone again – a “retrieval withdrawal.” It isn’t all that uncommon, according to an article on Bankrate.com.

Despite the overwhelming justification for why the universe owes you this money, it’s as untouchable as a spanking-new sports car with the keys in the ignition and the doors wide open. Give in to temptation and you could find yourself going straight to jail — or at least being threatened with jail if you don’t want to part with the ill-gotten gains.

Though I honestly thought – for a moment – about trying to make a large, cash withdrawal, I decided the more sensible irrational move would be to go to my bank and explain. I had time for neither and in 24 hours the situation was solved. Had I I tried for the greedier move, the results could have gotten sticky, according to the same article.

Continue reading Bank error in my favor, for a day

The Civil War is in my Capitol

The Pennslyvania Past Players visiting in Philadelphia and the Union League on June 16, 2007. (LB Philly on Flickr)

Trying to work near the Harrisburg Capitol’s Main Rotunda around lunch time on a Wednesday in Summer? Do you hear the simmer of a patriotic song or the baleful cries of a country in turmoil!

Of course you do, because the Pennsylvania State Museum dispatches their Pennsylvania Past Players from the Civil War to the Capitol every Wednesday from noon to 1 P.M. from June 18 until Sept. 10.

Assuming you’re missing their show today, looks like you have just two more chances to see the group interact with children, parents and grandmothers, all wearing their respective central Pennsylvania uniforms – cameras dangling, sweaty Penn State football tee-shirts and style from 1992.

…Yes, I just criticized someone’s style.

Continue reading The Civil War is in my Capitol

CNN.com nothing without me, follows my story

I had a cover story on Tuesday’s edition of the Patriot-News about a Muslim airline pilot who says he was unfairly placed on a federal watch list, costing him his job.

Yesterday, CNN.com picked up on the story – even featured it on the front of its Web site, as seen above – without any love for your boy Chris Wink, or even the Patriot-News. What gives?

New blogging page on ChristopherWink.com

THOSE READING A FEED MAY NOT HAVE NOTICED I added a page on this site that features my blogging experience.

Like my journalism page, it lists some featured posts from the blogs for which I have worked, including posts on the popular state government blog Capitol Ideas, my work for Y-Decide, a blog by Philadelphia’s WHYY, and the blogging I did to cover my senior thesis, mentioned on my academic page.

In today’s age, my experience and interest in blogging may be one of my best assets.

You gotta flaunt whatcha got.

Any advice?

Cartoon courtesy of Gaping Void.