Christopher Wink

Philadelphia Wedding: Old boyfriends make bad guests

Photo by Allebach. See more at Philadelphia-WeddingPhotography.com.

Philadelphia Wedding is a beautiful glossy quarterly ancillary of the Philadelphia magazine brand, and, as I tweeted yesterday, I am thrilled to say I have the back page essay in the most recent issue on newsstands now.

A former girlfriend with a suddenly hyphenated name e-mailed me recently. Buried three paragraphs down, she alerted me to the fact that she was now happily and beautifully married. Not long before that, I’d received a text message from my first serious girlfriend, a girl who had once drawn hearts on my biology notebook, telling me she now had a child — this before I even knew she had a serious significant someone. [Source]

As always, I’ll share some extras that didn’t get in and some background after the jump.

Continue reading Philadelphia Wedding: Old boyfriends make bad guests

How some established journalists see the rest of us

The 21st century graduates of The Temple News: — The 21st century graduates of The Temple News at the 88th anniversary alumni reception: (Back from left) Andrew Thompson, '09; Chris Reber, '08; ; Alex Irwin, '08; Brandon Lausch, '06; Lucas Murray, '05; Christopher Wink, '08; Mike Korostelev, '09 (Second from back row) Sulaiman Abdur-Rahman, '07; Chris Stover, '09; Morgan Zalot, '11; Dave Isaac, '09; Anthony Stipa, '09; Kevin Brosky '10; Kriston Bethel, '10; Tracy Galloway, '10; Unclear (Third from back row) Brian White, '04; Holly Otterbein, '09; Leigh Zaleski, '08; LeAnne Matlach, '09; Jen Reardon, '10; Sherri Hospedales, '10; Stephen Zook, '10; Chelsea Calhoun, '10; Maria Zankey, '10; Brian Dzenis, '12; Shannon McDonald, '09; Sean Blanda, '08; Rachel Playe, '08; Brian James Kirk, '08 (Front Row) Brianna Barry, '08; Melissa Dipento, '08; Ashley Nguyen, '12; Malaika Carpenter, '08; Charmie Snetter, '07; Nadia Stadnycki,'06

You just aren’t doing everything you can.

It’s the seemingly unintentional, passive-aggressive jab that I sometimes get from older or otherwise more established journalists, writers and editors. Most often and in many ways, I’m sure the sentiment is pristine in its accuracy, often abutted by the never-to-be-defended-against “it takes time,” which, of course is always true.

But I can’t help but think what’s happened since, say, 2007 or even later, is something bigger that is changing the value of a lot of once rock solid professional advice for young and otherwise aspiring journalists, and making it awfully hard out there.

Continue reading How some established journalists see the rest of us

Five reasons I should be professionally scared, but am (usually) not

Americans aged 24 or younger could be part of a “lost generation,” says a new cover story from Business Week.

For people just starting their careers, the damage may be deep and long-lasting, potentially creating a kind of “lost generation.” Studies suggest that an extended period of youthful joblessness can significantly depress lifetime income as people get stuck in jobs that are beneath their capabilities, or come to be seen by employers as damaged goods.

It’s the latest stylish trend piece at a time when general stories on an economy that might not return for two or three years are already old hat. A lot of the numbers are fuzzy and the effect may be questionable, but there’s no questioning that it’s daunting for many 20-somethings.

We graduated and walked into perhaps the worst economy since before our grandparents were our age. A few more distinctions this author has taken on has made those statistics seem even more frightening, but outside of the occasional sobbing, I try to remind myself that there’s no better time or place in the world than where I am now.

Continue reading Five reasons I should be professionally scared, but am (usually) not

Metro: Q&A with “Parking Wars” TV show producers

Some castmember of the reality show "Parking Wars."

I spoke to series producer Andrew Dunn and executive producer Dan Flaherty of A&E’s popular reality show “Parking Wars” for last Tuesday’s issue of Metro-Philadelphia.

The show, which has followed staff of the Philadelphia Parking Authority for two seasons, is back for a third, which will also include scenes from Detroit’s parking enforcement agency. Unfortunately, that piece only ran in print, not online, although the week before I had another story on the PPA that was put on the newspaper’s Web site.

Because of space limitations, my Q&A with those two producers was additionally slashed, leaving just a few questions with Dunn. Below, I share what Flaherty, the show’s co-executive producer, had to say.

Continue reading Metro: Q&A with “Parking Wars” TV show producers

Knight News Challenge grant proposals: Technically Philly and NEast Philly

knight-newschallenge

With an Oct. 15 deadline looming, I’ve had my hand in two submissions requesting funds from the Knight Foundation’s News Challenge program.

One I wrote in conjunction with Shannon McDonald, requesting $40,000 to launch a Neighborhood Correspondents program for NEast Philly, a hyperlocal news site for Northeast Philadelphia.

The second was a proposal from the three of us behind Technically Philly, seeking $250,000 to help establish a sales, marketing and business services company to help grow and unite niche news sites in Philadelphia.

Of course, we were knocked from contention for a $10,000 Knight-Batten grant by the New York Times, but we think we have a good pitch on another day. Who knows what could happen?

Give both a look, comment, rate and spread the word. We won’t find out until November if we’re in the running and not until 2010 if we’d get any money. Still, a kid can dream, right?

See briefs of the two pitches below.

Continue reading Knight News Challenge grant proposals: Technically Philly and NEast Philly

Metro: Philly Parking Authority hate ahead of “Parking Wars” season three

In today’s Metro-Philadelphia, I covered the always vitriolic response to the Philadelphia Parking Authority, ahead of next week’s debut of the third season of “Parking Wars,” though I’ll have a more directly related piece next week.

Clarence Shippen Jr. keeps watch outside his office at 8th and Locust streets.

Read the rest here.

Below check some quotations that didn’t make it into the piece.

Continue reading Metro: Philly Parking Authority hate ahead of “Parking Wars” season three

Subscribe to this site by e-mail or RSS

Still in the process of making the obvious improvements to this site since switching to this self-hosted version.

You can now via e-mail, receive updates to this outlet for my professional work, experience as a young freelance writer and thoughts on what my future in news, writing and journalism might look like.

Also, you can submit your e-mail address to the box on the right sidebar and receive in your e-mail inbox what I post here. No spam, no clutter, no cost. Just these posts.

That is, of course, an alternative to subscribing to my RSS feed, which you can do here.

In case this RSS thing is still crazy and confusing, dig its explanation In Plain English below.

Continue reading Subscribe to this site by e-mail or RSS

Metro: North Philly teen who duct-taped cat has background of violence

Sticky, who was wrapped in duct tape, is doing fine. Photo: RIKARD LARMA/METRO

I had two stories and a couple briefs in today’s Metro, including news of the arrest of a teenager who allegedly duct-taped a tabby cat now dubbed Sticky.

The North Philadelphia teenager who was arrested for allegedly wrapping a cat in duct tape lost both his father and brother to street violence in the last two years, said the Pennsylvania SPCA’s chief law enforcement officer.

Read the rest here.

We were searching for a fresh angle on this story, which has received widespread attention. AP’s coverage made it national, being picked up by the Washington Post to name just one. TV news followed it closely too — of course they did because it involves a cute animal — including an in-house appearance by the cat Sticky on the Fox affiliate in Philadelphia, which you can see below, in addition to how the story was reported.

Continue reading Metro: North Philly teen who duct-taped cat has background of violence

Hyperlocal news: a definition

Image courtesy of PFSK.com. — Image by Minh Uong/The New York Times.

Hyperlocal news is as much as a buzz phrase for those in news media today as anything else — yes, even social media.

But as these things happen, no real definition seems to hit at what we’re talking about, and I was surprised to not be able to easily find someone who tried to give one.

So, expecting some comments to show where I missed one or simply critiquing my own, I humbly submit one, if only for my own understanding.

Continue reading Hyperlocal news: a definition

Grid magazine: Dansko, a responsible shoe company

grid-august

Earlier this summer, I did some reporting for sustainability publication Grid magazine about Dansko, a suburban-Philadelphia durable footwear company that specializes in clogs. Unfortunately I couldn’t finish the story for some personal reasons.

Still, you should see the final product by Natalie Hope McDonald on Page 10 here, and check out the whole mag, which is an interesting niche news startup in Philadelphia.

Below read some of the content that I didn’t get the chance to use.

Continue reading Grid magazine: Dansko, a responsible shoe company