Tag: Honors

Broetry Poetry Slam: ‘Portrait of a Bro’ in Spoken Word [VIDEO]

To promote the amusing book Broetry, which is a collection of poems from the “bro” perspective, Geekadelphia and Quirk Books held a Broetry Slam at National Mechanics, a bar in Old City Philadelphia. Attendees were encouraged to come with a broetry of their own to compete for a crown and a swag bag of great books from Quirk. Not only did I participate, yes, I indeed won. I was awarded a cool collection of books by Quirk Books employee Doogie Horner, a comedian whom I wrote about last month.

It was something of a spoken word. ..Because of that, I apologize to all people who do wonderful, beautiful, artistic things with spoken word. I am well aware that I may have killed the art form.

Continue reading Broetry Poetry Slam: ‘Portrait of a Bro’ in Spoken Word [VIDEO]

CJR: How Vice President Rendell makes me want to be a journalist

The Columbia Journalism Review finally came to its senses and realized it can’t survive without my work. …Sorta.

On Wednesday, a personal essay of mine was featured on the CJR Web site.

Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell will be named Sen. Barack Obama’s vice presidential running mate, a high-ranking source in the administration told the Patriot-News.

That was my lede after being tricked into believing Rendell was Obama’s No. 2 man by a famed newsroom of top-flight state government correspondents in the Harrisburg state capital.

This isn’t the story of the Pennsylvania governor being named Obama’s running mate. This is the story of how the economy is in free fall, newspapers are on life-support, and yet they still can’t get rid of me.  Read the rest here.

Go read the story and comment there! Spread the word and show interest in the story.

Below see some portions of the story I cut.

Continue reading CJR: How Vice President Rendell makes me want to be a journalist

Rate my Publish2 entry: I am the future of journalism because…

I am calling myself the future of journalism.

Now that is self-promotion in a world of self-promoters.

Yesterday I joined a contest on the journalism-bookmarking site Publish2, in which I say “I am the future of journalism because…” Rate my Publish2 submission here.

Continue reading Rate my Publish2 entry: I am the future of journalism because…

No love from my alma mater for UWire 100

temple-sct-news-announcements

Ow, that hurts.

My very good buddy Sean Blanda was named among the 100 best young journalists in the country. And, rightly, so, got a nod on the front page of Temple University’s School of Communications homepage.

I was gleeful over getting the same nod – a place on the UWire 100. So where’s my love?

Continue reading No love from my alma mater for UWire 100

Self-promotion in a world of self-promoters

Are you ready to be your biggest fan?

If you want to succeed in media or any other venue where your name is your brand – comedy, acting and more – then you better be ready. Retain that humility in person-to-person interaction, but forget about it when you near the professional realm.

In the spring, I was proud to be named among the 100 most promising young journalists in the country by UWire – how thorough the list was and whether I truly deserved the honor are for another discussion entirely.

Continue reading Self-promotion in a world of self-promoters

My Temple University commencement speech

Four months ago I graduated from Temple University in Philadelphia.

I was honored enough to be named student commencement speaker. Read text of the speech here.

Only now have I gotten video of my speech online. Have a watch below.

Continue reading My Temple University commencement speech

Someone who doesn't know me actually used my reporting

Ostensibly, journalists write for others.

So I get really excited when readers respond to what I write. That can go further when someone uses my reporting for broader purposes. A common rag on newspapers and most media is that their reporting isn’t in-depth enough. Of course, the response is that one can’t track trends without daily coverage.

It feels great to be reminded that that isn’t a lie.

Continue reading Someone who doesn't know me actually used my reporting

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?