The Black Olive

Last week, I interned for the last time at New York Family, one of my two magazine internships this summer. Though it wasn't what I originally intended or wanted to do, the 12 weeks gave me great additional experience and many clips, one or two of which I'll post once they're published.

In the meantime, I wanted to post some of my work from the past that regrettably will probably never be published. Understandably so, seeing as how I did the work for the purpose of my Newhouse courses. Still, I put a lot into them, and think if there's anywhere I should publish them it should be here.

Even before I came to Syracuse University, I was interested in the Connective Corridor concept--the idea that through a series of creative projects and measures, a fallen city could eventually be revitalized. I then had a brief stint as the downtown Syracuse beat reporter of The Daily Orange. When it came time to take NEW 305 (News Reporting) in the Spring of '09 and each student was required to choose a beat, I was still passionate and curious enough about downtown Syracuse to keep it as my own. I then produced at least six stories about the ways in which people in Syracuse were trying to make it a better and more exciting place to live. Despite popular belief, Syracuse is not so bad. The sad part is, that it could be better and there are very limited attempts or interest in making it so.

In any case, the above is one of the last projects we worked on. We were required to use Soundslides and Audacity to produce a multimedia project that tells a story related to our beat. A few weeks before it was due I discovered that a new restaurant was opening and decided it was the perfect opportunity. The people I met at this Mediterranean restaurant, The Black Olive, were super friendly and I was able to sit and talk to the owner as well as many of the employees. I also got to go behind the scenes (into the kitchen) and taste some of the delicious food! They recently celebrated the restaurant's 1-year anniversary, which is nice.

It was my first multimedia project ever--and it looks it. But it was so fun to make and led me to decide that in addition to writing, I'd love to experience with multimedia, producing and editing--also very effective ways to tell stories.

More soon.