‘Outside interests’ archive

May 7: An off-topic question from a young journalist (4)

While you’re doing favors for me today, how about answering a question for a young female journalist? Rachel Schallom of the Sun Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., asks: Working women — especially working mothers — have been all the rage on the blog scene lately. This has prompted some great conversations among female journalists. Some young female journalists and I [...]

Feb. 26: The coolest thing I’ve seen lately: Really cool DVD package design

While I’m on my cross-country trek this week, a number of visual journalists around the country are lending a hand by telling us what is the coolest thing they’ve seen lately. Today, Michael Higdon — editorial systems administrator for Swift Communications in Carson City, Nev. — shares something that… …hits both of yours and my main criteria for anything: really [...]

Nov. 12, 2012: Why copy editors need Christmas cards that say ‘why Christmas needs a copy editor’ on them

Just in time for the holidays, Sara Hickman-Himes — former copy editor and A1 designer for the Rochester, N.Y., Democrat and Chronicle — writes of her newest venture via her greeting card company, Papersaurus Creative: We branched out into holiday cards this year. I always love reading your so-and-so needs a copy editor blog entries. That combined with the idiotic [...]

May 20, 2012: It’s always cool when a visual journalist gets to write a story

Especially when that story is in the Washington Post. Jon Wile — a senior news designer for the Post — wrote a story published in today’s travel section about how to compile and use frequent flier miles. The story started on the front of today’s section which, for some reason, is posted on the Post’s web site today minus its [...]

May 1, 2012: How the Metro art director wound up on Martha Stewart’s web site last week

Stephanie Hinderer is the national art director of the Metro tabloids distributed in New York, Boston and Philadelphia. I’ve also written about her side business from time to time: She creates business cards and sells them online. I asked her to tell me the cute story behind what she’s been up to lately. Stephanie replies: A few weeks ago, I [...]

March 12, 2012: A little South African pop music to brighten your Monday

This morning, I spent an hour or so Skyping a news design class at Stellenbosch University near Cape Town, South Africa. The class is taught on an adjuct basis by my good friend Arlene Prinsloo, with whom I’ve worked so closely during my time in that country. Just last week, Arlene generously sent me a package full of goodies. Among [...]

Feb. 24, 2012: Yet another thing you just can’t do with an iPad

Well, you could try. But I doubt it’d help. Norfolk, Va.-based writer and author Lisa Suhay writes: Self-defense expert David Sgro is visiting Norfolk from his ministry in Guatemala where he, his wife and 13 children care for orphans and those living in extreme poverty. The former Special Forces trainer has had to improvise and develop his own special tactics [...]

Feb. 15, 2012: Why my editing brain won’t let me enjoy movies anymore (9)

A couple of days ago, the trailer for the new Tim Burton film Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was released. Although I’m a fan of neither horror nor teen vampire genres, I am a lover of American History and science fiction. This seems like an fun mashup of the two. Also, I’ve not read the book. So no spoilers, please. There [...]

Feb. 10, 2012: Austin news artist and book illustrator Don Tate promotes release of his first authored book (2)

In two months, a children’s book by my good friend Don Tate will hit bookstores. It’s called: It Jes’ Happened: When Bill Traylor Started to Draw. Don — a longtime artist for the Austin, Texas, American-Statesman — has illustrated something like 40 books over the past decade or so. This is the first book he’s actually written. Today, Don released [...]

Jan. 27, 2012: Geekazoid Friday: Watch this cute teacher build her own Tardis

It’s been a while since I put up a Geekazoid Friday post. So I thought I’d reward myself by showing you this one. This is a British — obviously — German teacher who posts videos on YouTube under the name Sillysparrowness. Like a lot of folks from the U.K., she’s a fan of the longrunning science fiction TV show Doctor [...]

Jan. 2, 2012: A new toy for your desk (2)

Here’s the ultimate toy for your desk at work: A limited edition Steve Jobs action figure. And man, is this thing sweet… At 12 inches, the figure is taller than a typical G.I. Joe. Steve will come with: Black turtleneck, blue jeans, black socks and sneakers Two pairs of glasses and three pairs of hands Two apples — one with [...]

Dec. 16, 2011: Cheap Christmas gift alert

Looking for a cheap but fun Christmas gift? Why not buy from a visual journalism colleague? — For that lover of the classic sounds of early rock ‘n roll, what could be a better stuffer than a fresh and detailed story of the last tour of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper? The Day the Music Died is [...]

Dec. 16, 2011: War sketches by Richard Johnson of the Toronto National Post find a home in the Smithsonian (2)

Richard Johnson — graphics editor of the National Post of Toronto — donated 20 battlefield sketches he made in three trips to Iraq and Afghanistan over the past ten years to the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History. Juanita Bawagan of the National Post reports: When the Smithsonian learned Johnson would be returning to Afghanistan this year, [Jennifer Locke Jones, [...]

Dec. 15, 2011: Cheap Christmas gift alert

Looking for a cheap but fun Christmas gift? Why not buy from a visual journalism colleague? — In this case, the colleague is in radio broadcasting. One wonders how visual you can be in radio. The answer: Very visual. If you do it right. Scott Fybush — a Rochester based radio writer and consultant tells us: For the last dozen [...]

Dec. 14, 2011: Cheap Christmas gift alert (1)

Looking for a cheap but fun Christmas gift? Why not buy from a visual journalism colleague? — Do you have a person on your shopping list who just loves to cook? Here’s the perfect gift for them: A cookbook by master cook and longtime cooking writer and editor Debbie Moose. Debbie has published four cookbooks, and each of them is [...]

Dec. 13, 2011: Cheap Christmas gift alert

Looking for a cheap but fun Christmas gift? Why not buy from a visual journalism colleague? — If you like literature — and most of us in the field of communications do — then you’ll go nuts over Writers Gone Wild: The Feuds, Frolics and Follies of Literature’s Great Adventurers, Drunkards, Lovers, Iconoclasts and Misanthropes. Writers Gone Wild was written [...]

Dec. 13, 2011: Billings, Mont., copy editor Craig Lancaster talks about his third book

When Craig Lancaster — leader of the news and sports copy desks at the Gazette in Billings, Montana — released his second novel last winter, he was kind enough to submit to a Q&A for this blog. When Craig’s third book — a collection of short stories — came out last week, I asked him if he was up for [...]

Dec. 12, 2011: Cheap Christmas gift alert

Looking for a cheap but fun Christmas gift? Why not buy from a visual journalism colleague? — Jennifer Borresen — graphics editor of the Sarasota, Fla., Herald-Tribune — has an amazing store at Zazzle where she sells some of the smartest, most cleverly-illustrated items you’ll ever see. Here are just a few T-shirts you’ll find there, for example. Jennifer also [...]

Dec. 11, 2011: Cheap Christmas gift alert

Looking for a cheap but fun Christmas gift? Why not buy from a visual journalism colleague? — Is there a knitting or crochet lover on your Christmas list this year? What better gift for them than hand-spun and hand-dyed yarn by London Nelson, a features designer for the Minneapolis Star Tribune? London says the items she sells via Etsy include… [...]

Dec. 8, 2011: The ultimate compliment for any bride (1)

Jacksonville (Fla.) Business Journal reporter Ashley Kritzer writes in her blog: A few months ago, I came across a post on Glamour.com’s Save the Date wedding blog asking readers to share photos of their wedding dresses. I immediately dropped everything I was doing or supposed to be doing and submitted a photo and story. She had forgotten all about it, of course. [...]