Spelling Bee Double Dip- Skagit Valley Herald and Zebra Magazine (2019)
I have been
covering the spelling bee for five years now (story of how I got this gig) and
it's been one of the highlights of the year. You're mingling with a wide
variety of other interesting journalists, you're trailing children and their
families having the time of their lives, the media people treats you seriously
and gives you your own room with gourmet snacks, and it's this strange
subculture where intellectualism is celebrated. On top of that, the competition
has turned me onto word nerdom.
But, hey, why not go to your favorite event and make some extra money with a double dip? I'm not sure how embedded this term is but a double dip is when you cover the same event for two publications.
The problem was that unlike previous years where I started querying in advance, I only thought of double-dipping the day before. So on the first day of the Bee I called a couple places I knew were short of coverage in previous years, than local publications in Richmond, Arlington, and Alexandria where I wrote previously and in the interim I introduced myself to the Spelling Bee contestants from those cities.
Olivia Coleman (same name as the Oscar winner, how cool is that!) was half Brazilian, one of the younger contestants in the Bee and the first contestant from Alexandria City Public Schools in their history. After everyone else turned me down, Zebra Magazine (which covers Alexandria) bit. Negotiations and timing were a little hard to nail down on short notice, and I had to go down an extra day (but I'm such a word nerd, I would have gone down anyway). On the upside, the Olivia Coleman story allowed me to write a broader more comprehensive story for an audience that was less familiar with the event. After five years, my Skagit Valley Herald story was pretty much autopilot.
Link: https://thezebra.org/2019/05/31/maury-4th-grader-olivia-coleman-makes-alexandria-school-history-as-first-national-spelling-bee-competitor/
Coverage of the Metro Shutdown of the Blue and Yellow Lines-Washington Times (2019)
n what could be the
best journalistic move to happen to me (although I say that with a healthy
sense of caution as nothing's guaranteed in this business) in terms of securing
a steady healthy income for myself, the Washington Times expressed an
interest in me earlier this year and I passed a trial article to be their
regular transportation guy.
The trial article was on an impending doomsday scenario where all metro lines south of National Airport would close for the Summer. Having been in this region through other tortuous shut downs and slow downs, I have spent many a metro ride filled with angst and frustration.
With that said, this was a good opportunity to explore the source of that frustration and find out why the people who run this system seem so incompetent. The people I talked to at Alexandria City's Department of Planning and other agencies were professional and convincing that they did indeed know what they were doing and had thought a plan as unpredictable as this one at the very least. And while I'm not sure I agree with the shut down's logic, it's not my place to editorialize.
Two highlights here were 1) that I got to have an email exchange with the anonymous Twitter source @unsuckdcmetro 2) That figuring I might as well be ambitious and outside of the box, I figured the best way to have opinion was a poll. I personally interviewed 100 people and asked them two questions. Pretty insane experience I might not want to do again but it gave the article some color.
The trial article was on an impending doomsday scenario where all metro lines south of National Airport would close for the Summer. Having been in this region through other tortuous shut downs and slow downs, I have spent many a metro ride filled with angst and frustration.
With that said, this was a good opportunity to explore the source of that frustration and find out why the people who run this system seem so incompetent. The people I talked to at Alexandria City's Department of Planning and other agencies were professional and convincing that they did indeed know what they were doing and had thought a plan as unpredictable as this one at the very least. And while I'm not sure I agree with the shut down's logic, it's not my place to editorialize.
Two highlights here were 1) that I got to have an email exchange with the anonymous Twitter source @unsuckdcmetro 2) That figuring I might as well be ambitious and outside of the box, I figured the best way to have opinion was a poll. I personally interviewed 100 people and asked them two questions. Pretty insane experience I might not want to do again but it gave the article some color.
Link: https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2019/mar/25/upcoming-metro-repairs-irk-alexandria-area-commute/
Why Green Book is the Best Film to Discuss Race This Year-The Federalist (2019)
How fortunate that I had an opportunity to simply proclaim my
esteem for my favorite film of the year in print.
More than that, this past year's Oscar race represented the high point of a particularly toxic brand of identity politics making its way into cinema's most prestigious (and simultaneously superficial) event and while this article was meant (as with much of my writing in this sphere) to directly take on the haters, I'm immensely proud that I didn't stick to the attack ads in this piece.
I discussed the other four Oscar contenders that talked about the black experience in praiseworthy terms but simply showed how they approach race in ways that aren't as brave or necessary as "Green Book" which actually forces the audience to engage with the un-PC side of interracial conversation. I believe that PC culture has created racial tension through keeping necessary conversations about race off-limits and the catharsis that "Green Book" successfully pulls off is about releasing that tension. The erroneous argument that's become a sacred creed of Woke America: The skin color of the film maker is the determinant of appropriateness of tackling a "black film" and any other backlash that (predictably) would increase exponentially after the publication of the article, is given just passing mention so as to not dignify the inane silliness of it all.
At the end of the day, the Oscar voters sided with me which was quite the thrill.
More than that, this past year's Oscar race represented the high point of a particularly toxic brand of identity politics making its way into cinema's most prestigious (and simultaneously superficial) event and while this article was meant (as with much of my writing in this sphere) to directly take on the haters, I'm immensely proud that I didn't stick to the attack ads in this piece.
I discussed the other four Oscar contenders that talked about the black experience in praiseworthy terms but simply showed how they approach race in ways that aren't as brave or necessary as "Green Book" which actually forces the audience to engage with the un-PC side of interracial conversation. I believe that PC culture has created racial tension through keeping necessary conversations about race off-limits and the catharsis that "Green Book" successfully pulls off is about releasing that tension. The erroneous argument that's become a sacred creed of Woke America: The skin color of the film maker is the determinant of appropriateness of tackling a "black film" and any other backlash that (predictably) would increase exponentially after the publication of the article, is given just passing mention so as to not dignify the inane silliness of it all.
At the end of the day, the Oscar voters sided with me which was quite the thrill.
Link: https://thefederalist.com/2019/01/03/high-profile-films-show-bravely-discuss-race-2018/
What I Learned from Running the Ten Mile--RunBlogRun (2019)
Since I discovered that I didn't necessarily suck at sports by joining the cross-country team right before my sophomore year, running has always been part of my identity. For a while, I simply followed the sport on TV and wrote about it because, hey, write about what you know.
After nine years, two of the captains of my high school team (who are brothers) had the misfortune of their mom being killed in a car accident. At their funeral, I told them I'd run a race in their honor and I thought the experience might make a good article..
The article allowed me to talk about how running shaped my identity (something I've always wanted to do) but I felt I added something new to the conversation by discussing how running was a part of me even when I was dormant or doing it poorly. By talking about running as a learning process and what I had learned, I also thought the article could have pedagogical value and I showed it to a few friends who were also thinking about running too.
Link: http://www.runblogrun.com/2018/12/the-army-ten-miler-by-orrin-konheim.html
David's Gardens --Worcester Journal (2016)
Around the time my grandfather died, my grandmother suggested I write about his life. My mom's parents, who fled religious persecution and poor conditions in Persia to be in the first generation to settle and found the nation of Israel. From there they moved around to other countries before settling to the US and as someone who grew up in the same boring stretch of suburbia, that was pretty interesting to me.
A couple years out of college (late 2008) and still in that phase when I hadn't yet broken into journalism, I was looking to give a lot of things a shot and one of those content farm sites (that THANK GOD are not in existence anymore; if anyone ever made money it was because they were putting in way too much labor) had a prompt to write about a relative who gardened. I squeezed a square peg into a round hole and wrote about my grandfather from a gardening angle since he kept a garden everywhere he went throughout his life and the idea of tilling the land figures into Israel's history. I'd call it a square peg/round hole scenario because it was more that the gardening motif was conducive to a good essay than an overwhelming need to write about gardening.
Anywho, this article was rejected in around 2008. It wasn't even a positive rejection of "come back with improvements" but I decided to send it again a year or two later. And guess what? They still rejected it. But I saw a writing prompt for a literary journal and went with that a few years later.
Coincidentally this occurred a little after my grandmother died and I was privileged to take this back to our family reunion. The story sadly didn't run in print because the Worcestor Journal doesn't do print anymore. I'm not sure what the point of such a journal is but oh well.
Link: http://theworcesterjournal.com/2016/03/09/201639tbn1py8je3xy0cudin1qcagrz9ah2z/
Ten Film Schools-TopTenz.net (2013)
You kind of hear about how USC or NYU is a prestigious film school but what else is out there? I was curious to know and did a bit of research, bit of write up, and bam! Article delivered. I like this article because it makes for a good listicle, it's evergreen, it's service oriented (provides use) and it gives insight into a part of the film industry people don't often think about.
Link: https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-great-film-schools-in-the-united-states.php
JEB Stuart Celebrates 50 Years of Rowing-Falls Church News Press (2018)
Ten Film Schools-TopTenz.net (2013)
You kind of hear about how USC or NYU is a prestigious film school but what else is out there? I was curious to know and did a bit of research, bit of write up, and bam! Article delivered. I like this article because it makes for a good listicle, it's evergreen, it's service oriented (provides use) and it gives insight into a part of the film industry people don't often think about.
Link: https://www.toptenz.net/top-10-great-film-schools-in-the-united-states.php
If you seek to do all your stories remotely, you're often missing out. The job requires you to prioritize pertinent information from a list of facts and when you get up close to those facts in a sensory manner, you are able to get a feel for what's important much quicker. You also might find out stuff you wouldn't have known if you didn't go out for yourself and look. More importantly, oftentimes, the events can be a fun--particularly for someone who likes exploring other worlds and subcultures.
Fifty years ago, a local high school crew team won a world championship and I was to cover their reunion. Although the first source who called me was a little over-enthusiastic about the story he wanted me to write, I could relate as someone who probably has placed too much importance in my extremely modest high school athletic achievements. I could also relate as someone who often wants to maintain bonds from my adolescent days and I was curious to see how this group of people navigated such a feat (were some of the members of the original team forced into it more than others?).
I went and experienced a (word I don't use too often here) lovely picnic and was somewhat inspired to see the world champions, alumni from varying years, and current rowers mingling. With a support network like that, it makes complete sense that everyone who had some identification to a beloved high school sport would want in.
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