This page contains all of my work for the Takoma Voice out of Takoma Park, Md., as well as my work for the University of Maryland’s Shirley Povich Center for Sports Journalism and some of my work for the College Park bureau of the Capital News Service (CNS), the University of Maryland’s student-staffed newswire. As a graduate student at UMD’s Philip Merrill College of Journalism, I was lucky enough to write for all of these outlets, with transit being a particular focus for my Takoma Voice work, while more of my CNS and Povich Center work was centered around sports.

 

Capital News Service

  • Success of Challenges by MLB Managers During the 2014 Regular Season–My CNS colleague, Patrick Donohue, and I created this chart examining the regular season replay challenge success rates of each MLB manager whose team made the playoffs in 2014. At the time, CNS’ website wasn’t designed to fit more than one byline onto many of its graphics so whichever journalist’s last name came first alphabetically received the credit.
  • Baltimore’s Road to the 2014 AL East Title–This graph shows how the Baltimore Orioles won the 2014 AL East by graphing out the division standings each day of the regular season from the beginning of the season in April until the Orioles clinched the title in September. As with the previous graph, I created this in collaboration with Patrick Donohue, we just couldn’t fit two names on the byline at the time.

Takoma Voice

  • After the controversy-Silver Spring Transit Center’s future-My final article for the Takoma Voice was a look at the progress on the construction of the long-delayed Silver Spring Transit Center and the impact it would have upon its opening, which finally happened a little over a year after this piece was published.
  • Takoma Junction traffic havoc–A look at the many complications caused by Maryland’s State Highway Administration removing a bus bay at Takoma Junction in Takoma Park in 2013.
  • Winter? HA!–A story about the brave souls in the Takoma Park/Silver Spring area who continue commuting to work via bicycle even during the winter.
  • Bikeshare battle–This story is about a controversy over the placement of Takoma Park’s Capital Bikeshare stations.
  • Takoma a no-show at streetcar meeting–The second of my two stories about the possibility of eventually extending Washington, D.C.’s streetcar network as far north as Takoma Park or Silver Spring.
  • Big snows challenge city plows, budget–A look at how Takoma Park dealt with the massive amount of snow the D.C. area received in the first few months of 2014, especially in terms of clearing it away.
  • A Streetcar named Takoma, or Silver Spring?–The first of my two stories about the possibility of eventually extending Washington, D.C.’s streetcar network as far north as Takoma Park or Silver Spring.
  • “La Nada”-winter can go either way–As part of the legendary Sandra Banisky’s “Fundamentals of Writing and Editing” class at the University of Maryland, I had to write a story interviewing local meteorologists and businesses about preparing for the upcoming winter. This is that story.
  • Carroll Avenue Bridge-traffic headaches ahead–A look at how extensive repairs on the Carroll Avenue Bridge would affect Takoma Park.
  • Takoma Park in shorts-Community Stories Festival–A feature on the Community Stories Festival, a documentary shorts showcase held by the Silver Spring nonprofit Docs In Progress.
  • Cartoonists want your blood!–A look at a D.C.-area blood drive where participants received free sketches from local cartoonists, including the Takoma Voice’s own Bill Brown (my editor).
  • Bloody death-we are amused–A profile of the people behind Cabaret Macabre, an Edward Gorey-inspired “theatrical collage” staged annually in or around Silver Spring.
  • Inspired by Michelle Obama-Takoma Park’s Youth Garden–A story on the youth garden at Takoma Park’s Community Center started by the now-late Takoma Park Councilwoman Kay Daniels-Cohen.
  • South Silver Spring Streetfest–A story on an annual neighborhood festival in Silver Spring, complete with pictures by the Takoma Voice’s Eric Bond.
  • Good sports in Takoma Park–A story about a Takoma Park-based youth soccer team who won their league’s sportmanship award in 2013.
  • Purple Line’s big black box–My very first story for the Takoma Voice was about a dispute between neighborhood groups in Silver Spring and the Maryland Transit Administration over the placement of power substations for the planned Purple Line. It’s probably my least favorite story because to be honest, I didn’t really know enough about the subject before I began doing interviews but I’m putting it up to serve as a comparison with some of my later, more nuanced transit articles

Povich Center

  • Hockey: Voices of the Game-For this February 2018 piece, George Solomon asked me to contact several sports journalists, primarily ones known for their hockey coverage, and have them give rankings of the top 10 active hockey announcers in the NHL. From there, I shaped those lists into one big consensus list (with a little help from my own research) and wrote 10 short profiles of each announcer.
  • International NBA playoffs coverage–An examination of how various newspapers from around the world covered the 2015 NBA postseason.
  • A Maryland Journalism Legacy: David and Mark Selig–A profile of brothers David and Mark Selig, a pair of University of Maryland journalism alumni. At the time, David was about to leave the Baltimore Sun to become sports editor at the South Florida Sun-Sentinel while Mark, who now works at the Baltimore Sun, had just won an award for his columns at the Columbia Missourian.
  • Book Review: The Boys in the Boat–A review of Daniel James Brown’s The Boys in the Boat, which tells the story of the University of Washington men’s crew team who won gold at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin. Suffice to say there’s a reason this book has been optioned for a film adaptation.
  • 2014 World Cup Coverage: An Analysis–Like it says on the tin, an analysis of media coverage of men’s soccer’s 2014 World Cup, with a specific emphasis on coverage in the U.S.
  • The Making of Michael Sam’s decision–A column I wrote for former Washington Post sports editor George Solomon’s sports journalism class at the University of Maryland’s Merrill College of Journalism examining the national sports media’s reaction to Michael Sam’s attempt to become the first openly gay athlete in the NFL.