Saturday, January 24, 2009

The Past and Present Projects





Editorial Cartooning

I worked for the Daily Egyptian Newspaper as the cartoonist while attending SIUC and received a Bachelors Degree in Science for journalism in December 2008.
I miss the newsroom! The rush of stories and personalities that bounced from desk to office to desk was addictive.
Here are some article clips from when I was a city reporter:
Check out my online portfolio. It works best with Firefox.
Here are some editorial cartoons I made:


9/19/07

SIUC President "Dr." Glenn Poshard's alleged plagiarism case process


***Won THIRD PLACE in Illinois College Press Association 2007 contest


11/16/07

A Blagojevich Thanksgiving








9/15/08
Gas prices and weather commentary

Monday, December 8, 2008

Swimming with Sharks

I would love to swim with sharks in the near future (preferably with Great Whites). I found The Sharkman's website a couple of years back and was grateful to see many people feel the same way. These gorgeous, misunderstood creatures are fascinating and I hope to learn more about them.
The Sharkman, also known as Alex Buttigieg, lives in Malta.
People tend to ask "Where in the world is Malta?" It is a tiny island in the Mediterranean Sea located just below Sicili. Apparently, it is very beautiful.

Wednesday, November 26, 2008

The Invasion of the Russian and Autumn olives

I am investigating the Russian and Autumn olives for a journalism course. They are invasive species of plants that have an advantage compared to native U.S. plants.
Their roots are home to a bacteria-like organism that provides nitrogen. This helpful organism, actinomycete, thrives on carbon that is given off by these bushy trees. Since plants need nitrogen to grow, this relationship benefits both parties.
The Autumn olive is native to China and Japan. Its leaves are long blades that share branches with clusters of red berries. The plant was introduced to North America in 1830 where it has primarily spread throughout the east of the U.S.

The Russian olive comes from Europe and western Asia. The leaves have a more silver ash color and the plant produces fragrant yellow flowers before the olives appear. This species was introduced to North America in the late 1800's and has invaded mainly the west of the U.S.

SIUC's Saluki Times covered
a story about Andrew Somor,
an alum from Palatine, who won an undergraduate research award for an experiment he continued by studying the Autumn Olive and its nitrogen levels in soil water.
The Nature Conservancy provides some more information about both species and leads you to Autumn Olive jam, fruit leather and wine recipes.

Monday, October 6, 2008

For Fun

Useful Search Engines

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Some Favorite News Sources

Chicago Tribune
New York Times
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Digg.com
The Daily Egyptian

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