Over the weekend, Rosie and I went to Cranberry Pond in Sunderland at sundown to photograph the stars. That didn’t go so well, but we had a good time using a flashlight and a long exposure setting to make light art (she’s better at it than me).

The chorus of peep [...]]]>

Over the weekend, Rosie and I went to Cranberry Pond in Sunderland at sundown to photograph the stars. That didn’t go so well, but we had a good time using a flashlight and a long exposure setting to make light art (she’s better at it than me).

The chorus of peep frogs was something else, too.

Now check this out: I was old enough to know that I couldn’t eat the mud pies, and I knew I couldn’t turn the stove on, but I distinctly remember thinking, “Oh, I’ll solve those problems later.”

— Afi from Ohio, answering my question about a making a mess for [...]]]>

Now check this out: I was old enough to know that I couldn’t eat the mud pies, and I knew I couldn’t turn the stove on, but I distinctly remember thinking, “Oh, I’ll solve those problems later.”

— Afi from Ohio,
answering my question about a making a mess
for Longshot Radio.

I hope I never cease being amazed by the innate human capacity for telling stories.

I started on Wednesday by adding a question to our [...]]]> Longshot Radio — the collaborative radio project that brings together ace producers with schmucks like me and contributors the world over — returned this week to make stories about creativity and failure in and around the 99 Percent conference in New York.

I started on Wednesday by adding a question to our playlist, for folks all over to answer. It went: Tell me about a time you created a mess so big that you couldn’t clean it up yourself.

Two people answered it, including a woman from Ohio:

And one of the founders of Reddit!

I asked the question, but a crack team of radio producers edited the final pieces, which sound really great.

On Thursday, I showed up at the Times Center and got to work editing, helping Longshot producer Alex Goldmark piece together the sound he collected for his patented word games:

Finally, in the home stretch, I produced a piece featuring these answers to one of our Story Booth Chain questions:

Find more fantastic ready-made radio on the Longshot Radio tumblr.

We’re here tonight to bring you the news with a beat, with a beat, with a beat! We’re here to send you home with your feet hurtin’ and your back hurtin’ and your sexual organs stimulated! It says that right on the ticket, right on the ticket it says those very words somewhere.

We’re here tonight to bring you the news with a beat, with a beat, with a beat! We’re here to send you home with your feet hurtin’ and your back hurtin’ and your sexual organs stimulated! It says that right on the ticket, right on the ticket it says those very words somewhere.

— Bruce Springsteen, American poet.

Thanks for the show, Bruce.

I continue to follow the story of the public outcry over a man shot in a confrontation with police. Here’s the latest, in words, pictures and sound.

I was in Manhattan today when I saw some Twitter posts from Josh Stearns, who has been doing some great work tracking the arrests of journalists covering the Occupy movement, mentioning a protest planned outside Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s house.

I was on the other side of Central Park, [...]]]>

I was in Manhattan today when I saw some Twitter posts from Josh Stearns, who has been doing some great work tracking the arrests of journalists covering the Occupy movement, mentioning a protest planned outside Mayor Michael Bloomberg’s house.

I was on the other side of Central Park, so I walked over there to see what was going on. Turns out demonstrators were protesting the arrests of journalists, and among the speakers was one of the proprietors of GlobalRevolution.TV, which has been broadcasting and compiling livestreams of Occupy demonstrations.

“Global Revolution brands itself as non-hierarchical,” reads a recent New Yorker profile, “but if anyone is in charge it is Vlad Teichberg, a thirty-nine-year-old former derivatives trader.”

GlobalRevolution.TV was evicted from its space in Bushwick this week and, according to The New York Times, Teichberg and five others were charged with trespassing and obstructing governmental administration.

Teichberg told the crowd assembled on the corner near Mayor Bloomberg’s house (police blocked protesters from actually demonstrating in front of his building) the story of their eviction and arrest. I’ve embedded it above. Forgive the wind noise — I wasn’t expecting to cover any protests today and didn’t have the windscreen handy.

I have been following the difficult story of a North Jersey teen who was wanted on domestic assault charges, turned himself in, later fled the police station and was shot dead in a confrontation with police. Details are complicated, so read my latest update for more.

Supporters of the teen’s family have [...]]]>

I have been following the difficult story of a North Jersey teen who was wanted on domestic assault charges, turned himself in, later fled the police station and was shot dead in a confrontation with police. Details are complicated, so read my latest update for more.

Supporters of the teen’s family have been calling for a grand jury investigation into the shooting, and a large protest is planned for this weekend. As part of a story package I have planned ahead of the demonstration, I’ve compiled some interviews and sound from the previous protest, held just before the holidays.

It’s important for journalists to crystallize moments into digestible bits for readers, but I’m a big believer in the power of sound, and I think allowing more access for those interested in hearing more directly from key players — the teen’s mother, a local preacher, the mayor — adds a lot of value.

It’s been about two weeks since I went down to Zuccotti Park to document the sights and sounds of Occupy Wall Street.

SoundCloud, the social audio-sharing website I use to store my sounds, featured my interviews on their weekly SoundCloud Voices feature. Meanwhile, I used some of the nat [...]]]>

It’s been about two weeks since I went down to Zuccotti Park to document the sights and sounds of Occupy Wall Street.

SoundCloud, the social audio-sharing website I use to store my sounds, featured my interviews on their weekly SoundCloud Voices feature. Meanwhile, I used some of the nat sound from the demonstrations as a soundbed for a piece on New England Public Radio’s “Morning Edition Extra,” where I’m an occasional contributor.

Spent the week buried in mayoral coverage and haven’t had time to post material from Occupy Wall Street. Above is a gallery of photos taken at Zuccotti Park, where the demonstrators have been camping out, and surrounding areas.

Here’s an audio playlist of my interviews:

A lot of people seem to be [...]]]>

Spent the week buried in mayoral coverage and haven’t had time to post material from Occupy Wall Street. Above is a gallery of photos taken at Zuccotti Park, where the demonstrators have been camping out, and surrounding areas.

Here’s an audio playlist of my interviews:

A lot of people seem to be interested in this growing occupation movement, so I posted the raw audio from my interviews as a sort of miniature oral history. The first draft, anyway.

I also put together a local story package for MassLive.com, focused on the demonstrators from Western Mass. that I met while I was documenting the scene. Check that out here »

I couldn’t really call myself a journalist if I was in New York this weekend and didn’t try to document what was going on over at Occupy Wall Street. As luck would have it, the first thing I’d see were some women from Holyoke, MA — right in [...]]]>

Marcella Jayne, center, demonstrates with her friends from Western Mass. at Occupy Wall Street. Jayne is a student at Mount Holyoke College and works for the tenant advocacy organization No One Leaves Springfield

I couldn’t really call myself a journalist if I was in New York this weekend and didn’t try to document what was going on over at Occupy Wall Street. As luck would have it, the first thing I’d see were some women from Holyoke, MA — right in the heart of MassLive.com’s coverage area.

That’s what we in the biz like to call a “local angle win.”

I’ve got audio and photos and video to sift through, so this is just a taste. I’m headed back over to Zuccotti Park tomorrow, so stay tuned.