Hi!
My name is Lisa. I created this site while I was in graduate school at USC.
This site contains a variety of my print, broadcast, and online work produced while I was working on my MA in Journalism at USC, including a film review section, as well as some other work I’ve done. There are a couple of posts below this one that were part of a class where I originally created this site. Check out the different sections & enjoy.
If you would like to know more about me, click here.
Hyperlocal news start-ups like EveryBlock provide an opportunity to new journalists who are open to the idea of new media outlets – even sometimes in place of traditional ones.
The main criticism of any independent online news sites at this point is whether or not a journalist will be able to make a living working for this type of an outlet in the same way he or she would at a newspaper.
However, with the rates at which smaller newspapers are folding and larger ones are laying off employees, the issue of making money is not one that only hyperlocal sites are facing. And with the ability to integrate video, audio, and slide shows along with interactive graphics, these Web sites are able to appeal to a younger crowd, as well as to investors because they’re doing something new.
While there is some amount of new technical skills to learn, a journalism student who is graduating at this time and is open to working with non-traditional media outlets will have great opportunity in the future.
The soundtrack for my life would start with two songs by Elvis Presley : “Kentucky Rain” and “Don’t Cry Daddy” because they are the first two songs by Elvis I remember, and that’s important because my mom is a huge Elvis fan, so that’s the first music I think of with regard to my childhood. I used to play a record that had those two songs back to back over, and over as a child and sing with them. They are both rather depressing songs and I think this worried my mom.
The next song would be “Material Girl” by Madonna because I’m an 80s baby and two of my older cousins, who I’m very close to, were teenagers in the 80s and I think partly because of their influence, it’s the first song I ever recognized on the radio.
Somewhat out of place, but chronologically correct, the next song would be “One Day More” from Les Miserables. I love theater, particularly musicals, and while it was not the first musical I fell in love with, it is the first one I saw performed live.
The next songs would be “For What It’s Worth” by Buffalo Springfield, “A Beautiful Story” by Sonny & Cher, “Gold Dust Woman” by Stevie Nicks, “Rainbow High” from Evita (preferably the film version because it’s the one that was out when I was in high school), and “The Phantom of the Opera” from the Original Broadway Cast Recording because in high school I basically thought I was a hippy (without the drugs) who wanted to do be an actress and do musical theater.
The next song would be “It’s A Beautiful Day” by U2, followed by “Vertigo” also by U2 because I was very into their music near the end of high school and through college…and now actually.
Finally the last song on my soundtrack would be “Storms” by Stevie Nicks simply for the reason that one part of it – the end of the song says “But never have I been a blue, calm sea. I have always been a storm,” – just fits my life.
**Update – both of the songs I attributed to Stevie Nicks were written by her, but actually appear on Fleetwood Mac albums.
picture from Rafa from Brazil on Flickr – through Creative Commons
In a perfect world, what would I write about every day?
Art. Performance Art. Theater. Film. Television. Music. Painting. Sculpture. Dance. All of it.
Truth be told, this is a large part of what made me want to study journalism in the first place. I was something of a news junkie as a kid – I was certainly the only person my age who I knew who watched 60 Minutes and 20/20 with any amount of regularity. However, the majority of the interviews I remember from that time were with artists of one form or another.
During the 5 years I was working after undergrad, poring over the New York Times’ web site, especially the theater and film sections, was what got me through the day. Mini-escapes into what I would prefer to be writing about instead of the oil-and-gas-related writing I was doing daily.
Film and theater are particular loves of mine, although there are not many artistic endeavors I don’t enjoy. I think what we create and consume (if you will) out of choice defines more about who we are than many of the things given such great weight by society.
In a perfect world, I would write for a film and / or a theatrical magazine.
picture from ladybeames on Flickr through Creative Commons
Lisa's Blog 