November 2011
1 post
Grateful (Thanksgiving stream of consciousness)
Dancing grandparents. Robots. Mizzou watch parties. Book club Sundays. Impromptu happy hour. The sculpture garden. Tammy Baldwin. Tom Brokaw. Books that don’t fit on my shelf. Stoop parties. Mentors. New albums from Feist and Florence + the Machine. Keurig cups. Honesty. Solid family. Amazing friends.
October 2011
1 post
September 2011
1 post
2 tags
August 2011
2 posts
Why I'm Unfriending Jane Cunningham
Jane Cunningham is the worst thing to happen to Missouri schools since KU pulled ahead in the Border Showdown.
The Republican State Senator made national news Monday when Senate Bill 54, which she sponsored, became law. The new law, popularly called “the Facebook law,” would bar many interactions between teachers and students on social networking sites. Specifically, teachers would...
July 2011
1 post
June 2011
1 post
May 2011
4 posts
Osama bin Laden Killed: The View From Patch (via... →
Looks like TBD, a local Washington news site (that underwent an extreme hemorrhaging of personnel a few months ago, but that’s another story) has the same idea I do about looking at the Patch experience of covering a national news event like Osama bin Laden’s death. It’s a great article, and definitely something to keep in mind when doing news analysis of this new hyper-local...
My Opinion Gets Patched →
An edited version of yesterday’s post about the Washington reaction to Osama bin Laden’s death has made its way to my hometown Patch site. What a blast from the past! There a few, admittedly obvious, localized tweaks, but the overall story and message stays the same. Expect a post in the coming days about my experiences working with a new editor, especially because I’ve had...
Reaction to bin Laden Death Celebrations in...
WASHINGTON – By now the nation has begun to amass and process the details of Sunday night’s military attack that killed Osama bin Laden. Feelings of joy and catharsis led thousands in Washington, New York and other cities to take to the streets and express their excitement. In the nation’s capital, a crowd of mostly college students cheered “U-S-A!” “Thank you troops!” and “Obama!” while waving...
April 2011
1 post
February 2011
1 post
I Work for Our Robot Overlords
This week, I started a new job as Associate Editor at the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International (AUVSI). At the end of the interview process, another editor joked “Remember SkyNet from the Terminator movies? (Editor’s Note: Of course!) We’re basically like them.” Well, three days in I’m happy to say that real-life SkyNet is fantastic. I’m...
January 2011
2 posts
Snap Judgments: State of the Union
We are a generation that will simultaneously revive and reinvent competition. I think it’s safe to say that tonight’s speech was the death knell for any manufacturing economy people thought we once had. Ideas are our newest and greatest export, and hopefully with positive cultivation-through better schools, communities and economic policies-those ideas translate into the services and...
Why I Don't Care About Tonight's BCS Game
Tonight’s showdown between Oregon and Auburn (currently underway) isn’t just an eerie foreshadowing of what sports manufacturer’s design team will reign supreme in the new year (Nike wins that one by a mile, but I digress). It’s an eerie foreshadowing of tomorrow’s news cycle. And I for one am not comfortable with the inevitable media swarm that will surround...
November 2010
4 posts
Book Sale Breaks Records, Conventions -... →
Post-Election Musings
The narrative of last night’s mid-term election is pretty resounding: Republicans Take Control. Republicans officially have a majority in the House of Representatives, which means the end of the first ever female House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (say what you want about her politics, but her rise was still historic); John Boehner is expected to fill the position. Democrats maintained a narrow...
My (Belated,Off-Topic) September Issue
**I AM WORKING ON A POST-ELECTION BLOG NOW, SO STANDBY! SOMETHING WHIMSICAL FIRST!**
It never fails to hit me: fall rolls around and I get swept of in the same fashion rebirth every woman carrying a September issue feels. Some may call it superficial, I call it engrained in me since I was eleven:
On my first day of middle school, my father dropped me off in his white Chevy Suburban in front of...
October 2010
1 post
Inglorious Crafters
Eve Vandalsen jumps from display to display at her tent for the annual Crafty Bastards fair in bustling Adam’s Morgan. Dressed in a light white t-shirt for the unusually warm and sunny October afternoon, she hawks her own handmade leather goods. One particular clutch in shades of rust and marigold catches a customer’s eye.
“That bag is so you!” Vandalsen, 35, squeals to a young, curly-haired...
September 2010
2 posts
Lost JUP-pie in the City
I moved to Washington D.C. from a small Midwestern college town where I was the “first Jew” for many a rural student and comments and questions about horns weren’t entirely abnormal. As a result, I quickly and closely bonded with the few fellow Jews on campus; we were our own community where everybody knew everybody and facetime at bars felt more like schmoozing at Kiddush. Secretly, I yearned for...
August 2010
3 posts
Ms. Levy Goes to Washington
It’s been a week since I moved to Washington, so it’s high time for some snap judgments. I’ve done a bit of the tourist thing since getting here, and unlike most cities where that can become boring, I still want to explore! Successful explorations thus far include:
Chili cheese fries at ben’s chili bowl
Cheap good eats at Amsterdam falafel shop
The Newseum!!! I normally...
Things I'll Miss About St. Louis
1. Everything about the St. Louis Cardinals. The team, the players, the stadium, the fans, my seats at the games, the beer man who starts at my seats (“Ain’t no time to think; it’s time to drink!”) the history…everything.
2. The Delmar Loop. It’s the one neighborhood that has evolved with me as I’ve grown up and I’m always finding new and fun...
“Moral disapproval alone is an improper basis on which to deny rights to gay men...”
– Judge Vaughn Walker, California
:-D
July 2010
2 posts
So what if there IS a mosque blocks from Ground...
This is a perfect example of news that annoys me for being news in the first place. A moderate Muslim group in New York City is planning to build a mosque and Muslim community center downtown, not too far from Ground Zero.
http://www.newsweek.com/spectrum/2010/07/19/palin-criticizes-ground-zero-mosque-coins-new-word.html
Now, I understand that 9/11 is a sensitive subject and years of care and...
May 2010
4 posts
Things I'm Looking Forward To This Week
Last Summer Break Edition:
1. Road trip to Chicago with the bestie!
2. Possibly getting to see the fam.
3. Getting back to reporting, even if it is at 4 in the morning!
4. Of Montreal’s free downtown concert.
Maybe he should avoid putting "Graduation Speaker"...
Well, I’m officially a Mizzou alum! Last night’s ceremony was filled with a series of mini emotional roller coasters and time with friends and colleagues I’ll never forget. Unfortunately, there was an incident during commencement that I’m sure few people will forget either, and all for the wrong reasons.
I was psyched when I heard CBS’s own Bill Geist would be our...
Worst-Paying College Degrees- Yahoo! HotJobs →
I have to admit I was a little relieved when I didn’t see journalists on here. But this article really sheds a light on how awful the pay divide is in some professions. How is it that the people who will be responsible for educating our youth, keeping families together and working on one of the biggest cultural shifts in our nation’s history won’t see the money they deserve for...
April 2010
2 posts
Yes We Can
I’m headed to Macon, MO in just a few minutes to cover President Barack Obama’s visit to a local power plant. And I couldn’t be more excited. I feel like in the past week, I’ve (traded sleep and) accomplished so much. And now I’m getting to do something that as a journalist, as a political nerd and as a citizen is so up my alley.
Besides having to write a paper last...
March 2010
4 posts
Post-Health Care Hooplah
The last hour and change feels like a blur from the nonstop coverage of health care reform legislation passing the House of Representatives. I’ve switched between three news stations, tweeted furiously, and timed my Diet Coke breaks between votes. This is the kind of adrenaline rush that made me so passionate about the news industry in the first place. But at what point does that adrenaline...
And So It Begins....
www.stephanielevyonline.com
If you go to that site now, you’ll see it as simply a name registered on GoDaddy.com. But this is where I’ll be setting up my professional website to link to this blog.
(On that note, anyone who knows how to set up a website, please get in touch with me! I hate feeling this technologically illiterate!)
I’m starting the job search this weekend, and...
I Can't Have a Serious Chat with my Cousin without...
How did you get started at CBS on the network level?
I had been working in a smaller market in Canada, and I was laid off three times. And I decided, that’s it, I’m just going to go for it with the US networks. My first job with CBS was logging and editing the video that was then put up on our network’s website for the rest of the stations and affiliates to use for their shows. One of the good...
My Two Cents on the "Cotton Ball...
What started for me as an alarming Facebook status update from a J-school alum has, no pun intended, woven itself into a complex story of race, journalism, and identity. I’m talking, of course, about what’s now called the “cotton ball incident” at MU. Let’s recap what we now today: At around 1 or 2 in the morning on Friday, February 28, someone threw cotton balls in front of the Gaines Oldham...
January 2010
10 posts
KOMU.com - Ways to Help in Haiti - Coverage You... →
The Business of Giving | Haiti humanitarian... →
PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE GIVE TO THE VICTIMS OF THE HAITI QUAKE! I’LL POST MORE LINKS LATER.
Link Spill!
I’ve been having a hard time keeping up with uploading my videos from the week of Christmas to my computer (vacation in Florida with KEVIN NEALON will do that to you!) but check out the links below to the stories (with on-demand video download for PC and MAC) to get a taste of what I worked on over the holidays!
KOMU.com - Santa Claus Comes to Town via Bus -... →
KOMU.com - More Warm Bodies in Cold Cots -... →
KOMU.com - A Christmas Present for the Salvation... →
Osage Man Tasered, Caught on Tape →
(Belated) Best of 09 List and New Year's...
My Top 10 Best Moments of 2009:
10. Anchoring my first full newscast. 9. Producing my first full newscast. 8. Wild nights with the Jewgars. 7. Road-trip to Chicago with Team Paris. 6. Moshing at Gogol Bordello. Even with the bruises the next morning, it felt awesome. 5. Going back to NJ for a fantastic internship, half of which was seaside! 4. Singing into the mic with Q-Tip at his concert at...
Shocking Findings on the Nightside Shift
Forgive the esoteric and immature references (in that order), but the story I covered today, about a man in Osage County who received the video footage of his son getting tasered by law enforcement officials at the county jail, reminded me a lot of the Family Guy episode in which James Woods steals Peter Griffin’s identity. See? Told you I wouldn’t disappoint.
Anyway, this subpoenaed...
December 2009
9 posts
WatchCOLUMBIA - Dr. James Cook will use the $120,000 to research ways to diagnose knee problems faster.
The money came from the NFL’s charity fund, which gives about 9 million dollars per year to medical research.
“I’m really excited,” Cook said. “It’s a wonderful opportunity.”
The goal of the research is to diagnose injuries to the meniscus, which is the...
WatchAired 11/25/2009
COLUMBIA - Columbia Police had three extra units patrolling Interstate 70 for unsafe drivers.
Officer Brian Tate said that officers will be watching for traffic offenses.
“We usually typically get, between us and Boone County, about 200 cars,” Tate said. “The goal of course is zero.”
Police are looking for drivers who are speeding, driving aggressively,...
WatchAired 11/24/2009
COLUMBIA - Dr. Alan Allert finished his first day on the job as the interim Executive Director of the Central Missouri Humane Society.
Allert spent the day conducting interviews and introducing himself to the staff.
“So far, so good,” Allert said. “I didn’t know any of the staff before today.”
Allert had no prior experience working for a humane...