Contributors

Issue: Fall 2007

• Kristen V. Brown
  The Message
  Class of 2008 | kvb208@nyu.edu
  Professor: Jill Hamburg-Coplan, Urban Religion
  

  Majors: Journalism & Middle Eastern Studies Hometown: Newport Beach, California Biggest challenge on this story: “Trying to boil down someone’s life into what the ‘important’ or ‘relevant’ information is. Isn’t everything important?”

• Antoinette Bueno
  Making it Home
  Class of 2007 | aeb287@nyu.edu
  Professor: Frank Flaherty, Neighborhood NYC
  

  Majors: Journalism & Cinema Studies Hometown: Carson, California Currently: Working as an editor in Los Angeles for Balita Media Inc., the largest Filipino newspaper in Southern California. Biggest challenge: “Actually getting a Filipino nurse to not only talk to me, but to really open up to me — in other words, gaining her trust. Christmas was very very shy at first, so it definitely took some effort to make her comfortable!”

• Carl Critz
  The New Wave
  Class of 2007 | carl.critz@gmail.com
  Professor: Frank Flaherty, Neighborhood NYC
  

  Major: Journalism (Anthropology minor) Hometown: Greenville, Rhode Island Currently: Moving to Hawaii “to work and surf” Biggest challenge: “Balancing my school and work obligations while commuting several times a week to Rockaway for often time-consuming interviews. In addition to my classes, I was working as a lifeguard at Palladium, interning at Blender magazine, and competing for NYU’s swim team.”

• Brian Dwyer
  Playing for Time
  Class of 2008 | btd220@nyu.edu
  Professor: Vivien Orbach-Smith, New York Characters
  

  Majors: Journalism and Music Hometown: Braintree, Massachusetts Biggest challenge: “Remaining unbiased, because this story was inspired by a sense of outrage and a desire to tell the side untold.”

• Stephanie Gordon
  Growing Up, With Help
  Class of 2008 | smg368@nyu.edu
  Professor: Joe Cutbirth, From City Hall to Capitol Hill
  

  Majors: Journalism and Politics Hometown: Denver, Colorado Biggest challenge: “Overcoming my own preconceived ideas of what people with developmental disabilities are capable of doing and overcoming in their lives. My idea of autism was isolated and disabled children who would grow to be socially non-functional and dependent adults.”

• Ben Jackson
  The Mark of TORGO
  Class of 2007 | bjj208@nyu.edu
  Professor: Joe Cutbirth, From City Hall to Capitol Hill
  

  Majors: Journalism and Theater Hometown: Rapid City, South Dakota Currently: Living in Spanish Harlem, working with Kenneth Cole Productions and going on auditions Biggest challenge: “I had no special knowledge of or insight into the world of graffiti; everything about it was foreign to me. Without any specific connections to the graffiti community, I had great difficulty in tracking down an artist that was willing to speak to me, let alone actually allow me to tag along (if you’ll pardon the pun).”

• Kira Peikoff
  A Cell's Journey
  Class of 2007 | writekiralily@gmail.com
  Professor: Craig Wolff, Advanced Reporting (Honors)
  

  Hometown: Irvine, California Currently: In New York City, writing a novel full time Biggest challenge: “Getting the women to open up about the emotional side of the egg donation procedure and the ways their decision affected them.”

• Beina Xu
  A Different Dialogue
  Class of 2007 | beina.xu@nyu.edu
  Professor: Vivien Orbach-Smith, New York Characters
  

  Majors: Journalism & Comparative Literature Hometown: Beijing, China Biggest challenge: “Being the only hearing individual amidst a deaf congregation. I was careful to ensure that my questions were understood (by everyone), and that their responses were accurately represented in my writing.”

• Photographer: Laura Sayer (except where otherwise noted)
  M.A. Journalism, 2007 | laura.sayer@gmail.com