Casey Lands at philly.com

Casey Musarra writes:

“You can take the girl out of Jersey, but you can't take the Jersey out of the girl. I think this just about every day as I travel over the Benjamin Franklin Bridge into Philadelphia. I'm currently commuting about an hour and a half from North Jersey to the City of Brotherly Love where I'm working as a sports content producer for philly.com, an aggregate site of The Philadelphia Inquirer and the Philadelphia Daily News, which oddly enough are housed in the same building and owned by the same company. I work on the back end of the site posting stories, writing headlines and captions, cutting photos, etc. I've only been there for four days, but I'm loving the excitement of a fast-paced newsroom that for me is all sports all the time. It's a dream come true to be in a position where working on Sunday doesn't take away from watching football on Sunday.

“I'm hoping to move down to the Philadelphia area to nom on boatloads of Philly cheesesteaks in the next month or so, but for now I'm enjoying my long car rides to have solo karaoke sessions and get my fill of Mike and Mike in the Morning.”

A Record Day for the Ithacan Website

Last Thursday, The Ithacan’s website experienced 3,793 visits — a single-day record — as the result of The Huffington Post tweeting and linking on its Facebook page to Taylor Long’s story on the college’s Health Promotion Center program director’s email to faculty suggesting they assign additional work to students over Cortaca weekend in an attempt to curtail excessive drinking. A Chronicle of Higher of Education blog also picked up on the story, adding to our web traffic.

Aaron Edwards is Everywhere

Ithacan Editor in Chief Aaron Edwards has been popping up all over the place as a featured student in the college’s new “Ready” marketing campaign. Advertising featuring him has turned up in The New York Times, on Pandora and in a wide range of other media, including PIX’s website in New York. (Screenshot courtesy of Liz Crowley Pontillo ’04)

The Ithacan Wins Best of Show

From left: Assistant News Editor Erica Palumbo, Assistant
Photo Editor Rachel Orlow, Chief Copy Editor and Sales
Manager Marissa Smith and Managing Editor Whitney
Faber in Orlando

The Ithacan print edition was awarded first place, and the Ithacan website was awarded second place, in their categories in the Best of Show competition at the National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., October 27–30.
The paper was also presented with a Newspaper Pacemaker Finalist Award at the convention. The Pacemakers, presented each year by the Associated Collegiate Press, are widely regarded as “the Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” and are among the most prestigious student journalism awards in the country.
The paper has been a finalist eight times in the past 10 years, and won the award in 2005, 2006 and 2008. The website has won the Online Pacemaker Award four times in the past six years.

Ithacan Named CSPA Gold Medalist

The Ithacan has been named a Gold Medalist for both the Fall 2010 and Spring 2011 semesters in the Columbia Scholastic Press Association’s annual college newspaper critique.

Each year the CSPA evaluates member papers on overall content, news, depth reporting, features, opinion/editorial, sports, arts/entertainment, editing/headline writing and design/graphics based on more than 150 specific criteria. This year the paper’s scores on the critiques 1,000-point scale were 965 for each semester. The CSPA consistently ranks The Ithacan as a Gold Medalist, its highest category.

Among the judge’s comments, “You do an excellent job with this paper. Content is fresh, newsworthy, often unexpected. The look is also excellent: professional and interesting.”

Rob Bluey Swings by the Office

Rob Bluey ’01 and Ithacan photo
editor Michelle Boulé in the Ithacan
office.

Former Editor in Chief Rob Bluey ’01 came to Ithaca on Oct. 16 for the Alumni Association Board of Directors meeting and stopped in at The Ithacan office. He visited with some current staff members and then took me to lunch. (I know alumni are successful when they start taking me to lunch.) Rob is currently heading up The Heritage Foundation’s investigative reporting unit. You can follow his work at Scribe: Bluey Reports.

Lisa Boyars Launches New Project at Condé Nast

It’s always a pleasure to see Lisa Boyars ’01, so when she said she was coming to town for Fall Splash, I headed up to campus to visit with her and to meet her fiancé, Dave Gehrke. Lisa’s career at Conde Nast has been nothing short of stellar. Always eager to help our students, she agreed to come back the next day to meet with and advise our advertising staff. Here's what she has to say about her latest venture:

“In May 2011, I launched a new division of the organization: Conde Nast Ideactive.  We are a Brand Agency built on the Conde Nast DNA of igniting culture.
“Through a partnership with Conde Nast Ideactive, consumer brands are now able to leverage the same assets & resources used to build our editorial brands (like Vogue, Glamour, GQ, Vanity Fair, The New Yorker, Wired, Allure, Style.com, Epicurious, etc.) and apply them to tell their own powerful stories.  Current clients include Tourneau (custom online content), Cadillac (experience series with national chefs), GM (TV series with Conde Nast editors), and Swarovski (affluent database outreach). 
“I specifically am the Senior Director of Client Solutions – overseeing client engagements from strategy & concepting through execution.”

From left: Ithacan sales reps Taylor Palmer, Megan Harrison, sales manger Marissa Smith, Lisa Boyars ’01 and sales rep Patrick Duprey

Weiser Joins Tech Startup

Weiser back at his post.

Among the alumni who returned to campus for Fall Splash was former Sports Editor Andrew Weiser ’11, who has moved to New York and is already putting his many talents to use. He writes:

“In addition to deciphering the New York City subway system and dodging taxis, I’ve been spending my time interning for The Cools, a tech startup company, in Soho.

 “The Cools is a social online marketplace that is redefining the relationship between the buyer and seller, while tailoring every users’ experience to their different tastes.

 “At The Cools, I wear many hats, which is made harder by the fact that I sit on a fitness ball. I was hired as a Social Media Intern and began laying the ground work of our community outreach and user acquisition. Leveraging Twitter, Facebook and email, I helped spread the word about The Cools.

 “I’ve transitioned into a role where I work with our different environments, testing functionalities and making sure the user experience is the best it can be. With a background in Journalism, I also assist in the copy writing, which is different experience considering many of my coworkers are French.

“ It’s a combination of my passion for technology and writing, and I gladly shoulder the expenses to be able to say I get out of bed excited to go to work. C’est la vie.”

Fall Splash Brings Back Ithacan Alumni

From left: Rich Morris ’81, Jeff Selingo
 ’95, Mike Nagel ’04 and Alyssa Gardina ’08.

From left: Jill Kirtland Hughes ’03,
 Kelli Grant ’04 and Rob Engelsman ’10

Fall Splash brought quite a few Ithacan alumni back to campus to participate in activities and hang out with friends. Among the weekend’s events were two panel discussions sponsored by the Park School on Oct. 14. Former Ithacan Editor in Chief Jeff Selingo ’95, now vice president and editorial director of The Chronicle of Higher Education, and former News Editor Kelli Grant ’04, senior consumer reporter at SmartMoney.com, participated in “Using Social Media to Your Professional and Personal Advantage” at 2 p.m. Then former staff writer Cole Louison ’00, now at GQ magazine and the author of the recently published “The Impossible: Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and the Fantastic History of Skateboarding,” currently the #1-selling book on skateboarding at Amazon.com, participated in “The Future of Communications: How Do We Reinvent Our Media Industries and Audiences” at 4 p.m. (Photos by Jacob Lifschultz)

A Facelift for The Ithacan

The redesigned Ithacan website is now live. Check it out. And take a look at this video of the editors discussing the changes.

Makes You Want to Move to the Berkshires

The Berkshire (Mass.) Eagle is reaching out to potential readers through a promotional campaign that includes our own former editor in chief Lindsey Hollenbaugh ’10.

Redesigned Website On the Way

Get ready for this to change.

The Ithacan has a major website overhaul in the works! Our new webmaster, Honest Charley Bodkin, is hard at work revamping the site to make it better looking, more user-friendly and better able to showcase our multimedia. What we've seen so far looks great. And the good news is, Charley's only a freshman, so we'll have him around for a while.

The redesigned site will launch on Thursday, Sept. 29. Mark your calendars.

Ithacan Named 2011 Pacemaker Finalist

The Ithacan has been named a Newspaper Pacemaker finalist for 2011 by the Associated Collegiate Press. The winners of the award — widely regarded as the “Pulitzer Prize of collegiate journalism” — will be announced at the ACP/CMA National College Media Convention in Orlando, Fla., on October 29.
The Ithacan won the Newspaper Pacemaker in 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2008, and was a finalist in 2009 and 2010. The Ithacan Online won the Online Pacemaker in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2010, and was a finalist in 2009.
The Associated Collegiate Press is the oldest and largest national membership organization for college journalists in the country. This year's Newspaper Pacemaker competition was judged by professional journalists in the Washington, D.C., area.

Libby Sile at Esquire

Here’s the latest from last year’s editor in chief, Libby Sile ’11: “After moving down to New York in early June, I started working at a start-up politics website, but left to work for the summer at Inc. Magazine doing research for the print publication, and writing stories and slideshows for the web. I was applying for jobs in the meantime, but got offered an internship at Esquire that I couldn't refuse. I just started, but it looks like I’m going to be doing a lot of research, fact-checking and maybe even some writing.”

Another Brew Fest Reunion

From left, Rachel Heiss, Max
Steinmetz, Andrew Lovell,
Erica Hendry and Whitney
Faber in the Ithacan office.

In what has become an annual tradition, Ithacan alumni returned to town in force for Ithaca Brew Fest September 3.
Max Steinmetz ’08, Erica Hendry ’09 and Andrew Lovell ’08 came by campus the day before and stopped in at the office, where they had the chance to meet current Sales Manager Rachel Heiss and Managing Editor Whitney Faber. Later on I had the opportunity to introduce Lovell, who as sports editor created the first Ithacan Sports Preview section back in Fall 2007, to Harlan Green-Taub, our current assistant sports editor, who had just finished working on this fall's preview section.
Then on Sunday, a bunch of us got together for brunch at Mahogany Grill. Sadly, the photos didn't turn out very well, but we  had Steinmetz, Hendry and Lovell,  Sara Bempkins ’09,  Erin Geismar ’09, Casey Musarra ’11 and her brother Blair, Tahleen Ovian ’09, Colleen Shea ’09 and Andy Swift ’09 around the table.

The Ellsworth-Connelly Wedding

Charlie Ellsworth ’04 and Caitlin Connelly ’05 returned to Ithaca to be married August 27, with a ceremony and reception at the Ithaca Farmers' Market. It was a perfect summer evening for it. The ceremony was held down by the water, with the reception following in the market space itself.

Caitlin had been managing editor and Charlie sports editor in 2003–04. Joe Geraghty ’04, who had been their editor in chief that year, came up from Brazil for the wedding. He checked into Casa Serino for the weekend, so we had plenty of time to catch up.

Joe Geraghty covers the wedding.

Former editor in chief Anne Walters Custer ’05 and husband Roger Custer ’04, and former managing editor Natalie Lyons Silver ’04 and husband Steve Silver ’04, were also in town for the ceremony. Charlie's boss, Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), was also in attendance.

Of the many weddings of alumni my wife Stephanie and I have attended, this was the third in which both the bride and groom were former Ithacan editors (the two previous ones being Rob and Melissa Bloomrose Bluey in 2003, and Michael and Melissa Thornley Bloomrose in 2004). Relationships that can survive a year of Wednesday nights at The Ithacan can probably survive anything.

Despite worries about Hurricane Irene, which passed up the East Coast that weekend, the couple took off for their two-week honeymoon in Spain. Stephanie planned the trip for them, so I trust all went well. Charlie and Caitlin are very special people to us. It was a joy to be there with them.

From left, Roger Custer, Anne Walters Custer, Nora Silver, Natalie Silver and Steve Silver at Purity Ice Cream

In a final treat that weekend, the next day I met up with Steve and Natalie Silver, along with Anne and Roger Custer, at Purity so I could meet Steve and Nat's daughter Nora, who spent the wedding night in the care of her grandparents. A beautiful and sweet-natured child, as one would expect coming from solid Ithaca College stock.

Catching Up With Alex Leary

One of the good things to come out of this summer's D.C. trip was reconnecting with Alex Leary ’97. Alex was one of the best journalists from the first group of students I worked with at The Ithacan, but we lost touch after he graduated. From time to time I'd hear about the good work he was doing at the St. Petersburg Times, and would check his stuff out, but our paths never crossed. Then this summer I heard he was now in Washington covering politics for the paper. I dropped him an email, and he stopped by our dinner at the Old Ebbitt.
It was great seeing him again and catching up. He spent time talking to the others at the dinner, sharing what he'd learned through the years. We won't lose touch again.
How satisfying to see one of our best writers land one of the best beats at one of the best papers on the country. You can check out his work here.

This Summer's D.C. Trip

Time to catch up with some long-overdue blog posts.
At the end of July, Stephanie and I made our annual trip to Washington, D.C., to visit the alumni. As usual for that time of year, it was miserably hot (one day it was 104, without the heat index). Nevertheless, we managed to get together with a number of people while we were there and had a great time.

Henry and Melissa Bloomrose

On Thursday the 28th, we had dinner with Erica Hendry ’09 and Max Steinmetz ’08 at Das Ethiopian Cuisine (formerly Zed's — same restaurant, with a confusingly German-sounding new name), one of our favorite Ethiopian restaurants in the city.
The next day we drove down to Woodbridge, Va., to have lunch with Michael and Melissa Thornley Bloomrose (both ’02) — and their son, Henry, whom we were meeting for the first time. And what an adorable little guy he is.
Then that night we had dinner with the Ithaca D.C. alumni group at our regular venue, the Old Ebbitt Grille.

In attendance were Anne Walters Custer ’05, Charlie Ellsworth ’04, Erica Hendry ’09, Alex Leary ’97 (more on him later), Archana Menon ’10, Jackie Palochko ’11, Beth Quill ’06, Max Steinmetz ’08, and Nate Weixel ’08. Sophomore Megan Devlin (currently the Ithacan's opinion editor) who was in Washington this summer interning at the The American Prospect and the Institute for Policy Studies, was able to join us as well.
That day also happened to be my birthday. I can't imagine better people to spend it with

Buy This Book! Cole Louison Chronicles the History and Culture of Skateboarding

Cole Louison ’00 has just published a new book. The Impossible: Rodney Mullen, Ryan Sheckler, and the Fantastic History of Skateboarding, was released today by Lyons Press. You can read an excerpt from it in GQ.
Here’s what he had to say about the concept behind the book:
“The original idea was to write two long stories and put them together a la Franny and Zooey [by JD Salinger], where readers follow two people whose stories eventually overlap. Ryan Sheckler was the young wild prodigy, and Rodney was the older wise mentor. But Rodney Mullen is about Tony Hawk's age, and like Tony he's been around for so long, and his influence is so great, that his story really is the story of skateboarding. Rodney was born in 1966, the year skateboarding first officially "died" That's how the Fantastic History of Skateboarding came into play.”
Cole’s work has appeared in McSweeney’s, The New York Times, The New Yorker book blog and GQ, where he is on staff. He is also the author of the U.S. Army Zombie Combat Skills field manual.

Tabloid Time

Aaron Munzer ’08, who is, among other things, a correspondent for the Ithaca Jourrnal, picked up a byline in the New York Post today with his story on the Ithaca couple who jumped off the Tappan Zee Bridge yesterday. Check out “Naked Death Plunge” (ah, the Post, a classy headline as always).