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).

Great Moments in Ithacan History #1

The Ithacan went online in April 1996, when it hired its first online editor, Tim Lynch.

Yes, There Are Jobs Out There

Margaret Moran ’10 has accepted a position as a staff reporter at the Lake Placid (N.Y.) News. Her new job begins June 13. A job as a journalist in a beautiful environment — what more could you ask for?

Connecting Across a Decade

Last night Stephanie and I spent a pleasant evening at Madeline’s with former Ithacan editor in chief Rob Bluey ’01, who was in town for an Alumni Board of Directors meeting. We were later joined by our current editor in chief, senior Libby Sile. It was fun getting these two together — both strong editors, and exactly a decade apart. Rob is still with The Heritage Foundation, the D.C.-based conservative think tank.

Sorry, We Can't Talk About It

A partial reunion of the legendary 2008–09 Ithacan Fight Club took place Saturday night at Cafe Mogador on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village. Stephanie and I met up with Edon Ophir (in for a two-week visit from Israel), Erin Geismar and Andy Swift for an evening of great food and conversation. Byard Duncan, Erica Hendry and Jen Nevins were absent, and very much missed.

More Awards for The Ithacan

The Ithacan was awarded the Second Place Mark of Excellence Award for Best All-Around Non-Daily Newspaper by the Society of Professional Journalists, Northeast Region, at the SPJ Region 1 Convention on April 9 in Providence, R.I.

In addition, junior Whitney Faber received a Second Place Mark of Excellence Award for feature writing at the convention for her story “Behind the Lens,” which appeared in the Sept. 2, 2010, issue of The Ithacan.

On the same day, in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., The Ithacan staff was honored with half a dozen awards in the New York Press Association’s annual Better College Newspaper Competition.
Senior Allison Usavage (shown above) won first place for photography for her photograph “Standing Strong,” which appeared in the March 4, 2010, Ithacan.
Senior Michelle Skowronek won third place for feature writing for “Gay Enough?” which appeared in the paper’s April 15, 2010, issue.
In addition, the paper won second place for design, second place for sports coverage, third place for editorial and third place for general excellence.

Vadim!

Our good friend Vadim Isakov, late of the Ithaca College journalism department and now working for the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland (not Geneva, N.Y., as you might expect), was recently quoted in a piece on “Attacks on the Press” on the Committee to Protect Journalists website.

Edwards Named 2011-12 Ithacan Editor in Chief

The Ithacan has a new editor in chief! Tonight the Board of Student Publications selected junior Aaron Edwards to serve as the paper's top editor for the 2011–12 academic year. For those of you who don't know him, Aaron is a journalism major/theater minor with three semesters experience on the editorial board as assistant Accent editor, assistant news editor and news editor. In addition, his internships include some of the most prestigious news organizations in the business: CBS News in New York, the Associated Press in London, and — this coming summer — the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Last summer he attended the New York Times Student Journalism Institute as well. This semester he is studying in London.

Margaret Moran Now at Twist Magazine

From the class of 2010: Former Chief Copy Editor Margaret Moran writes “I recently started interning for Twist Magazine, a teen publication, and it has given me the chance to write some blog posts and do some research. I've also been freelance reporting for the past nine months for a paper in my area called The Advertiser-News. Until recently, I was covering town meetings for the paper, which gave me the chance to cover a variety of topics."

De los Rios Launches New Orleans Film Project

Alex de los Rios ’07, our former sports editor and columnist, is part of an ambitious project in New Orleans: “to chronicle the history, people and culture surrounding contemporary New Orleans brass band music.” The documentary, to be called “Brass Roots, ” is an outgrowth of a series of interviews of local brass bands. You can find out more at the Brass Roots blog.
Alex writes:
“I moved to New Orleans in 2007 the fall after graduation. It was a complete shot in the dark — I had no job, no money and knew just three people in the city — but thankfully it worked out. Really, I have The Ithacan to thank for it. It was through my work at IC that I got an internship at ESPN the Magazine, when I moved to New Orleans I used that as an in to work for the local alt-weekly Gambit (www.bestofneworleans.com) covering the Hornets and Saints. That wasn't enough to be fully employed, though. We started the brass band documentary because a friend — who photographs sports — and I decided we were sick of not having anything to do in the summer. The rest was just putting in work getting to know the bands and honing the techniques we learned doing short videos for Gambit and adapting them to a documentary format. More than two years later and we're raising money to finish the film and have real dreams to premiere at film festivals. Not bad for a guy who once counted this as his greatest journalistic achievement: Bombs Away.”
The project is now in the kickoff stage, and it needs your support. Go to the Brass Roots Kickstarter Page and pledge your support.