Monthly Archives: October 2012

New series: Kitchen Close-ups

Barbara Davis: Hyde Park lunch line veteran from WBEZ on Vimeo.

Kitchen Close-ups is a new new multimedia series I’m editing for WBEZ.org. That’s right, editing! It’s one of my first times, professionally in the editor’s seat. In this context, editing means working with freelance producers Meaghan Glennan and Jason Rizzo, helping them shape the overall vision for the series as well as the narrative arc and execution of each individual story. I also helped them come up with the name.

The series provides intimate portraits of characters in Chicago’s restaurant scene. So far we’ve visited fancy places, like RL Cafe, and more accessible eateries, like Valois in Hyde Park. Today I have my second edit with the pair on a profile of a barrista at Wormhole Coffee in Wicker Park.

You can watch the whole series here.

Can you teach character? Live on WBEZ’s Afternoon Shift

Me and Paul Tough in WBEZ's Green Room before our appearance on the Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards. (Photo by Bill Healy)
Me and Paul Tough in WBEZ’s Green Room before our appearance on the Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards. (Photo by Bill Healy)

Reporter Paul Tough has a new book out about education. How Children Succeed builds on the work he’s done for the New York Times Magazine and an earlier book about Geoffrey Canada’s Harlem Children’s Zone. He was a guest on the Afternoon Shift with Steve Edwards in September, and I was invited on to discuss my reporting at Chicago Jesuit Academy. Take a listen to my conversation with Steve, and hear Paul’s portion of the conversation here.