Reporting & Radio Documentary

On Chicago’s West Side, school teaches character. Math, too. – produced for WBEZ 91.5 FM

When it comes to education, how do you teach all the things tests can’t measure? One Chicago middle school thinks it has the answer. There, life skills and character matter as much as geometry and algebra.

Dear Chicago: Don’t forget the mentally ill - produced for WBEZ 91.5 FM

The tight economy has governments cutting back where they can, and that has many Chicago residents worried the social safety net is getting frayed. One of the clients affected by these cuts was Helena Carnes-Jeffries, 35. She experienced childhood sexual abuse and was later diagnosed with bipolar disorder. In this commentary Carnes-Jeffries asks that Chicago’s new mayor and aldermen address gaps in mental health-care funding and pick up where the state left off.

Ghosts of Gary - produced for Vocalo 89.5 FM

Dorothy, a non-Indiana native, stumbles into Gary on a road trip and sees the remnants of its once vibrant downtown. Among the shuttered buildings is the stately Palace movie theater, long-closed. But how long closed? Has it been closed since the Jackson Five, still advertised on the theater’s marquee, were last together? Has Gary’s downtown been a ghost town that long?

Ghosts of Gary won Best Radio Documentary 2007 from the Indiana chapter of the Society for Professional Journalists. It was also a finalist for a Peter Lisagor Award from the Chicago Headline Club in the Radio Documentary category.

Multimedia & Video

At the Plant, entrepreneurs turn waste into jobs - produced for Front & Center and WBEZ.org

Art/Work – produced for WBEZ.org

Art/Work is a monthly profile series that features contemporary visual artists exhibiting in Chicago talking about the inspiration and perspiration behind their creative endeavors.

Photo Essays

With grocery bus, West Siders jump on health bandwagon – produced for WBEZ.org

There’s a novel solution bringing relief to food deserts on Chicago’s West Side. Sparing the expense of building a bricks and mortar grocery, a group has transformed a decommissioned CTA bus into a mobile, one-aisle produce mart.

A steel mill site’s second act – produced for WBEZ.org

When Dave Matthews Band Caravan comes through Chicago Friday, the concert’s musicians will be playing at a site with a lot of history. This site was once home to a giant steel mill — U.S. Steel’s South Works facility. Built in 1880 and strategically located at the mouth of the Calumet River, South Works would become the third biggest steel mill in the world by the time it turned 75.