Lights! Cameras! Action!

Big news! Me and my co-producer, Jacob Templin, are screening our documentary @Maysles Cinema in Harlem! It will be our first screening, the New York Premiere of 125 Franco's Blvd. More details later but spread the word and hope to see you there!

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I'm Baaaaccckkk!!! Well, Kind Of...

I know, I know, I KNOW! Who does that? Starts a blog that's supposed to detail her journey back to grad school and then can't even post for months? I apologize and I'm sorry. My semester was tough...19 credit hours that included a Documentary seminar, a Digital Newsroom management course, a Feature Writing elective and of course, Columbia News Tonight, the workshop that kept me trekking all over NYC on the hunt for the next scoop.

Anyhow, I graduated last month(hurrah!)but have since been researching my Master's Thesis, a 1/2 hour documentary about Harlem, Arts and Culture. I know it's vague but I can't speak as freely as I'd like to about it. So I'm shooting, reporting, writing and editing in order to get this done by September. Once I get all my interviews in the can, I'll post sneak peeks!

After my film is wrapped, who knows?

Sky's the limit!

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Waitlist Woes

Parents in Morningside Heights say daycare in the neighborhood is limited and expensive. Sia Nyorkor reports on the struggle to find a spot for their kids.

New Yorkers Flock To Public Libaray

The Association of American Publishers says 2008 domestic book sales were down by nearly 2 and a half percent, not surprising in the state of our economy. Although Mayor Bloomberg is expected to make cuts to the city library’s budget, New Yorkers are flocking to their neighborhood branch for free movies and books. Sia Nyorkor reports from Manhattan.

We've Got The Jazz...Right Here In Harlem

A group of chums from Columbia's Graduate School of Journalism headed uptown to 149th and St. Nicholas Avenue to celebrate our end of the semester @ St. Nick's Pub in Harlem's Sugar Hill neighborhood.

The historic Pub is a local watering hole for musicians and they come from near and far, whether it's to tap-tap-tap on the keys, strum tunes on the guitar, toot on the horns or croon into the mic.

Back in the day, greats such as Duke Ellington's piano player, Lucky Roberts, Art Tatum and Joe Jordan had jam sessions in this very place, where they brought down the house.

Some would say that the ghosts of yesterday's jazz were in the house last night as the Donald Smith Sextet set the mood for an evening of smooth grooves.

Obama's 1st 100 Days

HE’S CROSSED THE FINISH LINE AND WON THE RACE TO THE WHITE HOUSE. AND AFTER A GRUELING 20 MONTHS ON THE ROAD, INCOMING PRESIDENT-ELECT OBAMA HAS EVEN MORE WORK TO DO NOW THAT HE’S BEEN ELECTED. SIA NYORKOR REPORTS FROM MANHATTAN.

Courtside with NBA Champion, Alonzo Mourning

Resilience, Faith, Focus and Triumph---that's the stuff NBA Champion Alonzo Mourning is made of and he writes about them in his new book, under that very title. Sia Nyorkor reports from Manhattan.

Soulful Saturday at Lola in SoHo

On a drizzly, Saturday night, me and fellow classmates, Jessica Hopper and Agnes M.F. Kamara-Umanna trekked over to SoHo for some good, nouveau soul-food and live jazz at Lola. I'd read about the place in The Village Voice a few months ago and how they were having trouble with their neighbors and the SoHo alliance, who weren't too happy about more loud music in their already crowded neighborhood. The article reeked of racist tones through the people that were interviewed but the reporter, Chloe A. Hilliard (a fellow NABJ member), followed through and made sure to get both sides of the story.
I'm not sure if all the complainers have been by yet but all that I can say is that we had a lovely time! The music was soothing and the ambiance was just right. I adore hob-knobbing with New York's finest and that's exactly who was at Lola's that night. From a New Orleans inspired menu, I had the Shrimp & Grits (scrumptious!), Agnes had the Pecan Crusted Rack of Lamb (tender!) and Jessica had Lola's Famous Spiced Fried Chicken (delish!). The staff was gracious and we even ran into husband and wife owners, Tom & Gayle Patrick-Odeen, as we were leaving and expressed to them what a fine place they had. If you get a chance, don't miss out on this jewel, sparkling amongst SoHo's ordinary...you won't be disappointed. We certainly weren't and have already been back for seconds! Cheers...see you at Lola!

My 1st NYC Press Conference!

Today my professors assigned us a Daybook story. Daybook is a schedule of events listed on the AP in your respective city. My classmates and I were worried all week about this assignment because we had no idea where our professors were going to send us...for all we knew, it could've been a murder scene or some really droll initiative that we'd have to make "colorful". Well, it wasn't that bad. The New York Civil Liberities Union launched a campaign to educate people on voter rights, specifically the rights of ex-felons, who often times are discouraged from voting, even after they've served their time. We split into teams of 4 and hopped on a 1 train downtown to cover our first NYC press conference! Although we were to work as a team, each person had to report, write, produce and edit their own radio piece, just in time for DEADLINE.

Right away, I knew I wanted to focus on a person of color. A disproportionate amount of New York's disenfranchised voters are African-American and Latino. If I could just find someone to talk to, I'd be home free. Bam! I found my subject, got the story, made my DEADLINE and got some constructive feedback. I don't want to tell you too much else because you can listen to my first effort, right above. Keep in mind that this is a first cut and my editing skills on Pro Tools are not so great yet. Anyhow, let me know what you think!

P.S. The best part of the day was watching my classmate, Agnes M.F. Kamara-Umunna, (what a name!) scarf down her spaghetti and meatballs on the subway because we didn't have time to eat. She didn't miss a beat...or her DEADLINE. Ah, the life of a Journalist...welcome to the club!

Doing What I Can

Like I need something else to do right? Between working with MTV, going to grad school at Columbia, family, friends, new friends, love, volunteering, shopping, relaxing, hustlin' and oh yeah, sleeping, who has the time?

Well, apparently I do. And even when I don't, I'll make the time.

Going back to school at 30 years old is not an easy feat...especially when you've been out of school and working for the last 8 years. For as long as I can remember, I've been holding it down with one full-time job and at least 2 other part-time jobs. My life is hectic but I thrive on it and in the process I talk about it, whine about it, laugh about it, rejoice about it, hell, sometimes even cry about it.

Thing about it is, I am a communicator. Always have been, always will be. And I need to be able to document my experiences and tell you about them. And since I'll be running around NYC covering beats for class and chasing students down for my MTV gig, and working on my Master's Thesis, I won't be as accessible to talk on the phone. So you can read about my trials and tribulations right here...

At times, I may go unpublished for a few days due to assignments and deadlines and plain old exhaustion. But if that's the case, I'll log on and blog about that instead.

Say some prayers for a sista...I appreciate it.