Kate Sheppard '06 covering BP crisis

Former Park scholar Kate Sheppard '06, journalism/politics, has been producing an incredible number of articles on the Gulf of Mexico oil catastrophe as a Washington, DC-based environmental reporter-writer for Mother Jones magazine.

“We had a human rights reporter in Louisiana already, working on post-Katrina issues,” Kate explains. “And we had another environmental reporter working on the future of oceans. So they’ve switched to be concentrating on those issues from the field, and I’m working on the legislative and regulatory aspects.”


Many of her articles have been featured in the Washington Post, In These Times, the Center for Public Integrity’s website, the Washington Independent, ForeignPolicy.com, Who Runs Gov, Bitch, and other publications. Fortunately, says Kate, “I’ve never needed to sleep much.”

At Mother Jones since last September, Kate has churned out an extraordinary body of work, sometimes filing three or four pieces a day. She has been especially busy since the BP oil disaster began unfolding. “I’m covering an unfolding worldwide serious environmental disaster, the consequences of which we won’t know for a very long time. It’s very hard, very sad. The only good thing I can say about it is that now people are paying more attention to energy and environmental issues, the things I write about.”

What worries Kate about the BP tragedy is that the right people may not be paying enough attention. “I’m afraid the next big disaster,” she says, “will be Marcellus Shale.” She’s talking about the shale formation under Ithaca and huge swaths of New York, almost all of Pennsylvania, and parts of Ohio, Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia, where methane gas is being drilled using a dangerous practice known as slickwater horizontal hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking.” “Everyone thinks ‘natural gas’ is a clean, safe energy source,” she says. “But it’s not.”

Read Kate's recent work at
http://motherjones.com/authors/kate-sheppard

Student film wins Audience Choice Award

Once again, Park School students show they know how to make a good film. And do it quickly. Invited for the third consecutive year to participate in student filmmaking competition at the Lake Placid Film Forum (listed one of the top 25 coolest film festivals in the country by MovieMaker Magazine), Dave Reynolds, Jeff Picarello, David Gelb and Michael Sutter won the Audience Choice Award for the film "Escape." With a 24 hour window, the team scripted, shot and edited an eight minute original film that included required elements such as a renowned downtown Lake Placid storefront and two Mark Twain quotes. Competing against four other invited schools - Syracuse, SUNY Purchase, RIT and Burlington College - the entries were screened in front of a live audience and before a panel of judges. The audience cast their votes choosing Team Ithaca for the Audience Choice Award for the second time in three years.

Watch it here:
http://lakeplacidfilmforum.wordpress.com/2010/07/19/188/

Our faculty are busy this summer!

A lot of people say that it must be nice for faculty to have all summer for vacation.... hmm....

Well -- actually most faculty are not under contract over the summer (if we were in another industry, we'd call it "laid off"!) AND for most faculty, at least in the Park School, they're busier than ever. A couple of highlights:

Steve Tropiano, Associate Professor of TV-Radio and Director of our Los Angeles program, just heard that his book, Obscene, Indecent, Immoral, and Offensive: 100+ Years of Censored, Banned and Controversial Films, was named a finalist in the 2010 Theatre Library Assocaition Book awards. He's busy working on his NEXT book on the film CABARET.

Changhee Chun, Associate Professor of Cinema, Photography, and Media Arts, is off to Korea with some IC students to teach a course on Korean media and to continue his own media production work.

Assistant Professor of Strategic Communication Cory Young is in Japan presenting a paper at a presigious international communiactions conference.

Professor Patty Zimmermann of Cinema, Photography, and Media Arts has been on sabbatical this year as Shaw Foundation Professor at Nanyang Technical Univeristy in Singapore. She's also the co-director of the Finger Lakes Environmental Film Festival (FLEFF) and this year took it "virtual". Check out her blogs and the very creative FLEFF Open Space Project.

We look forward to our welcome back retreat in August when the faculty and staff share what they did on their "summer vacation".

ICTV wins big again

ICTV won BOTH of the College Television Awards at the
New York State Associated Press Broadcasters Association
annual awards banquet held on Saturday, June, 5 in
Saratoga Springs.

NewsWatch 16 was awarded First Place for
Best Regularly Scheduled Local News program.

NewsWatch 16 also won First Place for Best News Story for
"Shooting in Ithaca".  
Bryan Mercer, '10, was the News Director and
Matt Wright, '10, was the reporter for the "Shooting in Ithaca" story.

Writing intern needed - Montvale, NJ

This just in from Marc Phillips, a Park School student interning at Wainscot Media:

Wainscot Media is looking for PT/FT summer writing/marketing interns at
their Montvale, NJ office.

We produce Bergen Health & Life, New York Spaces, and other specialized
magazines for surrounding counties and high-end retailers.

This summer, our goal is to update and re-launch five Health & Life websites by June
30, 2010. We are specifically looking to generate content--such as
photos and blog posts--and organize our customer database for a brand
new geo-mapping feature. Do you consider yourself a pro at Facebook
and/or Twitter? We need you!

This is a great opportunity for interns to learn about print/online
publications and how to attract consumers.

We are looking for a college student who has a strong writing ability,
is highly organized, and very detail oriented.

To apply for this internship, send your cover letter and resume to nigel.edelshain@wainscotmedia.com