Below is a selection of some of my work:
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Climate Change Could Affect the Already Vulnerable Lemur
April 15, 2013 / The Columbia Journalist
A team of scientists recently looked into global warming’s potential effects on Madagascar’s wide-eyed lemurs – the most threatened mammals in the world. To do so, they studied how climate change might affect six parasites that have the potential to sicken lemurs.
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A New Treatment Program for the Grief that Won’t End
Winter 2013 / Spectrum Magazine
It was over a year ago when Sarah first heard a one-minute radio advertisement in the car that caught her attention. “Have you lost someone you love?” the woman’s voice in the ad asked. “Does the pain feel almost as strong today as it did in the beginning?
Read the PDF copy of the article here >>
Read the online post here on the School of Social Work Homepage >>
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Black Cats and Pit Bulls Face Discrimination over Breed and Color
Dec 11, 2012 / The Midtown Gazette
Mackie is a two-and-a-half year old female black cat awaiting adoption at Anjellicle Cats Rescue. She likes watching TV, being brushed and cuddling while she naps. Tiger Lily is an excitable brown pit bull with black spots at Mighty Mutts dog rescue, also seeking a home. However, both animals might find it tougher to get placed in a home because black cats and pit-bulls are less popular choices for adoption, along with older and special needs animals.
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New Non-Profit Helps New Yorkers Care For Their Pets
Dec 11, 2012 / The Midtown Gazette
Living just off Ninth Avenue with his Chihuahua, Jade, Arnold Johnston, 85, is no longer able to take his 11-year-old pet on daily walks. Johnston, a midtown resident since 1963, might have had to give up his beloved dog, two years ago, had he not found PAWS NY, a small non-profit organization dedicated to helping homebound people care for their pets.
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News Analysis: Can President Ouattara Maintain the Peace in the Ivory Coast?
One and a half years ago, the former president of the Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was captured at the Golf Hôtel in Abidjan, ending a five month-long conflict. That night, his successor, Alassane Ouattara, declared on national television, “A white page opens in front of us, white like the white of our flag, symbol of hope and peace.” Today, however, many experts believe that the peace he spoke about is under threat.
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News Analysis: Ivory Coast Ex-President’s War Crimes Trial Unlikely To Help Reconciliation
One and a half years ago, the former president of the Ivory Coast, Laurent Gbagbo, was captured at the Golf Hôtel in Abidjan, ending a five month-long conflict. That night, his successor, Alassane Ouattara, declared on national television, “A white page opens in front of us, white like the white of our flag, symbol of hope and peace.” Today, however, many experts believe that the peace he spoke about is under threat.
Read the rest of this entry >>
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“Domestic Violence Awareness Month” Competes for Awareness
Oct 26, 2012 / The Midtown Gazette
Nine hundred people climbed to the top of the 42-story skyscraper at 1411 Broadway on a mid-October night, to the cheers and encouragement of Teresa Edwards, WNBA basketball player and Olympian gold medalist. The “Story by Story” stair climb, now in its third year, was organized by the non-profit legal organization inMotion as one of 54 “Domestic Violence Awareness Month” events in New York City this month. But despite the popularity of some of these events, they seem to be outshone by “Breast Cancer Awareness Month,” even though both initiatives were founded 25 years ago.
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Uninsured Patients Still Rely on Safety-Net Care
Oct 19, 2012 / The Midtown Gazette
Law student turned yoga instructor, Zara Wilkins, 35, was buried in student loan debt when she discovered a lump in her right breast in April of last year. With little money for diagnostic services and treatment, she was referred to the Breast Treatment Task Force (BTTF), a New York-based privately funded safety-net organization, for help. ”I am forever grateful to BTTF for covering the bills,” said Watkins, whose medical bills were covered in full by the organization. “My medical bills would have been in the tens of thousands, [maybe] $30 [to] $40 [thousand] because I had a surgery to remove the lump. Had they only been willing to cover half the bills, I probably would not have done the procedure…I would have just ignored it.”
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“Glengarry Glen Ross” – Selling the Sure Thing
Oct 10, 2012 / The Midtown Gazette
Award-winning actor Al Pacino returns to Broadway in the 30th anniversary production of David Mamet‘s play, “Glengarry Glen Ross,” with what Tony-nominated actor Jeremy Shamos called a “cast of thoroughbred actors.” Beginning previews on Tuesday, October 16 at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on 45th Street, this production will be the play’s third Broadway revival, one of ten Broadway revivals that audiences can see before the end of 2012.
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Playwrights’ Week Returns to the Lark
Oct 4, 2012 / The Midtown Gazette
The Lark, an off-Broadway company, recently celebrated its 19th Playwrights’ Week, featuring readings of seven new plays, where the audience shared their written comments directly with the playwrights. The plays explored such diverse topics as post-apocalyptic New York City, superhero fantasies and the family life of a paraplegic young girl.
“A playwright doesn’t work like a novelist or a poet,” said Saviana Stanescu, [...]
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An Audio Slideshow: Ron Glaser, the horse carriage driver
Ron Glaser is a native New Yorker and works as horse carriage driver near central park. He started working June 27th, 2012. He works with a 24 year old male horse called Bingo.
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Interview with Latoya Rhodes, Actor of SHELTER, A New Musical
July 26, 2012 / Originally published on Inside New York
Shelter, a new rock/pop musical, opens tonight, Thursday July 26th at 8pm, as part of this year’s prestigious New York Musical Theatre Festival 2012 (NYMF). Shelter is an exciting new musical that explores the important issues of homelessness and abuse, told through the stories of a group of women. The production team ofShelter hopes to raise awareness and funds for local Women’s Shelters, so for every ticket sold, the production will donate $3 to local shelters.
Before their first performance, I got the chance to talk with lead actress, Latoya Rhodes, who plays the role of Jeanine [...]
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NYC Ban on Sugar Drinks: Good or Bad?
June 17, 2012
It is almost impossible to go anywhere in New York City without hearing someone rip Mayor Bloomberg’s proposal to ban the sale of sugary drinks over 16oz. The New Yorker ran a cover entitled ‘Soda Noir’ featuring two kids caught in a police spotlight with an illegal supersized drink. Jerry Seinfeld told Grub Street that he preferred the “accelerated Darwinian process of early death”. Jon Stewart was forced to agree with Fox News (It’s that bad!) and Stephen Colbert had to execute his giant pet soda ‘Drinky’ [...]
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La Toulousaine: A Taste of France in Morningside Heights
June 14, 2012 / Originally published on Inside New York
Having grown up in the south of France, one of the things I miss most in New York is French pastries. In fact, since I moved to New York, I have spent a great deal of time looking for a place that sells authentic French pastries. Unfortunately, every place I’ve found has only left me disappointed. By the time I discovered La Toulousaine, I had all but given up [...]
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Doppio Senso: An Upper East Side Delight
March 9, 2012 / Originally published on Inside New York
Looking for that perfect place to impress your date? Or maybe you are just tired of going to Italian Restaurants that always seem to offer the old pasta dishes? Either way, Doppio Senso is the perfect place for you. This classy Upper East Side Italian restaurant offers an exciting menu, an array of original cocktail drinks and a warm, elegant ambiance that is perfect for a date. [...]
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Drones: The Weapon of the Future?
Jan 11, 2012
The highly publicized deaths of terrorists this past year, such as Atiyah Abd al-Rahman and Anwar Al-Awlaki, have drawn attention a new type of weapon: the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), otherwise known as the drone. Drones are remotely piloted spy planes that transmit live video and images to US forces. They can also be used to carry out air strikes without directly endangering US troops or operatives. While the technology has been around for a while – the first Predator drones were used in Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s - the number of drones has grown exponentially over the last 10 years, from merely 50 to around 7,000 today. The increased reliance on [...]
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The Year in Review Part 2: International Politics
Jan 2, 2012
From rebellions to new countries to pirates, 2011 has been a tumultuous year for world politics. Join me as I continue looking back at this year’s key events [...]
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The Year in Review – Part 1: Domestic Politics
Dec 29, 2011
From Republican campaigns to Occupy Wall Street protests to terrorist assassinations, 2011 has been a news-packed year. Over the next few days, join me as I take a look back at some of this year’s key events [...]
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INY Theater: December Forecast
Dec 3, 2011 / Originally published on Inside New York
With the holidays just around the corner, what better time of year than to go see a show on a New York City Stage? Don’t know which one to see? Here are some brand new shows that will be opening this month. [...]
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Ethical Photojournalism: when to print and when not to
Dec 2, 2011
Walking to work last month, there was no missing the countless newspapers featuring photographs of Muammar Gaddafi, dead. True, the use of graphic images in the press isn’t new. Examples include photographs of people jumping to their deaths from the World Trade Center Towers on September 11th, charred American corpses hanging from the girders of a bridge in Fallujah in March 2004 and recently, the photographs of [...]
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American Cuisine: Does It Really Exist?
Nov. 26, 2011
When a Maldivian friend visited me recently, I asked him if he had had the time to taste some good old fashioned, American food. He turned to me, and responded: “Like what? What is American food?” Baffled, I started listing off some old favorites, and he, in turn, started listing off their “real” origins. Frustrated, I decided to table the conversation for the sake of avoiding further argument. However, the question has bothered me ever since. Do we actually have a national cuisine? What is ‘American food’? [...]
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(Critical) Power to the People
Nov. 18, 2011 / Originally published on the TCG Circle
iCritic™, an initiative, developed as part of ‘Barrington Stage 2.0’, got its genesis from TCG’s New Generations Program, funded by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation/The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in 2010. Now over a year later, it is time find out how iCritic is progressing. [...]
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Are We Screwed? A Look at College Grad Employment Rates
Nov. 11, 2011
When I graduated from the London School of Economics in 2009, the then LSE director, Sir Howard Davies, gave a solemn and grave graduating speech. Instead of praising our successes and inspiring us with words of high hopes for our future successes, he warned us of the scary road we faced in the aftermath of the 2008 collapse. In the past, LSE students had gone on to high paying jobs at top investment banks [...]
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Inside Occupy Wall Street
Nov. 9, 2011 / Originally published on the Inside New York
Being an alumnus of the London School of Economics, I am no stranger to political protests. In a school known for its Fabian (socialist) roots and die-hard support for the Palestinian cause, political demonstrations were the favored pastime. We had our own version of an occupation, when students occupied the Old Theatre lecture hall in January 2009 to defend Gaza. But even LSE could not have [...]
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Behind the Scenes of Stick Fly: Alicia Keys’ Upcoming Broadway Show
Oct. 29, 2011 / Originally published on the Inside New York
Stick Fly, written by Lydia R. Diamond (Voyeurs de Venus, The Gift Horse), directed by Tony-nominated director Kenny Leon (Fences, Mountaintop) and produced by Grammy-winner Alicia Keys, began rehearsals on October 17th. [...]
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Oct. 29, 2011 / Originally published on the Inside New York
I decided that this year it was time for me to face my fears and go to a haunted house this Halloween. After all, they can’t be that bad, right? So I picked Madame Tussaud’s After Dark, where, for eight nights only, the famous wax museum turns into a chilling, scary haunted museum. [...]
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S&S Cheesecake: Smooth&Spectacular
June 12, 2011 / Originally published on the Inside New York
Having practically lived exclusively on cheesecake for a month after a bad breakup, I thought that I ‘knew’ what good cheesecake was. As it turns out, I knew nothing. One bite of S&S Cheesecake, and you will forget every other cheesecake you have ever tried. [...]
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Bringing Sexy Dates Back
June 8, 2011 / Originally published on the Inside New York
With so many places to go in New York City, it can be really hard to find that perfect place to go for a date. This week, my boyfriend and I set out to find the five perfect romantic places to go on a date in Manhattan and we finally narrowed it down to our favorite five [...]
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