Photo by Jean Song
I’m your socially-savvy, urban-political reporter with a love for all things digital and radio. I also love running, yoga and food photography. I’ve lived in several cities in the West coast and Midwest – but my heart will always be in California – and journalism makes my world go ’round.
I was first infected with the journalism germ in 1998. I wrote an article for the Parent-Teacher Association newsletter for Glenoaks Elementary School – a tiny publication called The Oakleaf. It was a short piece on the Gifted and Talented Education after-school program’s egg drop contest titled “The Eggzact Facts!!” I was 12 and it was my first reporting job.
From then on, I sought journalism. And while I want to be a journalist for the same reasons many others do – to learn a little bit of everything, to meet people, etc. – what I really want is the chance to be a specialist. I love getting into the nitty gritty code behind a website, spending hours adjusting the HTML, CSS, Javascript and more. I love researching new designs for apps and sites, understanding how users prefer to see and consume their news. I love taking potentially boring chunks of data and using online tools, such as d3, to create a stunning visual story. I also love listening to the sound of traditional storytelling through the radio – the medium that set the journalism revolution spinning.
I can’t say how this germ called journalism is going to evolve next. What I do know is that it is going to be around for a very long time and whether it’s in online, magazine or print, we need to take an active step in its development.
“Journalism can never be silent: that is its greatest virtue and its greatest fault. It must speak, and speak immediately, while the echoes of wonder, the claims of triumph and the signs of horror are still in the air.”
Henry Anatole Grunwald
Find me
email: me@almabahman.com
