Journalism
Journalism was always my first love, and recently I've been doing a lot of writing for publication.In fact, I'm planning to do more.
artBEAT Magazine
This story about the Alcove Center in artBEAT Magzine was especially touching.
Sample copy:
Drawing Strength
With art and love, the Alcove Center for Grieving Children helps heal the wounds of death
Seth Winter, age 8, shows his latest artwork. On a large white sheet of paper he's drawn three distinct pictures with crayons -- trees and grass, the sun and water, a heart in water. In the upper left corner of the sheet, with a blue pen, he's added a small rectangle containing two stick figures -- "me and Mom," he explains. At the bottom of the sheet he's arranged several dozen colorful stickers, including little animals and pink hearts. Viewed from a distance, the stickers spell "I love Mom."
On December 22, 1998, Michele Winter, age 41, suffered sudden lethal cardiac arrhythmia -- an irregular heartbeat. "I was out late that night and came home and my wife had died in her sleep," says Philip Winter of Cape May Court House.
Seth was 3 years old at the time. His brother, Wil, was 2.
Explaining what happened to two young boys was hard. "I just fielded questions," Philip says. The boys asked questions about Mommy in heaven. Once Phil went away for a day, and the boys wanted to know if he went to heaven with Mommy. And when their grandfather got a pacemaker, the boys wished Mommy had a machine in her heart.
To help with his own grief, Philip formed a group for young widows and widowers, which was active for a year and a half. "I'd had my time," Philip said. "Now it was time for the kids."
Philip brought his boys to New Jersey's first volunteer organization dedicated to supporting bereaved children, the Alcove Center for Grieving Children and Families.
Atlantic City Weekly
Atlantic City Weekly, formerly known as Whoot!, has a new look and new content. I've completed several assignments for the newspaper.
Sample copy:
Blue Rocks
Blue Man Group brings rock 'n' roll theater to Trump Taj Mahal
Three blue guys who never speak front a rock band. (Yell if you're paying attention. That's not guys in blue; it's blue guys.) The band would win the Biggest, Most Elaborate Rock Percussion Award, if there were such a thing. The blue guys pound on instruments of their own creation, ranging from massive sculptures of PVC pipes to air poles. Backing them up are nine musicians and vocalists, including a four-person percussion section. The band produces a thunderous rock 'n' roll wall of sound. The blue guys think this is wonderful. Unlike the rock stars who typically lead such a band, the blue guys have no egos.
This is the Blue Man Group, bringing its Complex Rock Tour to the Trump Taj Mahal on Sunday, August 31 -- the last performance in this leg of the tour. The show combines hard-driving rock 'n' roll, imaginative theater and special effects. The elaborate staging was created by Marc Brickman, who designed tours for Pink Floyd, Paul McCartney, Genesis and Nine Inch Nails. The result is a rock concert experience like none other.
The Blue Man Group got its start in theater, albeit untraditional theater. In 1988, three friends -- Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton -- put on bald wigs, painted themselves bright blue and held a "funeral for the '80s" in New York City's Central Park, which was captured for posterity by MTV. Their Blue Man characters and performances -- part music, part improv, part vaudeville -- evolved into an off-Broadway hit called Tubes. The show has no plot and no dialog. The Blue Men spit marshmallows and paint, and get an audience member to help them eat Twinkies. It's beyond categorization, and it's incredibly fun.
So who exactly is the Blue Man? According to the group's character statement, he is not alien. Rather, he taps into an inner space.
"The Blue Man represents something that we all are," explains Tom Galassi, one of the Blue Men in the concert. "We're taught a lot of things -- we're taught how to act in public, we're taught how to interact with each other in socially acceptable ways. But before we learn that, we have a primal wonder about things, which gets lost as you get older."
