Sailing: Take Two

I spent another day at sea yesterday, this time with the Inland Seas Education Association. For three days, the association hosted a group of students from Camp Tuhsmeheta, a Greenville, Mich., summer camp for young people who are blind or visually impaired. While sailing on Grand Traverse Bay, the students did various science experiments designed to teach about the ecology of the Great Lakes.

Inland Seas Education Association

Camp Tuhsmeheta

Sailing

...on Grand Traverse Bay. As you may know, I'm spending the summer as a photo intern for Traverse Magazine. Today, I was out shooting a feature on the Manitou - a replica of a 19th century schooner that runs cruises out on the bay.

View all the images (5).

NGM: Malaria

This month's National Geographic contains an excellent feature on malaria, with photos by Vii's John Stanmeyer. This is an example of how powerful this type of photographic coverage can be when executed well. It's not easy. This story spans multiple continents, but despite its scale, the transitions are natural — it still comes together in a coherent package.

Check out Stanmeyer's field notes on the story. On wading through flooded Indian streets (a breeding ground for malaria-carrying mosquitoes), he says the experience "was disgusting, but you don't really think about that … You just think to yourself that this is the best way to deliver the story to readers so that they can fully understand urban malaria. I wanted them to feel it."

Cheney

Today's Washington Post article Pushing the Envelope on Presidential Power is lengthy but well worth the read. This systematic deconstruction of Cheney's role in breaking down limits on the abuse of detainees is a damning piece of investigative reporting.

Two Stories

Okay, my first post is going to be about two NPR stories. Really good ones. I've listened to each one an embarrassing number of times, and I think they're worth sharing.

The first covers a performance in Moscow of the Russian opera "Boris Godunov." The reporter, Lawrence Sheets, spoke in a journalism ethics course I took last fall, and he played this story for us, along with some other samples of his work. This story is a fantastic example of how a seemingly mundane assignment can be transformed into something wonderful through chance, if the reporter is able to think quickly and adapt to events as they unfold. So... as a severe rainstorm menaces the production, this story takes on an entirely new, metaphorical quality that could not have been foreseen, yet adds significant depth to the narrative. Listen.

The second, a segment from NPR's This American Life, is a longer feature piece; it occupies about the first 30 minutes of the show I am linking to. It's about an immigrant kid in Brooklyn who manages to get briefly marooned on a desert island. It's hilarious. But specifically, I like how the characters are given the opportunity to advance the story themselves. Often, stories with great, interesting characters are ruined by too much analysis or commentary. This one strikes a near-perfect balance. Listen.

ROTC

ROTC students Jake Reidel, right, and Trevor Lumadue explain combat procedures to junior cadets during a weekly lab session. The labs are intended to prepare juniors for the training camp they will attend during the summer. Patrick Wellever/The State News

iPod

Just for fun...