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What’s Next for this Black Journalist Post-Election 2024: Reflections from Howard University
On November 5, 2024, I left home at 7 AM with a heart full of anticipation and joy. It was election day, and I was certain that Vice President Kamala Harris—a Howard University alum and fellow Jamaican-American—would make history as the next president of the United States. I headed to Howard University, the epicenter of…
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Music Is His Muse
Alec Vaughn McIntosh is a film major and music minor at American University in Washington, D.C. He is tall, cinnamon-colored, handsome, and staunchly vegan. He is a naturalist, does not believe in the use of social media, and is eerily serene. Speaking with the 24-year-old McIntosh feels like one is conversing with a musical prodigy.…
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The 2024 Election: From Candidate Signage to Polling Stations
As Montgomery County, Maryland prepares for the 2024 Presidential, Congressional, and statewide elections, after driving through the county for several hours looking for campaign signage one thing is clear— there is little if any campaign signage to be seen. Nor are there any voters to speak with at polling stations because early voting does not…
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Talking To Strangers: My Conversation with Three African American Police Officers in A Post George Floyd World
One of my favorite books of all time is Malcolm Gladwell’s, Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know. Imagine my excitement when my Visual Journalism class, taught by Dr. Stacey Patton, was given the following assignment: “Document what it was like for you to get out of your comfort…
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The Anatomy of a Great Photo
Photography is a very important form of storytelling. In this photocomposition essay and explainer video, I will showcase six photographs I’ve taken, each of which demonstrates a variety of compositional techniques. From the calming symmetry of the Potomac River at dusk to the juxtaposition of modern and historic architecture at Howard University, each photo is…
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Logan Johns 2.0: The Once Reluctant Blogger
Credit: https://newsreel.org/video/THE-BLACK-PRESS-SOLDIERS-WITHOUT-SWORDS Last year, Dr. Stacey Patton, my then professor in a course named Digital Media Literacy, introduced our class to digital media savant Mark Briggs and his 2007 book, Journalism 2.0: How to Survive and Thrive. Described as “[a] digital literacy guide for the information age,” this then Howard University sophomore was not so…