Lenore Devore

It’s been a whirlwind year, unbelievable on so many levels.

Personally, my husband, Bill, and I took a fabulous trip to Ireland, where we landed in Shannon, picked up a rental car and toured all of Southern Ireland without a plan. We saw almost every tourist attraction from the Cliffs of Moher to Waterford to Blarney Castle, where, yes, we kissed the famed stone upsidedown, and everything in between – even ones we first heard of on a road sign as we passed. We had an incredible time, ending with four days in Killarney, where we spent four nights in a five-star hotel complete with AC (you know, us Floridians live and die by AC!).

Two months later, as I was getting ready to leave Lakeland to recruit at NAHJ in Orlando, our publisher promoted me to editor of The Ledger. That was a Wednesday, and I wasn’t allowed to tell anyone until it was announced late the following Monday. That was tough!

I have enjoyed every minute since. We have reorganized our Newsroom, which allowed us to hire 11 people. We also have focused on our core readers, and we’re actually picking up circulation, hopefully based on that. And we started an investigative team that is unearthing many dead bodies.

In December I took my first two-week vacation - -a week at home with Bill’s kids and my South Carolina brother and his family, then ski with my husband. It was marvelous! Now we're in a new year, one in which our newspaper was sold from The New York Times Co. to Halifax Media Group. More change ahead!

Best wishes to everyone!

Lenore 

Marissa Lang

One thing that hasn't changed since Tucson: I'm incapable of meeting any deadline outside of journalistic ones. I'm so bad in fact, I didn't do an update last time, so let's just fast forward to 2011. Also, a big shout out to Jamie, who is wonderful for putting up with my epic procrastination.

Wanderlust kicked in big time at the beginning of 2011, leading me to start my year in South Africa. I spent two months there as a part of a study abroad program aimed at exploring how the racial and social structures of Apartheid set the groundwork for what became the worst HIV epidemic in the world. The whole program was amazing, and took me from Cape Town to Johannesburg to the Mozambique border. Though it was all fascinating, but the best parts were the days we spent among the people. I learned so much, and made friends there who I will probably never see again, but will never forget. 

The end of my senior year was a total blur. I was the editor in chief of my college newspaper,The Diamondback, so, naturally, I didn't eat, sleep or go to class very much. We did, however, manage to win first place in SPJ's midatlantic region for best college paper and I graduated on time, so all's well that ends well, am I right? Another highlight of my senior year: calling for the impeachment of the student body president for being a Nixonian liar, but that's another story for another time.

After graduation I headed down south to the Sunshine State for an internship at the St. Petersburg Times, where Jamie and I reunited. Using my living room floor as home base, the two of us went on many adventures including Disney World, puppy walking and long days at the beach. We went to the NAHJ convention in Orlando, where we ran into Don and Derek and networked as hard as we partied.

But as all things do, the summer had to come to an end. Jamie left Florida to go on to bigger, better and colder things up in Pennsylvania and my sixth-month internship kept me here through winter. 

Guess I didn't tell you what it is I do -- I'm a NOW! reporter. Which, I'm sure you can guess, means I cover anything that's happening RIGHT NOW. Only "right now" for me starts at 5 a.m. I wake up and get to work before the sun rises and do a lot of murder and mayhem reporting. It's been a lot of fun. 

I did manage to make it home to New York City for New Years, which, though a brief visit, was much needed. I miss home. There's no place like it. 

And since I didn't write a 2010 update, I'm going to cheat and get a head start on 2012: The last couple weeks have been crazy. The Baltimore Sun called me up to talk to me about a job last month. They flew me up to Maryland, and, the (now newly named) Tampa Bay Times panicked that they might lose me and made me a permanent offer. The Sun countered and for the last two weeks I've been going back and forth between the two. I've made more pro-con lists than I ever want to admit and agonized over a decision.

On March 1st, I will become a full-time, 100 percent staff member at the Tampa Bay Times, still covering breaking news at the crack of dawn. I've been tapped to be part of the Times on-the-ground team for the Republican National Convention in August so... if you hear about reporters getting arrested, you might want to give me a call to see whether or not I'm incarcerated.

Another thing that hasn't changed since Tucson: I miss you all a lot. Here's a shameless pitch for Florida -- we have beaches! We have dolphins! Manatees! Delicious oranges! And me! So, come on down. I've got a futon that's Jamie Klein-approved, and I'd love to play host to any one of you. 

Sal Rodriguez

Best of Times

Please excuse the headline -- Jamie requested puns, so you know...

But in all honesty, 2011 was a great year for me. I was able to work at two great internships, continue growing the publication I started, and I finally turned 21 -- that pretty muchguarantees a good year.

At the tail end of my junior year, I got to to start a year-long internship with Marc Lacey, the New York Times' Arizona Bureau chief. Marc was a great mentor and allowed me to assist on many of his stories. Among the highlights from the internship were attending an American riding of the bulls and going to a research center filled with brains.

In between my NYT gig, I also got to spend the summer in LA working for the Times publication on that coast for my Chips Quinn internship. Working for the Los Angeles Times was an awesome experience that allowed me to live in one of the most interesting places in the country and pushed me to grow as a journalist. And being able to follow in the footsteps of so many of the Chipsters before me was pretty cool too.

Back at school, I took classes and whatnot, but what I'm most proud of is how the publication I started continued to grow. After working with a dozen or so staffers in years past, the Downtown Devil blew up to more than 80 journalists this past semester. We won our first award, and the end of this semester marked our first passing of the torch. For the first time I will not be one of its active leaders, but I'm excited to see how the younger journalists I've watched grow will prosper at the helm of the publication.

Hope 2011 was as kind to you all as it was to me, and here's to 2012 (exercises that special ability one legally gains when they turn 21).

Sierra Jiminez

It’s amazing how quickly time flies.

It has been two years since I left warm and sunny Tucson, and a lot has happened since then.

I finished my junior year of college and dove head first into my senior year working as a bureau reporter for ABC News on Campus. Exactly one year after the institute, I went to South Africa to work on a multimedia video about faith in the Xhosa culture <http://vimeo.com/19841127>. After graduating from Syracuse University, I moved to NYC and interned for The New Yorker’s multimedia department. At the same time, I started working part-time as a researcher for a small documentary production company making a film about international adoption.

My experience there landed me a gig as an editor for a documentary on art therapy treatment for eating disorders. You can view the trailer here:http://vimeo.com/16514392

I’m also writing and editing videos full-time for Fortune.com.

Jessica Flores

Currently, I'm a reporter with NBC-Palm Springs in Southern
California's Coachella Valley. I shoot, write, edit and present
stories on air. I've covered everything from a visit from President
Bush to a 24-hour shooting standoff. I've been here for almost two
months and the desert is beautiful now, but I'm mentally preparing for
the summer's high heat.
Immediately after I graduated from USC Journalism graduate school in
May, I reported with News21. The ten-week fellowship was truly
worthwhile. I got to actually spend time--something no journalist has
enough of--- on a series of stories about a town struggling to find
help to deal with their growing poverty and it happens to be
represented by one of the richest members of Congress. I dug into
financial data to show the disparity between the leaders and the led,
and put human faces to the story through video profiles on people
losing their homes and struggling to find food in an upper middle
class community. You can check out the whole project here:
http://usc.news21.com/jessicaflores/home. Let me know what you think!
Please keep in touch and let me know if any of you are ever in the
Coachella Valley!

Dalina Castellanos

Ay yay yay, what a year! Let's break it down chronologically, shall we?

January: I was stuck in snow on the rez and frantically finishing my application to MetPro. I literally threw the application packet into the mail (my car was a little too far from the post office drop box) and drove away with my fingers crossed. Off to a rough start, but it can only get better, right?

February: More snow. Amanda came to visit. We made pizza and went sledding. Best. Month. Evar.

March: On a codeine-infused cough syrup-induced trip to New York, I found out I was a finalist for MetPro. Bronchitis aside, I ran around the freezing streets of the Big Apple with a huge smile on my face. Then panic set in. What if my cell cut off during the phone interview? The reservation was awesome at cutting all my phone conversations short. What could I do? Go to a sweat lodge ceremony to try and settle my fears. Best. Month. Evar.

April: I went to a Black Keys concert in Phoenix and got in to MetPro. Best. Month. Evar.

May: Veronica and her fancy Victor came to visit. We were almost thrust into Canyon de Chelly by some pretty harsh winds, so we went home and made pizza. Best. Month. Evar.

Summer was a blur. I'm pretty sure it was awesome. I quit my job in August and started packing for the move out west. Er, more west. Amanda came to visit again and we went hiking. No pizza, but we made pretzels.

September: Settled in to my new place with Veronica, Stephen, Cindy and Troy's gracious help. By help, I mean trips to restaurants and karaoke bars. Started work with other NYSJI alums and made fast friends with the people at the cafeteria. Best. Month. Evar? Oh yes my friends.

October: Dressed up as the Red Fraggle for Halloween. Ate a bacon-wrapped hot dog at least once a week. Still goin' strong, 2011...

November: Celebrated Cindy's bizurthday and went with her to the Grauman's Chinese Theater where we saw Pedro Almodovar in person. (Side note: I love this town.) Helped with Black Friday coverage for the LA Times hours after I finished my delightful Thanksgiving meal. Stepped into the Walmart where the now-unfortunately-famous pepper spraying incident happened and tried to interview people. They had no idea what had happened. Always fun being a reporter, isn't it?

December: Met up with Cindy, Lauri and Stephen for drinks. (WHY DON'T MORE OF YOU LIVE IN THE AREA?) Bought a tree yesterday and I'm hoping my little turd-nugget of a dog won't knock it down.

Best. Year. Evar.

Stephen Ceasar

Hello everybody,

First of all, lets give our life recap blog organizer Jamie Klein a round of applause. You'd think we all would be better about turning stuff in on time, but we're not. Still, she puts this all together.

So since last time I wrote one of these, I was hired as a full-time staffer at the Los Angeles Times after finishing the Metpro training program. After I was kept on, I was placed on the National desk. I was able to go on a few reporting trips out of state, including a week on the Navajo Nation to write about a rise in HIV diagnoses. I was able to hang out with Dalina, who was living there at the time. But now Dalina lives in Hollywood (5 minutes away from me) after being accepted in this years Metro class. yay!

The past year and half or so in LA have been wonderful. Its such a weird, beautiful place to live. For example, here is a tweet that I tweeted on my twitter after a Saturday shift at our offices in downtown LA.

"Within 2 mins of leaving work I see a teenager with a furry tail coming out of his jeans, a lady pooping in the crosswalk and a quincenera."

At about the same time Dalina was moving here, Troy and Veronica came to visit. As if you didn't already know, Dalina, Troy, Cindy and I went karaoking. Is that a word? But to put a twist to Troy's 5,969 trip to a karaoke bar, we went to a Spanish one. Sadly, there is no video of my rousing rendition of the Mexican dance hit "Mayonesa." But I'm pretty sure the Mexican mafioso seated at a nearby booth was impressed at how I could carry a kumbia.

Anyway, I'm switching over to the Metro desk in January to join the Education team. I'm pretty hyped for the move. Miss you all and I think we can all agree that it's pretty trippy that its been two years since Tucson. Take care.

Stephen