Staff Blaahg
Welcome Campus Progress’ Fall 2011 Staff Writers!
Meet the young voices bringing you the latest progressive news, features and commentary on CampusProgress.org this fall – our wonderful team of staff writers. Take a moment to read about both new and returning writers below.
Candice Bernd covers climate change and the environment for Campus Progress. She’s a senior at the University of North Texas where she studies journalism and political science. As an organizer on campus, she helped eliminate free speech "zones," and has been active in many other struggles. She became passionate about journalism while studying abroad at The Hague where she witnessed a journalist on trial for contempt of court. She’s reported for her school’s student-run daily newspaper, co-hosted a Dallas-based progressive talk radio program, and spent her summer in Chicago working as an intern for In These Times magazine. She’s also helping to get a progressive start-up publication, The Grassroots Gazette, off the ground. She has a cat named Pig, and she is the Notorious P.I.G. Follow her on Twitter at @CandiceBernd.
Dahlia Grossman-Heinze covers pop culture for Campus Progress. She graduated from Reed College in 2010 with a degree in English Literature. After graduating, Dahlia worked as an editorial intern at Ms. magazine. She grew up in Kansas, moved to southern California in high school and now lives in Portland, Oregon. Some of Dahlia's favorite things include hot air balloons, rap that is not in English, David Lynch, chocolate and horror films. Occasionally she attempts to write her own blog. You can follow Dahlia on Twitter @salvadordahlia.
Emily Crockett covers politics for Campus Progress. She’s an opera singer who has never worked in news before. Like the subject she covers, she’s a little confusing—but makes sense with a closer look. She majored in English/Creative Writing at Northwestern, where she studied narrative non-fiction with Alex Kotlowitz and was active in anti-war and feminist campus organizations. She thought about majoring in political science, but eventually joined Twitter instead. After undergrad she spent a year in Germany teaching English on a Fulbright grant, then a year in D.C. working for a political consulting firm and The Fund, then two years in Boston getting her Masters of Music degree at BU. She’s from, but not of, Texas, and grew up listening to NPR in no small part because her mom was on it sometimes. She’s a life-long idealist and a years-long skeptic. She likes for things to make sense, and she hopes to make them make sense to you. She also likes bad movies, umami flavors, dramatic readings, and whimsical lists. Follow her on the Twitters @emilycrockett or laugh at how infrequently she updates her blog.
Emily Wood covers gender politics for Campus Progress. She’s currently an undergrad at Harding University where she studies Political Science and Psychology of Communications. She’s also very active on campus with the Roosevelt Institute Campus Network and Pi Sigma Alpha, a political-science honors society. She interned with Campus Progress over the summer and loved every minute of it—including meeting President Clinton. She loves sunflowers, fireworks, Christmas lights, and progressive politics. She believes very strongly in the girl effect. Follow her on twitter at @em_nicole55.
Jen Kalaidis covers higher education for Campus Progress. Born and bred in the Midwest, she grew up in Minnesota and graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 2010 with degrees in History and Global Cultures. Before joining Campus Progress, she was the Current Events Editor for The Next Great Generation and an intern with ThinkProgress. She’s also worked in the arts, completing internships at Brava magazine and the Guthrie Theater. When she’s not politicizing for progressive causes, she enjoys traveling, philosophizing over a Wisconsin brew, and pretending her life is a Woody Allen movie. She’s based in Washington, D.C. and loving every minute of it. You can follow her on Twitter @JenKalaidis.
Jon Christian covers jobs and the economy for Campus Progress. He graduated from Vanderbilt University in May, where he studied philosophy and sociology. While there he edited ORBIS, a critical and progressive student magazine. Jon once interned at the Ithaca Journal, a local daily in the Finger Lakes Region of New York, and the experience left him with a profound appreciation for the ebb and flow of the newsrooms in small town papers which are now, sadly, fading away. In addition to writing for Campus Progress, he’s working on some freelance gigs this fall and blogging on JonChristian.net. He’s a skeptic, a film and music geek, a feminist, and he likes adventures, vegetarian cooking and robots (even though he’s afraid they're going to turn against us.) Follow him on Twitter @Jon_Christian.
Micah Uetricht covers labor and immigration. He’s originally from Michigan and lives in Chicago. He graduated in 2009 from Loyola University Chicago, where he studied sociology, black world studies, and women’s and gender studies. His first foray into journalism was through an editorial internship for In These Times magazine, and his work has appeared in In These Times and Working In These Times, Yes!, Alternet, ThinkProgress, TheNation.com, and the Chicago web magazine GapersBlock.com. He is a lover of craft brews, an unapologetic Frisbee enthusiast, and in perpetual need of a respectable haircut. Follow him on Twitter @micahuetricht or check out his blog.
Shay O'Reilly covers LGBT issues for Campus Progress. He’s originally from Washington, D.C., but graduated from the University of Iowa in May with Honors in Religious Studies — although he spent the first two and a half years of undergrad studying biology/organic chemistry at Bennington College. In fall 2012, he’s heading to seminary or divinity school; meanwhile, Shay’s taking a year off to give back to his community. He works food service to pay the bills, lives and volunteers in a housing collective, serves as a youth adviser and worship associate at the Unitarian Universalist Society of Iowa City, and continues writing occasional pieces for The Daily Iowan, where he worked as the Opinions Editor for two semesters. He geeks out about many things, including science fiction, food, politics, social change, and esoteric religious sects, but he most importantly navigates that uncomfortable tension between being queer and being very religious. Follow him on Twitter @shaygabriel.
Brian Stewart is the journalism and online communications manager at Campus Progress.
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