Side by Side

Nashville’s oldest flower shops are neighbors, in fact they are right next door to one another.

(Video by Jacqueline Lee and Sharon Yep)

Sisters in Silence

Sisters in Silence: Unspoken Voices of Nashville Women celebrates the work of women living in the Nashville Community. The work of artists, Melinda Gail Harris, Marcella Renée Stallings, and Holly Chaffin Neuhoff gives voice to those often ignored in a community.

(Video by Ana Cubias, Rickeena Richards and Andrew Villegas)

Meat and Three

Virginia’s Market is a well known lunch spot where local musicians flock for the meat and three special.

(Video by Maria Chercoles, Ashlee Clark and Chris Vongsarath)

Rare Tennessee Sunflowers

Originally thought to be extinct, a rare sunflower has been found by a Vanderbilt undergraduate student.

(Video by Matthew Cooper, Astrid Galvan and Sergio Delgado)

Morning Rain

Splashing through the morning commute, Nashvillians talk about getting soaked.

(Video by Shawntaye Hopkins, Martha Ramirez and Carlos Silva, Jr.)

Helping Veterans Walk Again

Vanderbilt researchers test a robotic leg developed in hopes of helping veterans who lost a limb in the Iraq War to walk again.

(Video by Devin Wagner)

Trail West

Trail West, near Second Avenue South and Broadway in Nashville, Tenn., has sold Western wear for 28 years. The store—one of three Nashville locations—has been in its current spot since May. It specializes in boots, belts and “anything to go honky-tonking with,” says employee Michael Schoff.
Schoff, during an April 7, 2008, store tour, explains the craftsmanship behind making a custom boot and describes hats worth thousands of dollars. Though Nashville is not in the Western United States, its legacy as a city with roots in the country endures.

Spring in Nashville

Springtime in Nashville is a time of change in weather, fashion and activities, captured in photos and sound.
Vanderbilt University students and workers talk about their personal springtime experiences as they go about their day on campus April 7, 2008.

Aaron Douglas at the Frist

Harlem Renaissance artist Aaron Douglas (1889-1979) evoked the history and future of African Americans in his work. Douglas used oils and gouache, a pigment suspended in water, for his illustrations and large-scale paintings. His subjects ranged from celebratory scenes in Southern jazz clubs to dancing in the hot jungles of the Congo.
The Frist Center for the Visual Arts in Nashville, Tenn., is presenting an exhibit of Douglas’ work through April 13, 2008. Museum curator Katie Delmez discusses the artist’s depictions of African American life.

Botany Buff

Overlooking the Vanderbilt University quadrangle, Jonathan Ertelt is in a world of his own as he manages seven of the school’s greenhouses. His passion for plants began when he nurtured a sweet potato vine and, as a college student, got his first orchid to flower. The plants don’t belong to him, but he perseveres through a ragweed allergy and frustration with program funding because they have grown on him.
During a visit to the greenhouses on April 7, 2008, Ertelt describes how his love of botany extends to his home life. His house is a jungle of shoots, sprouts and shrubs. His wife draws pictures of plants. His son is “botanically correct.” He has rooted his family in the plant kingdom.

Star Power

Jess Matthews gives a behind-the-scenes look at Star Photo Inc., a photo production company on Nashville’s Music Row that has been in business since 1969. The company serves musicians nationwide by providing publicity prints of various sizes.
As technology has advanced, the business has generated more profits over the years and the staff has been reduced. On April 7, 2008, Matthews works alone in the Star Photo office, which is located at 38 Music Square East.

Rock Block

(Soundslide by Mary Ann Hogan and Colleen Fitzpatrick, the Coaches)

Return from Iraq

Jeff Rehan returned from fighting in Iraq with a sense of patriotism and a lingering fear of IEDs. Rehan documented his experience in video and photographs. Rehan shared his footage and story with Princella Parker, an American Indian Journalism Institute graduate and Summer ‘08 Chips Quinn Scholar, who produced this video story in 2007.

A Chipster’s Experience

Watch Diana Diroy’s photojournalism come to life in the pages of the Oakland Tribune. Diroy, a Summer ‘07 Chips Quinn Scholar, turned everyday photo assignments into page one features and multimedia journalism during her Oakland Tribune internship. Read more

Chips Quinn Scholars Program Spring ‘08 Internship Orientation

Orientation for Chips Quinn Scholars, who pursue journalism careers after completing newsroom internships throughout the United States, is a magical experience for young journalists. Take a behind-the-scenes look at the Spring 2008 Chips Quinn Orientation held in January at the Newseum in Washington, D.C. The Freedom Forum administers both the Chips Quinn Scholars Program and the Newseum, which officially opened on April 11, 2008. Read more

Welcome from the “Evangelist”

I joined the Freedom Forum Diversity Institute in February as the Manager of Multimedia Education. I lobbied hard for the title of Multimedia Evangelist but found a blog poster who already was using that handle. I may win the title back because of my passion for journalism and multimedia. For now, I’ll have to go with Multimedia Guru.

As the MG, I’ll be teaching young journalists from diverse backgrounds how to record and edit audio, photojournalism, audio slideshow production and to shoot and edit video. The training is intense. Students who complete training at the John Seigenthaler Center in Nashville will be able to walk into any newsroom and produce multimedia content.

In future posts, this blog will give you tips for creating multimedia, storytelling, geek-speak (my own term for technical issues) and links to “must-see” multimedia.

To get you started viewing multimedia content, check out www.mediastorm.org. Brian Storm, creator of Media Storm, produces and hosts multimedia content from photojournalists throughout the world. Now playing on mediastorm.org is Marlboro Marine by Los Angeles Times photojournalist Luis Sinco.

Another place to watch groundbreaking newspaper video journalism is at WashingtonPost.com. Check out anything by Travis Fox, who travels extensively and produces visually stunning video. This link will take you to some of Fox’s video: Travis Fox