Alumni News Archives: Spring 2004

Kyoko Gasha ’92, a New York-based correspondent for Reuters, is currently assuming larger-than-life proportions: Her photo is displayed on the NASDAQ tower in Times Square. “It had always been my dream to work as foreign correspondent,” Gasha writes. “So when Reuters offered me a job as a financial TV reporter in New York three years ago, I snapped it up. It has been quite an experience to live in this city with my daughter, Anna (I named her after Ann Arbor).” The September 11 attacks occurred shortly after Gasha’s arrival in New York, and her apartment was two blocks from the World Trade Center. She and her family were evacuated and forced to move seven times in two years. “Somehow we overcame the obstacles, and I am still here at Reuters, talking about the American stock market every day. I even have a weekend show to cover American business. It’s been a real challenge!”

Last June, a new column called “One Spirit ”by David Crumm ’02, made its debut in The Detroit Free Press, where Crumm is religion writer. “I had resisted doing a column for many years for all the obvious reasons—the biggest one being that it’s a locked-in-steel weekly deadline I have to meet in the midst of my other work,” Crumm says. “But, the launch of the column, which focuses on everyday spirituality across a broad range, has taken off like a shot with readers. Among other things, we’ve got an interactive feature where each week we invite feedback and, then, run a sidebar the following week reflecting what readers thought. It’’s become a minor sensation, frankly, and is reshaping my work here in ways I didn’t expect. I was invited just recently to write a chapter for a new scholarly book coming out next year on religion and American culture.”

Ken Franckling ’84 was named 2003 Jazz Photographer of the Year by the Jazz Journalists Association. He is hoping to publish a jazz writing and photography book of his coverage and interviews from the past 20 years.

Jane Holligan ’02, a freelance journalist based in Dundee, Scotland, has published a book with Sally Bowen titled The Imperfect Spy: The Many Lives of Vladimiro Montesinos, about the spy and security chief to President Alberto Fujimori. The book was published late last year in Peru by Peisa. “As several dozen trials against Montesinos continue in Lima, we are still learning the extent of the corruption web woven by Montesinos while he was President Fujimori’s right-hand man and Washington’s principal ally in Peru in the fight against drugs,” Holligan says. “His corruption web spread across several countries, and there are estimates of a personal fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars.”

Richard Leiby ’01, who reported last year on the Iraq war for The Washington Post, has taken over as the paper’s “Reliable Source.” The much-read gossip column appears in the paper’s Style section. “I thought it would be great fun to cover gossip instead of war, but both can be equally exhausting.” Leiby says. “I’m writing four columns a week, and the items require extensive reporting. (We fumigate gossip at The Post and magically turn it into well-sourced material.) At the Oscars I had to walk down the Red Carpet, face a swarm of paparazzi and attend six different parties in one weekend. How many times can a man make conversation with Hobbits and stare at Paris Hilton’s rear end? The horror, the horror...”

Jon Morgan ’01, was named state politics editor at The Baltimore Sun, supervising coverage of state government and politics. “It’s a big change,” says Morgan, who previously covered sports, “but I spent six months filling in as an assistant city editor and found I liked the work, though not the hours. It’s fun to be back in news.” Morgan reports to another KW alum—Diane Brozek Fancher ’82, the Sun’s Maryland editor.

Eve Byron ’99, natural resources reporter for the Helena Independent Record, won first place in investigative reporting in the Pacific Northwest Excellence in Journalism Competition with the Society of Professional Journalists. She also won a first-place award from the SPJ Inland Pacific competition. “The awards were for a series I wrote last spring on environmental groups, called “Growing Green,” Byron writes. “Remember how my fellowship involved research on the Internet? I used that training to find financial information on the Net about environmental groups that were active in Montana, specifically those groups that file tons of lawsuits to block timber sales. The Green groups howled when the stories came out, but acknowledged that everything was accurate—it just wasn’t something they thought their members needed to know.”

Kevin Lowther ’77, regional director for Southern Africa for Africare, has published with C. Payne Lucas an updated paperback edition of Keeping Kennedy’s Promise, which Westview first published in 1978. The book critiques the Peace Corps’ formative years, Lowther says, and includes a new introduction which attempts to place the Peace Corps in a post-September 11 context. He also has published op-ed articles on Africa and development issues for The Washington Post and several other newspapers. A recent edition of American Legacy magazine carries a feature article Lowther wrote on the roots of the back-to-Africa movement, which is based, in part, on research during his Fellowship year.

Elizabeth Pond ’77, a Berlin-based journalist, is the author of Friendly Fire: The Near-Death of the Transatlantic Alliance, published by the Brookings Institution Press and the European Union Studies Association. She is currently writing a book on the Balkans war.

Bob Williams ’02, senior writer for the Center for Public Integrity, received an award from the Online News Association last year in its enterprise journalism category for “Well Connected,” the center’s look into the cozy relationship between the FCC and the broadcast industry. The center’s work has already sparked two investigations by the General Accounting Office and two Congressional hearings. “As for the future,” Williams says, “I have been turned loose on the oil companies for the next year. Hoping to find some groundbreaking stories in this new role.”

At Casa Rosada with Argentina’s President

Argentine President Nestor Kirchner (center, second row) and his wife, Senator Christina Fernandez de Kirchner (center, front), and Alberto Fernandez, Chief of Cabinet (front, fourth from left) meet and brief the Knight-Wallace Fellows.

Michigan is for Lovers!

Jiri Nadoba ’03 and Eliska Karhanova wed on August 2, 2003 in Pilsen, Czech Republic. Pilsen beer was flowing, but there wasn’t enough to entice any fellow Fellows to make the trip.

Scott Huler ’03 and June Spence got hitched on November 29, 2003 in Raleigh, N.C., with four KWFers in attendance.

Michelle York ’03 and Frank Polvino tied the knot on October 11, 2003 in South Bristol, N.Y. at a writer’s retreat with six fellow Fellows witnessing the affair.