Reports From Our Fellows Archives

Here’s what we asked this year’s class of Fellows to ponder: What is your fellowship project? What are you really doing on your Fellowship? What is the one thing you’ve done this year that you never would have predicted? How does journalism look now that you’ve been out of it for six months?

Truth & Consequences

We wanted to know what the class of 2001 was up to this year, so we asked them a series of probing questions.

Fellows come to the University with specific projects in mind, but those plans often change once the Fellows get to Ann Arbor and experience all that the campus has to offer. Changes of course are not unusual during an MJF year. The 2001 class was somewhat of an exception:

CAROLINA BRUNSTEIN, staff writer, Clarin (Buenos Aires)

1. Stated project: Racism and ethnic conflicts.
2. Actual project: I have pretty much done what I was supposed to — take courses in sociology, anthropology, history, and political science as well as Latin American history.
3. Wild card: I’m taking a closer look at Jewish immigration in the U. S. and Argentina between the 1880s and 1930s. I’m trying to go back to my roots and learn a little more about Judaism, something that has been eroding in my family.
4. Whence journalism? Being out of the newsroom was good. But I want to go back to my everyday writing. I really enjoy doing interviews and writing, even if I criticize the way the news is presented or the way stories are covered.

EUN-RYUNG CHONG, culture desk reporter, The Dong-A Ilbo Newspaper (Seoul)

1. Stated project: Journalism in the digital age.
2. Actual project: Agonize over myself as an individual and as a journalist.
3. Wild card: Thanks to my fellow Fellows, I have gradually recovered my belief in friendship.
4. Whence journalism? I’d like to challenge my skepticism that news reporting is nothing more than a business.

RICHARD COLVIN, education writer, Los Angeles Times

1. Stated project: Children who were successful academically despite being reared in traumatic conditions.
2. Actual project: I did study this. In addition, I’ve managed to write the first chapter of a book about the family of a childhood friend, study Shakespeare, polish my Spanish, and do a lot of running, swimming, and weight-lifting.
3. Wild card: Leg press 510 pounds. Do two sets of 50 push-ups every morning.
4. Whence journalism? Journalism looks like a grand opportunity again: A grand opportunity to take what one has learned and participate in the passing cavalcade of events and ideas, and perhaps now and then even lead the parade in a new direction.

CAROLINE FINNIGAN, world affairs producer, BBC (London)

1. Stated project: Investigative journalism, its roots and social impact.
2. Actual project: The above in the first semester, along with modern art and mass culture and now documentary film.
3. Wild card: Gone cross-country skiing and ice skating and fallen in love with both.
4. Whence journalism? On the whole, with very few exceptions (in the U. K. as well as the U. S. ), not in a very good state.

ANDREA GUTHMANN, associate producer, WTTW-TV (Chicago)

1. Stated project: The legacy of the Cold War on the developing world.
2. Actual project: I’m really investigating the impact that the media can have in emerging democracies.
3. Wild card: I’m putting together a proposal for a documentary on journalists who’ve been killed in the line of duty and the impact that silencing the media has on different countries where it has occurred.
4. Whence journalism? I find myself very optimistic about the journalism profession, far more than I was a year ago. I take more pride in my profession as a result of this fellowship.

SUSAN HOOPER, staff writer, The Honolulu Advertiser

1. Stated project: Regional socio-economic development issues, including poverty and the income gap in the United States and the impressive recent economic turnaround of the Republic of Ireland.
2. Actual project: I am studying regional economic development issues, but on a global rather than a national level. I am also taking classes in jazz piano and fiction writing.
3. Wild card: I was thrown from a horse while visiting an estancia near Buenos Aires, and I broke a bone in my elbow.
4. Whence journalism? Much safer than a fellowship!

DEBORAH HOWLETT, Midwest reporter, USA Today

1. Stated project: I’m studying the eventual superiority of female marathon runners. It’s part of my study of "gender biology," a relatively new field that looks at the biological and physiological differences between women and men.
2. Actual project: I’ve also taken some fiction writing workshops and an e-commerce class where I’m involved in what I hope becomes a new Internet start-up.
3. Wild card: I studied gross anatomy with first-year medical students, including dissecting a cadaver.
4. Whence journalism? I feel re-energized about journalism in a way I haven’t felt since my first few years in the profession.

DOUGLAS JOHNSON, producer/ on-air host, C-Span Networks

1. Stated project: The historic interplay between faith and politics in America, specifically how broadcasters have addressed these issues.
2. Actual project: Truth be told, I’m actually doing that.
3. Wild card: Taking carillon lessons. This spring I will give a public concert on the Burton Tower carillon!How cool is that?
4. Whence journalism? Listening to the experiences of my colleagues has reinforced my belief that there is no one "journalism" but many different journalisms. The professional choices ahead of me have expanded many times over, and I’m eager to get back at it.

EDUARDO JUNQUEIRA, assistant editor, EPOCA (news weekly, Brazil)

1. Stated project: How journalism can play a role in education.
2. Actual project: I’m taking courses at the School of Education and working with a group to design new educational software. I’m also taking courses in anthropology, Tibetan Buddhism, and screenwriting.
3. Wild card: Sorry, nothing that special.
4. Whence journalism? Very superficial.

JASON KAUFMAN, freelance writer, Cambridge, MA

1. Stated project: Considering whether the government should fund the arts.
2. Actual project: Reading (Ulysses first semester, Thomas Mann the second), taking classes in the First Amendment and Welfare Policy at the Law School, doing a commentary for the radio station on government funding of culture, giving talks to Art & Architecture graduate students, curating projects at the University museum, learning to draw, taking up the flute again after 15 years, and spending a lot of time developing friendships of the sort I missed as a freelancer.
3. Wild card: Abstained from sex for months on end.
4. Whence journalism? I’m seeking a position that enables me to travel widely to see the world’s most notable arts exhibitions, and to review them for a large and literate audience.

KATHLEEN KERWIN, Detroit bureau chief, Business Week

1. Stated project: The reshaping of American business by the Internet, the role of design in the auto business, and the impact of globalization.
2. Actual project: The revelation for me has been fiction writing. Having the time to write, think, and explore new ideas has been invaluable.

3. Wild card: I’ve been constantly surprised by the unexpected connections between diverse ideas. The freedom to study a variety of disciplines gives us a rare opportunity to discover such links, which open up whole new ways of looking at the world.
4. Whence journalism? I needed the chance to step out of the rat race to appreciate again what it is that I love about journalism.

RICHARD LEIBY, staff writer, The Washington Post

1. Stated project: Applying literary techniques to investigative journalism.
2. Actual project: Applying literary techniques to my own short stories and screenplays.
3. Wild card: Took tango lessons in a sweaty Armenian dance hall in Buenos Aires, after maximum alcoholic inducement and with moderate success.
4. Whence journalism? Future cloudy, ask again later. The magic 8-ball cannot process the looming reality of a return to daily journalism.

JON MORGAN, sports-business writer, The Baltimore Sun

1. Stated project: Public subsidies and accommodations of the private sports industry.
2. Actual project: I’m taking classes and independent study on the topic, but also repaying my family for a lifetime’s worth of late nights at the office. I was surprised to learn, for example, that I have three children and that they are pretty wonderful. Also, it turns out my wife is pretty wonderful too.
3. Wild card: We’ve found a family tap dancing class and plan to attend as soon as our daughter’s basketball season ends.
4. Whence journalism? Journalism? What’s that?

MILTON PRIGGEE, editorial cartoonist for The Spokesman-Review (Spokane, WA)

1. Stated project: Learn how to animate my editorial cartoons for the Internet.
2. Actual project: See answer #1 and http: //www. miltpriggee. com
3. Wild card: Drawing on a computer. I have learned that now is the time to make the final jump into the digital world and say good-bye to the 18 th century.
4. Whence journalism? One word — transition. Journalism is trying to redefine itself as we enter into an ever increasingly technological world of communication.

BRUCE STRONG, staff photographer, The Orange County (CA)Register.

1. Stated project: Using art and journalism in developing community leadership.
2. Actual project: I’ve developed business and organizational skills through classes such as managing the nonprofit enterprise, new venture start-ups, and e-commerce;I’ve also developed my creative side through classes in digital video, painting, and computer animation.
3. Wild card: The extent to which I’ve enjoyed getting to know the other Fellows.
4. Whence journalism? Journalism still looks good, but after meeting so many great speakers and leaders, my job seems rather small.

PATRICIA VILA, producer/bureau manager, CNN (Havana)

1. Stated project: Freedom of the press in South America and the United States.
2. Actual project: American history and writing.
3. Wild card: I moved back to the United States July 28th and started the program in September. Needless to say, assimilating back to life in the United States took some time, and the Fellowship helped me do it. I have also spent time at the University’s Sweetland Writing Center working on dream number two, which is writing a book about Cuba.
4. Whence journalism? I had thought about leaving the business. Now I feel energized, and I love it. Breaking news, here I come.

YUMI WILSON, city hall reporter, San Francisco Chronicle

1. Stated project: Campaign finance reform. Though I have taken several courses, the topic is not my passion.
2. Actual project: I’m trying to write a book that explores the joys and challenges of growing up biracial in America.
3. Wild card: I would have never called myself an artist because I’ve been a hard-nosed news reporter for so long, and I had never taken a college-level English or creative writing course. But now, I believe I am capable of writing words as poetic as those read in my poetry class.
4. Whence journalism? I don’t want to keep doing journalism the way I did it before. I want to write about things and places that I truly care about, with flair, and for a larger audience.

LENKA ZLAMALOVA, reporter, Mafra-Daily Mlada Fronta Dnes (Czech Republic)

1. Stated project: Comparison of international economies.
2. Actual project: I am looking at international economic policy and law as a business strategy. I am also spending a lot of time looking at the things that developed my own personality and critical view on society.
3. Wild card: There isn’t one thing.
4. Whence journalism? A view from the outside is very useful. It’s time for new ideas about my future career.