As both an Intern and a Fellow, I was able to report on some big stories, and cover important issues for North Texas. The editors, reporters and photographers I was able to work with irrevocably shaped the type of writer I am today and taught me innumerable things about the craft of storytelling. I’ll be adding additional clips from my DMN days in the weeks to come.

One of the best parts of being a section editor for neighborsgo was my weekly editor’s column. Over the nearly 3 years I ran the section, I evolved from a writer who struggled to speak in first person, to someone who loved using those inches to share what I loved about the community I still call home. For the series, I used my editor’s notes to guide the readers to the series, and explain some of the behind-the-scenes work that went into its creation.

In 2014 I spent several months doing additional reporting on an area I came to call “The Garland Road Corridor.” In a neighborsgo first, I was able to dive deeply into covering the efforts of the city and local community to revitalize the area in a 3-part series that ran in December. It’s one of the projects I am most proud of, because I got to show the community how deeply I cared about reporting on big issues. It was my last big project before leaving the Dallas Morning News. Working with talented editors and photographers, I outlined the story, conducted interviews for 2 months, scheduled aerial and on-ground photography (as well as taking some of the smaller head shots myself), and built out a timeline of the area. It was a massive undertaking on top of my regular duties. It was worth it. Part 1 covers Garland Road and East Dallas.

The resulting story ended up being so lengthy, that when graphics and images were added, each part spanned 2.5 pages of tabloid-sized newsprint. This is the conclusion of Part 1.