about angel

i happen to have written in the past and it's been some time. i put in the towel on journalism. but amid
daily to dos and longer-term to dos, i had a chance to watch a slide show i put together two years ago. it was about a demolition contractor.
in a minute or so, the audience heard of how he was trying to drum up work, how he wouldn't give up once he started the ball rolling. he talked about how he
was looking for his chance.
i hoped he got that chance years ago.
what you didn't hear, according to him, was that he was an enforcer of sorts who beat people up with his fists, who was called upon to be the muscle for
various gangs or groups; there were stories of his temper and how hot headed he was; how he changed after his daughter was born and that he misses her; there was the stint in jail for his crimes. there was a lot more to the man than simply someone posting flyers in a neighborhood of chicago -- his puerto rican heritage; how he was loved by the old ladies in his neighborhood yet feared by caucasians in other neighborhoods; then the stories surfaced of how he disarmed those same people with his well-mannered speech and behavior; the talk of wall eye (sp) , in his words, "Delicious."
there are still some cob webs there, but i had to share that there's more to the man than the brief slide show presented of him.
and yes, at this moment, i miss those moments of being a journalist. not that i can't find or experience them as someone out of the newspaper field. but nostalgia bites you when you least expect it. here's to those still trying to tell the stories that need to be told, regardless of profession or the source of their paycheck.

Two videos

I was fortunate to work on two videos within the past few months.

The first was a team effort with me and a photographer with the paper who was nice enough to shoot some video on short notice. unfortunately, i can't seem to find the link but this goes to the text story.

The other was a largely solo effort with editing help (thank you tom!) at the end.
It's about a local artist and an upcoming documentary about art cars.

http://www.northjersey.com/multimedia/video_player/?firstGallery=0&playVideo=http://dng.northjersey.com/media_server/tr/2009/10/15artcar/artcar_430.flv

My first video work

I was covering a rally by school district employees seeking a new contract. I had the camera and video capabilities. So I shot my first video. Luckily, a coworker, Tom, was nice enough to edit it into something worthwhile at the very end of the day when he was getting ready to go home. Looking forward to doing my own share of editing in the future. Thanks again Tom!

Here's the link:
http://www.northjersey.com/multimedia/video/41174302.html

Angel Pagan revisited

I redid the audio of Angel's slideshow. He shared so much with me that day, such as upcoming propeller project, his temper and how used to get into fights, how he was put into jail a number of time when he was younger, his relationship with people in his old neighborhood, his interest in others and how some view him negatively. But I tried to expand on what he does for a living. The first try was only about hopes and dreams and didn't have enough substance. Hopefully this is an improvement although I still need to work on the sequence of photos.

making way for townhouses

my second attempt. i ran into a few problems with this one (a little rusty with the software, audacity didn't want to work for me), plus the reporting was incomplete, at least in terms of audio. but here it is. the back story: the owner of a 26 acre property is moving forward with a plan to build 69 townhouses after a developer backed out. residents oppose it but local and state authorities have already ok-ed the development. i spoke with a contractor who was standing by while a colleague picked up 20 to 30 foot trunks with a crane.

UPDATE: sizing problems. i'll have to fix that. argh

Angel Pagan at work

This is my first attempt at a slide show. I met Angel in the Bronzeville section of Chicago while he was hard at work putting up flyers for his business. He was nice enough to let me follow him around for the better part of two hours. I actually want to revisit the audio because there's so much more he shared that I feel should be a part of it. So that'll probably be part two.