Moving through Metro

See the video

I was assigned to spend an entire day on the metro, documenting the ebb and flow of passengers' commutes. I did several interviews and originally edited the piece incorporating those interviews. But as I neared the end of the edit, I realized the piece was becoming extremely boring. The comments people made about Metro were not novel sound bytes or expert opinions. People basically said the expected: most are somewhat concerned about their safety but they ride metro anyway because it's their best means of transportation. So instead of sharing thoughts that we all have already heard, I decided to try a more artsy approach. I grabbed some audio clips from Soundtrack Pro and edited the piece to the music. I sped some clips up and slowed some down and tried to create a more emotional scene piece. Here it is.

Wasting Away: The Squandering of D.C.'s AIDS Dollars

Wasting Away: Failing the sick in an ailing city
While the sick languished in alleyways and on park benches in the city with the nation's highest AIDS rate, D.C. government allowed widespread waste and mismanagement to overwhelm the city's AIDS services. A three-part documentary explores some of these groups and the lives impacted by a lack of care.


A House for healing
When Leshelle Hicks came to Joseph's House, a D.C. hospice for people with HIV/AIDS and other terminal illnesses, her health was failing. Today, she believes the program saved her life.

Last Chance High School

At-risk teenagers who have struggled in traditional high school try to make it through tough academic
and physical rigiors of the strict military-style school
Freestate Challenge Academy at Aberdeen Proving Fround in Maryland.

Part 1:

Part 2:

A Great-Grandmother's Love

Gail Ertel cares for her great-granddaughter, McKenzie Campbell, who is blind, autistic and medically fragile. Since McKenzie requires constant attention, Ertel is unable to work and must rely on outside funding to make ends meet.

Racing Against the Odds

Matt Bowie, a T8 paraplegic who lost mobility in his legs due to a spinal cord injury in 1981, races his 1970 Camaro SS using adaptive hand controls at the 75-80 Dragway in Monrovia, Md., every weekend.

No Greater Love

Fish & Politics

Virginians gather in Wakefield to eat shad, drink beer and mingle with gubernatorial candidates Bob McDonnell (R), Brian Moran (D) and Terry McAuliffe (D) at the annual Shad Planking.

Sacred Ground: The Building of the Pentagon Memorial

Assessing Obama's First 100 Days

At the Newseum, the public rates Obama's first months in office.

Resolving Conflict Without Courts

The Community Conferencing Center, a non-profit organization in Baltimore, helps people settle disputes by talking to one another face-to-face.


Drumming for Dialogue is another video I produced for this story.

Presidential Prodigy

Molly O'Hare, 10, a fourth-grader at St. James Catholic School in Falls Church, Va., can list all of the Presidents of the United States in order, backwards and by random number.

Failing the Chesapeake Bay

In communities along the water's edge, where the bountiful estuary empties and the health disolves, residents say the region's culture is also eroding.

The Healing Fields

Hundreds of uninsured and underinsured Americans flock to Wise County, Va., every year to seek treatment at a makeshift field hospital operated by the Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corps. For three days in this isolated corner of Appalachia, a small army of health-care professionals offers medical attention to patients who are not likely to see another doctor or dentist all year. The annual clinic saves lives and alleviates suffering, but in the face of a growing national health-care crisis, it may not be enough.

This project was nominated for a News & Documentary Emmy Award in 2009.


www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/nation/interactives/healingfields/

Voting on Faith and the Fight

Members of Wave Church in Virginia Beach, evangelical Christians who could have a say in the outcome of the presidential election, discuss their views.

Careless Detention

Many immigration detainees endure substandard medical care, but people with mental illness are relegated to the darkest and
most neglected corners of the system.