October’s Journalism Workshops on Producing a Personality Piece were taught by Gina Chen, a veteran newspaper journalist who is studying for a communications Ph.D at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University.
She has worked at newspapers for 20 years, including the past 15 at The Post-Standard. Since 2007, she was Family Life editor there and blogged about being a mom for the newspapers Web site. She currently blogs at Harvard Universitys Nieman Journalism Lab.
Gina explained that a personality piece is a profile — a story about a person. It is about someone you want to write about and someone who has done something interesting.
Also seen speaking in the video is South Side resident Herbert Williams, a regular contributor to The Stand’s “A Friendly Five” column on local South Side musicians. He speaks about the first column he wrote and how he chose what to include in his write-up. You can read his column here: https://mysouthsidestand.com/?p=505
Two workshops were offered: 6 to 7 p.m. Tuesday, Oct. 13, and 11 a.m. to noon Saturday, Oct. 17, at the South Side Innovation Center.