AprilDudash Keeping it on the record.

Multimedia: The Butterfly Hunter

Posted June 19, 2010 at 21:09 in clips

Senior Collections Manager Andrew Warren talked with me about the millions of butterflies stored at the University of Florida McGuire Center. He invited me to spend part of an afternoon hunting butterflies in a field behind the museum.

A 'Lost Boy of Sudan' Dreams of Medical School

Posted June 10, 2010 at 00:12 in clips

During the spring semester, the University of Florida ABC News On Campus bureau was told to work on a final group project. We found a Jacksonville man with an incredible story.

He is a Lost Boy of Sudan, which means he is a survivor of the Sudanese Civil War. His father was murdered before his eyes, and he fled with thousands of other boys from their villages, searching for safety.

Cold Weather Tough on Florida's Manatees

Posted February 23, 2010 at 03:03 in clips

Part of the ABC News On Campus bureau (Vic, Vanessa and myself) traveled down to Crystal River last week to document manatees getting released into the wild.

Univ. of Florida Awaits Tim Tebow Ad

Posted February 1, 2010 at 01:01 in clips

I had an article posted to the ABC News Web site last week regarding Tim Tebow’s controversial Super Bowl advertisement. It was linked on The Drudge Report, the story generated more than 1,200 comments and it was the most e-mailed story on the ABC News site for a few days. Pretty exciting stuff!

New FEMA leader grew up, trained in Alachua County

Posted October 5, 2009 at 00:12 in clips

Mr. Ron Dupont, editor of The North Florida Herald, gave me this great national story opportunity at the beginning of the summer. It was a struggle trying to get an interview with the new FEMA administrator, but it was worth the wait in the end! This story was originally published in The Herald on Aug. 20.

He walked the streets of Alachua in his youth. He walked the hallways of Santa Fe High School.

Now, he walks the halls with President Obama in Washington D.C., working to protect the United States from disaster.

A Voice in the Streets

Posted July 9, 2009 at 11:11 in clips

This was my feature writing final project for the spring semester. I had a blast calling people all over the country who ran these street newspapers. They were very inspiring, and I hope to start up a similar project someday.

Three men with three difficult pasts stand in the streets. One man didn’t have enough money to pay rent, and he couldn’t afford to find a place to sleep at night. The other struggled to find housing while he received money for his disability, but it wasn’t enough to get by. The third man has been homeless for nearly five years. He had gotten in a terrible accident on his Harley, tore up his shoulder and destroyed his ability to find decent work.

Restoring instruments: A lesson in patience and passion

Posted July 8, 2009 at 15:03 in clips

I wrote this for a feature writing class during the spring semester. It was pretty amazing getting to watch them restore string instruments. What patience these people have!

His fingers slid up the black fingerboard of the viola, seeking out notes as he climbed the scale. He adjusted the strings and tried again, this time, his scales switching to a melodic Bach suite. Scattered pieces of string instruments and old tools lay on his work table. To the right of him, a row of dormant, sleek wooden cellos waited to be fully restored to the instruments they had once been.

UPD officers recount amusing calls, bizarre situations

Posted March 6, 2009 at 01:01 in clips

Part Two of my UPD feature came out on the front page of the Alligator today. It can be found here: article.

The safety net

UPD is used to treating UF as a “small city,” one that keeps patrol officers busy with bizarre calls and amusing situations. Sgt. Walt Hamby has had a full–time job with UPD for almost 20 years, which has led to many stories in his patrol arsenal that are usually too “inappropriate” to share, he said.

Never accidentally scare an officer

Posted March 4, 2009 at 23:11 in clips

I am taking a feature-writing course this semester, and the first feature I wrote for class was published on page one of The Independent Florida Alligator today.

The class so far has restructured what I had learned in my Reporting class, and the feeling is a little disorienting, like someone tearing your bedsheets off you while you’re half-asleep. Still dazed and kind of feeling around in the dark, I’ve had to do away with the safe and cozy inverted pyramid and really nitpick at details and different verbs of attribution.

Opponents say Amendment 2 unfair, takes away benefits

Posted February 7, 2009 at 02:02 in clips

Jean Zeeb and her female partner were used to having the legal equivalent of marriage in Vermont.

But once they moved to Florida, Zeeb said she felt their rights had been stripped from them.

“Suddenly, my partner and I are legal strangers to each other again,” she said.

Zeeb is one of many Floridians, homosexual and heterosexual alike, who believe Amendment 2 is a direct threat to state partner benefits, such as hospital visitation, insurance sharing and Social Security benefits.