Birthdays for Saturday, Nov. 28
Here’s wishing the happiest of VizEds birthdays today to five top-notch visual journalists…
Josh Awtry is assistant managing editor for online and visuals at the Salt Lake Tribune in Utah. A 1998 graduate of Hastings College in south central Nebraska, Josh was previously managing editor for presentation at The Independent in Grand Island, Neb. and design director for The Sun News in Myrtle Beach, S.C. Josh turns 34 today.
Phillip Blanchard is a Washington, D.C.-based free-lance editor and the man behind the Testy Copy Editors bulletin board site. He started out as a reporter for a radio station in Schenectady, N.Y., in 1967 and worked his way through stations and newspapers across the state. In 1981, he became assistant city editor of the Schenectady Gazette and then chief slot editor of the Albany Times Union in 1986. In 1989, he moved to the Chicago Sun-Times and then again to the Washington Post in 2000. He left the Post in 2008.
Darla Cameron is a news artist for the St. Petersburg Times. As a student at the University of Missouri, Darla worked as production manager for the Maneater and a designer and infographics teaching assistant at the Columbia Missourian. She also interned at the Tulsa (Okla.) World and served a summer fellowship at the Poynter Institute. She went to work for the Times after she graduated in 2008, producing print and multimedia graphics and editing the paper’s home page two nights a week. Darla turns 24 today.
Keith Kohn is night editor of the Orlando Sentinel. A 1981 graduate of the University of South Florida, Keith spent two years as a writer for the Miami News. He spent 19 years as an editor at the Tampa Tribune and then two years as business editor of the Times Union of Albany, N.Y., before moving to Sentinel in 1999.
Pat Weeden is weather services manager for Weather Central of Madison, Wis. Yes, those are the guys who produce weather maps for many of the nation’s newspapers. If you’ve ever had to call for changes to the format of your weather package, then you probably spoke with Pat. A 1990 graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, Pat has been at Weather Central since 1995. A railway fan, he edits a magazine for the Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society.
Darla, Keith, Josh, Pat and Phillip share a birthday with comedian Jon Stewart; actors Judd Nelson, Ed Harris and Anna Nicole Smith; director Joe Dante; musicians Paul Shaffer, Berry Gordy, Randy Newman and Tremaine Aldon Neverson (better known as Trey Songz) and former senator and presidential candidate Gary Hart.
Plus, today is Make Your Own Head Day. Seriously.
Best wishes to you all for a wonderful, wonderful birthday!