AitN: May 18, 2020

Damon Winter ’97 wrote and photographed “What Home Means to the Homeless,” which ran in The New York Times on May 15. For the photo essay, Winter asked homeless men and women the question: “Do you have something that brings you joy, something you can’t live without, something that has been with you through the years, something that makes this feel a little more like home?”

NMP

Natalia Mehlman Petrzela ’00

DIANA LEE PHOTOGRAPHY

Historian and marathon runner Natalia Mehlman Petrzela ’00 wrote an article that was published on May 12 in The New York Times. The piece, “Jogging Has Always Excluded Black People,” examines the killing of Ahmaud Arbery, a young black man who was murdered while jogging, and racial disparities in how runners are treated.


Franklin Foer ’96 has an article in the June 2020 issue of The Atlantic, “Putin Is Well on His Way to Stealing the Next Election;” it was posted online on May 12.

PRK_by Philip Montgomery

Patrick Radden Keefe ’99

PHILIP MONTGOMERY

Author Patrick Radden Keefe ’99 launched a new podcast called Wind of Change. From a Deadline article announcing the release: “The eight-part series, which debuts May 11, follows Keefe as he explores a rumor he heard from a source within the CIA: The CIA was behind the 1990 international hit [the Scorpions’ “Wind of Change”]. He will look at spies doing the unthinkable, a secret history of propaganda hidden in pop music, and a maze of government secrets as he attempts to untangle one of the great mysteries of the Cold War.”


On May 6, Stacy Rotner ’99 was profiled in The New York Post for starting GratiFoodNYC, a grassroots initiative which donates meals to frontline healthcare workers. Since then, Rotner launched a partnership with New York Common Pantry to address and fundraise for food insecurity in New York City. GratiFoodNYC has raised nearly $170,000 since its launch on April 4.

The 2020 Pulitzer Prizes were announced on May 4; three alumni were among the finalists. Lisa Friedman ’94 was among the staff of The New York Times nominated in the Public Service category “for exemplary reporting that exposed the breadth and impact of a political war on science, including systematic dismantling of federal regulations and policy”; Russell Gold ’93 is among the staff of The Wall Street Journal nominated in the National Reporting category “for revelatory work showing how a California utility’s neglect of its equipment caused countless wildfires”; and Khadeeja Safdar ’10, JRN’13 is among the staff of The Wall Street Journal nominated in the Investigative Reporting category for “an exhaustive investigation into Amazon.”

Amanda Weiss ’17, SW’20; Jennifer Strauss ’16; and Danni Spencer-Laitt SW’20 recently co-founded a nonprofit startup, WH SeniorLink, which aims to alleviate social isolation among older New Yorkers during the COVID-19 pandemic. Per the website, the goal is to “create a directory of seniors looking for social interaction; create resource lists of services (with versions in Spanish and English) available to seniors who are social distancing; create a network of English- and Spanish-speaking volunteers to ‘buddy’ with seniors and provide a care package, weekly phone call, and a fortnightly letter; [and] facilitate friend match-making for seniors to pair with another senior for mutual support.