A Master of Journalism

May marked the end of my graduate studies at NYU's Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute. I am now officially a "master" of the craft.

I'm glad I decided to go to journalism school -- it helped me move definitively into journalism, and my Portfolio project led to the creation of the Not-So Private Parts. The only downside is that I now have student loan debt for the first time in my life.

Though finished with NYU, I'm already heading back to school: Loyola Law School, to be exact.

(Dramatic pause)

Not for my JD. I'm just attending for four days. Loyola has a Journalist Law School program, for reporters who cover the legal world but lack law degrees. I'm looking forward to a very abbreviated version of law school, a week in Los Angeles, and to not having to take any actual law school exams.

Other big happenings in June: I'm emceeing the Electronic Privacy Information Center's "Champion of Freedoms Award Dinner." EPIC is a non-profit devoted to bringing public attention to emerging privacy and civil liberties issues (image at right courtesy of their site). Given my contrarian views on privacy, this will be an interesting night. Anybody know any good privacy jokes?

Following the dinner, I'll be attending a Privacy Law Scholars Conference at GWU Law School.

So lots of law and lots of privacy next month. A big lesson I learned in journalism school: The mastery of subject areas never ends. Get as far into your niche as you can.

Foolish April

April may be my least favorite month of the year. Though it usually marks the long-awaited arrival of true spring weather, it starts with April 1. April Fools' Day. Aka Everyone-has-an-excuse-to-be-a-jerk day.

I'm not really a prankster type -- my allegiance to sincerity is too strong -- but I do love holidays. So I usually take the lead in coming up with some kind of joke for Above the Law. This year, I presented a racy date between two lawyers. I prefer pranks that contain the reveal, so that you're only fooled if you neglect to read all the way through or to click on a stray link (e.g., TechCrunch's foolery).

But Above the Law played a small part in a massive prank yesterday: a legal blogger claiming to have been chosen by the White House to man a new national law blog. Though some recognized it as an April Fools' joke, the venerable New York Times fell for it.

Though it made Gawker laugh, I feel badly about the Grey Lady's slip and fall. My heart is just not totally into pulling the wool over people's eyes.

I'm in journalism because I want to provide people with information they can rely on. I realize April Fools' Day is an escapist holiday, but pranks that involve the spread of misinformation happen too often in the blogosphere already (e.g., Anyone remember John Roberts's retirement?)

Humans seem to have some innate tendency to believe one another. A day of the year that makes a mockery of that sad, beautiful human condition makes me feel foolishly despairing.

Happy April 2.

Twenty nine of my favorite songs...

...To mark the occasion.

Here are my favorites of 2009/2010:

1) Phoenix - 1901, performed as a La Blogotheque Take Away show in Paris

Phoenix - 1901 - A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque.

2) Dirty Projectors - No Intention, performed live in the XM/Sirius studios


3) Bill Callahan - Too Many Birds


4) Miley Cyrus - Party in the USA

5) Kid Cudi - Day n' Nite

6) Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Hysteric


7) TV on the Radio - Stork and Owl


8) The xx - Islands


Here are some from 2008 (and earlier) that I discovered or listened to a lot in 2009/2010:

9) The Raincoats - No One's Little Girl


10) Nick Cave - Into My Arms


11) The Kills - Tape Song


12) Interpol - Rest My Chemistry

13) Why? - Brook and Waxing


14) The Knux - Daddy's Little Girl


15) Band of Horses - No One's Gonna Love You


16) Band of Horses - Cigarettes & Wedding Bands


17) m83 - you, appearing


18) Digitalism - Pogo

19) Matthew Dear - Deserter


20) Girl Talk - Minute by Minute


And some of my all time favorites:

21) Modest Mouse - Dramamine


22) Mazzy Star - Fade into You


23) John Frusciante - Untitled


24) Pixies - Where is my Mind?

25) Ani DiFranco - Not a Pretty Girl


26) Johnny Cash - Hurt


27) Liz Phair - Fuck and Run


28) Ben Harper - Another Lonely Day


29) Led Zeppelin - Tangerine


I also love this song, but it felt hokey to put it on the list...

The new year brings a not-so new job

At the end of the month, I'm going to be switching from associate editor to editor at Above The Law. Which means I'll be writing a bit more there.

I'll continue to write The Not-So Private Parts. And continue to freelance. (Speaking of, the Washingtonian cover story is now online. And the New York Times asked me to weigh in again at the Room for Debate.) And I have one more class to complete this semester to finish my masters degree -- the "long personal essay" with Perri Klass.

So life is not actually changing that much. But I will be spending more time at the Above The Law office.

In other news, New York is really, really cold.

Why lawyers make so much money [Washingtonian Magazine]

Your boss and your BlackBerry [Room for Debate/New York Times]

The whole world is obsessed with Facebook...

... so my story about Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg's privacy settings fiasco is making the rounds. I'm seeing traffic flowing in from:

-- Germany: "Facebook-Chef Zuckerberg gibt Privatbilder frei" in Golem

-- France: "Le créateur de Facebook s'expose sur son profil" in Figaro Blog's TechNotes and "Le fondateur de Facebook piégé par les nouveaux paramètres "vie privée" du site" in Le Monde

-- England: "Zuckerberg pictures exposed by Facebook privacy roll-back" in the Register

-- Australia: "Privacy overhaul catches Facebook boss" in the Sydney Morning Herald
-- Italia: "Il fondatore di Facebook si mette in piazza, con le sue foto" in Il Corriere

-- Finland: "Facebook-uudistus oli liian sekava jopa Zuckerbergille?" in a publication with a title I can't even read.

The Italian headline is the only one I can confidently translate. It reads, "The founder of Facebook is put in his place, with photos."

And here's a link to the BBC interview I did. Facebook is at 19:00 minute mark.

I'm still waiting for some hits from Asia...

The Newshour [BBC Radio]

Washingtonian Magazine, NYT.com, and BBC's Newshour

The latest (and longest) "real ink" project: the cover story for Washingtonian Magazine's December issue. David Lat and I answered the question: Why do lawyers make so much money?

Though I'm definitely more comfortable in the role of reporter, I'm starting to be asked to play privacy pundit. In November, the New York Times asked me to write a mini op-ed about Tiger Woods and the right to privacy for its Room for Debate blog.

This month, BBC radio asked me to talk about Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook privacy settings for its Newshour, based on this True/Slant post. A Facebook friend reports: "Heard you on the Beeb/NPR yesterday, talking about Mark Zuckerberg's Facebook page, all the way down here in Houston."

I'm Accounting Down the Days to the End of the Recession

Well, I never thought I would have a byline in the UK magazine Accountancy Age. But my law expertise takes me to strange places. I did a piece for them on forensic accounting as it relates to billionaire scammer Allen Stanford's trial:

Allen Stanford may still be grabbing headlines as he awaits trial on charges of fraud worth $8.5bn but it is forensic accountants who will play a prominent role in readying the case for both sides and testifying as expert witnesses.

Forensic accountants’ involvement in American criminal and civil litigation has become more visible because of the sensational nature of recent financial scandals, according to 30-year industry veteran Ronald L. Durkin, senior managing director of specialist accounting firm Durkin Forensic.

Read on at Accountancy Age.

Warning: In case its being in a magazine called "Accountancy Age" didn't give it away, it's a bit drier than my usual stuff.

In other news, this e-mail from the NYU journalism school internship coordinator made me want to throw up in my mouth:

Newsday’s features section, ExploreLI, is looking for a full-time two-year intern interested in reporting Long Island entertainment, nightlife, events and other lifestyle features for the daily section, as well as creating multimedia for Newsday.com and ExploreLI.com. Newsday is one of the nation's largest daily newspapers, serving New York's Long Island area.

A two-year long, full-time internship??? In my crazy world, that's called "a job." Where you pay someone a "real salary" and "health benefits."

I can't wait for the recession to end and for journalists to start having self respect again.