browser icon
You are using an insecure version of your web browser. Please update your browser!
Using an outdated browser makes your computer unsafe. For a safer, faster, more enjoyable user experience, please update your browser today or try a newer browser.

Author Archives: Emily

In Pork We Trust

About 12 years ago, Champaign, Ill., resident Laurence Mate discovered charcuterie, the art of cooked meat. He now cooks any meat that’s available in central Illinois, from geese to lamb to beef to buffalo, but his particular passion is the pig. In charcuterie lingo, the pig is considered king: Almost every part of the animal can be cooked and eaten — unless, of course, you keep Kosher, in which case the animal is completely worthless nutritionally. (Ironically, Mate’s wife is Jewish, although I believe, and hope for the sake of their marriage, that she eats pork.)

Click below to see an interactive pig that I made using Adobe Audition, Illustrator and Flash. The accompanying story, which was published in Champaign-Urbana’s online magazine, Smile Politely, can be found here. A full-page spread, which I designed using Adobe Illustrator and InDesign, can be found here.

Click here for the interactive pig

Click here to see the interactive pig. Opens in new window.

Categories: Uncategorized | Leave a comment

GoPink!DC

I met Gail Messier at Cure By Design D.C. last summer. She came up to me while I was taking pictures for Scripps Howard Foundation Wire backstage and just started talking. She was going to walk down the runway holding a big paddle — a dragon boat paddle, she clarified, because she was on a team of inspirational breast cancer survivors and supporters who paddled together. The women transformed their inner strength into physical strength — competitively.

Later that summer, I met an editor at the Washington Post over coffee, and she asked me on the spot to pitch a story. I told the editor about Gail and her breast cancer dragon boat team. A few phone calls, interviews and dragon boat practices later, my article and several photos were published in the Washington Post’s local section in late August, with Gail in the lead.

Gail gave me several of her poems about breast cancer. The lines got cut from the Washington Post version, but they are included in the version I wrote for Scripps Howard. She embraced her survivorship and wanted to inspire others to do the same.

A teammate emailed me recently to tell me Gail passed away in late January after her breast cancer came back. These photos are dedicated to her life and memory.

Click the i in the upper left corner of the slideshow to see captions.

  • The team warms up. The dragon head, foreground, adorns the boat during races. © 2012 Emily Siner
  •  Head coach David Winter steers the dragon boat during a practice. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • The women practice twice a week and compete with teams from around the country. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • Leslie Caplan yells out drills and pointers to the team at practice in August 2012. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • GoPink!DC is composed of breast cancer survivors and their supporters. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • Leslie Caplan yells out drills and pointers to the team at practice in August 2012. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • The dragon head adorns the boat during races. © 2012 Emily Siner
Categories: Multimedia Portfolio | 1 Comment

Breast cancer survivors forge bond through dragon boat racing

Originally published in the Washington Post Local Living section. An alternate version was posted on shfwire.com.

The women on GoPink!DC stretch before getting in the boat. Before every race, they adorn the boat with a dragon head and tail, a tradition that originated in China. Photo by Emily Siner

The first time Gail Messier saw a dragon, she was lying on a thin, hard table in a hospital room. A machine hovered over her chest. It was huge and smooth and radiated over her body with an invisible heat that made her raw.

Chemotherapy, surgery and now radiation — her treatment hurt, but it was saving her life. It was like a dragon, she imagined. And she was a warrior, slaying her breast cancer with it. Read more »

Categories: Scripps Howard Archives | Leave a comment

Election, sequestration bring uncertainty to Va. county’s growing economy

Originally published on shfwire.com for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire

Jacquie Lopez owns Cock & Bowl, a 2-year-old European bistro in Old Town Occoquan.

PRINCE WILLIAM COUNTY, Va. – It was a particularly mild Friday, and Jacquie Lopez was sitting outside of the restaurant she and her husband own. A ukulele player strummed a Sara Bareilles cover to entertain the handful of customers lunching on pommes frites and tomato-basil quiche. Live music, French food, black-and-white-checkered tablecloths – this is her American dream. Read more »

Categories: Scripps Howard Archives | Comments Off

Environmental officials examine Clean Air Act from state perspective

Originally published in the Anderson Independent Mail and on shfwire.com for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire.

Air quality officials Thomas Easterly, left, of Indiana, Brad Poirez, of Southern California, and Robert King, of South Carolina, tell a House subcommittee Tuesday that states need more flexibility to enforce the Clean Air Act. Photo by Emily Siner

A South Carolina health official joined his counterparts from across the country this week and said that the Clean Air Act should be amended to give state and local governments more authority.

Robert King, deputy commissioner of the South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control, was one of eight air quality officials who spoke Tuesday at a congressional forum hosted by Rep. Edward Whitfield, R-Ky., chairman of the Energy and Power Subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. Read more »

Categories: Scripps Howard Archives | Comments Off

U.S. has moral obligation to prevent genocide, Clinton says

Originally published on shfwire.com for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

WASHINGTON – Two-thirds of Americans believe that genocide is preventable, and 78 percent support U.S. military action in stopping genocide or mass atrocities, according to a poll released Tuesday by the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said that the United States has a moral obligation to fight genocide through “prevention and partnership.” She spoke at a symposium hosted by the Holocaust Museum. Read more »

Categories: Scripps Howard Archives | Comments Off

Cure By Design D.C.

Cure By Design D.C., a fundraiser for the American Cancer Survivor on June 25, gave cancer survivors the chance to be runway models for a night. Read the full story here.

Click the i in the upper left corner of the slideshow to see captions.

  • Carmen Arregoces de Radke, who was diagnosed with DCIS breast cancer three years ago, gets her hair done before the show. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • Arregoces de Radke tries on an outfit by designer Luis Machicao. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • Virginia-based designer Sondra Falk makes last minute adjustments before the runway show. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • Cure By Design D.C. showcased 39 models, from age 2 to 71 -- all of whom are cancer survivors. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • The makeup artist's arsenal. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • Jaylen Kalia Chavis, age 2, sits in the makeup artist's chair to get prepped for the show. She had mesoblastic nephroma but is now cancer free. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • After a hesitant start, Jaylen struts down the runway. © 2012 Emily Siner
  • The 39 models raise their glasses during the finale of Cure By Design. The event was expected to raise more than $200,000 for the American Cancer Society. © 2012 Emily Siner

 

The accompanying video follows three of the models in Cure By Design: Brandon Ledford, Carmen Arregoces de Radke and Sheryl Gary.

Categories: Multimedia Portfolio | Tags: , , , | Leave a comment

Obama welcomes Baylor, NCAA women’s basketball champions

Originally published on shfwire.com for the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire.

Obama welcomed the NCAA champions to the White House and praised team members for their community work. Photo by Emily Siner

WASHINGTON – President Barack Obama filled out his bracket for the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in March with Baylor University’s Lady Bears as the winning team.

Four months later, he congratulated the NCAA champions in person at the White House. Read more »

Categories: Scripps Howard Archives | Tags: , , , , | Comments Off