Staff Bios
Crosstown Chronicle is a Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism publication. Our content is written and produced by Ruth Padawer and Pam Frederick’s Fall 2011 Reporting and Writing class. Crosstown Chronicle reports on four of New York City’s boroughs.
Adrian Baumann
AdrianRFB@gmail.com | @adbaumann
Born and raised in Los Angeles County, Adrian Fernandez Baumann is currently working towards his M.S. in Journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He studied anthropology at the University of California Berkeley, finishing his studies in 2007. During college and in the intervening years he held a series of odd jobs including, bus boy, gardener, waiter, substitute high school teacher, sheet metal worker, sailboat repairman, deckhand on a fishing boat in Alaska, grocery store stocker and cashier, census worker, handyman, carpenter’s apprentice and plumber’s assistant. He looks forward to adding journalist to that list.
Anne Cohen
annecohen2177@gmail.com | @anneesthercohen
Anne Cohen was born in Boston and raised in Montreal, Canada. She is currently a magazine concentrator at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism. Prior to that, she attended McGill University, graduating in 2011 with a double major in history and political science. She loves to travel and explore new places, and hopes to apply those passions in her journalism career. Her interests also include public health and gender issues, arts and culture. Though she’s loving New York, she still thinks Montreal bagels are better.
Cory Bennett
cory.l.bennett@gmail.com | @cory_bennett
Originally from Chicago, Cory Bennett has been a journalist since high school. Cory received a bachelor’s degree in government at Cornell University, where he served two years on the editorial board at the Cornell Daily Sun. After spending a year as the marketing and public relations director for a Boston-based nonprofit working with youth in foster care, Bennett moved to New York City and worked as a freelance writer and as the senior editor of a trade publication. His stories have appeared in Newsday, Poughkeepsie Journal, Gotham Gazette and the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.
Lani Conway
anela.lani.conway@gmail.com | @laniconway
Lani Conway is a freelance writer from the San Francisco Bay Area with an interest in art, music, travel, cultural trends and everything in between. Her work has been featured in The New York Times, Good Times Santa Cruz and Patch.com. She graduated from the University of California Santa Cruz in 2008 with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish literature and is currently student at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism in the magazine concentration. When not wandering the globe, Conway can be found listening to music, sipping on a warm café con leche or plotting her next excursion abroad.
Elizabeth Dilts
ead2159@columbia.edu | @eadilts
Elizabeth Dilts came to Columbia from Shanghai, China, where she worked as an editor with the English-language City Weekend magazine. Prior to that, Dilts spent a year in Nanjing, China, with a bilingual, Mandarin-English magazine and a stint in Tianjin, China, with a business publication. Looking to use her Mandarin back in the United States, Dilts is covering Flushing, Queens, one of New York’s four Chinatowns. A native of Gary, Ind., Dilts received her bachelor’s degree in journalism at Indiana University. While in China, she reported on Internet usage among young adults and the education issues faced by multi-ethnic children raised in China. Dilts’ favorite report led her to profile 15 people of Chinese heritage who live abroad for years, but were drawn back to China because of their sense of patriotism.
Gerren Keith Gaynor
gkg2107@columbia.edu | @MrGerrenalist
Gerren Keith Gaynor is a student at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, he received his bachelor’s degree in English from Morehouse College, where he served as managing editor of its student newspaper, The Maroon Tiger. Before coming to Columbia, Gaynor worked for NewsOne.com, where he interviewed Reggie Brown, the infamous “Obama Impersonator,” former Iowa State Senator Jeff Angelo and New York Councilman Charles Barron. Some of his original stories and commentaries were featured on The Grio, TheLoop21, BET.com, The Daily Beast and Hip Hop Wired. Gaynor has guest blogged for “A Belle In Brooklyn,” the blog of Demetria Lucas, relationship editor for Essence magazine, and has appeared as a guest on Fox News Atlanta.
Gauri Gharpure
gauri.gharpure@gmail.com | @gaurigharpure
Gauri Gharpure is a Fulbright scholar in the master’s degree magazine program at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She worked as a copy editor at The Times of India, Kolkata, from 2008 to 2010. She also writes poems, profiles and articles on food and culture for her personal blog, Life Rules. Gharpure’s goal is to write compelling human-interest features on marginalized segments of society, such as women, children and senior citizens. Her aim is to produce sensitive long-form writing that can make readers a little more tolerant and a little more grateful.
Mackenzie Issler
mdi2103@columbia.edu | @mackenzieissler
Mackenzie Issler covered education, health and human services for five years at The Recorder, a daily newspaper in western Massachusetts. While there, she traveled to Haiti twice, where she volunteered in a medical clinic and helped build homes. She hopes to return to Haiti as a journalist. Issler grew up in Kinderhook, N.Y., a small town outside of Albany. She has four brothers and loves to watch the New York Yankees and New York Giants with them. Issler is studying newspaper writing and investigative journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. She covers Crown Heights, Brooklyn, for the Crosstown Chronicle.
Charu Kasturi
csk2147@columbia.edu | @CharuKasturi
Charu Kasturi is studying at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism on a sabbatical from the Hindustan Times, India’s second-largest English daily, where he reports for the national political bureau. He has previously worked with The Telegraph, India’s fourth-largest English daily. Though he has focused on education, gender and science, Kasturi has also reported in depth on politics, and has covered national and provincial elections. In 2008, he reported on the Mumbai terrorist attacks. Kasturi often appears as a panelist on LokSabha TV, a national public network. He graduated with an M.S. in physics from the Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi, in 2006.
Ilana Kowarski
ilanakowarski@gmail.com | @IlanaKowarski
Ilana Kowarski went to the school where fun goes to die, the University of Chicago, but she survived. She fondly remembers brutal Midwestern winters and late-night study sessions. Since graduating from college in 2010, Ilana has interned at The Christian Science Monitor, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and NEA Today. She has written about education, labor issues, and the arts. Ilana was a book reviewer and theater critic for Newcity Magazine and a staff writer at her college newspaper, The Chicago Maroon. When Ilana is not reporting, she enjoys singing Broadway show tunes.
Wyatt Marshall
wbm2108@columbia.edu | @wyattmarshall1
Wyatt Marshall graduated in 2009 from Carleton College with a B.A. in History. In 2010, he moved to New York City where he is a concert photographer and a student at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism, focusing on magazine journalism. A Maryland native, Wyatt enjoys city life, travel, and a good book.
Vikram Patel
vp2255@columbia.edu | @vikrampatelnews
Vikram Patel is currently working towards his master’s degree at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism. Before moving to New York, he worked as a special education classroom assistant for Chicago Public Schools while pursuing a master’s degree in secondary English education at DePaul University. Prior to that, he worked at a boutique bankruptcy law firm, where he discovered the joys of LexisNexis. He earned his bachelor’s in political science from the University of Illinois at Chicago, his hometown, in 2007.
Neha Prakash
nehaprakash05@gmail.com | @nehapk
Neha Prakash entered her first newsroom in high school and ever since has painstakingly tried to convince others of the merits of old-school newspapers. She studied journalism and political science at The Pennsylvania State University. For three years, she reported for The Daily Collegian — Penn State’s student-run newspaper — covering student government and business. She interned at AOL Health/The Huffington Post working in website content management. She has yet to succumb to the power of digital media; she is now in the newspaper concentration at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. And despite the allure of the audio slideshow, she still believes in print media.
Jenny Rogers
jmrogers07@gmail.com | @jmrogers11
Jenny Rogers is currently working towards her master’s degree at Columbia’s School of Journalism with a concentration in magazines. She was born and raised in Texas and spent her freshman year of college at the University of Texas before transferring to Georgetown University in Washington, D.C.. There, she studied English and art history and regularly walked Jack, Georgetown’s bulldog mascot. She spent time as a student teacher’s aide in a D.C. charter school and wrote editorials and campus news for The Hoya, the university paper. She enjoys painting and spending rainy days wandering in New York’s museums.
Chase Scheinbaum
css2161@columbia.edu | @CScheinbaum
Chase Scheinbaum is a former staff reporter for a Massachusetts daily newspaper. His work has also appeared in Men’s Journal, New York Daily News, and Urban Climber. His interests include biology, politics, health, and adventure. His favorite publications are The New York Times, Esquire, New York Magazine and Slate. Originally from Los Angeles, Scheinbaum graduated from Hampshire College in 2005. He is studying magazine journalism at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Among his favorite foods are smoked mackerel and fresh mango — but never together. Scheinbaum covers Highbridge for Crosstown Chronicle.
Billy Shannon
wis2105@columbia.edu | @billy_shannon
Billy Shannon is a student at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, for which he covers East Harlem. Originally from New York’s Hudson Valley, he earned a B.A. in English from Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts in the Berkshire Mountains in 2011. While there, he became editor-in-chief of the college’s student newspaper and an intern at the North Adams Transcript, a daily newspaper. He worked as a sports reporter for Hudson-Catskill Newspapers before relocating to New York City.
Linda Thompson
lat2131@columbia.edu
Linda is studying magazine journalism at Columbia’s Graduate School of Journalism on a Fulbright grant and a fellowship from the Belgian American Educational Foundation. Covering the arts and culture for an online publication, Linda began writing as an undergrad, interviewing everyone from local fashion designers to international music artists. She completed her final undergrad year at the University of Kent in Canterbury (U.K.) and later obtained her master’s degree in English. Born and raised in Europe’s administrative heart, Brussels, she speaks and writes English, Dutch and French fluently. In her spare time, she looks to Zadie Smith for prose food, Ariel Levy for feminist food and Nigella Lawson for actual food.
Hristina Tisheva
hristina.tisheva@gmail.com | @soddisfazione
Hristina Tisheva is from Bulgaria but her favorite language is Italian. Her favorite city is Amsterdam. She hungers to visit Singapore, and dreams of living in Sidney. Her professional background is in radio. For two years she hosted a four-hour morning talk show. Before that, she worked at the radio station at the American University in Bulgaria, where she completed her bachelor’s degree in journalism and political science. She enjoys sports except for football and golf. She is currently a student at the Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.