Editing Class

Kofi Jahi Adisa, originally from Washington, D.C., is working at The Washington Post as a night-side copy aide. He has worked for The Post on and off for nearly 11 years. As a copy aide, Kofi is responsible for answering phones, downloading and proofing the weather page, and the dissemination of page proofs to various copy desks in the newsroom. He spends most of his days writing fiction and reading novels, news magazines and e-journals.

Mary Ambrose is managing editor for New America Media. She has covered politics, culture and sports as a broadcaster, reporter and writer in both her native Canada and for 12 years in England. Her work has appeared on CBC, BBC, ABC, NPR, PRI and Radio Netherlands as well as various U.S., English and Canadian newspapers and magazines. She has been in San Francisco since 2005. At NAM, she works with in-house editors who aggregate and translate articles from the ethnic media, and with writers - most of whom speak English as a second language - on stories that cover our mandated beats: education, environmental justice, health and immigration. She also produces a weekly radio program on a local public radio station that focuses on stories by and about various ethnic communities.

Larry Avila is business editor of The Post-Crescent, a daily newspaper serving northeastern Wisconsin. Avila, a Michigan native and graduate of Central Michigan University in Mt. Pleasant, Mich., has worked as a journalist since 1990, serving in reporting, editing and newsroom management roles throughout his career. He has received several accolades from newspaper associations in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Dorine Bethea worked as an assistant county editor for the Orlando Sentinel before returning to New Jersey, her home state, about a year ago. She was a faculty member at the University of Missouri-Columbia, Missouri School of Journalism, and a teaching editor in the Columbia Missourian newsroom. Prior to her two-year stint at MU, Dorine spent several years reporting for the Richmond Times-Dispatch. In 1997, she spent five weeks on assignment in Tanzania after receiving the National Association of Black Journalists Ethel Payne Fellowship in foreign reporting. Dorine is a longtime NABJ member. She has participated in seminars on leadership, management, storytelling and teaching at the Poynter Institute for Media Studies, API and the Tribune Co.

Carrie E. Dodson is a Texas native and Air Force brat. She graduated from Miami University in Ohio and spent 2 years teaching Language Arts on the Navajo reservation in Arizona. She now works as a copy editor and page designer for the Waco Tribune-Herald, where she divides her time between the daily Living section and a monthly magazine, Waco Today.

Andres F. Escolar, a native of Colombia, South America, works as a news designer/copy editor for the Savannah Morning News, in Savannah, Ga. Andres started as an intern in 2005 and after graduation became a full-time employee. His job consists of coming up with ideas to better display information and tell stories to careful Savannah readers. He also makes sure the print product is consistent with his paper's chosen design and copy style, and he ensures that the Web site reflects the contents of the daily print product.

Theresa Hegel has worked as a copy editor at The Intelligencer, a daily in Doylestown, Pa., since January 2005. In addition to editing stories and writing headlines, she designs A1 four times a week. She is also the designer for UNscripted, a weekly tab section written by and for area teenagers. She helped launch the section last year and designed the overall look of it, as well as creating various logos and standing elements. Before The Intelligencer, she spent about four years as a page designer at The Vindicator, a newspaper in Youngstown, Ohio. She was also the books editor at that paper, and in addition to editing and designing the weekly books page, she frequently wrote reviews and interviewed authors with local ties.

Tamaria L. Kulemeka was recently promoted to the position of assistant local desk editor at the Lancaster Eagle-Gazette in Lancaster, Ohio. Her duties include assisting the desk editor in daily tasks such as editing reporters’ articles and managing the desk in his absence. She is also a reporter, with a focus on enterprise reporting. She coordinates content and generates exclusive stories for the newspaper’s Back to Business section and a special monthly publication titled Fairfield Business Monthly.

Mark Morey has been a reporter in Washington state since 1996. He first worked for news radio station KONP in Port Angeles, then moved across the parking lot to the Peninsula Daily News. In 2001, he came to the Yakima Herald-Republic, where he has worked as a bureau reporter and night cops reporter.

Brian Wasson has always loved writing. From his childhood journal days to his current position as a copy editor/designer at The News & Observer in Raleigh, N.C., he’s always had an affinity for the craft. He is responsible for budgeting stories for, designing and editing a weekly section of the paper called The Durham News. A 2004 graduate of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, he has lived in North Carolina all of his life.