tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-84744060954265691182024-03-12T16:21:31.096-07:00BJ RocheInfo for students, clients and colleaguesB.J. Rochehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01474919045023825784noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8474406095426569118.post-24571357243992243402011-07-11T09:19:00.005-07:002021-11-29T10:44:18.671-08:00Writer, gardener, chicken farmer <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3v8n-h-GOHte_Od8uuPI4jFc-AQXiRILhBKRQeWTG0y2bV6y3f30YnqZiokvYoay-z-hyIut-hZ5NUaKJFPHXaC3mr1g8Xhp33IefI9CgYxcW1hFs-ZX13JDBgpxBl0S6FewxyXb6kLNC/s1600/bj1.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3v8n-h-GOHte_Od8uuPI4jFc-AQXiRILhBKRQeWTG0y2bV6y3f30YnqZiokvYoay-z-hyIut-hZ5NUaKJFPHXaC3mr1g8Xhp33IefI9CgYxcW1hFs-ZX13JDBgpxBl0S6FewxyXb6kLNC/s1600/bj1.jpg" width="213" /></a><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">After many years of teaching in the UMass Journalism Department, I retired in June 2020. Thanks to all my great students and terrific colleagues for a good run. </span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">Though I (happily!) no longer have any brand "to build," I'm hoping to start writing again, this time for fun. I'm updating this site and moving it to a new publishing platform, and I have to say two things: one, Blogger (this platform) is a pretty sturdy and intuitive publishing platform. And even though it's not sexy, it gets the job done. It's crazy that Google didn't do more with it. </span></p><p><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">Two: there are SO many more publishing options since my first Fiftyshift site on Drupal 15? 20? years ago. I was inclined to go to Wordpress, since that is what I know, but now I'm looking at Squarespace. Fancier, but it means learning a new system. Wish me luck. Also, I no longer look like this picture. <br /></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial;">You can reach me at roche.bj@gmail.com. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">Meanwhile, for whatever it's worth, <i>I WAS...</i></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: arial;">...a writer, web publisher and senior lecturer in the Journalism Department at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. In 2017, I was named </span><a href="http://www.nenpa.com/awards-recognition/new-england-journalism-educator-of-the-year/" style="font-family: arial;">New England Journalism Educator of the Year</a><span style="font-family: arial;"> by the New England Newspaper Publishers Association, which I love, because it comes from an organization of local publishers all over New England. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I taught Intro to Multimedia, Magazine Writing, and Entrepreneurial Journalism, along with two classes I developed, The First-Year Students Seminar for first-year students, and The Journalism Launchpad, a career development course for sophomores, juniors and seniors.</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";"><br /></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">In fall, 2017, I built a new course called <b>New Models in Covering Communities,</b> in which we'll do a 21st century news startup in the town of Amherst, using social media and other interesting new tools to connect with and cover our community. In this class, we asked: If you were to start a digital-only community news site from scratch in 2017, what would it look like? </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">It turned out to be <a href="https://amherstindie.com/">The Amherst Independent,</a> or "The Indie," which students continued to work on in spring semester as independent studies, and as part of a journalism honors thesis. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I served as advisor for the student-run digital publication, <a href="http://www.amherstwire.com/">Amherstwire,</a> which won the award for <a href="http://www.collegemedia.org/news/article_6e2d34%E2%80%A6">Best Homepage</a> from the College Media Association in 2017. Our editorial team traveled to New York City for the CMA spring conference, visiting the New York Times and a hookah karaoke place on Eighth Avenue. The trip was funded by generous donations from UMass Journalism alumni. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I also served as internship, scholarship and career advisor for journalism students. I help people get jobs. My blog, <a href="http://umassjournalismlaunchpad.blogspot.com/">The Journalism Launchpad,</a> is full of job and internship tips and information for students about the business. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">In 2013, I was named <a href="http://www.umass.edu/sbs/university-sbs-awards/sbs-outstanding-teaching-award">Outstanding Teacher </a>by the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences at UMass. What a kick it was to receive this honor.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I keep up with new developments by getting together with others who teach entrepreneurial journalism, including workshops and conferences. This year I will be attending the Online News Association Conference, along with a student who won a slot in the ONA Student Newsroom. For two years, I served as a <a href="http://colemanfellows.com/">Coleman Fellow, </a> a national program that seeks to improve entrepreneurial teaching outside of the business schools on college campuses around the country. I have attended a gathering of entrepreneurial teachers and practitioners hosted by Jeff Jarvis and Jeremy Caplan at City University of New York Graduate School of Journalism. </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">In 2013, I was a fellow at the <a href="https://cronkite.asu.edu/scrippsinstitute">Scripps Howard Journalism Entrepreneurship Institute,</a> at the Cronkite School at Arizona State University. It was energizing to talk with pros like Mark Briggs, Jeff Jarvis and <a href="http://dangillmor.com/">Dan Gillmor</a> about building out courses in Entrepreneurial Journalism at UMass. I've also attended workshops in teaching and in journalistic entrepreneurship at the Poynter Institute. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";"><a href="http://umassjournalismlaunchpad.blogspot.com/2013/01/the-course-formerly-known-as-magazine.html">Here's a little bit of what I learned. </a> </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">As a writer, I specialize in New England topics, but I also like to travel and write about it. Here's a <a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/magazine/2019/03/14/greece-lesser-known-cyclades-islands-are-made-for-hopping/eJiomGX1WTdcjJ0UmHHBQJ/story.html">recent piece I wrote about island-hopping in Greece</a> for the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine. And they published my photos.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">For more than two decades, I covered western Mass. as a correspondent and worked as a Sunday columnist for The Boston Globe and the Boston Sunday Globe Magazine. I've also written for many other publications on many topics, like</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";"> <a href="http://www.yankeemagazine.com/article/features/cape-cod-love-letter">my love of Cape Cod</a> for Yankee Magazine. I wrote about a garden that uses mostly native plants up in Stowe, Vermont for <a href="http://digital.designnewengland.com/designnewengland/20090910/?pg=102#pg102">Design New England</a>, and, more recently, about the r<a href="http://hotelonnorth.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/Design-New-England-Sept_Oct-2015.pdf">edevelopment of an old department store into a boutique hotel in Pittsfield, Mass. </a></span></p><div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">Here's a piece I particularly enjoyed writing for <a href="http://www.boston.com/travel/getaways/europe/articles/2011/11/13/in_southern_france_visiting_the_chapels_of_henri_matisse_and_jean_cocteau/">The Boston Globe Travel Section</a> about two artists' chapels in Southern France. Southern France. Now there's a place to visit. Here's <a href="http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/magazine/articles/2010/05/02/me_inc/">Me, Inc,</a> for The Boston Globe Magazine, which tells why non-business school students are studying entrepreneurship. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">My piece about t<a href="https://www.bostonglobe.com/opinion/2015/04/04/time-for-western-mass-get-broadband-speed/Lqo2Ia5tn07lM52PXEbCyL/story.html">he challenges of getting broadband internet service in western Mass.</a> appeared this year in the Boston Globe Op-Ed section.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I just found <a href="http://www.archive.ernestina.org/history/1994.html">this Globe story</a> in the wayback machine, about the transformation of a giant white pine in the hills of western Mass. into the mast of a then-100-year-old schooner in New Bedford. My neighbor Norman Hicks actually cut down that tree, and it was a lot of fun to spend time in a meadow along the Deerfield River, watching the craftsmen do their work. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">More recently, my <a href="http://www.boston.com/community/blogs/fiftyshift/">Fiftyshift blog</a> appeared on boston.com for two years. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I'm not a professional
photographer, but I often shoot photos to accompany my work. On a whim I entered a contest, and my photo led the New York Times Magazine slideshow, <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2013/04/05/magazine/key-front-lawns.html">Front Yards Are the New Backyards. </a></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I thought this was pretty cool. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: "arial";">I live in western Massachusetts with my husband Dan and a remarkably charismatic flock of chickens: Barred Rocks and Araucanas. <a href="http://www.fiftyshift.com/content/time-choose-your-backyard-chickens">The longer I live with chickens</a> the more I think everyone should have a few around. </span><br />
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B.J. Rochehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01474919045023825784noreply@blogger.com