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As a Hawaii resident, I’ve always known and loved Spam canned meat, especially in the form of local favorite Spam musubi. So, based on Hawaii’s devotion to Spam, I came up with this piece for Slate.  

The story below was part of a larger Maryland craft brewery project I worked on while at Capital News Service at the University of Maryland. You can see the entire project here, including three videos I shot and edited and another piece on Flying Dog Brewery and Evolution Craft Brewing Company. For the Love of the Beer: Small Craft Breweries Discover Unique Business Challenges   By Anna Weaver ST. MICHAELS – In 2006, Adrian and Lori Moritz found themselves without jobs and with a newborn…Continue Reading “Crafting the perfect drink” →

Ever thought about starting a museum inside your house? How about amassing thousands of Star Wars toys? Thomas Atkinson did both when he created the Star Toys Museum in Linthicum Heights, Md., putting his more than 13,000 Star Wars collectibles on display for visitors. I went and interviewed him last week for this Capital News Service video. And Washington Post blogger Michael S. Rosenwald mentioned the video on his blog today. (Nice surprise to see as my final semester as a graduate student at Maryland…Continue Reading “Maryland’s Star Wars museum” →

  Two trips I took this past summer led to articles in Slate Magazine. The first was to my home state of Hawaii. I happened to be traveling to the island of Lanai with my family at the same time as Oracle CEO Larry Ellison announced he was buying the island. The timing was too perfect not to write a story centering on what Lanai residents thought about the man who now owns most of their homes.   In late August, I was traveling in…Continue Reading “Travel-inspired writing” →

Most people remember spending some part of their childhood summers at the pool. These images, which were taken on one June afternoon at a suburban Maryland community pool, stir up memories of long, warm, summer days spent poolside. I named the photo essay “Pool Time” to reference both going to the pool and the experience of the pool for people over several generations. I was struck by how even grown ups still enjoy floating around in an inner tube on a Lazy River and how…Continue Reading “Pool Time” →

For a graduate journalism class I focused on a book pitching event at Politics and Prose, the same store whose owners I profiled in this piece. You can see the website I created with Dreamweaver for “Online Journalism,” which includes an audio slideshow on the event here. Pitchapalooza: Event for aspiring writers reaches a fever pitch at Politics and Prose   By Anna Weaver Lopiccolo John Belushi meets Betty White. “Running with Scissors” mixed with Henrietta Lacks. A pug narrative with a nod to Edgar Allan Poe….Continue Reading “Pitchapalooza” →

  That’s the question I considered in this Slate XX Factor post.  

  Karilyn Bales, the wife of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales went on the Today Show this week to talk about her husband’s being accused of murdering 17 civilians in Afghanistan. Prior to the interview, I’d been contemplating some of the news stories that talked about how Kari Bales had been getting support from other military spouses in the blogosphere. And I ended up posting on Slate‘s XXfactor blog about the subject. I think Bales’ situation raises a lot of questions about the entanglement of military…Continue Reading “The wife of accused Afghan shooter Bales speaks out” →