charlieardengee
Features & Profiles
Standing in solidarity: protester profiles
Following the summer of 2020 Black Lives Matter protests, we felt a duty as journalists to help share the stories of student protesters. This series of profiles was a more in-depth look into the news coverage we did for individual protests. In light of many ethical concerns with protest coverage in journalism at a national level, we decided to draw pictures of the students instead of taking photos. As someone who often attends protests, it was good to hear other people's opinions and experiences, and I hope it gave readers new perspectives.
​
I wrote one of the six profiles and did all of the artwork. I worked with my co-writers to edit all the profiles as well. It went on to win third place in Social Justice Reporting for IHSPA 2021.
Spreading joy, one book at a time
Photo by Sachiko Goto
This series of profiles was centered around interviewees who run Little Free Library programs in their area. It was incredibly rewarding conducting these interviews. By then, the winter of my junior year, I felt like my interview skills had become fully-fledged. Interviews were no longer me robotically reading off a list of questions. Instead, they felt like genuine conversations. I especially connected with Christine Rohret and Mary Mascher, who through our interview I found had a sister who was in the field of journalism. I was able to do a career interview to learn about her experiences that helped me make decisions about my future.
​
This story idea was pitched to me by Angie Jordan, a community organizer in Iowa City which I greatly look up to and am continuously inspired by. I conducted all the interviews and wrote the entire article myself.
Rearranging Ramadan
Despite being an atheist, I absolutely adore learning about various religions. Being a year into the pandemic and with another Ramadan on the horizon, we wanted to see if anything had changed. The year before, Ramadan celebrations had been moved completely virtual, but this year it would be more of a hybrid model. I was particularly touched in my interview with Iowa City Mosque's Imam, Molhim Bilal. I could tell his passion and love for his job and community, and it warmed my heart to hear everything he was doing to make Ramadan as close to normal as possible. I wrote and designed this article myself.