Q:
Hey
Kara, what’s up with this “nerd for hire” thing?
A: I’m a journalist based in the San Francisco Bay Area. I
particularly like to write about science, or anything else that’s
complicated and nuanced and sort of geeky.
Q: Did you go to school for this,
or did you just unleash yourself on the public?
A: I graduated from the UC
Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism in 1999.
Q: Then what?
A: I was a staff writer at the East Bay Express, an alt-weekly
newspaper in the San Francisco Bay Area, for eight years. I covered just
about everything — science and technology, medicine, crime, politics,
in-depth profiles of interesting people. I like to tell people I worked
the "Nancy Drew beat" — I'd pursue anything that involved
a good mystery, an action adventure, and some fantastic characters. I
then spent two years as the Senior Editor at environmental magazine Terrain,
a project of Berkeley's Ecology
Center. You
can find some of my greatest hits on the archive
page.
Q: And now?
A: I'm teaching at UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism
focusing on hyperlocal East Bay coverage and innovative digital storytelling.
Check out what we've been working on at OaklandNorth.net!
I also just launched a brand new nerdly science podcast with my most excellent
compatriots Eric Simons and Casey Miner. It's called The Field Trip Podcast
and it's about science in the real world, outside of the lab.You can download
our episodes for free at FieldTripPodcast.com.
For friendly publications that would like to broadcast or share it, you
can also find it on the Public
Radio Exchange.
You can also commune with us on Facebook
or as @FieldTripLog on Twitter.
Q:
Do you freelance?
A:
Yes indeed.
Q: How can people hire you?
A: They can e-mail me at: karaplatoni [at] gmail [dot] com.
Q: Who
did the awesome artwork for this site?
A: The lovely Mike Smith.
Q: What do you do with yourself when
you’re not writing?
A:
I was a founding board member for the Office
of Letters and Light, the Oakland-based arts and literacy non-profit
that runs National Novel
Writing Month and Script
Frenzy. Every year a couple hundred thousand people from around the
world attempt to write 50,000-word novels in the month of November, and
thousands more attempt to write 100-page scripts in April.
Q:
Did you write one,
too?
A:
Yep! So far I have written 10 mostly awful novels and 4 totally terrible
screenplays during NaNoWriMo and Script Frenzy.
Q: What
else do you do?
A: Karate!
Q: Can you kill people with your mind?
A: Sadly, no.
*cough*
Q: Um, one more thing …
A: Have I ever won any awards? Surprisingly, yes! Here are a few:
•
AAAS Science Journalism Award, 2008, (from
the American Association for the Advancement of Science) for "In
Search of Life," a two-part series exploring the ultimate question:
Are we alone in the universe? Part one, about astrobiology,
can be found here. Part two, about
planet-hunting, is here.
• Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California, Best
Feature, 2007 for “Dealing
in Death,”
an investigation of one of the most prolific sellers of crime guns in
the nation.
• CASE Awards Silver Medal, “Best Articles of the Year,”
2007 for “Love
at First Byte,” a profile of computer science pioneer Donald
Knuth.
• Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Award, First Place, Fashion &
Design, 2006 for “What A Steal,”
a sneak peak into the world of counterfeit “purse parties.”
• Association for Women in Communications Clarion Awards, First Place,
Newspaper Feature Story, 2005 for “The
$10 Million Woman,” the strange travels of a Picasso after it
was looted by the Nazis during World War II.
• Association for Women in Communications Clarion Awards, First Place,
Newspaper Feature Story, 2004 for “The
Making of a Martyr,” about the life and death of Holly Patterson,
the first American woman to die after taking RU-486 (medical abortion),
and the political uproar surrounding her death.
• Evert Clark/Seth Payne Award for Young Science Journalists, 2004
for “The Making of A Martyr,”
“I, Robot” and “It’s
a Boy, We Made Sure of It,” articles on medical abortion, robotic
exoskeletons, and gender selection for babies.
• Missouri Lifestyle Journalism Awards, Finalist, Arts and Entertainment,
2003 for “It Was A Dark and Stormy
Month…” an up-close look at the year that National Novel
Writing Month broke.
• California Teachers Association, John Swett Award for Media Excellence,
2002 for “The Queen Must Go,” an investigation of a controversial
school district superintendent.
• Western States Magazine Association, Finalist, Best Interview or
Profile, 2002 for “2C-T-7’s Bad
Trip,” a profile of pyschedelic chemist Alexander “Sasha”
Shulgin.
• Society of Professional Journalists, Northern California, Outstanding
Young Journalist, 2002
•
• • •
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content copyright Kara Platoni. Please contact
for permission before reproducing.