My resume

(See Dec. 17, 2008, post for more thorough resume--this one is somewhat updated)

Rebecca Berfanger
R.Berfanger@gmail.com
(Contact info and references available on request)

EXPERIENCE
August 2006 - present
Indiana Lawyer, IL Daily, Indianapolis Business Journal (IBJ Media Corp.), Indianapolis
Indiana Lawyer staff writer; IL Daily assistant editor/contributor; IBJ arts section contributor
1,000- to 1,200-word stories on a wide range of legal topics as they relate to social justice, international law, arts, pro bono, law schools for Indiana Lawyer; original arts stories and Indiana Lawyer stories occasionally printed in IBJ

Spring 2006 - present
Indiana AIDS Fund, Indianapolis
Marketing volunteer for Indiana AIDS Walk & Ride (since 2006 event) and Spotlight, a performing arts benefit (since 2007 event)
Working closely with chairs of marketing teams for each event, online marketing outreach efforts; member of steering committee for AIDS Walk & Ride since 2006 event.

August 2005 - August 2006
INTake Weekly (Indianapolis Star publication for 25- to 34-year-olds), Indianapolis
Freelance Reporter: August - October 2005; Senior Administrative Assistant: October 2005 - August 2006
Supporting editorial, art, and marketing departments; facilitating office management

May - December 2005; January - June 2004 Some Other Magazine (SOM); SubterraBoston.com (Web zines), Boston Freelance Reporter: arts and humor (2005); Independent/foreign films columnist (2004)

June 2005 - October 2005
Nuvo, Alternative Weekly, Indianapolis
Freelance Reporter: news, arts and features

January - March 2005
The Patriot Ledger
(Circulation: 57,000), Washington
Correspondent, Medill News Service
National news stories relevant to the South Shore (Quincy to Plymouth, Mass.)

September - December 2004
Sifter (magazine about arts, media, culture and politics), Evanston, Ill.
Staff Writer and Web Director
Contributed stories about film, editorial decisions and Web site business plan for internationally distributed magazine launch for Medill Magazine Publishing Project

August 2001 - June 2004
Lawyers Weekly, Inc.
(legal news; Circulation: 10,700), Boston
Associate Editor, Mass. and R.I. Lawyers Weekly; Contributor, New England In-House
Features on corporate deals, attorneys, judges and trials (often also published in New England In-House); Editing and compiling news items, AP style

May - August 2000
Boston SoundCheck Magazine (monthly music magazine), Malden, Mass.
Writing Internship
Profiles, 200-word performance and CD reviews, freelance reviews after internship

August 1997 - December 2000
School Publications at Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.
Staff Writer and Associate Editor
Expo: general interest feature magazine; four semesters; Indiana Collegiate Press Association Best News Story (2001); Outstanding Staff Writer (2000, 2001)
Groundwork: quarterly environmental publication; four semesters
The (Ball State) Daily News: features and reviews for entertainment section

EDUCATION
June 2004 - March 2005
Northwestern University Medill School of Journalism, Evanston, Ill.
MSJ in Magazine Publishing, Writing, Editing
Courses in magazine writing, editing, publishing, graphic design, national reporting

August 1997 - December 2000
Ball State University, Muncie, Ind.
Journalism - Magazine Sequence; French
"Journalists Turned Cinematographers" (Honors Thesis, 2000)

Honors College, 3.7 GPA in Journalism Major, 3.4 overall GPAMagazine Scholarship, Dean's list, Golden Key National Honor Society

SKILLS
French (conversation); MS Word, Excel, WordPerfect, Quark, Photoshop, HTML

INTERESTS
Independent and foreign cinema, travel, books, art, music, museums and French culture

SOM articles (May - September 2005)

Here is a list of my first five articles categorized by department that I've written for SOM as the Boston-based Web zine's only Midwestern correspondent.

I started my first assignment in late April 2005. I am currently working on a profile of two subjects of an independent documentary film/preview of the film--for publication in the October 2005, v.2 issue (Anticipated publication date: Oct. 15, 2005). Future articles are also in the works.

Click on the headlines to go to archived sections of the zine. Scroll to click on my articles.

Some Other Magazine's current issue

Art: Student Academy Award Winner Alternative Storytelling, July 2005, v.2
"Lights Lights, Camera Camera, Knock Knock"

Art: Indianapolis International Film Festival in April 2005, May 2005, v.2.
"An International Film Fest? In Indianapolis? Sweet."

Music: Profile/Preview of One-Man Show, Corn Mo, September 2005, v.1
"Step Right Up! Welcome to the Corn Mo Show!"

Other Needs: Toothpaste Taste Test, August 2005, v.2
"Misty Flavored Toothpaste Memories (of the way we were)"

Humor: Camping Trip in Southern Indiana, July 2005, v.1
"10 Things I Learned This Summer in the Forest"

New Apartment!

Considering I haven't made this site known to friends and family yet, when they find out I'm sure I'll mention the big news about my new downtown digs and my new car. But in case I forget... I got a place! Hooray!

Anyway, if I get creative, I'll send pictures. But FYI, it's on the register of historic places. Which I hope doesn't mean that I'll find historic rat carcasses and cockroaches, but the place has been renovated in the last couple years including new appliances, so that shouldn't be a problem...

But now that I'll be downtown, I hope to do some exploring of the area and maybe, just maybe, actually attend more of the downtown events I now preview for the calendar section of INTake Weekly, www.INTakeWeekly.com. So if you ever read any of my previews and think hey, that sounds like fun, let me know. I won't be able to promise free tickets or anything, but I do cover a lot of free events.

And keep an eye on this blog--I have a big story coming out in Nuvo in early October based on the work of my photographer/friend, so check it out, Oct. 5, www.nuvo.net.

Take care!

Apartment hunt...

In addition to my recent freelance articles since moving back to Indianapolis, I just bought my first car a few weeks ago after living in public transportation cities and I'm currently on the lookout for a good, safe, affordable one-bedroom apartment in Indianapolis. So far I've found Luxuryland above my price range and Scarytown below my price range, so I'll keep looking this weekend and hope to find something in between.

As part of my search, I discovered my new favorite website: http://imaps.indygov.org/prod/incident/

There you can look up Indianapolis locations and dates (in 30-day increments) to see if there were any incidents in certain areas. I found a few things that helped me decide about an apartment I was in love with (but ultimately didn't take).

There's always this weekend. Wish me luck!