Episode 120: Carlene Hempel and Sydney Woogerd

Episode notes

Dan and Ellen talk with Professor Carlene Hempe l at Northeastern and her student Sydney Woogerd . This spring, Carlene brought a team of student journalists to Asheville, North Carolina, for a week-long intensive reporting trip that focused on the devastating aftermath of Hurricane Helene. The result: a digital multimedia investigation called Caught in the Current: Helene Recovery in Asheville and Beyond. Put simply, this is a stunning project, with podcasts, videos, photos and text. There's a great soundtrack. We'll drop a link in the show notes. Carlene has been a journalism professor at Northeastern University for more than 20 years. She specializes in teaching long-form narrative writing as well as creating on-site, pop-up newsrooms domestically and abroad for her courses. Her 2025 reporting class and resulting magazine about the 10-year anniversary of Flint, Michigan's water crisis won two national reporting awards. Sydney is studying journalism and international affairs at Northeastern University with a focus on multimedia storytelling.