Home page

Some bankrate.com stories

My series on disaster recovery, which won the SPJ's medal for public service in online journalism. The series focused on Hurricane Floyd.

Feds try to convert the unbanked.

Do virtual banks shortchange your town?

Like their luggage, love their bank.

Blade copyediting samples

Wiccan headline

Jeep headline

Rain, rain headline

A page layout
My job

bankrate.com, where I'm a reporter

The Blade, the newspaper site that I edited

Tales

O.J., backpacking, and isolation

Covering Jessica

Juarez garbage pickers and 'green rocks'

Email me.

Summary:
Ten years of reporting experience, four years of editing experience
Creator of The Blade's web site
Enthusiastic about good writing

Skills:
Able to explain complicated events and ideas cogently. Experienced in writing HTML
Some familiarity with JavaScript
Basic understanding of cascading style sheets (this site uses them)
Self-taught familiarity with Photoshop and QuarkXPress
Good at newspaper layout
Can edit copy and write accurate, arresting heads on deadline
Excellent grasp of grammar and spelling

History:
bankrate.com, North Palm Beach, Fla
1999 to now: Senior reporter. Write about many aspects about money and personal finance. Have reported on topics as diverse as credit reporting snafus, penny shortages, disaster recovery, and online banking. I don't write about insurance or investing because those subjects are not in bankrate.com's purview.

The Blade, Toledo, Ohio
1997 to 1999: Online editor. Designed the structure of The Blade's web site. Maintained The Blade's site with Pantheon/Zip2 software. Selected stories to put on the web and added features. Wrote JavaScript scripts to improve the site's functionality. Converted photos for use on the web. On stories that needed them, I found and added links to related stories and sites. Answered all email and distributed messages to staffers who didn't have email addresses.
1994-1997: Copy editor. Laid out pages using QuikLayout pagination program, edited wire and staff copy, wrote cutlines and headlines. Frequently filled in for the news editor and slot editor on their days off. News editor's job consists of laying out most inside pages in the news section, selecting stories and play.
1990-94: Staff writer, covering general assignments, the inner city, and education. Part-time assignment editor.

The Associated Press
1987-90: Correspondent in El Paso and Lubbock, Texas. Coverage area included West Texas, southern New Mexico, and northern Chihuahua. Covered everything from Jessica McClure falling into the well to drug abuse among garbage-pickers in Mexico to advances in cattle feedlot science. Befriended two future Pulitzer Prize winners who worked in El Paso while I was there (David Marcus, '95, and Paul Salopek, '98), but haven't won one myself.
1986-87: Newsman in Dallas and Baltimore bureaus.

North Texas Daily
1983-85: Staffer for the newspaper of the University of North Texas, in a variety of posts. Duties included writing sports and news stories and features, editing copy, laying out pages, writing headlines and cutlines, cropping and sizing photos, and supervising paste-up. Also worked as sports stringer for the Denton Record-Chronicle, the city's daily newspaper.
When I was attending the school, it was called North Texas State University.

Education:
B.A. in journalism, University of North Texas, 1985. Minors in political science and philosophy.

Familiar platforms and software
Computing platforms:
Macintosh (I'm a power user)
Windows 98
Windows 95
Windows 3.1
Atex
Software:
Microsoft Word
Microsoft Excel
Microsoft Outlook
Zip2/Pantheon Builder and Interpreter
WS-FTP
Crystal SiteUpdater
Notetab
BBEdit
Photoshop 3.0
America Online
Graphic Converter
Transparency
Quark XPress 3.3
QuikLayout
Eudora 3
Claris Em@iler
ClarisWorks
NewsWatcher
Global Village fax
Scanning software
MS Access

Contacting me
A hard copy of the résumé and a list of references are available on request by emailing me. You can get my phone number that way, too.
During work, I'm sometimes available on AOL Instant Messenger and its Yahoo counterpart.
AIM handle: IlifeHoldenL
Yahoo Pager handle: holdenearllewis