Multimedia

Outside of articles, blog posts and videos, my multimedia work for Newsday includes cross-platform projects, photo galleries, trivia quizzes and polls. The following are examples of these media types.

Cross-platform project: Dropping LBs

In January 2009, we launched a health feature, Dropping LBs, and asked Long Islanders to submit their weight-loss success stories via the Web site. The following are some of the components of this cross-platform project, plus some of the specific stories that I wrote.

Submission form
Have a weight-loss success story? We want to hear from you! Maybe you’ve incorporated a trip to the local gym into your daily routine or you’ve traded in fast food for salads, fruits and lean proteins. Whatever your method, we want the details. (read full form | print)

Photo gallery: Long Islanders share weight-loss success stories
See before and after photos of Long Islanders who’ve lost weight (and kept it off), and then submit your own weight-loss story. (See photo gallery)

Mary Ann and Charles Angelone: “We try not to deprive ourselves”
Mary Ann and Charles Angelone have been married almost 50 years. After both gradually gained weight and Charles was diagnosed as borderline diabetic, they started a daily walking routine to take it off. (read full story | print)

Cathy Doxey: “I never thought I’d run a marathon”
Less than a year ago, Cathy Doxey struggled daily with feeling tired and sluggish. After dropping her two boys off at school, Doxey said she’d sometimes come home and get back into bed for a nap. After losing 52 pounds, she won a local “Biggest Loser” competition and then started training for the Walt Disney World Marathon. (read full story | print)

Russ L’HommeDieu: “Think better, eat better, move better”
After being “a big guy” all his life, Russ L’HommeDieu was told in 2003 he was prediabetic. Soon after the diagnosis, he decided to undergo a lap-band surgery. (read full story | print)

Tara Costa: “I love my experience on the show”
Tara Costa dropped 155 pounds in front of millions of viewers and competed in “The Biggest Loser” finale on May 12. Although the top prize went to fellow “Loser” contestant Helen Phillips of Sterling Heights, Mich., Costa proved herself to be fiercely competitive and determined on the show. She remembers a time not long ago when her attitude was completely different. (read full story | print)

Joanna Schrager: “My weight used to make me feel like such an outsider”
Since she was a little girl, Joanna Schrager has had issues with her weight. As the only overweight member of her family, she said her mom, dad, housekeeper and grandparents would always push her to go on a diet. At 13 years old, her grandparents even paid for a nutritionist. She lost 20 pounds and then promptly gained back. “I just felt like I was being nagged,” Schrager said. “I hate doing things when people tell me to.” (read full story | print)

Daniel Kelly: “Now I’m not just existing, I’m living”
Daniel Kelly remembers exactly when he decided to lose weight — Feb. 3, 2008, during Super Bowl XLII, which he was watching at his brother’s house. “I was sitting on his couch leaning forward to put a drink on the table and his couch broke,” Kelly said. As the center beam cracked, “you could hear it,” a moment that was “literally” his breaking point. (read full story | print)