Which Is the Better Story @Image Journal’s Good Letters blog

“There’s a scene early in Ang Lee’s majestic Life of Pi film in which the main character watches everything he loves die. Pi is floating in a vast, murky sea as the ship carrying his family and their zoo animals… Read More

Recapturing Innocence With Ang Lee @TheHighCalling

The sound of a baby’s laughter. A six year old’s wide-eyed wonder on Christmas morning. The moment you first believed. Who doesn’t want to relive innocence like that? For Academy Award-winning director Ang Lee, recapturing innocence in life,… Read More

An Ode to the Jersey Shore @NJShorePatch

The most beautiful place I’ve ever been is the top of a mountain in the Austrian Alps. It was Easter Sunday 2001 after a rain storm. A group of us were in Austria for 18 days doing construction… Read More

Photojournalism from Whitney Houston’s Home-going Service

For more photos from Whitney Houston’s Homegoing Service, click here. Trying to Get the Money Shot at Whitney Houston’s funeral (photo by Christine A. Scheller). More from Reporting on Whitney Houston’s funeral here.

Thoughts on Getting Through Thanksgiving After Suicide @NJShorePatch @HuffPost

How gratitude, a change of scenery and sharing stories have helped me face the Thanksgiving holiday after my son’s suicide. My son Gabriel was a Thanksgiving baby. His birthday didn’t fall on the actual holiday until his second… Read More

Photojournalism by Explorations Media, L.L.C.

I’ve recently created what I think are some compelling photo sets on Flickr. As a journalist, I prefer realism to photo-shopped images, though artistic renderings can sometimes reveal truth better than fact. I recommend viewing these sets as slideshows, as… Read More

Cross-Country Bike Ride to End in Toms River Brings Light to Brain Injury @NJShorePatch

Doug Markgraf’s cross country fundraising and awareness bike ride will end in Toms River August 21. The finish line is in sight for Doug Markgraf, a traumatic brain injury (TBI) survivor who is due arrive in Toms River… Read More

Only a Number Takes Top Prize at Jersey Shore Film Festival @NJ Shore Patch

Steven Besserman shares his ailing mother’s Holocaust memories in award winning documentary. “A17855: This became my only identity. This was Auschwitz,” Aranka Besserman says in the film tribute to her memories of the Holocaust that her son Steven Besserman… Read More

Hugs & Hospitality at Wright Memorial Church @BarnegatPatch

Congregation that meets in former opera house welcomes visitors with music and warmth. “Life is desperate; we need all the hugs we can get,” said Rev. Bob Lewis after Sunday morning worship at Wright Memorial Presbyterian Church. He was standing… Read More

Globetrotting toward a Spiritual Center and a Sense of Shared Humanity @NJShorePatch

 Dean Fengya’s accidental adventure evolved into a business with a spiritual core. If you’ve driven the stretch of Route 88 where Point Pleasant Beach meets Bay Head, you’ve probably noticed Dean Fengya’s colorful collection of ceramic pots at… Read More

Thousands Attend Jersey Shore Will Graham Celebration @NJShorePatch

13,821 listen to evangelist Billy Graham’s grandson preach at Great Auditorium in Ocean Grove. When Billy Graham preached at Ocean Grove’s Great Auditorium in 1955, he was 36 years old. Last weekend, his grandson Will Graham preached three messages in… Read More

Christian Music, Divorce, & Triathlons: An Interview with Big Tent Revival’s Spence Smith @TheHuffingtonPost

When I talked to Spence Smith, a founding member of the five-time Grammy-nominated band Big Tent Revival, he had just come back from a run, which was appropriate given that Smith is a triathlete who took up the sport after… Read More