About Shift
Shift speaks: Our young approach to reporting
“Enter” Watch the music video of Shift’s original theme song
We are a new generation confronting an uncertain future. The decisions we make in our own lives will, in turn, shape our culture.
Whether we are called Millennials, Generation Y or Echo Boomers, the choices we make now will determine the course of our lives and how we will deal with the issues that define us: identity, career, community, relationships.
As we enter adulthood, we are entering a world that is also changing. The population is steadily growing. Mexican-Americans, Korean-Americans, Indian-Americans and Americans of every other ethnicity are making their marks on society. Cultural differences often make our decisions difficult to navigate, and many young Americans must tread the careful line between embracing the future and holding on to their roots.
But regardless of our backgrounds, we are all facing critical questions: Can we pursue our dreams and stay financially afloat? How do we balance work and life? Can we find our life’s partners in different cultures? How can we transform our world for the better? What happens when our parents’ values differ from our own? And what place, if any, does religion have in all this?
As a group of 13 graduate fellows working at the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University, we will explore how young people all over the country are dealing with these decisions. Our project is called News 21, and through our reporting we will tell the stories of young Americans as they begin to control their futures, alter their worlds and enter on-their-own adult lives.
Shift Contributors
Bill Healy grew up in a suburb of Chicago and graduated from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., where he studied sociology. During college he spent a year living in Sydney, Australia. After college Bill returned to Chicago to teach fifth grade and later to work at a high school. Bill has master’s degrees in education and journalism, both from Northwestern. Bill is interested in Chicago history and photography.
Recent Posts by Bill Healy
Ford Clark received his undergraduate degree in journalism at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and is also a graduate student there. He spent ten years in radio/TV and have also taught broadcast radio/TV and history of Mass Media in Muncie, IN. For News 21, he is exploring second generation Americans and their connection to civic engagement. He loves to cook, has been married for 19 years to Jennifer. He also has three children; Madeline (15) Michael (12) and Gracie (8).
Recent Posts by Ford Clark
A Californian to the core, Hamsa Ramesha grew up in the Bay Area, strongly rooted to her Indian culture. She graduated from UC Davis with degrees in English and Psychology, and pursued her love of writing at Northwestern University where she received her master’s in journalism with a magazine concentration. Hamsa is a major sci-fi junkie, and loves writing about technology and science. A second-generation American herself, Hamsa is exploring media and identity for News 21.
Recent Posts by Hamsa Ramesha
- New takes on old media
- Urban Desi Radio
- Bollywood the American Way
- Bay Area Filipino newspaper reaches for the stars
- I am proud to be South Asian because…
- Hindu mythology + Twitter = Philosophical musings of the 21st century
- Despite Khan-troversy, Bollywood ‘Badshah’ keeps his cool
- Happy Independence Day, India
- Calling all California Republicans: Step up!
- Coming to America: A Bollywood story
Born in Boston and raised in Cerritos, Calif., Jane Park grew up strongly grounded in her Korean heritage. Pairing kimchi with Thanksgiving turkey and wearing her hanbok during New Year’s never struck her as odd. At UCLA she studied English and French, and participated in annual Korean culture shows. But it wasn’t until she took off to New York to write for an Asian-American lifestyle magazine that she began to ponder about the unique positioning of second-generation Americans like herself. This summer, Jane will explore the generation gap these young Americans seek to close or widen with decisions that shape their identity.
Recent Posts by Jane Park
- The Jane Park Files
- The Next Generation series: Sibling dynamics in immigrant families
- Ethnic or assimilated? Children of immigrants outline sibling differences
- Short in stature, but not in reach: Bich Minh Nguyen’s novel will resonate with many
- The next generation: Sibling dynamics branch out from Korean roots
- Moving to the motherland: Finding work and community in Korea
- Generations and cultures gather around Korean dramas
- Q&A with a Korean drama aficionado
- Q&A on Korean dramas with president of YA Entertainment
- Behind the name: second-generation Americans embrace their cultural identity
At DePaul University, Josannah Birman majored in journalism and minored in Spanish. As a graduate student at Medill, Josannah has taken additional classes to gain experience in print, interactive and broadcast journalism. She was awarded the 2009 WTTW Minow Fellowship to work as an assistant producer on “Chicago Tonight” and was thrilled to produce segments about her hometown for the news and entertainment program. Now Josannah covers gender and work-life balance for Shift. Josannah loves to try new things like jumping on a surf board in Hawaii, trekking a mountain above Machu Picchu and attempting to tango in Chicago.
Recent Posts by Josannah Birman
- Knocking on the glass ceiling
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Family
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Culture
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Career
- Like Mother, Like Daughter: Pride
- Like Mother, Like Daughter
- Seoul attempts to ‘heel’ gender woes
- Pink collar jobs perpetuate wage gap between men and women
- Sotomayor’s success sheds light on continued inequality
A native of Virginia Beach, Va., Kate Shellnutt began Medill’s master’s program after graduating from Washington and Lee University in 2008, where she majored in religion and print journalism. During her undergrad summers, Shellnutt covered health and science for Bloomberg News and wrote for the business and technology desk of The Virginian-Pilot newspaper. She is fascinated by the Internet and its effects on contemporary culture and religion in particular. She keeps a blog on religion in Chicago for local news aggregate site The Windy Citizen.
Recent Posts by Kate Shellnutt
- Shift speaks: Our young approach to reporting
- In the name of Dios: Mormon missionaries bring urban Hispanics, Catholics into the church
- This Muslim-American life: young adults’ activist, artistic voices
- Food, faith and bacon (now there’s a holy trinity!)
- This Muslim-American life: A virtual round table
- This Muslim-American life: Allah and the Arts
- This Muslim-American life: The numbers speak for themselves
- This Muslim-American life: Meet Ahlam, a Chicago activist
- This Muslim-American life: Sharing their stories
- E-motions: How the Internet has changed the way a generation thinks, feels, expresses
Recent Comments by Kate Shellnutt
- “Thanks for reading. Johnny, you’re right– Kirsten is definitely anything but a cliche. It was great to share her story.” on The art of salvation: Kirsten’s creative life and Christian call
- “Thanks, Karen!” on Food, faith and bacon (now there’s a holy trinity!)
- “What a great story for the end of the summer, Melina. We all know that haphazard feeling of moving and that adjustment of arriving in a new place.” on The Moving Diaries
- “Thank you both for your comments. Each issue has been fixed.” on Coming out atheist: young nonbelievers build community in college and online
Kiran Sood is a graduate journalism student at the Medill School at Northwestern University. Since last September, she has been reporting in and around the city of Chicago, exploring its diverse communities and experiencing life in the city. She came to Medill after graduating from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 2008. As a News21 fellow, she is focusing on the intersection of technology and young people, and its ability to impact the course of their lives.
Recent Posts by Kiran Sood
- A new generation makes its voices heard in a digital democracy
- Are you a part of ‘Generation Meh?’
- Good old fashioned fun in a digital age
- Forming community – online and offline
- Confessions of an entrepreneur
- How do you make young people care about personal finance?
- Financial advice for Generation Y, from a member of its own
- Seven steps all recent college grads should take to achieve great financial and career success
- Lights. Camera. And plenty of action!
- A Fusion of Technology and Communication
Recent Comments by Kiran Sood
- “I look forward to continuing the discussion and learning more about targeting this segment of the population. Thanks for taking the time to read this ” on How do you make young people care about personal finance?
- “Thank you, Carol. As a member of Generation Y, I knew upon seeing her blog that I wanted to learn even more. It was a great conversation.” on Are you a part of ‘Generation Meh?’
Kristen is exploring the ways Millenials give back to their communities and make a difference in society at large. She received her bachelor’s in English in 2008 from Pomona College, Los Angeles, and spent the rest of her time studying Chinese with the economics majors, studying rocks with the geology majors and camping in the Mojave Desert. She is an avid fan of Joss Whedon, Neil Gaiman and aimless nocturnal walks.
Recent Posts by Kristen Minogue
- Why we serve
- An alternate path: Community living experiments in the city
- Fed up with abuse, young Muslim activists take back their faith
- Muslim activists: Linking allies through the Web
- Muslim activists: Rethinking gender, Islam and the Quran
- Muslim activists: Fighting abuse with fashion
- After getting degrees in prison, former Latino inmate turns advocate
- Catholic march draws crowds but not youth
Leslie was born and raised in Dayton, Ohio and received her undergraduate degree at the University of Michigan in 2006. Leslie has been covering business and economics while reporting at Medill since September 2008. Specifically she has reported on manufacturing and jobs. Now as a News21 reporter, Leslie is focused on dating and marriage, taking a special interest in interfaith and intercultural relationships.
Recent Posts by Leslie Patton
- Navigating the twists and turns of interfaith marriage
- ‘Shanghai Girls’ explores immigration, marriage, family
- Dating & Marriage: Tradition meets tension in Indian‑American homes
- The death of a marriage
- Coming soon: Advice on interfaith marriage
- More couples say ‘I do’ in courthouse
- Hindi lyrics + Western jazz = A love song
- A temple tour
- HIV travel ban to be lifted
- Matchmaker, matchmaker
Lizz Kannenberg left the east coast the day after graduation from Boston College with a BA in communication to roadtrip home to Milwaukee, but stopped off 90 miles south in Chicago and hasn’t left since. At Northwestern’s Medill School of Journalism, Lizz concentrated in interactive storytelling, business reporting and inundating the faculty with big ideas for the future of the media industry. She hopes to elaborate on those ideas in News 21, where she’ll investigate the effects of following one’s passion in life instead of an expected path. When she’s not in the Medill newsroom, Lizz writes about music for national and local publications like SPIN, Paste, Self-Titled and Chicagoist. She is most often found failing to look cool in Chicago’s coziest music venues and friendliest brew pubs.
Recent Posts by Lizz Kannenberg
Megha Shah completed her Bachelors in mass media with a major in advertising from Mumbai University, India. After graduating in 2007, Shah worked as a marketing executive in an international fashion house, and then joined Medill as a graduate student of the integrated marketing communications program. At News21, she plans to focus on the marketing and public relations initiatives. Her long-term goal is to establish her own business venture in India. Shah has directed several short films and documentaries, and taught Latin American and Ballroom dances for several years. Her passions include food, theater, movies and traveling.
Melina is a 25-year-old multimedia producer who graduated from the University of Chicago with a bachelor’s in anthropology. After college, she taught video to bouncy high school students, then quit her job to travel the globe after receiving her acceptance letter to journalism school. She specialized in interactive storytelling at Medill. She is from North Carolina, home of real barbecue, and is an avid fan of food of all kinds.
Recent Posts by Melina Kolb
- “Enter” — Shift debuts its music video
- The Moving Diaries
- Trauma leads to roadtrip on this episode of The Detour Year
- Mapping out Marfa
- Former AmeriCorps VISTA member talks on The Detour Year
- College grads settle into small town life in Marfa
- Dreamers: Undocumented young adults face uncertainty
- Introducing The Detour Year podcast series
- Journey to Marfa
Tara’s covering health care/mental health for News 21. After getting a BA in English-Plan II at the University of Texas at Austin, Tara worked in London & Australia before returning to Arlington, Texas to teach English & journalism at Sam Houston HS, where she won two grants and the district’s Most Outstanding First-Year Teacher. She loved her students and advising the school newspaper & yearbook but headed back to Austin after five years for her Master’s in photojournalism. A writer and photographer for over a decade, her work has been published in over a dozen local and national publications and she’s recently delved into audio and film. She has backpacked through 40+ countries (her favorite is India), nearly summited Kilimanjaro, swum with over ten species of sharks and been lucky to marry a man who can actually put up with her.
Recent Posts by Tara Haelle
- The Ultimate List: All 30 Things You Should Do Before You Turn 30
- Options for health care and insurance vary across the U.S.
- Learning the Lingo: Health Insurance Terminology 101
- 30 Things Before 30: Part Three
- Florida offers few options for uninsured young adults
- Been skydiving lately? 30 Things Before 30, Part Two
- 30 Before 30 List: Part One
- Private health care crunches the budget, offers peace of mind
- State of health care in the states: Young adults making choices
- A young Chicagoan’s first marathon leads to a new life
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