Meet the Editors
Editor-in-Chief: Alisha Green
Slowly turning the glossy pages of National Geographic magazine, I was transported around the world to meet new people and see places I had never heard of before from the comfort of my grandparents’ couch. The stunning photos and detailed stories took me on new adventures every month during family visits, and from a young age I began to appreciate journalism’s powerful storytelling.
I have been a news junkie since I could read. Like any child I read the comics in the newspaper, but the local, state, nation and world sections always drew my attention too. I also enjoyed writing from a young age, and the opportunity to combine my two great loves in one career has pushed me to engage in journalism at every chance.
After working on my high school’s newspaper, I was even more sure the news room is where I want to be. I joined Spartanedge as a freshman journalism major, and now as a junior I am proud to help lead an organization that continues to grow and find new ways to provide the best alternative multimedia to the MSU community.
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Managing Editor: Lane Blackmer
It’s a downright frightening decision for a 12-year-old when it comes to choosing what to be when grown up. With a simple portfolio project designed to practice resume skills needed in the future, I was faced with the nerve-racking decision of what to do with my life as an eighth-grader. I was clueless as to what I wanted to be when I grew up. I did the most logical thing I could think of to solve my dilemma: I asked my mother what to do. She suggested that I decide for the project to be a writer, since I was constantly jotting down short stories in notebooks ever since I learned to write. Although my earlier stories were mostly filled with drawings of princesses and dandelions, I took my mother’s advice and soon became very curious about what I could do as a writer. Thus, my academic life soon fell into place.
Origionating from St. Joseph, MI, I ventured out to East Lansing to major in journalism. I am currently a junior here at MSU. I have been writing for Spartanedge for over a year and a half now. Last summer after interning at Channel 6 News in Lansing, I realized that I wanted to do online multi-media journalism because I not only have a love for writing, I also love video. So I decided Spartanedge is exactly the place for me and I am returning as managing editor.
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Public Relations Manager: Allison Knopp
Journalism was a path that I kind of accidentally fell into after a long and seemingly never-ending search to find a major and subsequent career that would suit both my academic skills along with my outgoing and inquisitive personality.
Along my journalistic path, I discovered Spartanedge, and fell absolutely in love with the uninhibited style of reporting that consisted of not only articles, but media that appealed to me on many more levels.
After an internship at Gov. Jennifer Granholm’s press office, I found that I was intrigued at the idea of combining my love of journalism with my need to talk constantly about things I was passionate about. This led to me steering my academic journey in the direction of public relations.
I studied abroad in the United Kingdom and Ireland this past summer, learning a great deal about journalism and public relations here and overseas. I am happy to be back at MSU this fall, and look forward to getting Spartanedge’s name out into the world.
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Entertainment & Events Editor: Brandon Kirby
I’m a sophomore majoring in Journalism and minoring in Film, and I’m also a member of the Spartan Marching Band.
Journalism is wildly important because without journalists, who else is there to tell people stories about what’s going on around them? And that’s why I love it. I love the researching, the interviewing, the writing, and most of all, the things you end up discovering through the process of it all.
And my love for movies is just as strong. Similar idea, too. Movies tell stories, like journalism, through images, motion, and sound. And in my future, I fully intend on combining these two loves into one hybrid career. Wishful thinking, I know. In any case, I’m here now as Reviews section editor, and I vow to do my very best in contributing to make Spartanedge your number one source for alternative multimedia news.
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MusicEdge Editor: Jacob Kanclerz
As an aspiring journalist, I try to stay dedicated to the most critical topics in our world today when writing. That’s why I’m mostly concerned with how the Tigers will do down the stretch or what metal bands will be on the latest and greatest summer tour. Journalists should traditionally serve as watchdogs to our corrupt government, but as long as they still plan on paying people to go watch hockey games and write about them, that’s where I’m at. Officially, I’m the music editor at Spartanedge and a writer for the satirical Spartan Weekly, while also occasionally contributing to underthegunreview.net and my own Red Wings blog. When I’m not filling my schedule full of editor work and chasing stories across campus for the Edge, I play roller hockey for the Michigan State club team and I also strum the guitar when I get a chance. Please read my Web sites, support local music and alternative media on campus, and accept the fact that hockey is the greatest sport in the world.
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SportsEdge Editor: Brandon Howell
The year was 1998. It was late January, and we all know what happens at that time of the year: the Super Bowl.
Super Bowl XXXII featured the Denver Broncos, led by their venerable yet championship-lacking quarterback John Elway, and the defending Super Bowl Champions Green Bay Packers. Up to that point in my life, I didn’t really care much for sports. I was raised in a household all about them, though, and spent most Sundays watching football with my dad. He’s always been a big Dallas Cowboys fan, so I just tagged along since it was the cool thing to do; after all, he was Dad!
But during that game, something happened. I watched two great teams trade blows back and forth; it was like a great boxing match between two hall of fame pugilists. The Packers wound up losing the game, but that didn’t matter to me; I was hooked. There was something about them. Maybe it was the classic uniforms, highlighted by those fitting shades of green and gold. Or maybe it was that vintage helmet, marked by only a stripe and that quintessential “G.” Whatever it was, they had me. And that was the day I met my first true love: the Green Bay Packers.
It didn’t take long for me to develop passions for other sports and other teams, either. Within a few years, I had made the transformation into a sports guru. When college came calling, I made the decision to attend the only university I ever cared for and really considered attending. Like the Packers, there was something very near and dear to me about the Spartans.
I originally had plans for attaining a juris doctorate and getting into politics. But, somewhere along the way, I decided that I didn’t have the stomach (or time and money) to go through the political gauntlet. I turned to the things I always had passions for: writing, talking with people, and sports.
So here I am now, in my fourth and final year at MSU. I’m majoring in journalism and planning on a career in the newspaper industry. When I’m not doing things of a scholastic persuasion, I can usually be found in Spartan Stadium, the Breslin Center or Munn Ice Arena, as I am a member of the Spartan Marching Band and the Spartan Brass.
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Multimedia Editor: Dennis Vlahoulis
Journalism may have been the last path I envisioned myself taking. As a child, playing doctor always seemed the right choice until, one day, I was in an American Studies class in my junior year of high school. It was in this class that I first heard the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson and Henry David Thoreau. “Every heart vibrates to that iron string” (Emerson, “Self-Reliance”). I was inspired by those words to become a writer that could transcend those before me; journalism quickly became the obvious option. Since then, I have been published in two books of western poetry and have begun consulting with businesses for advertising purposes. My life has certainly taken a leap of faith. In the future, I hope to begin my own online publication so that I may also inspire future writers.
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Photo Editor: Chris Galford
Like many people rushing off to college, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I came to MSU.
Not really. Two things had always appealed to me: writing and photography, but what I would actually do with them remained elusive.
Originally, I was a dreamy-eyed English major, hoping to live out my days as an author. That changed, though, when I took my first journalism class at the end of my freshman year. Though I always kept up on the news and dug avidly into newspapers both local and abroad, I had never really given journalism a chance before that class. That changed in an instant. Once I had a taste of journalism, I was eager for more.
Today, I’m a journalism major (and working on a minor in philosophy—if that makes any sense!), focusing on photojournalism, at a time when the whole field is scrambling to adapt to the new opportunities and challenges the internet has put forward. I found Spartanedge.com in the spring semester of my sophomore year, and I’ve been a part of it ever since. I also work as a photographer for EJ Magazine and freelance in my spare time.
When I head out into the real world, I hope to find a place in the reporting world as a photojournalist. However, I haven’t forgotten my roots. I still want to be an author one day, and hope to avidly pursue any chance I can to be a writer and a photographer. In the meantime, I just hope to use the power of the photo to show people little pieces of the world around them.
Blog Editor: Cara Boyer
When I was little, there was always a telltale sign to alert my parents that I was awake in the morning. My mom said she could hear me reading to myself in my crib from down the hallway. I didn’t know how to decipher the words yet, but my favorite stories had been read to me so many times that I could recite them back to myself and turn the pages at the appropriate times. With that in mind, I think it’s safe to say that I have had an affinity for words my entire life.
My passion for reading grew into a love of writing, and I’ve always known I wanted to incorporate both into my career. Besides reading and writing, my other two passions are movies and music. My goal is to write for Rolling Stone magazine, and I am already envisioning my name on top of the editor’s page. I currently write a pop culture blog for Spartanedge, so be sure to check it out!