From the keys of Sam Grimes

Resume

2009-04-29T22:30:00.000-07:00

Permanent Address: 1322 Mallory Court, Norfolk, VA 23507

Current Address: 1621 West Grace Street, Richmond, VA 23220

Cell: 757-535-8413
Email: grimessm@vcu.edu

EDUCATION
Currently pursuing degrees in Print Journalism and Religions Studies at Virginia Commonwealth University

RELATED COURSES

Media Ethics

Writing for the Mass Media

Beat Reporting for Print Journalism

Non-Linear Audio Editing

RELATED EXPERIENCE

Campus coorespondent for Congressional Quarterly on a blog concerning the 2008 presidential elections on college campuses

Published in VCU's Commonwealth Times

Proficient in AP style; Soundslides; Adobe Premier Pro, Audition; Microsoft Word, Excel, Power Point

VCU Photography Major and VMFA fellowship recipient Jenny Wolf

2009-04-29T19:17:00.000-07:00

VCU student and photographer Jenny Wolf's boundary pushing work has given her notice and awards

By Sam Grimes

Jenny Wolf, a junior photography major at Virginia Commonwealth University, constantly reinvents herself and innovates to stay unique in the world of photography. Her abilities have won her recognition and prestige. She recently completed a series of prints using photographs and acetone.

The prints were made by laying a large printout of a black and white photograph over a thick paper sheet of the same area. After Wolf donned her gas mask the acetone was poured across the image. This allowed the ink to bleed through the large image and onto the blank, white sheet underneath.

Wolf's first attempt was unsuccessful in her opinion. The red plastic tool she used to slide the acetone across the image bled pink all over the blank sheet.

"This is awful. You can have it if you want," she said, tossing her first attempt aside.

Wolf's fellow photography major and VCU junior Griffin Davis stood watching and laughed as his peer struggled.

"This process is important to learn in the photo department because it shows myself and my peers that we don't have to be limited by photography," Davis said.

Wolf thinks that the acetone process is best for "producing work that gives off a sense of nostalgia."

"The process never guarantees a clean print, thus giving the product a worn look," Wolf said.

Davis believes techniques such as using the acetone to transfer photographs onto paper are "pushing the boundaries of photography into other art."

"Anybody can be a photographer these days," he said.

Davis is citing the fact that so many people have digital or cell phone cameras with them at all times. He and Wolf both believe that they need to separate themselves from the average person to be artists. Using techniques such as the acetone process helps them do that.

This is not the first way Wolf has shown that she can stand out as an artist. She, along with a handful of her VCU peers, was awarded the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts Fellowship in February. Wolf was granted the distinction for a series of photographs she did of people holding matches in the dark.

"Winning the VMFA is a huge honor and a relief. It's amazing to have your work recognized by the museum," Wolf said.

She believes that the award goes to help a just cause. The fellowship is meant to support artists by giving them financial aid to continue their work.

"During these hard economic times it's important for everyone to have art in their lives," Davis said.

Wolf agreed with her fellow student that it is important that local artists, like herself, receive the support they need. The fellowship is one clear way that necessary help is given.

"I think that the museum is taking on a great responsibility by doing this. It ensures that artists will be able to survive and keep working to produce work, while being alleviated from financial stress," Wolf said.

She believes that, other than being a patron for artists across Virginia, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts most important and generous role is giving out the fellowship. And as Wolf continues to push into new territory in photography she hopes to follow-up her fellowship with another one in the future and continue to move ahead as an innovator of photography.

The Anderson Gallery

2009-04-28T18:54:00.000-07:00

Textbook Competition

2009-04-06T10:48:00.000-07:00

A new bookstore has opened in between Barnes & Noble and the Virginia Book Company.

By Sam Grimes

A new bookstore on West Grace Street has increased competition at the Monroe Park Campus. Textbook Brokers VCU sells only textbooks and is located right in between its competitors, Barnes & Noble and Virginia Book Company.

Gene Warner, Textbook Brokers VCU store manager, believes that for being open only for one month, the store is already running smoothly.

"Kids seem to have found out I'm good with buyback," he said.

He has high hopes for the new store. Even in the current economic climate, Warner feels that the business will succeed.

Warner said that his store provides a cheaper alternative to Barnes & Noble and Virginia Book Company. Textbook Brokers VCU carries only required texts, no recommended books can be found in the store. Warner said he wants to give students only what he knows they will need.

From a random selection of 15 books from subjects ranging from chemistry, religious studies, mass communications and French, Virginia Book Company had lower prices than all of Barnes & Noble's prices. It also had lower prices than Virginia Book Company, except for one book which was priced the same.

Of the books surveyed, books from Virginia Book Company cost an average of $3.18 less than at Barnes & Noble. Textbook Brokers VCU did not have all the new books that the other stores did, but they did have either a new or used copy of each book in the selection. Of the books available, Textbook Brokers VCU's books cost an average of $2.70 less than at Virginia Book Company and $5.12 less than at Barnes & Noble.

The competition has already noticed.

"They looked at my prices and dropped theirs below," said Michael P'Pool, the operations manager for Virginia Book Company.

He said that Textbook Brokers VCU does not carry a "quarter" of what he has. But he added that Textbook Brokers VCU puts him at a disadvantage, because it has access to his prices and he does not have access to its. Virginia Book Company has an online database of all of its textbook prices while Textbook Brokers VCU does not.

"I'm not afraid of competition, if it gives better prices and offers to students," P'Pool said. A Barnes & Noble representative was not available for an interview despite repeated requests.

Textbook Brokers VCU is still noticeably new to the area. There is no sign out front of the new bookstore at 908 W. Grace St. and most of the advertising has been word of mouth.

"I think once we get more advertising up and once people realize that we're here, it will pick up a lot," Textbook Brokers VCU employee Barbara Jacobson said.

She added that she believes the business has been running well thus far.

Although Warner remains optimistic, there is still no real advertising for the business, other than one on Facebook that has been seen about 110,000 times. He feels that he advertised as well as he could have.

And students notice the store.

Sam White, a sophomore at VCU, first saw the store when he walked by. Elise Davenport, a senior at VCU, heard about it from her boyfriend.

Davenport saved money by buying from the new store because the other, more well-established bookstores only carried new versions of the books she needed. Textbook Brokers VCU had used copies.

She would have paid "like $30 more" had she bought from Barnes & Noble or Virginia Book Company. White said he would definitely shop at Textbook Brokers VCU, if it is cheaper than his other options.

For students who have already purchased their textbooks at Textbook Brokers VCU this semester, they will have a chance to do so again in future semesters because the store is not temporary.

"We are here for good," Warner said.

Dance NOW new year, new elements

2009-04-06T10:18:00.000-07:00

The Annual Dance NOW! performance by the VCU Dance and Choreography Department runs Feb. 26-28

By Sam Grimes

Read the story at the Commonwealth Times here.

The Effects of the Economic Recession on Local Restaurants and Cafés

2009-02-16T10:06:00.000-08:00

The economic recession has had a variety of effects or lack thereof on local eating establishments.

By Sam Grimes

As the current economic recession continues, its effects become more evident. Across the country businesses are shutting down and hundreds of thousands of Americans are recently unemployed. Certain luxuries are being abandoned as the country slips further into recession.

Eating out is a luxury for most people.

“Eating out is something with elastic demand,” Laura Razzolini, a professor of economics at Virginia Commonwealth University, said. This means that there is an easy substitute to eating out, the most obvious being having dinner at home for a reduced cost.

Local restaurants and cafes around VCU’s Monroe Park campus have had different experiences when it comes to the current economic climate. Many of the restaurants have experience a clear drop in tips.

Terry Hulzing is the take-out manager at Mojos.

“The value of individual tips has dropped a lot, at least for me,” she said.

She attributed this drop in tip values to the fact that much of Mojos’ patronage comes from college students, who she said are less likely to tip well.

Danielle Ahart, a server at Strawberry St. Café, said that her tips have dropped “a lot”. Roxy Café bar manager Jason Quintana said that he and his coworkers don’t make much in tips recently.

Quintana added that while food sales have slightly dropped in the last few months, alcohol sales have actually risen.

“People are always going to want to drink,” he said.

Not all of the restaurants around the Monroe Park campus have noticed changes at their business that are correlated with the international economic situation. Mezza, a Mediterranean style restaurant on Cary Street and next to Roxy Café, has experienced neither a loss in business nor a loss in tips.

Samir Desai has worked at Mezza since it opened in January 2008. He said that since opening there has not been “much of a change” in business. He personally has not experienced any loss in tips.

There could be some explanation for this variation in business and tips among local restaurants and cafes.

Professor Razzolini does not believe that local restaurants and cafes will be hit harder or even as hard as larger businesses and corporations because of their lower expenditures. She attributes the effect of the economic crisis on local restaurants and cafes to things that these businesses can control and things that they cannot.

Eating out will always have an elastic demand for consumers. This is something local eating establishments cannot control. However, the extent of the businesses’ costs and their fixed cost are within their control. This is something that may affect their overall success and survival in an age of the economic recession.

Dr. Cliff Edwards: The Sage of VCU

2008-12-10T11:22:00.000-08:00

Dr. Cliff Edwards has been teaching at VCU for 33 years. He established much of the current religious studies program at the school today.

By Sam Grimes

RICHMOND, Va. - Hanging in the door are several long chains of seashells strung together that, as one passes through them, produce a sound remniscient of ringing bells. The room is filled with religious icons. Statues of Buddha and Eastern figures sit on tables while crucifixes adorn the walls. Other decorations are placed throughout the room: a statue of the Virgin Mary and another of Vincent van Gogh, hanging Tibetan prayer flags, a few trumpets and a cluster of cattails. Where there are no decorations the walls are lined with crowded bookshelves.

Professor Cliff Edwards reclines peacefully in a chair near the computer with a small smile on his face. This is his 33rd year teaching at VCU. There was no religious studies major at the university when he arrived. Edwards is originally from South Hampton, N.Y., on Long Island. He attended Drew University in New Jersey, where he studied history. It was there that he was drawn to religious studies.

"I always liked working with texts. I mean, my fun is discovering things in original sources," Edwards said.

He found so many sources in religion while he was studying history that he was led more and more into religious studies. Edwards also found a practical reason to study religion: To pay for graduate school at Northwestern University, he took a degree in theology to become a pastor and served in community churches in Michigan and Wisconsin.

"Every day I teach, I can think back to, 'Hey, I learned those lessons when I was speaking to a little congregation of people from a hundred years old to about three years old,'" Edwards said.

He eventually received his Ph.D.

"On the way to it and following it, I studied all over the world," Edwards recalls.

He studied for a year at the University of Strasbourg in France, where he befriended the famous humanitarian Albert Schweitzer, who was nearing the end of his life. Edwards also did a semester at the University of Neuchatel in Switzerland. He also studied at Hebrew Union School of Bible and Archaeology in Jerusalem.

It was in Israel that Edwards learned archaeology at the ancient city of Gezer - a city once owned by King Soloman.

He studied at an ashram, or study center, in India, where he learned a "teacher's brand" of Hinduism and lived for a year and a half at a Zen monastery in Kyoto, Japan.

In the early 1970s, Edwards traveled to Japan on a grant.

"Someone gave me this big grant and said, 'The only you have to do is you have to spend your time in Asia,'" he recalled.

He intended to use the grant to travel to China and went to Hawaii to procure a visa. The time was around 1970, however, and "China at that time was angry at the United States over several things."

The Chinese government refused to give Edwards a visa. He had been studying Chinese for about five years in the hopes that he would go to China. He quickly learned Japanese and went to Japan instead.

Edwards' love of writing haiku allowed him to meet students in a poetry group. They introduced him to the Zen master at Daitoku-ji Zen Temple in Kyoto, who allowed him to stay in the temple as long as Edwards agreed to teach English to three monks. He was allowed to live at the monastery and follow the monks' daily routine. That lasted for a year.

Much to Edwards dismay, he was not able to learn Japanese as much as he would have liked to, since the monks recognized him as the English teacher and only wanted to speak their "broken English" with him. The only rule for living at the monastery was to attend every meditation session and teach English daily, which meant that Edwards was unable to travel very far from Kyoto.

"I was literally told that 'if you miss one of these mediation sessions, we'll pack your bags and they'll be on the front porch when you get back and you won't be welcome,'" he said.

Edwards stayed in the monastery for a year, keeping at his routine of meditating everyday and teaching his English class. While in Japan he also began a life-long love for Van Gogh and the artist's work.

After returning from his studies abroad, Edwards took his first full-time teaching position at Macon, Ga. When he arrived in Georgia, the civil rights movement was in full swing.

"It was a tough time to be in Georgia because I was looked at as a Northerner coming south just when they were having lots of racial upheaval. I mean, it was a bad time in Georgia," he said.

While Edwards was in Macon, there were civil rights marches and people being beaten up. He was considered a "carpet bagger" as if he had "something to teach them about all this stuff."

"I can't say I was very well accepted, and often people threatened me about one thing or another," Edwards said.

Teaching in Georgia wore Professor Edwards down, so he eventually moved to Randolph-Macon College in Ashland, Va. There, he devised the school's first world religions program. He first started teaching at VCU as an adjunct at night and eventually took a full-time position teaching here.

He currently teaches classes on Zen Buddhism, the Bible as literature and the life and works of Vincent van Gogh. He also will teach a class on world religions at Union Theological Seminary in Richmond next semester.

This past summer, Edwards was a visiting fellow at Oxford University. He hopes to return as a Coolidge fellow for the third summer this year at Columbia University so he can continue his research of religion and art.

Professor Edwards has written two books on van Gogh and the artist's spirituality. His third book, on van Gogh's painting The Night Cafe, will be published soon.

Miami Herald Editor and Investigative Reporter Speak About Their Books

2008-12-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Several people spoke as part of VCU's Mass Comm Week. Among those were writers from the Miami Herald who reflected on their recently published books.

by Samuel Grimes

RICHMOND, Va. - Miami Herald staff members and VCU graduates Sergio Bustos and Ronnie Greene both offered their own perspective on their respective books and described writing them as a liberating experience.

They spoke Thursday as part of VCU's Mass Comm week on the subject of their recently published books.

Both men are veteran journalists with more than 20 years of reporting experience each. They

They both constantly fought to have more details printed in their stories. Writing a book allowed each reporter to include the details that he felt were absolutely necessary to appropriately delivering his story.

"It was like breathing oxygen," Greene said.

He gave a thorough description of his book, "Night Fire: Big Oil, Poison Air, and Margie Richard's Fight to Save her Town," which chronicles the struggle of a small African-Amercian community in southern Louisiana against the Shell corporation.

Greene reflected on the fact that, had his work been printed in a newspaper, he would have been forced to omit many details. However, since this was a book he was able to "tell the larger story."

Bustos shared his colleague's feelings on the process on writing a book, saying he "never thought writing a book could be more liberating than writing for the newspaper."
He added that it was an "exhaustive experience" but that it was still well worth the sacrifice.

To produce his book "Miami's Criminal Past: Uncovered," Bustos took a series of stories printed in the Miami Herald and gathered new reporting, interviews and writing. The core of the original printed stories still remained, but he had to add many new details to meet the publisher's length requirements and to include anything that had been left out in the newspaper.

The stories in the book occur from the 1950s to the late 1990s, beginning with the unsolved murder of 6-year-old Judith Ann Roberts and ending with the killing of Gianni Versace.

In a question and answer session, the two mentioned their beginnings in journalism.

Greene said VCU is a great training ground for journalism because of its urban setting, which provides many things to report on.

The two were asked whether they felt that newspapers as a whole are slipping and in the process of fizzling out. They pointed out that most people want their news delivered at a convenient time, when they are awake and ready to receive.

Greene was asked about the role of newspapers and said that "newspapers can and do make a difference." His investigative reporting has actually helped to trigger changes in laws.

Bustos said that he believes people still do want to read good reporting. And both men agreed that they want to write another book in the future.

"The storyteller's not gonna die," Bustos responded. "People still love a good story."