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Universal Hub newsroom doubles in size this summer
By adamg on Thu, 05/14/2015 - 8:26am
I'm very pleased to introduce Shelagh Dolan, who will be interning for UHub this summer. One of her main assignments will be covering the Olympics. She's fluent in Spanish, so we've already mapped out a couple of long-term assignments involving the city's Hispanic communities, but if you have any suggestions for stories touching those communities that are going uncovered, let us know!
As a grumpy old editor, naturally the very first thing I had her do was compose her own bio:
Shelagh (shay-luh) Dolan is an exceptionally Irish grad student pursuing a master's degree in Professional Writing for New Media at Regis College in Weston, Ma.
Dolan graduated from Providence College in 2012, earning a B.A. in Spanish with a minor in Writing. She did the Corporate America thing in the Back Bay for two years before enrolling in graduate school to pursue her passion for writing.
Originally from Westford, MA, Dolan is an active member of the volleyball community, competing and coaching in greater Boston at the high school and collegiate levels year-round.
Dolan loves cats, concerts and coffee. She was at the Red Sox game when Jason Varitek punched A-Rod in the face and wishes she could have live-tweeted it. Follow her on Twitter for stories and general social commentary.
Free tagging:
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Comments
Merrimack Valley
represent! Welcome to the UHub, Shelagh!
Hey there
Welcome to Universal Hub, Shelagh! We, the posters, welcome you with open arms.
(and congrats to Adam for finally getting some help)
I'd love to hear...
...Spanish spoken with an Irish accent ;-)
Back in high school
We spoke Spanish with a Boston accent. It was wicked bueno, hombre.
I went to high school
On Long Island, and I always wondered what the graders of the AP Spanish exam thought when they graded the oral exam recordings from a room full of kids shouting into cassette recorders in Spanish with awful Long Island accents.
Congratulations
... to you both. May this be a positive and productive relationship - for you and for us, your fearless readers!
I'd love to hear
Shelagh in Spanish.
Welcome!
Shelagh = Cecilia
The consensus seems to be that the Gaelic Shelagh (or Sheila) means "heavenly", though there are some who derive it from a different Latin root via Gaelic meaning "blind". I don't think a "blind" intern would be much help to Adam, so I say let's go with "heavenly" & Cecilia in Spanish!
The joy of a Gaelic name
Means that in every language class you're ever enrolled in as a kid, there is no translation for your name. My teachers usually just went with the native version of "Charles" for me.
But it's fun listening to my South American in-laws try to say it, even to this day!
Welcome, and good luck,
and I hope that covering the Olympic bid is an exciting and very short-lived journey.
Seconded!
Here's hoping that it is truly just a summer beat, ending when on September 15th the USOC comes to its senses and either picks LA as the city to put forward or just backs out of 2024 altogether.
Woohoo!
Cead mile failte, Shelagh! As one of the resident Scrooges about Boston2024 I, for one, am very pleased to have you on board!
And assuming that intern duties include cleaning out the cesspool that is the anon commenting queue, please accept my apologies in advance. All of us who have commenting accounts here salute you for your bravery in delving into that wretched hive of scum and villainy.
Welcome aboard Shelagh! I was
Welcome aboard Shelagh! I was at that game too!
paid?
paid intern presumably, because otherwise, yuck on you.
While that'd be nice
...remind us again how much your subscription to UHub costs?
I do wonder...
How many people click on the "Support now" link...
Here's a thought
Maybe we should have a "Tip Jar" for the intern?
Think a big enough jar exists?
^
???
Since when must all interns be paid? There is a long and good tradition of students and recent grads being hired to learn on the job and get experience. When interns replace paid employees and do their work, that's a different story. Although maybe Adam can dip into his huge earnings and the astronomical profits from his media conglomerate to find a little something for her. Or maybe you can donate something, geep9, if you feel so strongly.
Personally, I want more cat stories. But I hope there will be no more news like yesterday's, about the budding serial killer in Dorchester.
Ongoing issue
This is a classic internship, possibly "paid" in experience and credit hours.
The problem with unpaid internships is that larger and far wealthier organizations than UHub began to abuse them for excessive hours of unpaid and skilled labor. There is the addition issue that the only people able to take prestigious, but unpaid internships - the kind that really will get you ahead - are rich people. This is a reason that I stopped giving money to several organizations, and gave it to others who pay their interns.
It was bad enough that the Department of Labor had to step in, as did several state governments.
And the Supreme Court, as I
And the Supreme Court, as I recall. My NYC sister's overstaying house guest got told she'd be receiving a paycheck that cycle the very next day, for the first time ever after the decision came out. She was an intern at a major web publisher/aggregater!
The problem with unpaid
The Olympics, for example. Maybe Shelagh can do some investigative reporting on this and other Boston 2024 topics while she's here. God knows the Globe isn't doing any.
Welcome Shelagh!
the good news is..
Adam is fair and I know won't abuse the help. At least that's the impression I've gotten from Adam the times I've directly interacted with him. "All around nice guy" is the impression that I get.
On a different note.. we really should start donating to him..
Will she fight?
This topic was recently in the news.
Intern salaries
No, I am not paying her and yes, I feel guilty about the fact that I can't. However, Regis is treating this internship as the equivalent of a class - and I'm going to do my best to make sure she gets a good experience out of it. She'll be doing actual writing, not intern-type drudge work.
glad to hear
that regis is treating it as a class
GoFundMe?
What would a paid summer internship pay usually? Would pay conflict with Regis in some way?
Do you feel like dealing with the tax implications of paying her via crowdsourcing?
Just a thought...
As a former student with an
As a former student with an internship that gave me nothing but drudge work which did not help my work experience I assure you that is worth more than $.
Wait, wait, wait, wait...
Hold on ONE second.
What's you're take on bike lanes, Shelagh?
Just bike lanes?
What about her opinion:
space savers
Globe Direct
stenographic transcripts
yuppies and their ruinous effects on our communities
Suggestion for your list
Everyone has the same opinion on Globe Direct (right?), so scratch that off your list and replace it with the Casey Overpass.
Here's her Kobayashi Maru Scenario
Yesterday morning, I saw a Globe Direct purveyor driving slowly down a bike lane while hurling advertizing boluses in a semi-random manner. One nearly hit a dog.
Let's see if she can keep UHub from imploding.
That Globe Direct's driver?
John Fish.
Boy, and I thought *I* made a nerdy reference on this post!
*hat tip*
To be fair
They were only in the bike lane to get around the space savers.
Good God, man!
You've got to EASE her into it!
I just want a fair and balanced UHub
We know Adam is a trust fund yuppie who wasn't even born here*, so I think we need to know if things are being balanced out.
* source - anon Southie posters
New York? Say it ain't so?
New York? Say it ain't so?
I don't want to know her opinions on anything
Not that I don't want her to have opinions, but I remember Adam's last intern getting a bit of flack due to something she wrote before coming on board. Details I cannot recall and desire to look it up I do not have.
As long as he writes well, she can believe whatever she wants.
"Yeeeeaaaahh, I'm gonna need you to come in on Saturday...
...So, if you could do that, that would be great... Ah, ah, I almost forgot... I'm also going to need you to go ahead and come in on Sunday, too. We, uhhh, lost some people this week and we sorta need to play catch-up. Mmmmmkay? Thaaaaaanks."
Welcome!
Glad to have you here
Welcome....
... to the madhouse. ;-)
Does this mean UHub's
Does this mean UHub's Olympics coverage won't be ridiculously biased anymore/a media platform for No Boston Olympics?
Looking forward to her hopefully objective coverage. Will be a breath of fresh air on here.
Welcome.
You poor baby...
... isn't the Globe, led by chief Olympics cheerleader Shirley Leung, providing enough Olympics shillery for you? Or is it that you simply don't want to see the opposite side of the story reported anywhere at all?
lol
reporting facts = ridiculously biased
questioning shady, unsourced, unproven pronouncements from Boston 2024 = ridiculously biased
okay, got it
Critical press and public is, well, critical
If the only "reporting" were on the vague, pie-in-the-sky promises from Boston2024 of magically fixed infrastructure, housing for everyone, jobs, jobs, jobs, and MOAR JOBS, no public expense, no disruption to existing businesses or residents, "power of sport", "the children", etc, then you'd be happy?
Because the actual facts and decades of experience prove otherwise, and frankly Boston2024 should be addressing those concerns. Which they aren't. In fact, they're hiding the worst stuff, which we wouldn't know about without, you know, critical thinkers and journalists...
This Exchange...
... was provided as a public service, to you, from a few of our regulars. Wasn't it nice of them to give you a small sample of the real sort of postings you'll see on U-Hub? Thanks, guys!
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
P.S. Welcome. I'm the self-important prick who capitalizes every word in his subject line as though it were a hed and who also believes that folks are so enamored of his stuff that they're pleased as punch he tacks his blog address to every post. I sometimes appear in the Herald (well, not me; my writing. So far as I know, some deathless prose about the NFL will be on the op-ed pages this coming Sunday! Sorry about the self-aggrandizement, but I'd say 90% of all posts I make are to feed my ego. Most others here know that and I didn't want to disappoint their expectations nor lead you astray from an understanding of my true nature your first day on the job. I also take about three times as many words to say whatever I say and unnecessarily abuse parentheses.)
Wait: you can shamelessly plug your blog here?
Too bad I only write stuff for the blog about once a year. (You will find links to all my professional restaurant reviews and food/drink features there, its main reason for existing.) Who has time to write for free?
http://mcslimjb.blogspot.com/
Nice Take On Hilltop
Very enjoyable read. Thanks for the blog link!
The only restaurant of my childhood that still delivers exactly what it did then is The Pleasant Cafe in Roslindale. Not only is the food the same, but they seem to have an inexhaustible supply of a certain type of waitress (addresses everyone as "dear" or "hon"; looks as though she'd enjoy a Pall Mall and a short glass of ale on her breaks.) When that place changes, it will be time for me to die.
The one I miss most is Fontaine's on Route One, home of the waving neon chicken that Adam has a GIF of and which he might post once more for old times sake if he reads this and is feeling kindly toward me. Marvelous big plates of fried and roasted chicken, a huge mound of mashed potatoes and gravy, and perhaps canned green beans. Also a place where one could order a Manhattan (with the maraschino cherry), a Boxcar, or an Old Fashioned, and not be smirked at.
Suldog
http://jimsuldog.blogspot.com
Now I'm hungry!
Suldog - that chicken restaurant sounds perfect. Wish they were still around. Haven't had lunch yet and my mouth is watering - now I want roasted chicken and a huge pile of mashed potatoes....and an Old Fashioned!
Welcome Shelagh!
Please attend this meeting:
http://www.cityofboston.gov/citycouncil/schedule.asp#/?i=1
Hope that link works.
If you can, take steno notes
If you can, Shelagh, take steno notes in an open format, accessible to all. Just getting you ready for our favorite off-kilter poster. Welcome!
Which one? I am planning on
Which one? I am planning on attending the 9:30 am meeting with the Olympic Committee on Monday
I was thinking the Monday one.
My plan is to attend also. Whether or not that happens is a different matter entirely.
Welcome!
Can't wait to see your work!
Never read the comments. Except for these. Just these ones.
Welcome!
"Far as I can tell, your entire enterprise is little more than a solitary man with a messy apartment which may or may not contain a chicken."
Kidlet
When do you rope her in to the family business? Employee #3, presumably.
She will continue to do touch-up copy editing
As she's done for the past few years. As for writing, despite the fact she's a good writer and already shows some good interviewing skills, alas, she has no interest in reporting (well, or at least of the sort of stuff you find here).
We'll see
Michael Corleone didn't want to join the family business and look how that turned out.
Cool! Welcome!
Cool! Welcome!
Shelagh
Following
ASSIGN HER TO COVERING POSITIVE STORIES OR ROXBURY & DORCHESTER
Maybe you should consider assigning her to cover stories about the positive things that happens in Dorchester, Mattapan and Roxbury that you seem to intentionally ignore.
In fact your over-zealous and laser-focus coverage of only crime and negative stories about those three neighborhoods makes your site looks very bias and borderline prejudice towards those towns. And that's a shame.
We are in 2015 not the old us versus them Boston from the 60's. It's time to move on.
Not a bad idea
Although I suspect you'd hear the same complaint about my posts about South Boston, too.
Pretty balanced
If someone gets shot, it gets reported, regardless of the neighborhood. The press cannot control where legitimate news originates.
I agree that the press CAN control where positive news comes from and should do a better job of spreading those nice stories around.
Welcome!
You're working for the best news site in Boston, IMO.
welcome!
great to have a new source of wit and wisdom, and to give Adam an occasional breather!
Looking Forward To Many Adorable Stories From Shelagh!
Especially cat stories
Those are especially adorable - excluding the one from yesterday.
How about for starters a little follow up on the two new additions to Franklin Park Zoo - would love to see some occasional animal zoo news out here as opposed to the human one we vicariously live through on this site every day.
Wahoo! even if we get 50% more content, we win.
THANKS GUYS!
Congratulations
We expect to see continued in depth coverage of our eternal struggle for the liberation of our ancestral homelands from colonial oppression!
Ok then..
Word!! More viewpoints from educated people. I got a question though, does she know where Mattapan is?
Public Notices of Public Meetings of each state agency, dept.
Did you know?... at the State House in a lobby there are bins with all Public Notices of upcoming Public Meetings of each Massachusetts government agency, department required to post Notices of Public Meetings. Why aren't the Public Notices scanned online available from a state website page?
Enter the State House at the General Hooker Entrance to the right of the main gate, after the checkpoint cross the Bulfinch Building following the hallway to the West Wing, at the end on the right take the elevator to the 3rd Floor, then off the elevator diagonally to the right is the Room 373 Lobby with the Public Bins of Public Notices, Minutes of Public Meetings of each state agency, department.
It's clear that the Public Notices aren't really available without traversing a maze after getting to the building. It's 2015 and this technology allows for scanning and posting good images of all the Public Notices.
"Enter the State House at the Hooker Entrance"
If I ever stop giggling when I see this, go ahead and start shoveling.
Oh, yeah, the General Hooker Entrance
I've always wondered where the Specific Hooker Entrance is.
Some former lawmakers'
Some former lawmakers' offices, I've no doubt!
Thus...
the extra side room in the guy's office with the bed, explained.
Our Governments are Always Quite Weird
Well, "General Hooker Entrance" definitely tops the list.
My previous 1st place award for government fails was also related to Boston:
As a joke, a Texas state senator put in a bill to praise the "Boston Strangler" (a real criminal!), to see if Texas state senators actually read what they're about to pass into law. Which they didn't.
They came literally this close (by which we mean, the length of the word this) to passing it, and was only stopped when the inductee decided to reveal the joke on all of his mates.
These?
http://www.sec.state.ma.us/spr/sprpub/pubhear.htm
Cool!
From a Regis alum, and fellow cat & coffee lover, welcome Shelagh!
Welcome Shelagh Dolan!
You are very fortunate to have an internship with Adam. I'm certain that if you pick his brain, try to understand his journalistic philosophy, and ask a ton of questions as you test your wings, you'll be a better journalist. You'll learn a lot just from how Adam handles additional information and corrections from the UH regulars.
Oh, and don't let the amadáns get you down.
welcome Shelagh!
....if things get a wee slow on other topics, maybe make some sense of the Tynan droogs
Thanks everyone!
I'm so very excited about this opportunity (comments section and all!)
Welcome! (from the North Shore)
Congratulations and welcome Shelagh! I'm happy to hear that UHub is expanding- so cheers to Adam as well. I look forward to reading your contributions, and if there are any new tshirts to buy to support the site... don't forget to let us know... :)
-Katey from Woburn in Salem