2012 has been a memorable year for me.
In addition to writing some stories that I’m quite proud of, I departed Thailand after six years to begin studying for my Master’s in Business and Economics Journalism at the Columbia Journalism School in New York City. (I’m on winter break now and am writing this from Bangkok.)
Here’s a look back at some of my favorite posts from the last twelve months. Some entries are lighthearted, while others are more serious. At the bottom, I’ve linked to a few of my favorite pieces of non-Newley.com writing.
As you’ll see — first things first! — in March, my soccer team won our league. As the year progressed, I posted my notes from Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s speech to the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Thailand and blogged about the landmark elections in Myanmar (Burma). And who could forget what happened in May: Lady Gaga arrived in Bangkok.
In New York, I wrote briefly about some of my classes and posted my notes from three memorable talks. First, R. Glenn Hubbard and Jeffrey Liebman, economic advisors to President Obama and Mitt Romney, debated business and economics issues at Columbia. Then Bob Woodward delivered an inspirational speech to Columbia Journalism School students. And I wrote about a talk Google Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt gave at the 92nd Street Y.
And, finally, as the year ended, I blogged about Hurricane Sandy hitting the New York area. (Indeed, it has been quite a year: I didn’t even blog about another two significant events from the fall: President Obama’s re-election and the Sandy Hook Elementary shootings.)
March
- Newley.com in the New Lonely Planet Thailand
- Off Topic: My Soccer Team Won Our League!
- Notes from Thai PM Yingluck’s FCCT Speech
April
May
June
July
- Off Topic: A Remarkable Motorcycle Helmet
- Bangkok Street Life Inventions: Garbage Bag Poncho and Frond-Fashioned Napping Shade
August
- Programming Note: I’m Off to NYC for Nine Months
- Off Topic: An Excellent Book about Nutrition
- Spotted Today in Bangkok: The Umbrella Hat in Action
September
October
- Notes from Tonight’s Presidential Economic Advisers Forum
- Tweets from Bob Woodward’s Columbia Journalism School Talk Last Night
- New York City Fire Hydrant Poles Marked ‘Thailand’ (Updated)
- My Tweets from Eric Schmidt’s Talk with Walt Mossberg and Kara Swisher
- Multiple posts: Hurricane Sandy hits NYC.
Other Writings
A couple of stories I wrote for the Wall Street Journal stand out: I reported on some “creative” watering holes in Bangkok and wrote about all things vintage Thailand*.
For Bloomberg BNA, I covered a wide range of issues, from political reforms and economic sanctions in Myanmar to a new rare earths processing plant in Malaysia. (I would link to the pieces, but they’re subscriber-only.)
And finally, this fall I penned a couple of pieces for Covering Business, a Columbia Journalism school Web site. One offered tips for business journalists who want to freelance abroad. The other was about covering tourism industry shocks.
Thanks, as ever, for reading. I always welcome feedback, so feel free to leave a comment or send me an email: newley@gmail.com.
* As I noted earlier, I was happy to see that the nostalgia story was included in WSJ Scene Asia‘s list of their top Asian travel stories of the year.
**Links to all of my stories are on my Journalism page.
