Elijah Herington
There has never been a light bulb above my head flashing journalism. It never seemed like a proper fit for my character. Throughout high school in Jonesborough, Tenn., and even into the early days at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville, I saw myself as a powerful architect or a history-crazed Greek civilization professor. These were the romanticized versions of what I would have called my coming reality.
But, as we all know, things change. Lives become something more, or in some cases, less than what we once thought possible. To be honest, by my first semester abroad at Keele University in England, I still had no idea as far as my career goals were concerned. Now, in their defense, courses in modern English poetry, thinking photography and the European Union played a fair share into the eventual journalistic direction my life would take, but for the time being every day at Keele seemed a façade.
After a summer spent working within the refugee and immigrant community of Charlotte, N.C., I made another jaunt across the Atlantic, where I discovered my absolute passion for the art of journalism. While I had technically declared majors before leaving for England in the spring, it wasn’t until the Danish School of Media and Journalism that I realized this was my passion. Confronted with the necessity to develop my writing style (along with photo, video, voice and design editing), I churned out a fair number of short articles, along with five or six features that were eventually published on the university’s English news blog, mediajungle.dk.
European politics, organic farming, homelessness and racial stereotypes were my Danish beat. Upon my return from this foray abroad, homeless issues took over. I began working with Knoxville’s very own street paper, The Amplifier. It is here that I truly came to grips with the value of journalism and its ability to amplify the voices of the forgotten or the marginalized. This can be applied to any subject. Where journalism had once simply been an art to me, it had now become a tool for voicing – a tool for hearing.
Journalism depends on people who want to know more, want to experience how others live and want to share their findings with the world around them – I am such a person. While nothing written can perfectly present each individual’s reality, my hopes for the coming months here at the Scripps Howard Foundation Wire are to work on drawing vignettes into our collective reality. This should make for some exciting stories and provide an entirely new set of life experiences to build into my career.
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Where mobile technology fits into political campaigns
February 15, 2012 11:14 amWASHINGTON – It may come as no real surprise, but the proliferation of mobile technology has forever changed the face of political campaigning.
Food stamps can actually help, rather than hurt, the economy, advocates say
February 3, 2012 4:24 pm 
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Tara Marks speaks about her personal experiences before and after she began receiving Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits. Listening are Donna Cooper, left, and Elise Gould joined her to support the program at a press conference Thursday. SHFWire photo by Elijah HeringtonWASHINGTON – Contrary to recent comments made by Republican presidential hopefuls about the overuse of food stamps, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program does serve both as an economic and social safety net.
Committee drops provision allowing truck weight increases from highway bill
February 2, 2012 6:47 pmWASHINGTON – Though the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure voted Thursday to send the new highway bill to the House floor, it will be without a controversial provision granting tractor-trailers an added 21 percent weight allowance.
Tenn. representative pushes new highway bill, despite truck weight increases
February 2, 2012 6:42 pmWASHINGTON – A new highway bill, introduced by Rep. John J. Duncan Jr., that would spend $260 billion over five years will was to head to a committee vote Thursday.
‘Food stamp president’ – what’s the basis of Gingrich’s claim
January 31, 2012 5:49 pm 
Click on photo to enlarge or download: This breakdown of the interactions between SNAP spending, participation and unemployment shows all three trend in the same directions. Source: USDA and the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Graphic by Jessica SabbahEditor’s note: This is the first of two stories about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, better known as the food stamp program. It is also one of several SHFWire stories that will focus on the 2012 elections in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
WASHINGTON - It’s hardly a secret that the candidates vying for the GOP presidential nomination strongly disagree with President Barack Obama’s stances on national economics – especially those relating to social issues.
Calculating SNAP eligibility takes time, but could pay off in the end
January 31, 2012 5:38 pmEditor’s note: This is the second of two stories about the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance program, better known as the food stamp program. It is also one of several SHFWire stories that will focus on the 2012 elections in Pennsylvania and Virginia.
To understand the rigmarole associated with eligibility requirements, here is a walk through the USDA-prescribed steps a household would take to gain benefits.
Some states making better use of data to improve education
January 20, 2012 11:41 amWASHINGTON – Former Gov. Phil Bredesen sat down with other education leaders Wednesday to discuss the importance of using data to improve national educational standards.
Auto safety report shows Tennessee does well, but has room for improvement
January 12, 2012 5:30 pm
Click on photo to enlarge or download: Joe Polakiewicz shows the audience a photo of him in his hospital bed following the accident. His mother, Nancy, says at a press conference in Washington Wednesday that his care has cost more than half a million dollars. SHFWire photo by Elijah HeringtonWASHINGTON – Tennessee was one of the nation’s 18 safest states in the ninth annual road safety report, “The 2012 Roadmap to State Highway Safety Laws.”
