Diana began her career as a reporter and writer and has never given up that passion. She’s merged her love for writing with every job she’s held, even writing photo essays and news quizzes for an online publication while she ran its homepage. More recently, she has been writing criminal justice articles—including a three-part series on prison reform—for nonprofits.
What she can do for you: In addition to reporting and writing, Diana can use her flair for writing and headline-crafting to take a project off your hands and write, design, and edit your organization’s publication from start to finish. Contact her here.
Reintegration series
Arnold Ventures, Feb. 1-3, 2021
Part 1: Locked Up — and Then Locked Out: Even after their prison sentence is over, people with criminal convictions continue to be punished in America.
Part 2: ‘They’d Rather I Go Wash Dishes’: Restrictive state licensing laws act as one of the biggest barriers that people with criminal records face as they try to seek a stable career.
Part 3: Removing the Stigma of a Criminal Record — One Law at a Time: From ‘Ban the Box’ to ‘Clean Slate,’ advocates are using legislation and litigation to tear down the endless barriers that keep people with convictions from moving on with their lives.
De-escalation in policing series
Arnold Ventures, Dec. 14, 2020
Part 1: ‘You Can Call Me V’: The Rise and Promise of De-escalation in Policing: De-escalation asks police officers to slow down, think, and, when possible, put away their firearms.
Part 2: ‘They Fought Smarter, Not Harder’: De-escalation Put to the Test: In Part II of this story, we take a look at the evidence behind this new way of policing that could save lives and careers.
PRISON VIOLENCE SERIES
Arnold Ventures, Aug. 23-24, 2020
Part 1: ‘I Can Kill You In Here and No One Would Know It’: Behind prison walls exists a culture of brutality that can erupt at the slightest provocation. A new landmark study seeks to shed light on what causes violence inside prisons and how to stop it.
Part 2: How Can Prisons Eliminate Violence? One Researcher Is Determined to Find Out: There are theories about what causes prison violence, but a new three-year, seven-state study is seeking hard data to document the problem — and find solutions.
Could Andrea High Bear’s Death Have Been Prevented?
Arnold Ventures, May 28, 2020
She was a pregnant mother of five, transferred to a federal prison facility in the middle of a pandemic. And her death from the coronavirus a month later, advocates say, is the result of multiple failures in the criminal justice system.
PRISON REFORM SERIES
Arnold Ventures, May-June 2019
Part 1: Shining a Light Inside Prisons: More than 1.5 million Americans are incarcerated in U.S. prisons, yet in many ways, our country remains in the dark about life inside. Arnold Ventures hopes to change that as part of a new initiative to support fundamental prison reform.
Part 2: Thinking Beyond the Prison Cell: For decades, prison has been the default punishment in the United States, leading to overcrowded cells, budget shortfalls, and conditions that breed violence. As people across the nation demand a better system, there’s a push to come up with more humane approaches.
Part 3: Leading Prison Reform from the Inside: When it comes to prison reform, the people deciding new policies have typically never stepped foot in a prison cell. But that may be changing, as new efforts seek out the voices of those who live and work in prisons to help shape what the future could look like.
a dating story
Sunday Star-News (Wilmington, N.C.); March 3, 2002
Dale Kelly walked slowly down the hallway leading to his daughter’s bedroom. He held tight to his camera, at times poising it in front of his face, ready to snap a photo of his little girl.
“OK, let the proud father in,” Mr. Kelly said as he approached the room and peered around the entryway.
That’s when it hit him.
The smell of sweet perfume. The empty shoebox on the bed. The handbag and makeup and discarded clothing tags on the dresser.
And his little girl, standing tall in a floor-length white gown. His little girl, wearing pink lipstick and shiny eye shadow, her hair twirled up in a curly ’do. His little girl, about to go on her first date.
WASHINGTON POST EXPRESS QUIZZES
Click here for a few sample interactive news quizzes Diana wrote and produced.
politico photo essays and quizzes
Click here for some of Diana’s most popular photo essays.
Click here for two examples of the weekly news quizzes she wrote and produced.
A five-course guide to the White House Correspondents’ Dinner
The Washington Post Express; May 1, 2014
Saturday’s White House Correspondents’ Dinner is the hottest meal ticket in town — but no one goes for the food. There are more important matters to attend to at the annual schmoozefest: Like, is that Rick Santorum gawking at Lindsay Lohan? And did the leader of the free world just discuss his underwear? Since Express has never had a seat at the table (crazy, right?), we can’t say firsthand what it’s like inside that Hilton ballroom. But after scouring nearly 90 years of newspaper coverage, we’ve figured out what it takes to pull off the perfect Nerd Prom.
A ROOKIE GUIDE TO SURVIVING A SUPER BOWL PARTY
Sunday Star-News (Wilmington, N.C.); February 3, 2002
You’ve been this way since childhood, right?
On Sundays, when the roar of afternoon football games filled your living room – along with screaming relatives, beer bottles and bags of chips – you were off in your bedroom, playing with Barbie, reading a book or amusing yourself with Tonka trucks and action figures.
The lure of football just never grabbed you. You never did know the difference between a cornerback and a quarterback (you assume they’re all “tight ends”), and you had no idea a “punt” wasn’t the same thing as a “kick.”
Now today, as your artichoke dip bakes in the oven and you garb yourself in the only piece of football-themed clothing you own (an old UNC vs. N.C. State football T-shirt from your college days), you can’t help but wonder, “Will I fit in at the office Super Bowl party?”
First change your shirt, and then we’ll talk.
Destination Finish Line
2009 to 2015
Personal running and weight-loss blog