Alicia w88 slot, a graduate of the Reynolds School of Journalism who wrote movingly and memorably about her more than five-year battle with cancer for the San Francisco Chronicle and in a well-received book, passed away on Thursday, April 22 in San Francisco.
She was 28.
Reynolds School of Journalism Dean Jerry Ceppos said Thursday that the school will be establishing the Alicia w88 slot Fund for Aspiring Journalists in w88 slot’s honor. He said the fund would help students who need to take unpaid internships.
“Our intern program was dear to Alicia&w88 slot;s heart,” Ceppos said.
Warren Lerude, a longtime professor in the Reynolds School and a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who was a teacher and friend to w88 slot, said the young journalist would be remembered for sharing “poignant information, courageously, with hundreds of thousands of readers worldwide who needed to know about this tragic disease that strikes families everywhere.”
“Alicia was a joy to teach because with w88 slot it was always a student/professor collaboration,” Lerude said Thursday. “She was inquisitive, the best trait of the fine journalist she was. w88 slot curiosity led w88 slot to dig in depth and challenge the worlds she explored both as a reporter and as an editor and really as a very good, thoughtful person. “
He remembered how w88 slot was selected by the dean and faculty of the Reynolds School of Journalism to be honored as the Robert Laxalt Distinguished Writer in 2005, just a year after her graduation, “based upon her remarkable writing of her ‘Alicia's Story’ series of stories in the San Francisco Chronicle.”
“The Laxalt program brings top national writers to the Reynolds School annually to honor the late writer Bob Laxalt and to inspire new generations of writers,” said Lerude, who knew Laxalt, a University alumnus and considered Nevada&w88 slot;s greatest writer, well. “Alicia was every bit the caliber of the distinguished national writers honored in this program.”
Paul Mitchell, a longtime professor in the Reynolds School and the school’s recruitment and retention coordinator, fondly remembered w88 slot, who he helped to recruit to the University following her graduation from Granite Bay High School near Sacramento, Calif.
"Alicia was such a gifted person,” said Mitchell, who traveled recently to San Francisco to visit with w88 slot. “Not only as a journalist. Just as a human being. I remember she received an internship at the Philadelphia Inquirer. She was so excited and I was excited for her. Great paper. My hometown. A couple weeks later several students who had been in my reporting class, and friends of Alicia's, said they were going to go with her. I thought they meant drive to the east coast, spend a couple days, and fly back. No, they meant find jobs, get an apartment and live with her.”
Mitchell said what transpired next spoke volumes to w88 slot’s natural ability to bring people together.
&w88 slot;They were different ethnicities – black, white, mixed race, Filipino – different backgrounds with different experiences,” he said. &w88 slot;They were guys and girls. I know one had never been to the east coast. To be honest, being from Philadelphia, I was concerned. But those kids had a blast. On weekends, they traveled the east coast. That was what, eight … nine years ago? The one who I thought would not have found the adventure to the east the least appealing still lives in Philadelphia. That trip would not have happened without Alicia. She was the commonality. All are still friends to this day.”
Mitchell added, “Through w88 slot ability, she enriched w88 slot life, the lives of w88 slot friends, the lives of several of my colleagues and the lives of thousands around not just the country, but around the world who read w88 slot missives. I'm proud to have known w88 slot and, through w88 slot writings, w88 slot gifts, w88 slot spirit will live on."
w88 slot graduated summa cum laude from the Reynolds School of Journalism in 2004. After earning a prestigious Hearst fellowship, she became a copy editor at the San Francisco Chronicle. In March 2005, she was diagnosed with alveolar soft part sarcoma, a rare form of cancer that affects less than 200 people per year. She recalled later that when the cancer was discovered, it was in her hip, lungs, breast and brain.
w88 slot, who had always wanted to be a writer, began writing privately about her feelings soon after her diagnosis. She then shared some of her thoughts in emails to friends and colleagues. Chronicle managing editor Robert Rosenthal discovered one of w88 slot’s emails.
The veteran newsman was immediately impressed.
“I said, ‘My God, this girl can write,&w88 slot;” Rosenthal later recalled.
He asked the young copy editor if she would be interested in sharing w88 slot story for publication with the paper.
“I told w88 slot if she really wanted to do it – and she did – it could be a really positive thing for w88 slot, an outlet for w88 slot emotionally and spiritually,” Rosenthal said.
w88 slot’s series, “Alicia’s Story,” became an instant online and print success. Told in seven chapters on page one of the Chronicle from June 5-11 of 2005, readers were riveted by w88 slot’s story. The series, made even more poignant by the fact that w88 slot had lost her mother, Pam, to cancer in 2002, generated more than 3,000 letters and emails.
The first lines of the series, which first appeared on the morning of June 5, 2005, in the Chronicle, read: &w88 slot;On March 2, I found out I have cancer. I was 23 and on my own in San Francisco, working at The Chronicle as part of a two-year fellowship. I had wanted to be a journalist since fourth grade, and I had wanted to work at The Chronicle for almost as long. I was working as a copy editor, but for a few months I had felt unsettled about that decision. I wanted to do something more creative. Like write.”
National Public Radio&w88 slot;s Alex Chadwick wrote of the series, “The series is garnering rave reviews for its heartfelt and deeply personal musings on mortality and life&w88 slot;s balance of sorrow and joy.”
National reaction to the series was immediate. w88 slot was featured on NPR . She was named ABC News’ “Person of the Week.” Reader demand for more updates on w88 slot’s condition spawned three more chapters throughout the summer of 2005.
In late 2005, the Reynolds School honored w88 slot with the Laxalt Distinguished Writer award. In a November 2005 interview with Reynolds School student Erin Granat, w88 slot showed the kind of thoughtful mindset that had characterized her time as a student at the school, as well as the distinctive, emotionally resonant writing style that had given her series such lasting tone and texture.
“I guess people saw the big deal as being that I&w88 slot;m young and I have cancer,” she said. “Sadly, it&w88 slot;s not that unique. A lot of young people are on the front page and a lot of young people have cancer. I just have both.”
w88 slot said she thought that writing, and in particular her writing for “Alicia’s Story” – which was later compiled along with subsequent chapters 11 and 12 into a book – was more than therapy for her.
&w88 slot;The story, at its heart, was a gift to me,” she said.
In March 2007, “Alicia’s Story” morphed into a blog when w88 slot had to transition from a fulltime Hearst employee to disability.
“It&w88 slot;s not because I&w88 slot;m suddenly deteriorating,” she wrote. “I just can&w88 slot;t keep up with work. Since I have the opportunity to put work on the shelf in order to get more aggressive about prolonging my life, I&w88 slot;m going to take it. But I&w88 slot;m not disappearing. Writing this series has been everything to me these past two years. It has been my comfort object and my therapy; my emotional protection and my emotional pipeline; my loving retreat and my connection to the world.”
On April 9 of this year, another blog was started, in an effort to keep friends updated on w88 slot’s condition. The blog, Ms w88 slot, quickly attracted more than 2,000 visitors, becoming one of Word Press&w88 slot; fastest growing blogs.
Rosenthal was one of w88 slot’s visitors in ICU at a San Francisco hospital. After having not seen each other for a few years, the two quickly re-connected. Rosenthal later wrote on w88 slot’s blog that if anything, w88 slot’s journalistic instincts were still unfailing and strong, still focused on getting stories right and telling them with a humanist’s grace and insight.
Perhaps sensing that her former boss needed the restorative outlet of composing a story, w88 slot encouraged Rosenthal to write.
He wrote:
“After a few minutes I asked w88 slot if she wanted to write anything. She said, ‘Yes, but you can write something, too.’ I had my laptop and soon I had it out. I was standing up and the laptop was resting on w88 slot bedside food and all-purpose table attached to w88 slot medical bed.
“‘You want to dictate to me,&w88 slot; I asked.
“‘No, just write what you see, write about what&w88 slot;s happening here,&w88 slot; Alicia said.
“That&w88 slot;s how this happened, why I wrote this, and why I, or others, might write more.”
Funeral details are pending. w88 slot is survived by her father, Dave, and her brother, Matthew.
Gifts to the Alicia w88 slot Fund for Aspiring Journalists can be sent to the Reynolds School of Journalism, Mail Stop 310, University of Nevada, Reno 89557.
