Hannah and Marvin. When it was much warmer in Cambridge
When I first saw the list of 2009 Nieman Fellows, I saw several people whose work I was familiar with, but the only person I knew personally was Hannah Allam. I met her in 2005 when she was NABJ’s Journalist of the Year. She was probably the youngest NABJ Journalist of the Year ever and is one of the youngest Nieman’s in our class. She is also one of the bravest. Shortly after 9/11, Hannah whose roots extend to Egypt by way of Oklahoma, became an expert on Islam. When her company, Knight Ridder asked for volunteers to go to the war zone, she raised her hand and was shipped to Baghdad. She eventually became the Baghdad bureau chief. Not even 30, but running the coverage of a dangerous war in the most dangerous city in the world. She experienced sexism, but also witnessed death almost daily. When it got too much, she would escape to Egypt or America or to the NABJ convention, but she always returned. She finally left Baghdad for good after she lost her 13th friend to the war. She opened up a bureau in Cairo. She was closer to home, but continues to travel throughout the Middle East to cover conflict. Hannah doesn’t look like your typical war correspondent, but I don’t know a better one. Oh yeah, on one of her trips she ran into a basketball team at the airport. She met a dude named Marvin Black, fell in love and got married. Marvin actually spent a lot of time with us early on in the school year. Brilliant brother. He was in 3 of my classes and was quickly becoming a favorite of Professor O’Donovan, who teaches the slavery course. But eventually, he had to return overseas to continue his basketball career. Hopefully, he will return after the season.
