Staff Q&As: Meet multiplatform journalist Dan Rorabaugh
To help you get to know our newsroom staff a bit better, a series of question-and-answer posts with each journalist will run on Mondays. This morning, meet Dan Rorabaugh, a multiplatform journalist on the night news and digital desk. You might have seen his film reviews on FlipSide or Book Buzz, or his posts on Twenty & Change.
Name: Dan Rorabaugh
Lives in: Mechanicsburg
Hometown: Mount Joy, Pa.
Position at the YDR: Night news editor/multimedia journalist
Years with the YDR: 2
Graduated from: Penn State
Twitter: @ScreenJeers
Email: drorabaugh@ydr.com
Whatever you’d like to tell us about yourself: I love, love, LOVE Philadelphia sports. I get myself to something like 10 Phillies games per year, I own too many Eagles jerseys to count, and I’m waiting for a Saturday off to go journey back to Penn State on a football Saturday. I also have an affinity for a lot of really nerdy or geeky things, such as Doctor Who, superhero movies, Game of Thrones and Pokemon. I try to go on as many adventures as I can, which usually involves me and a friend driving a really long way to go see a sporting event (farthest driven: Montreal; farthest gone: California for the Rose Bowl in 2009).
1. What made you want to become a journalist? I wanted to write about sports coming out of high school, so I picked a path in sports journalism at Penn State. While working with The Daily Collegian there, I gained an appreciation for the rest of the field, and the rest is history.
2. How do you see journalism changing? I see interactivity becoming a key part of journalism, both in terms of newsroom/community relations and the finished product on websites, through mobile apps and the like. Basically, the Internet is it.
3. What do you like most about your job? The least? Call me old-fashioned, but I love designing pages — fitting everything together like a puzzle keeps my brain running throughout the night. I also love working on the blogs to which I contribute (Twenty & Change, Book Buzz, FlipSide) and working with some really talented people. My least favorite thing is occasionally staying past 2 in the morning to get stuff done.
4. It’s 9:30 a.m. on a day off. What are you doing? Same thing I’m doing at 9:30 a.m. on a day I’m working: sleeping.
5. What’s been your favorite project or story recently? Why? I love the From Page to Projector book/movie adaptation review series I started on the Book Buzz blog about a month ago. It’s been keeping me busy when I’m not at work, and I’ve gotten to talk about some of my favorite books/movies so far (Harry Potter, Hunger Games, Fight Club).
6. The drink that’s on your desk right now is: My trusty blue, metallic bottle of water.
7. Your favorite Twitter feed you follow: A bunch of hilarious movie reviewers from ThatGuyWithTheGlasses.com: @Phelous, @Obscurus_Lupa and @thelindsayellis.
8. What’s your favorite movie? Book? My favorite movie oscillates a lot, but I usually come back to “The Return of the King.” For favorite book, I just fell in love with “A Storm of Swords,” Book 3 in George R.R. Martin’s “A Song of Ice and Fire” series (you probably know it as “Game of Thrones”). So apparently, I love fantasy epics.
9. What’s your favorite place in York County? Rocky Ridge. I love me some nature trails. Either that or my co-worker Caryn’s house; we often get into random adventures.
10. What’s one piece of newsroom jargon that had to be explained to you? All of them, often multiple times.
Last week, we ran a Q&A with multiplatform features journalist Sarah Chain. To read all of the staff Q&A interviews we’ve done so far, click on the “Staff Q&As” under “About us” at the top of the homepage.