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2020 Staff

Editor


Sara Toth – Editor

Sara Toth is entering her third summer as editor of The Chautauquan Daily — this season published exclusively online — and works year-round in Chautauqua Institution’s Department of Education. Previously, she served four years as the Daily’s assistant and then managing editor. An alum of the Daily internship program, she is a native of Pittsburgh(ish), attended Gannon University in Erie, Pennsylvania, and worked for nearly four years as a reporter in the Baltimore Sun Media Group.

Copy Editor


Laura Philion – Copy Editor

Laura Philion is spending her first season at Chautauqua as copy editor for the Daily. A rising junior at Sarah Lawrence College, she studies creative writing, literature and art history. When not working, she can be found sewing face masks, reading Elizabeth Bishop and ranting about the paintings of Diego Velásquez (though not all at the same time).

Digital Editor


Madeline Deabler –  Digital Editor, 2020 Ernest Cawcroft Fellow

Digital design fellow Madeline Deabler has two years of experience working as a design editor at The Chautauquan Daily. She graduated in May from Wichita State University with a degree in graphic design and a minor in communication. She spent four years designing for The Sunflower student newspaper, and also served as advertising manager. She has experience working at a Wichita graphic design studio and now does freelance work.

Reporters


Maggie Angevine –  Reporter

For her first season with The Chautauquan Daily, reporter Maggie Angevine will be covering the theater, youth programs and recreation at Chautauqua. Maggie, hailing from Virginia, is a rising junior at Miami University in Ohio, studying journalism, political science and French. When she isn’t writing for The Miami Student newspaper, Maggie can be found somewhere outside — hiking, camping, climbing or simply exploring.

Eleanor Bishop –  Reporter

Eleanor Bishop is a Cincinnati native and rising senior studying journalism at Ohio University’s Honors Tutorial College. She is excited to (virtually) return to the Daily for her second year, where she is covering visual arts, opera and dance. When she’s not writing, Eleanor enjoys comedy, pop music and staring wistfully out windows, thinking about how she should probably be writing.

Jamie Clarkson –  Reporter

Jamie Clarkson is a first-year reporter at The Chautauquan Daily, covering everything from the environment to the African American Heritage House and Heritage Lecture Series. In May 2020, Jamie graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Journalism with specializations in women’s, gender and sexuality studies and music from the Ohio University E.W. Scripps School of Journalism. She will return to Scripps in the fall to pursue her master’s degree. This summer she will be quarantine-reporting from her home in Bremen, Ohio.

Chris Clements –  Reporter

Chris Clements is reporting on literary arts during his second summer with The Chautauquan Daily. He has previously written previews for the Interfaith Lecture Series and Sacred Song Services. Chris is a rising senior at Arizona State University in Phoenix, Arizona, and is majoring in English with an emphasis in creative writing. He’s passionate about all things related to literature, music and film, especially author David Foster Wallace, jazz singer Cecile McLorin Salvant, and the films of Paul Thomas Anderson.

Nick Danlag – Reporter

Nick Danlag is starting his first season as a reporter for The Chautauquan Daily. He is a creative writing major at Eckerd College, as well as the editor-in-chief of the college’s student newspaper, The Current, and the non-fiction editor of the student literary magazine, The Eckerd Review. For this season of The Chautauquan Daily, he is excited to be recapping the Chautauqua Lecture Series and getting to work from his bedroom in Las Vegas.

Jamie Landers –  Reporter

Jamie Landers is entering her third season as a reporter for The Chautauquan Daily, covering all things music-related within the online platform. Previously, she recapped the Chautauqua Lecture Series in 2019 and the Interfaith Lecture Series in 2018. In addition, she is a rising senior at The Walter Cronkite School of Journalism in Phoenix, Arizona, where she most recently served as a breaking news reporter for The Arizona Republic, as well as a documentary producer for Arizona PBS.

Chloe Murdock –  Reporter

This is Chloe Murdock’s first season reporting for The Chautauquan Daily. She hopes to visit Chautauqua in the future, but in the meantime she covers news on Chautauqua’s Interfaith Lecture Series. Chloe is a rising senior at Miami University studying journalism and international studies. When she isn’t leading The Miami Student magazine or writing for The Miami Student newspaper, Chloe enjoys practicing martial arts.

Mary Lee Talbot – Morning Worship Columnist

Mary Lee Talbot writes the morning worship column, a recap of the morning worship service. She is a Presbyterian minister, an author or editor of five books on Chautauqua, and just finished six years of service on the Chautauqua Lake Central School Board of Education. She lives in Chautauqua year-round with her dog Sammi, a Stabyhoun — a breed no one has ever heard of.

Deborah Trefts –  Reporter

Deb Trefts is a policy scientist with extensive United States, Canadian and additional international experience in conservation. She focuses on the resolution of ocean and freshwater-related challenges and the art and science of deciphering and developing public policy at all levels, from global to local. She covers the Chautauqua Women’s Club.

Meg Viehe – Interfaith News Columnist

Meg Viehe, who compiles information for the denominational houses and other interfaith groups, is a retired teacher living in Newport Beach, California, during the off-season. She is happiest when she and her husband Rich are surrounded by grandchildren and their parents, the extended Viehe clan, and friends at Chautauqua. Her advice to her grandchildren and others: “Be nice to everyone at Chautauqua. You never know who will be part of your future family.”

Editorial Office


Cloey Olkowski – Editorial Office Manager

Birkenstock enthusiast and lover of all things yellow, Cloey Olkowski is the office manager at the Daily. This will be Cloey’s fourth season at the Daily and 20th season at Chautauqua. A native of Buffalo, New York, she is a recent graduate of SUNY Oswego, where she majored in public relations with double minors in graphic design and psychology. Three seasons ago she placed second in the Old First Night Run/Walk and hopes to take home the virtual gold this season.