resume

Kenneth James Krayeske

Born February 26, 1972

364 Laurel St., Hartford, CT 06105

 

General Experience

Campaign Manager
Thornton for Governor • 6/06 to 11/06

Ran campaign for Connecticut's first African-American candidate for governor, Clifford W. Thornton, Jr (CT Green Party). Thornton garnered 9,565 votes (.85%). Helped raise $26,000. Organized the ballot access drive of more than 85 volunteer petitioners collecting 13,000 signatures to guarantee a line on the ballot for the entire slate of seven Green Party candidates for constitutional offices. Other responsibilities included serving as campaign spokesperson, developing and writing candidate policy platforms, leading design team for votethornton.com, recruiting and retaining volunteers, writing and placing op-eds, arranging media interviews, scheduling candidate appearances, and producing and purchasing radio and TV ads.

Field Coordinator
Ned Lamont for Senate • 4/06 to 5/06

Managed First Congressional District Field operation of petition drive that would have secured candidate a spot on the August 2006 primary ballot.

Legislative Researcher (Freelance)
Service Employees International Union CT State Council • 1/06 - 5/06
United Auto Workers, Regional Council 9 • 4/06 - 5/06
Jack Hennessey for State Representative • 6/06

Filed Freedom of Information Act requests for public documents, researched materials, wrote reports and testified before state legislative committees. When denied documents by one quasi state agency, filed a complaint with CT FOI Commission and argued case, which included cross-examining witnesses, before an FOI trial attorney (for SEIU).

National Youth Coordinator
Nader for President 2004 • 9/04 to 11/04

Organized national youth recruitment field operation for the independent presidential bid by Ralph Nader. Additional responsibilities included fielding press inquiries, logistical planning and support, and fundraising calls.

Founder/Sole Proprietor
Warning Track Cards • from 5/97 to 12/03

Manufactured baseball cards, magazines, posters, greeting cards and related ephemera for professional and amateur sports teams in North America.

Retail/Customer Service

Paperboy, The Waterbury Republican-American, Waterbury, CT, '84-'88.
Dishwasher, Stock Clerk • LaBonne's Epicure Market, Watertown, CT, '87 - '88.
Clerk • Video Depot (defunct), Watertown, CT, '89 - '90.
Tourist Information Counselor •
CT Department of Economic and Community Development, Hartford, summer '90.
Cook, Cashier • McDonald's Restaurant, Watertown, CT '88 - '93.
Mail Clerk • Pitney Bowes Mailroom Services, Hartford, CT, '91 - '92.
Ride Operator • Quassy Amusement Park, Middlebury, CT, summer '93.
Tutor, Office Assistant • Syracuse University Work-Study, '90 - '94.
Clerk • A-Plus Gas Station, Syracuse, NY, '92 - '93.
Deli Clerk • Peter's IGA Supermarket, Syracuse, NY, spring '94.
Busboy • Mongoose Restaurant, St. John, USVI, 2/94.

Temporary Office Worker

Merry Group (insurance, municipal, banking) West Hartford, CT, 1994-97.
Act 1 Personnel Services (call center staffing), Denver, CO, 9/94 - 10/94.

Certified Snowboard Instructor

Mt. Mohawk Ski School, Cornwall, CT '97 - '00.
Ski Sundown Ski School, New Hartford, CT '00 - '03.

Laborer

Swirsky Enterprises, Inc., Waterbury, CT, summer '91.
The Berry Farm, Southbury, CT, summer '93.
Sugarbush Mountain, Waitsfield, VT 12/96 - 2/97.

Deckhand/Mate

Parsifal II, 112' sloop 10/99 - 12/99.
Sailed from Newport, RI to St. Martin, and various Caribbean destinations.
Ghostdancer, 120' ketch, 7/03-8/03, 6/04, 12/04-6/05.
Sailed Long Island Sound, Cape Cod Canal and Bay, Gulf of Maine, and passage from West Palm Beach, FL to Savannah, GA.

Journalism

Founder
Echoes from the Streets • Hartford, CT • 12/00 - 5/03

Established within the not-for-profit Our Piece of the Pie Youth Business Incubator (OPP) a monthly newspaper (c. 10,000) written and produced by young people ages 12 to 24. Responsibilities included strategic planning, budgeting, publishing, youth development, curriculum, fundraising, soliciting in-kind donations, staff and volunteer recruitment and newsroom oversight. Built collaborations with partnering agencies to serve 120 youth annually. Helped lead OPP to federal Department of Labor PEPNet certification in 2002. The Alternative Press Collection of the Thomas J. Dodd Research Center at the University of Connecticut houses the Echoes archive. Echoes still runs today as a quarterly publication.

Coordinator
The Hartford Courant's MetroBridge • Hartford, CT • 9/03 - 5/04

Coordinated now-defunct monthly teen-written high school supplement. Duties covered journalism education, production management and youth recruitment.

Editor
The St. Kitts Nevis-Observer • 10/94 - 12/94

Ran editorial operation of start-up, 24-page weekly newspaper in developing West Indian democracy. Job entailed reporting, writing, photography, design, copy editing, production management and circulation amidst trying infrastructural circumstances.

Columnist/Website Editor
The Hartford News & www.the40yearplan.com • 1/04 - present

Write opinion columns for weekly (c. 14,000), published also at the40yearplan.com

Reporter

Courthouse News Service • 11/05 - 12/05; 12/06 - 1/07.
Intermittent substitute for California company that tracks daily lawsuit complaint filings at state and federal courthouses.

The Hartford Advocate • 9/98 - 6/99
Covered state and city politics, sports, music and culture for Hartford's alt-weekly.

The Register Citizen • 8/97 - 6/98 • Torrington, CT
General assignment reporter for Northwest Connecticut daily, (c. 20,000).

The Republican-American • 3/95 - 6/96 • Waterbury, CT
General assignment reporter for Naugatuck Valley daily, (c. 60,000).

University Assistant

Eastern Connecticut State University • 12/05 - 4/06 • Willimantic, CT
Part-time writer in the University Relations department.

Freelance Writer/Photographer

Since 1989, stories and photos have appeared in more than 20 publications, including Adbusters; Counterpunch.org; CTNewsjunkie.com; High Times; Punk Planet; the New Haven Advocate; The Hartford Courant; Poynter.org; San Francisco Bay-Guardian; Syracuse Herald-Journal; Winsted Voice (defunct), Watertown Town-Times, Dow Jones Newspaper Fund Adviser Update, the New London Day, The Waterbury Observer, and the NewHavenIndependent.com. Assignments have been in Syria, Lebanon, Morocco, Spain, Amsterdam and across the United States. Within the Alternative Press Collection at the University of Connecticut's Thomas J. Dodd Research Center an archive houses some of this work.

Journalism/Writing Instructor

Southend Knightriders Youth Center (now known as COMPASS Youth Collaborative) • Hartford, CT • 9/03 - 5/04

Provided after-school journalism and yearbook instruction to about 25 middle school students in south end of Hartford. SKYC and Echoes from the Streets successfully partnered for two years prior to the yearbook to run a weekly Calendar Club project, where middle school students photographed, designed and sold an annual calendar.

Young People's Institute • Middlebury, CT • 7/04, 7/05

Taught fiction and non-fiction writing workshops for high school and middle school students at summer camp.

La Voz Latina • Hartford, CT • 8/04

Taught two-week journalism workshop for now-defunct magazine in Vieques, PR, where Viequense and American high school and college students worked together to produce a small publication documenting results of U.S. Naval presence on Vieques.

Education

Holy Cross High School '90 • Waterbury, CT

Class rank 31/316; National Honor Society; Spanish National Honor Society; Features Editor, the Cross Chronicle; Yearbook staff; Peer Minister; Lacrosse, 1,2; Cross Country 1,2.

Syracuse University '94 • B.S. Magazine Journalism, S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications

Dean's List. Minors: Spanish, History. Seriously Magazine, editor '93 - '94; Mensajero Madrid, editor Fall '93; Review Literary Magazine, contributor, '93 - '94; The Daily Orange, writer '90 - '93; disc jockey, 640AM - WERW, Spring '94.

University of Connecticut, Waterbury Branch • Fall '91.

All credits transferred to Syracuse University.

Quinnipiac University School of Law, Class of 2010 • earning J.D.

Writer, The Quinnipiac Legal Times. Also invited Ralph Nader to speak there Nov. 1, 2006.

Recognition

2003 • Public Service Award • Water-Oak Gold Circle of Sports, Watertown, CT
2001 • Janie Guilbault Fellowship • The Poynter Institute, St. Petersburg, FL
1996 • Feature Writing Award • Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists
1994 • Academic Scholarship • Waterbury (CT) Sportsmen's Club
1990 • Maxwell School of Citizenship Scholarship • Syracuse University
1989 • Feature Writing Award • American Scholastic Press Association

Public Service

Director

Central Connecticut Bicycle Alliance • 5/05 - 12/06
Served as Annual Dinner Committee Chair for start-up not-for-profit that runs Bike-To-Work and seeks to improve the bicycling environment in central Connecticut. Annual Dinner in two years grew from 60 to 150 guests, and in its second year, raised $2,750.

Connecticut Bicycle Coalition, Board of Directors • Hartford • 7/99 - 7/02
Served as president, vice president, secretary and communications chair of the 700-member statewide bicycle advocacy and education not-for-profit. Edited newsletter and helped organize the 1,000 person Hartford Parks Bike Tour.

Treasurer

Isaac B. Davis Condominium Association • Hartford • 12/03 - present
Manage financial affairs for a condominium complex in a historic building.