Greg Parlier

About

I'm a world-conscious reporter, map maker, writer and gardener ready to learn a new craft or take on a new beat. I have recently completed the GIS certificate program at Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College in Asheville, NC, and am currently looking to take on a role to further my work with ESRI's ArcPro software, using maps to explore solutions to real-world problems spatially. I write fiction and poetry from my home in Black Mountain. I am employed as Taproom Technician at Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Mills River, NC.Most recently, I freelanced for Asheville news magazine Mountain Xpress, Blue Ridge Outdoors Magazine, the Jacksonville alt-weekly news magazine Folio Weekly Magazine, the daily St. Augustine Record and bi-monthly regional food culture magazine Edible Magazine based in St. Augustine, FL.Between assignments I've worked at a beautiful plant nursery in St. Augustine, Southern Horticulture, and as a landscaper in Asheville, Sokol Landscaping.Previously I've written numerous front page articles as a city reporter and education reporter at The Ledger newspaper in Lakeland, Fla. There, I cover the school board, including the never-ending budgetary concerns of school districts and the complicated politics of one of the largest school districts in Florida. Plus, I wrote about the impact of new teaching initiatives and teacher's experimentation with new behavior management techniques in this constantly-changing field.I started my journalism career with the Pacemaker-winning Spinnaker newspaper at the University of North Florida. There, I learned my craft as a news reporter, managing editor and editor-in-chief of the paper, covering school-related news and higher education issues relevant to the university community.While in school, I reported and voiced several news and feature stories for Jacksonville's NPR affiliate radio station in Jacksonville, widening my skill scope in a top 50 media market.I am not focused solely on the world of media and news reporting, however. I have worked on farms in western North Carolina, and am looking to deepen my knowledge of all things plants, from the soil to the vegetable harvest to the depths of untouched pine forest. There is no better way to understand the world than to immerse yourself in it, and no better way to immerse yourself in a place than to write about it. My world is words, plants and maps.