Tracking Hurricanes

Life in the Danger Zone

Alumnus Joseph Treaster ’65 talks about his life as a University of Miami journalism student and a reporter for The New York Times. His stories on war, politics, disasters, drugs, and business have carried him around the globe. He is the author of Paul Volcker: The Making of a Financial Legend and Hurricane Force: In The Path of America’s Deadliest Storms, which was published in June, 2007.

What did you like most about attending UM?

The University of Miami had a small, but very strong journalism department composed mainly of experienced reporters. They had seen the world and they inspired me and others to go out and see the world ourselves.

When did you first begin working for the New York Times?

I joined The New York Times in the mid-1960s in Vietnam. I saw Vietnam as a monumental chapter in American history and, therefore, a great opportunity for a reporter. Here was a place where journalism could make a difference; I could really do something worthwhile. I went on to report on more than half a dozen other wars and coups and on natural disasters, like earthquakes and mudslides, in Latin America and the Middle East and other parts of the world. You mentioned that you are not afraid to report from a hurricane zone.

What about a war zone? A drug zone?

Under fire in Lebanon, Vietnam, Panama, and Salvador, and when the bombings got heavy in Colombia I thought I might not survive. I also was terrified that I would be killed by the secret police in Iraq who snatched me and two other reporters and held us for several hours in an unmarked safe house in Baghdad. In Vietnam, when I hired a dugout canoe and rode down the Mytho River hoping to be taken prisoner by the Viet Cong so that I could interview a Viet Cong unit in the field, I knew I was taking a big risk. But I thought there was also a good chance that the Viet Cong would welcome the chance to get their story out to the world and might talk to me and send me away alive.

I had good reason to be worried in those situations. But I kept going back, accepting dangerous assignments all over the world. I wanted the assignments. Wars and huge disasters need good reporting. They are by definition matters of life and death and, for me, they are among the most critical places for a reporter to do his work. These are places where reporting can affect policy.

How does your family feel about your job?

My wife, Barbara Dill, has an unnerving coolness about my forays into danger. I go off somewhere and she just goes on about her business. She says worrying wastes time. She doesn’t let herself imagine the worst. My parents had a similar frame of mind. I used to race motorcycles when I was growing up in Florida. After a while, my mother said she couldn’t stand to watch me racing. But she never stood in my way. And both my mother and father said they never saw any point in worrying until the phone rang. So far, the phone has never rung.

 

 

Miami Style

IN HOME AND WORK, GRAPHIC DESIGNER APPLIES HER SIMPLE, YET BEAUTIFUL STYLE PHILOSOPHY

Few people by the age of 30 can say they own a successful business, are happily married to a famous architect, and possess a home so stunning that it was used as the setting for a movie. Alumna Ilona Oppenheim ’99 is one of those people who have it all, yet her modest, unassuming demeanor says nothing about her successes. The Swiss blonde has a youthful charm that nearly masks her knack for turning business ventures into thriving, money-making enterprises. The owner of Ilona Agency, a graphic design firm located in Miami’s Design District, Oppenheim works with south Florida’s high-end real estate market.

“Marketing for real estate is about 95% of what I do now,” she said. “I love that the firms allow you to be artistic. They want their campaigns and brochures to be very luxurious.”

A philosophy major at the University of Miami, Oppenheim said that her education is sometimes reflected in the way she analyzes things. But it was her minor in photography that had the greater influence on her career. Full of big, beautiful photographs, her marketing materials truly embody her love of photography.

In addition to creating visual identities for real estate moguls, Oppenheim is contemplating the details of a new restaurant she plans to open in October 2008. Situated on the first floor of the Ten Museum Park building, on Biscayne Boulevard in downtown Miami, the restaurant will specialize in tapas.

“I love to cook and eat,” she said. “My husband also loves to eat, so it’s nice to cook for someone who appreciates it.”

Oppenheim isn’t the only one who’s made use of her high-end stainless steel kitchen. In 2006 the room, which was designed by her husband Chad, became the setting for a scene in the film Miami Vice. “It was interesting to see the director work. He really paid attention to all the details,” she said.

Paying attention to details is something Oppenheim excels at too. Both her personal and work styles could be described as somewhat minimalist, yet as anyone with an eye for design knows, the fewer the number of items used, the more carefully each one must be selected.

“My minor in photography at UM gave me the eye for the composition,” said Oppenheim. “I love to focus on details like fonts, colors, and textures. All of these elements are critical in creating a visual identity.”