Biography
Gifted by God with a talent and passion for writing and inspired as a child by Superman's alter ego, Clark Kent, a mild-mannered reporter at The Daily Planet, Tyrone Tony Reed Jr. began writing as a teenager.
From 1995 to 1997, Tyrone wrote articles and columns as a teen panelist for The Commercial Appeal, addressing issues important to teenagers. One of those articles addressed the issue of when teenagers should be allowed to drive and Tyrone received a letter of commendation from then-Congressman Harold Ford Jr., who applauded Tyrone for writing a great story about an important issue.
From 1997 to 2000, Tyrone was a reporter and photographer for The Teen Appeal, located in the Edward J. Meeman Journalism Building at The University of Memphis and was one of the inaugural members of the journalism program. Tyrone received several awards, including first place for the Golden Quill Award for Best Sports Story, third place for the Journalism Camp Award of Merit for Best News Story Idea and the first Teen Appeal Longevity Award. He also received The Teen Appeal Scholarship, which awarded scholarship money towards his college education.
It was also because of Tyrone's work at The Teen Appeal that he was invited to participate in two summer journalism workshops before attending college.
The first was the Ida B. Wells Journalism Program, held at Tennessee State University a historically black college in Nashville, Tenn. in June 2000. While in the program, Tyrone served as issue editor of the program's newspaper, Say What?, helped other reporters revise their stories and encouraged them to do their best. He also received the Ida B. Wells Award for Leadership while attending this workshop.
Tyrone's second summer journalism workshop was the African-American, Hispanic, Asian and Native American (AHANA) journalism workshop (now called the Missouri Urban Journalism Workshop) held at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, Mo. In July 2000, Tyrone wrote stories for the workshop's newspaper, The Urban Pioneer, and The Columbian-Missourian, a community news organization managed by professional editors and staffed by Missouri School of Journalism students, asked to use one of those stories in its newspaper. It was that special request and Tyrone's hard work that earned him the AHANA Journalism Workshop Coaches Award for Best Overall Print Journalist.
While attending Franklin College in Franklin, Ind., Tyrone earned his BA in journalism and worked on the staff of the college's newspaper, The Franklin. Tyrone served as a reporter, a photographer, a columnist (with a column called "Reed All About It"), an editorial editor and an arts and entertainment editor.
It was also while attending Franklin College that Mothers Against School Hazing Inc. (MASH) requested to use Tyrone's article, "Water of Life, Water of Death," on their website. The article was about water intoxication (also known at water poisoning or dilutional hyponatremia, which occurs when there is little or no sodium in the blood stream. The article also included symptoms and tips on how to prevent water intoxication.
In July 2005, Tyrone began working for The Jackson Sun in Jackson, Tenn. He helped cover a murder on his first day on the job as a public safety reporter and took over the follow-up stories later that week.
During his over four years at The Jackson Sun, Tyrone covered numerous murder trials, putting in 70 hours in one week to give a detailed account of what happened in the murder trial of David Lynn Jordan, who was found guilty of fatally shooting his wife and two others at a Tennessee Department of Transportation garage. He also covered funerals, fund-raisers, special events, breaking news and meetings and worked on enterprise stories. He developed a strong professional relationship with members of the police, fire and sheriff's departments, the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation and court systems throughout West Tennessee.
Tyrone also shot videos for online, took photos, posted numerous news updates in the morning (one of his main duties) and throughout the day. He also loved doing feature stories, doing several that tied in with upcoming comic book movie releases or special events.
While at The Jackson Sun, Tyrone received several awards, including the third place for Daily Deadline Reporting (from the Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors), fifth place for the State Press Award for Best Spot News Story (from The University of Tennessee/Tennessee Press Association), third place for Features Reporting (from the Tennessee Associated Press Managing Editors) and two Award of Excellence (from The Jackson Sun).
After working at The Jackson Sun, Tyrone began freelancing for the online newspaper Examiner in January 2010 as the Jackson Crime Examiner. Tyrone writes stories, briefs, online updates and upload photos in connection with crime occurring in Jackson, Tenn. Two years later, Tyrone added another beat to his Examiner.com coverage: Jackson Geek Culture Examiner, in which he writes stories, briefs and online updates about comic books, movies, television shows and other entertainment and pop culture news.
Tyrone's news coverage on Examiner opened the door for him to begin freelancing for The West Tennessee Examiner (now the CrimeSeen Examiner News), a weekly, African-American newspaper in Jackson, Tenn., in October 2012. He covered the Ku Klux Klan rally and protest in Memphis and took photos for the newspaper in 2013. He also covered the fatal shooting of Memphis Police Officer Martoiya V. Woods Lang, Jackson, Tenn. residents anger over a Jackson radio show host's racist Facebook post, the first mother and daughter principals in the Jackson-Madison County School System serving at the same time, unsolved homicides in Jackson, Tenn., and most recently, interviewed actor and humanitarian Danny Glover, who delivered a commencement address to the 2016 graduates of Lane College, a HBCU, on April 30.
Tyrone has also written several how-to-stories, which are published on eHow.com.
Outside of the journalism field, Tyrone has written and published two novels in his S.O.L.A.D.(TM): Soldiers of Light Against Darkness(TM) book series: Soldiers of Light Against Darkness(TM): Book I of the Angelo(TM) & Angeline(TM) Chronicles and It's Just the Beginning: Book II of the Angelo(TM) & Angelo(TM) Chronicles.
He has also collaborated with other authors in the Spider-Man themed novel, With Great Power.
Those novels opened the doors for Tyrone to be a guest author and have book signings at Superman Celebration, held each year in June in Metropolis, Ill., Akron Comicon, held each year in November in Akron, Ohio, and MidSouthCon, held each year in March in Memphis, Tenn.
Tyrone has also served as a panelist on several panels at MidSouthCon 32, 33, 34, 35 and 36.
At MidSouthCon 32 in 2014, Tyrone spoke on the panels "Writing Sequels to Novels" and "Point of Views in Novels."
At MidSouthCon 33, Tyrone spoken on the panel "YA (Young Adults)- Current Trends vs. the Classics", discussing young adult books from the past and the present and what writers need to know when writing YA books; "Creating Platform", in which Tyrone gave tips on developing an Internet presence and self-promotion through social media; and "From Zero to Superhero", in which Tyrone discussed why people love superheroes and how writers can successfully breathe life into their own superheroes.
At MidSouthCon 34, Tyrone spoke on four panels. His first panel was "From Dreary to Intense", where he discussed how to write to grab an audience's attention and how to keep them wanting more. His second panel was "Creating Realistic Fight Scenes", in which Tyrone discussed what makes fight scenes realistic, how to create and improve the fight and what research should be done when writing about weapons. In his third panel, "From Zero to Hero", Tyrone once again discussed how writers can breathe life into their heroes and what to avoid. In his final panel of the convention, "Who Loves Short Stories? We Love Short Stories", Tyrone spoke about how he got into writing short stories, the contests he has entered, the awards he has received and how he comes up with story ideas.
At MidSouthCon 35, Tyrone spoke on four panels. His first panel was "Supporting Characters: More Than Just Sidekicks," in which he joined other panelists on discussing how the quality of the supporting cast can make or break a story, about what kind of supporting characters your hero or heroine needs and what makes them great. His second panel was "Diversity vs. Tokenism," in which he and other panelists discussed writing beyond your race, sex, age, or orientation without stereotyping or tokenizing your characters. In his third panel, "Character Building: It's Good for You," Tyrone and other panelists discussed the basics of character building ("What do I name them?!") to the more complex ("I need strengths AND flaws?!") and how to make your characters interesting and memorable. In "Making & Breaking Gender Roles in Speculative Fiction," his final panel of the convention, Tyrone and other panelists discussed gender stereotypes in speculative fiction and how to avoid or subvert them.
At MidSouthCon 36, Tyrone spoke on five panels. His first panel was "'Keep On Keepin' On!' - How To Get To The Finish Line With Your Project", Tyrone and other panelists discussed how they are able to fight to the finish on their projects, stay focused, never give up and keep creating. His second panel was "The Role Of The Villain: A Good Bad Guy?", in which Tyrone and the other panelists discussed how a "good" villain is usually one that has good intentions (which go horribly wrong), is a sympathetic character and one who truly believes in what they are doing (that they are not the bad guy of the story. In Tyrone's third panel, "Born To Be Bad" - Creating A Good Villain, Tyrone joined other panelists in discussing why bad guys are so much more interesting, if they are truly evil or just misunderstood and how to create a great villain for your stories. In his fourth panel, "This Is Your Life Superman," moderated by legendary artist Lin Workman, Tyrone and other panelists, including legendary Superman editor Mike Carlin, celebrated Superman's 80th birthday by discussing Superman's history, his influence on pop culture and comics and how the "Strange Visitor From Another Planet" continues to stay strong, even in his 80s. In "Are You the Gatekeeper?," his final panel of the convention, Tyrone and other panelists discussed why some "real fans" consider others that like the same thing as "fake fans," why they expect others to prove their knowledge of their shared fandom, why they want to keep others out of their fandom and why someone's age, sex, race, or time in the fandom matter to some other fans.
Tyrone has written short stories and has entered them into several contests. His short story "Crystal Clear" tied for second place in 2011 and was published in a book entitled, Enlightenment: The Talent Among Us: Volume XI. "Feeding the Beast", another short story of Tyrone, won honorable mention in 2015 and was published in a book entitled, The Talent Among Us XIV: Awakenings.
Tyrone is also the author of the script "It's No Secret What God Can Do!: A Tribute to Rev. Clay Evans." The script was used in a Feb. 2017 video presentation at The Bridge Builders of Brownsville Commemoration Ceremonies, which honored the lifetime achievement of Evans, a Brownsville native and founder of Fellowship Baptist Church in Chicago, Illinois. The presentation is showcased in the Dunbar-Carver Museum, located at 709 E. Jefferson St. in Brownsville, Tenn., and the Rev. Clay Evans Archive in the Special Collections of the Harold Washington Library Center of the Chicago Public Library, located at 400 S. State St., Chicago, Ill.
Tyrone is also the host of a community talk show, "Hub City Now with Tyrone Tony Reed Jr.". It is a show that features people who are making a difference in the community, organizations that are helping to uplift others and important, everyday topics.
The show airs on Sundays at 6 a.m. on JJ 97.7 FM. For those not in the area, the show can be heard online at jamminjackson.
