To be a writer is to be a storyteller. And to tell a story--to communicate a message--in the most compelling way possible, you need first to understand the audience.
I've been making my living by putting words on paper since 1981. I've written feature articles and news stories for national magazines, created newsletters and brochures, edited books and encyclopedia articles, scripted video and radio spots.
Like any good writer, I take pleasure in the well-crafted phrase. But good writing requires other communication skills, too.
I struggle to put just the right words
on paper so that I can explain complex ideas simply. What's more,
I try to string those words together in such a fashion that they
fall rhythmically on the ear. Samples here include feature writing, speeches, and ephemera ranging from newsletters and brochures to CD liner notes. (I'll spare you the agony of my first columns for the Irondequoit Press, for which I was paid the princely sum of $5 a column to cover the high school beat back in the mid-70's.)
If you're going to read only one thing, check out either "Seafaring Traditions Live On in Bath," a Museum News story about why continuing the traditions of wooden boatbuilding is as important as preserving historic vessels at the Maine Maritime Museum, or "Gleanings from Treleaven," an engaging personal piece for the Finger Lakes Wine Gazette about my harvest-time adventures in a Finger Lakes vineyard.
For samples of radio/television broadcast writing, see projects in IMAGES and MULTIMEDIA.
And take a look at the resume if you'd like to put these pieces in context with my employers, which range from the American Association of Museums and the Smithsonian to a wide assortment of higher education institutions and associations.
[Click on titles or images below to find more information about each one.]
Feature Writing
| Seafaring
Traditions Live On in Bath Continuing the traditions of wooden boatbuilding is as important as preserving historic vessels at the Maine Maritime Museum. |
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![Gleanings from Treleaven [Or, How I Learned to Love Picking Grapes at King Ferry]](words/images/grapes_icon.jpg){kind=icon} |
Gleanings
from Treleaven [Or, How I Learned to Love Picking Grapes at King Ferry]
Between writing jobs, I saw an ad: "Grape Pickers Needed." I applied--and it became an experience I'll never forget. [This article was featured in several regional wine publications, including the Finger Lakes Wine Gazette.] |
| Around
the World in 80 Ways: A Guide to Museum Travel Programs
In the late 1980s, museums were just beginning to explore (and exploit) the potential of expeditions for members. This Museum News piece discussed pros and cons and planning issues; it included a survey of American museums offering trips and a sampling of interesting programs available. |
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Risking
It: Women as Museum Leaders As women moved into the upper echelons of museum management, Museum News examined what it takes to move up--and my profiles offered ten succinct portraits of women who had done so successfully. |
| The
Play's the Thing: Using Theatre as an Interpretive Technique
The Science Museum of Minnesota was one of the first museums to use theatre as a tool for conveying the meaning of objects. |
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Speeches
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Colloquium: Museums, Learning, and the Web |
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Content
and Community |
Ephemera
| Newsletter
for Accepted Students Ithaca College needed to develop a piece that delivered to prospective students at a point in the cycle after they had been accepted but had not yet made their decision; this jazzy tabloid fit the bill |
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International
Recruiting Prospectus When Ithaca College decided to begin marketing itself in the international student market, we needed to create a new recruitment tool. |
| The
Ithaca College London Center International Programs felt that a brand-new brochure would increase participation in the school's London Center program--and strengthen the argument that Ithaca College offered an education that prepared students to be "citizens of the world." |
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Procrastinating?
Stumped for a way to light a fire under prospective students who'd inquired about Ithaca but then neglected to ever follow up on the inquiry, I came up with this simple postcard mailer. |
| FUN-damentals:
A Guide for Group Visits to the Sciencenter This eyecatching brochure helps the local hands-on science discovery museum for children of all ages market its programs to teachers. |
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Ham
Debris/Hog-Tie Sessions CD Hog-Tie Sessions is a terrific local band; they released their first album in 1998 and I coordinated the graphics production of the project, teaming up with Carol Goodling who designed the piece from J. Underwood's original art. |
| Trip
letter to a friend I still like writing letters, especially when I've got lots of stuff to talk about. Here's part of a long one I wrote to a friend that tells the story of one recent road-trip adventure: I drove cross-country through Canada to Seattle (where I did a two-month internship at the Experience Music Project), then down the west coast to Los Angeles, and back across the southern route with stops in New Mexico, Kansas, and Ohio before arriving home in New York. |
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