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Words


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.


When you're looking for just the right words... 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.
Ship Building Traditions
Gleanings from Treleaven [Or, How I Learned to Love Picking Grapes at King Ferry] 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.
Around the World in 80 Ways: 
			 A Guide to Museum Travel Programs
Risking It: Women as Museum Leaders 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.
 
Egyptian spirit Ka, in performance at Science Museum of Minnesota


Speeches



 

Colloquium: Museums, Learning, and the Web
What are museums doing on the internet? A look at how history art museums, science centers, zoos, and aquariums are helping to change the way we learn. (Delivered in fulfillment of Park Fellowship requirements; Ithaca College, May 7, 1998)


Sound Design: Using Audio as a Creative Tool
.
Delivered at Museums and the Web 2000, the presentation offers a review of good (and bad) sound design, proposes ground rules for designing with sound, briefly covers currently available tools, and offers a consideration of the future potential of web sound design.

 

 

 

Park Fellow Colloquium

museums and the web

Content and Community
At the 1999 Museums and the Web conference, I chaired a multimedia panel presentation in New Orleans with speakers from Brazil, Kenya, and the U.S addressing the ways in which museums are beginning to establish genuinely interactive web content that reflects--and is a product of--their communities.




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
Newsletter for Accepted Students
international recruiting prospectus 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."
Ithaca College London Center
procrastinate card 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. 
FUN-damentals
Ham Debris/Hog-Tie Sessions 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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