I began writing for newspapers when I was a teenager and became interested in a class action lawsuit filed on behalf of women who were illegally strip-searched by police in Hamilton County, Ohio. I toured the city jail - a Civil War era structure set down in the western flats of downtown Cincinnati near the slaughterhouses - where many of the searches took place. Most likely, I was way too green - 16 years old -- for such an undertaking, and my story never made it to print, but I was hooked on this manner of seeing the world, asking questions and getting up-close to stories.
My two staff writing jobs have been at the Daily Hampshire Gazette in Northampton and at the Vineyard Gazette on Martha's Vineyard. Both offered me a rich landscape of stories and people, and very importantly, a deeply engaged readership. They read and reacted without fail week after week. I am grateful to them and to excellent, encouraging, demanding editors who took interest in my work and ably articulated the mission of journalism. Along the way, I have contributed numerous freelance stories to bigger publications such as the New York Times, Washington Post, Boston Globe, Philadelphia Inquirer, Yankee Magazine and Detroit Free Press.
The Boston Globe - August 6, 2006. (Download as .PDF)
The Washington Post - July 8, 2004. (Download as .PDF)
The New York Times - May 19, 2002. (Download as .PDF)
Vineyard Gazette - Sept. 24, 2004. (Download as .PDF)
Martha's Vineyard Magazine - July 2006. (Download as .PDF)
The Boston Globe - Dec. 13, 2003 (Download as .PDF)