Christen McCurdy

Portland, OR USA
Contact

Professional Experience

I write about health care, social justice, women's issues, disability rights, farms, food, history and popular culture. I take complex technical information and turn it into clean, compelling copy -- and I do it fast.

Expertise

Editor
4 Years
Writer
15 Years

Specialty

Food
2 Years
Health
5 Years
Politics
6 Years

Industries


Online/new media
7 Years
Newspaper - Community
4 Years
PR (in-house) - Small to mid-sized corp. clients
1 Year

Total Media Industry Experience

12 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Narratively (1-2), Know Your City (1-2), Bitch Media (10+), The Lund Report (10+), The Oregonian (10+), Pacific Standard (3-5), RENDER (1-2), Street Roots (1-2), The Fix (1-2), The Portland Mercury (1-2), GoLocalPDX (1-2), Dartmouth Medicine (1-2), Chess Life (1-2)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Microsoft/Compass Rose Media (1-2)

Other Work History

Public relations representative, Tripwire (2008) Lifestyles editor and general assignment reporter, The Argus Observer (2003-2005) Editorial intern, The Grants Pass Daily Courier (2003) News editor and general assignment reporter, OSU Daily Barometer (1999-2003)

Technical Skills

Photo editing (Adobe PhotoShop, GIMP) Page design (QuarkXPress, InDesign)

Foreign Language Skills

Basic French Survival Spanish

Computer Skills

Mac OS, Windows XP, Linux (Ubuntu) Word, Excel, OpenOffice/LibreOffice suite WordPress, HTML, command line

Equipment

Laptop Digital camera with video capability Digital audio recorder

References

Available upon request.

Awards

Award for Comprehensive Coverage, Society of Professional Journalists General Excellence Award (Argus Observer), Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, 2003 and 2004. Best All-Around Student Daily (Barometer), Society of Professional Journalists, 2001 and 2002. Best Collegiate Daily (Barometer), Oregon Newspaper Publishers Association, 2002. Winner (Barometer editorial board), Society of Professional Journalists' Best Collegiate Editorial Writing Award, OSU Daily Barometer, 2000.

Associations

Association of Health Care Journalists Society of Professional Journalists (Board secretary, Oregon chapter)

Showcase

Podcast

For this episode of the podcast, we talked about restaurants owned by families and those frequently attended by families. I learned that there is no way to read Dairy Queen's corporate history aloud without dying in a fit of laughter.
I write for, co-produce and perform on a comedy quiz show podcast called "Think Again, My Friend" with three others (plus occasional guests). Each episode has a different theme; this one gave us occasion to learn way, way too much about Albert Einstein's sex life.

Journalism

This story focused on a comprehensive treatment for brain injury that is well-supported by research, but not often covered by health insurance. I spoke with a traumatic brain injury survivor who received treatment 12 years after her accident, and was restored to a much higher level of functioning -- despite the still-common claim that brain injury survivors stop improving after two years -- and to several practitioners fighting to make the treatment available to more people.
After hearing about the on-the-job death of a mental health worker in the home of a client, I decided to try and find out how common violent incidents are against non-licensed health care workers. I learned that health care is one of the most dangerous professions in the U.S. in terms of workplace violence -- but also that many health care employers are exempt from OSHA reporting requirements. On top of that, getting the number of non-licensed health care workers is tough; their numbers are not tracked by any one agency.
Here's a piece I wrote for Dartmouth Medicine's alumni magazine, about an alumna whose clinic's patient centered medical home program has garnered national awards for her organization.
Here, I discussed the ways FC2 -- the new female condom -- is an improvement on the noisy punchline that preceded it, as well as the reasons it hasn't taken hold like its male counterpart.
Flip forward to page 30 to read my story about the diverse experiences of chess players with disabilities, as well as accessibility issues in the tournament world and the world of chess more generally.
A reported essay on Portland's Vista Bridge, suicide barriers, Oregon's climbing suicide rate and my experience as a suicide survivor.
An exploration of gender neutral pronouns in English, from the perspective of what linguistics research has to tell us about the subject.

Blog

This is my personal blog. I write about feminism, relationships, personal grief, progressive politics, the media, pop culture, books and disability issues.

Comic scripts

For Bitch's "Underground" issue, I collaborated with illustrator Nicole Cuvin on a one-page biographical comic about Jessica Mitford, author of The American Way of Death.