Professional Experience
A versatile, artful and award-winning journalist, I've reported from four continents for national magazines. Specialties include human interest, science, the environment, entertainment, religion and crime. I'm also a veteran editor, known for transforming muddled manuscripts into models of vivid and well-structured prose.
Expertise
- Editor 10 Years
- Reporter 28 Years
- Writer 28 Years
Specialty
- Environment & Nature 14 Years
- Arts & Humanities 28 Years
- Science 18 Years
Industries
- Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines 28 Years
- Book Publishing Consumer 3 Years
Media Client List (# Assignments Last 2 Yrs)
- Parade(1-2)
- Reader's Digest(10+)
- Ladies' Home Journal(10+)
- Discover(6-10)
- USA Weekend(3-5)
- Prevention(3-5)
- LA Weekly(1-2)
- More(1-2)
- Mother Jones(1-2)
Corporate Client List (# Assignments Last 2 Yrs)
- Aptel Research(3-5)
Other work history
FREELANCE WRITER 1984-present Have written for Discover, Elle, Esquire, Life, More, Mother Jones, Parents, Reader's Digest, Rolling Stone, Salon, Time, and other major publications. * Reported from Tanzania, Russia, Colombia, Peru, Mexico, Iceland, and elsewhere. FREELANCE EDITOR 2012 Developmental editor on The Year of Learning Dangerously: Adventures in Homeschooling, by Quinn Cummings (Perigee, 2012). READER'S DIGEST West Coast Editor, Jan. 2008- June 2010 Senior Writer, 2007-2008 Wrote, assigned and edited stories. Beats: Human interest, science, crime, film, essays, Q&As. PEOPLE Senior Editor, 2000-2003 Oversaw sections covering human interest, politics, education, medicine, literature, visual arts, environment, and family issues, as well as celebrity as-told-to features. LIFE Senior Writer, 1995-1999 * Nominated for National Magazine Award for feature on Gulf War syndrome. * Wrote internationally recognized cover story on conjoined Hensel twins.
Foreign Language Skills
Conversational Spanish and French
Computer skills
Word, Excel, Quark, InCopy, Lotus Notes
References
Available on request
Awards
Folio Eddie Award ASJA Award E.T. Meredith Award for Creative Excellence Wilbur Award for Religious Reporting National Magazine Award Finalist John Bartlow Martin Award for Public Interest Magazine Journalism EDI Award, National Easter Seal Society Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship
Associations
ASJA
Entertainment
The Phantom of the Multiplex
(Reader's Digest 1/1/2005)
Behind the scenes with director Joel Schumacher and composer Andrew Lloyd Webber during the making of "The Phantom of the Opera."
The Truth Behind "War of the Worlds"
(Reader's Digest 6/1/2005)
As Steven Spielberg's Martian invasion film makes clear, our monsters tell us a lot about ourselves.
Where He Came From
(Reader's Digest 6/1/2005)
Newscaster Brian Williams talks about the person who influenced him most -- Tom Brokaw. I wrote the story in Williams's "voice," based on a one-hour phone interview.
Best Man of Action: Clint Eastwood
(Reader's Digest 5/1/2007)
An appreciation of Eastwood, tracing his evolution from TV cowboy to serious director -- with comments from Gene Hackman, Ryan Phillippe, Emmy Rossum and others.
Profiles
Mushroom Manifesto
(Discover 8/1/2013)
Crusading mycologist Paul Stamets says mushrooms are key to human and environmental health -- and can clean up everything from oil spills to nuclear meltdowns.
Plane Crazy
(Reader's Digest 3/1/2008)
Profile of Sean D. Tucker, the Michael Jordan of aerobatics.
Journey to Justice
(More 5/1/2007)
Portrait of Barbara Mulvaney, an American lawyer who bounced back from a devastating midlife crisis to become a prosecutor for the Rwanda war crimes tribunal. Reported from Africa.
Drama/Adventure
Environment
An Idyll Interrupted
(Los Angeles Times Magazine 8/1/2004)
In a peaceful California mountain town, a battle over bottling spring water grows violent. Cover story.
The Midas Touch
(Mother Jones 5/1/2006)
In Alaska's Bristol Bay region, the continent's biggest gold mine could put the world's largest salmon fishery out of business. An investigation.
Books
Science/Technology
Brain Benders
(Discover 10/1/2013)
Neurobiologist Carla Shatz discovered that immune molecules help shape the wiring of the brain. Could they also be key to treating autism, schizophrenia and stroke?
Showdown at the O.K. Caral
(Discover 9/1/2005)
Archaeologists feud bitterly over how civilization in the Americas got its start 5,000 years ago. Reported from Peru.