David Michael Conner

2032 BELMONT ROAD NW 323 Washington, DC 20009 USA
Website: http://www.dmconner.com
Contact

Professional Experience

I specialize in entertainment and health-related stories with special interest (especially gay/lesbian/LGBT and Lyme disease)-oriented angles. Recent interviews include Ally Hilfiger, Sara Bareilles, Shirley Manson, Tori Amos, Dustin Lance Black, Barney Frank, Sarah McLachlan, Mandy Moore, Jewel, Kathy Griffin and others for the Huffington Post, The Advocate and Geek Monthly magazines.

Expertise

Reporter
12 Years
Editor
16 Years
Writer
16 Years

Specialty

Entertainment
15 Years
Health
15 Years
Music
8 Years

Industries


Magazine - Large Consumer/National magazines
6 Years
Online/new media
8 Years
Nonprofit
15 Years

Total Media Industry Experience

16 Years

Media Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Huffington Post (10+), The Advocate/Advocate.com (10+), The Guardian (1-2)

Corporate Client List (# assignments last 2 yrs)

Entertainment Industries Council (10+), Association of Community College Trustees (6-10)

Other Work History

I am a Washington, D.C.-based writer with over 15 years of experience writing about health, entertainment, and LGBT issues. -Health issues: Lyme and associated tickborne diseases, mental health, clinical depression, anxiety, bipolar disorder expertise and extensive networks. Author regular articles about Lyme disease for a popular Huffington Post blog, with stories having been liked 60,000+ times and shared 30,000+ times. Founded a Lyme and associated diseases resource website www.andthebandplayson.com. -LGBT: Write social and political commentary about LGBT-related issues for a Huffington Post blog, including one that went viral and was "liked" by 22,000 readers. Wrote for several years for Advocate.com, the website of the leading LGBT news and information publication, The Advocate. -Entertainment: Have interviewed celebrities including Kathy Griffin, Dustin Lance Black, Tori Amos, Sara Bareilles, Sarah McLachlan, Shirley Manson, Jewel, Nick Carter, LeToya Luckett, Vanessa Williams and others for

Technical Skills

Writing, Editing, Content Editing, Copy Editing, Adobe Photoshop, Drupal and WordPress CMS systems

Unions

AvantGuild

Computer Skills

MS Office Suite; Adobe Photoshop; Adobe Acrobat Pro; Dreamweaver; Blogging platforms (WordPress, Drupal, Blogger, etc.); Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, other social media

Equipment

Windows and Mac PCs); SLR digital camera; digital audio recorder w/ uploading capability

Work Permits & Visas

U.S. citizen

References

Ask

Associations

National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association member; Society of National Association Publications member; ASAE & The Center for Association Leadership member

Showcase

Entertainment Writing

Official Book Club Selection
(Advocate.com 9/4/2009)
Official Book Club Selection Kathy Griffin gets serious about gay rights, offends Jesus lovers, tells Miley Cyrus she can suck it, and manages to promote her new book Official Book Club Selection, all in a 15-minute interview.
Tori Amos's Feminist Fairytale Musical
(Huffington Post 10/2/2015)
An interview with musician Tori Amos about her London stage musical "The Light Princess," her album "Unrepentant Geraldines," ayahuasca, American politics, and the 20th anniversary of her groundbreaking album "Boys for Pele."
Oscar-Winning Dustin Lance Black Discusses LGBT Civil Rights + New ABC Miniseries
(Huffington Post 10/26/2015)
Oscar-Winning screenwriter and activist Dustin Lance Black discusses his part in the LGBT civil rights movement, including his impending marriage and forthcoming ABC miniseries.

Music Writing

Nick Carter Wants It That Way
(Advocate.com/Regent Media 10/20/2009)
Nick Carter embraced his gay fans before it was trendy -- at 17, he posed for the cover of a gay teen mag, unheard of at the time. Now, with a new Backstreet album in stores, Nick is sober, happy, and, most important, back.
Destiny's Other Child
(Advocate.com 8/25/2009)
Destiny's Other Child People may refer to her as the girl who was unceremoniously ousted from Destiny's Child, but with her outspoken thoughts on gay marriage and her pearls of wisdom for Chris Brown, LeToya proves this is her moment. By David Michael Conner
Moore to Love
(Advocate.com 5/26/2009)
An interview with singer/songwriter/actress Mandy Moore for Advocate.com, the award-winning online counterpart to The Advocate magazine.
Sara Bareilles Braves Broadway, Book Writing
(Huffington Post 6/3/2016)
Musician Sara Bareilles discusses her Broadway musical, "Waitress," and the book writing process.
Geek Love: Tori Amos opens up about her love of geeks, doll parts, and her newest project
(Geek Monthly Magazine 2/1/2008)
Feature interview with musical artist Tori Amos for print issue of Feb. 2008 issue of Geek Monthly magazine. Article was republished on magazine blog (linked above).
Crown Jewel
(Advocate.com 5/13/2009)
Genre-bending Jewel's concerts bring together gays, bikers, and conservatives, but her something-for-everyone persona doesn't keep her from having opinions on gay marriage, Sarah Palin, and Lady GaGa.
She's Back, Bitches
(Advocate.com 11/30/2008)
Music review: Britney Spears's "Circus"
France's Latest Export
(Advocate.com / Regent Media 11/18/2009)
He's opened for Britney and Katy Perry, kept Dita Von Teese company in the front row at Paris Fashion Week, and gets name checked on Twitter by Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus, and Sarah Silverman. So who the hell is Sliimy, anyway? By David Michael Conner Don’t hold it against Sliimy that he was hand-picked by the infamous Perez Hilton to be the first artist signed to Hilton’s Perezcious (Warner Bros.) label. And don’t hold it against him that his name -- pronounced like “Slimmy,” not “Slimy” -- looks slightly gross and requires phonetic explanation. Or that he’s popular in France. (He is French, after all.) Sliimy has garnered comparisons to Mika and Prince, but he is too openly gay to be too much like either, and with a close listen, it’s clear that Sliimy’s music is too personal to tie him too closely to any of his influences.
The Second Coming of Lilith Fair
(Advocate.com 5/7/2010)
Sarah McLachlan and her Lilith Fair partner Terry McBride talk about Sarah's new album, Lilith's large lesbian (and gay) following, and how Ke$ha is "the new Christina Aguilera."
Sara Bareilles Braves Broadway, Book Writing
(The Huffington Post 10/30/2015)
As a writer, vocalist and composer, Bareilles is uncommonly talented. Those talents, plus more than a little ambition, have built an impressive resume: she has issued five studio albums and three live albums that have garnered her six Grammy Award nominations. She released a memoir in October, and t
Mexico's Out, Proud Christian
(Advocate.com / Regent Media 3/25/2010)
Christian Chavez may be the heir apparent to Ricky Martin's Latin-American pop star throne. Like Martin, Chavez helped a teen pop group RDB sell millions of albums throughout the Spanish-speaking world, and he is now poised to take the United States by storm. Unlike Ricky Martin, though, when photos of what appeared to be a marriage ceremony between him and another young man surfaced in 2007, the Mexican-born artist answered, "Yes, I am gay." Since that time, Chavez has been an outspoken advocate for LGBT rights in Latin America. His new album, out now, is called Almas Transparentes (Transparent Souls) and with song titles like "Sexyboy," this young gay artist isn't holding back.
Gay "Love" on Top at MTV
(Advocate.com / Regent Media 3/24/2010)
Gay singer-songwriter Nhojj made music history twice in the past year, first as the only black male ever to win an OUTMusic Award for his song, "Love," and then, more remarkably, hitting the coveted number 1 spot on MTV's music video chart this month. The "Love" video is a narrative that culminates in two young black men embracing in a bed. Nhojj's sensual vocals drive the imagery, singing, "Our thighs now meet, our souls are singing, harmony sweet." But Nhojj's life trajectory was just as unpredictable as the success of his explicitly gay music video. Born in Guyana and raised in Trinidad, Nhojj was brought up in an extremely religious Caribbean family that still struggles to fully understand his homosexuality. Nhojj moved to the United States to attend New York University, where he studied economics. He talks to The Advocate about how he ended up in music and how honesty and "Love" have brought him so much in return.
Tori Amos's Feminist Fairytale Musical
(Huffington Post 10/2/2015)
An interview with musician Tori Amos about her original musical "The Light Princess," its forthcoming original cast recording, and the 20th anniversary of her groundbreaking album "Boys for Pele."

Health

Is Lyme Disease the New AIDS? What You Need to Know
(Huffington Post 10/21/2015)
The enigmatic and largely misunderstood Lyme disease infects between 300 thousand and one million Americans each year, leaving many with chronic illness and some disabled. Is Lyme disease the new Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome?
And the Band Plays On: A New Plague Met With Silence, Denial
(Huffington Post 6/3/2016)
A discussion comparing the political, medical, and social attitudes toward Lyme and associated tickborne diseases today to the emergence of the AIDS epidemic in the early 1980s.
Lyme Wars: Journalists are Failing the Public
(Huffington Post 6/3/2016)
An in-depth examination of biased and misreporting of information related to Lyme disease among news media.
This Malaria-Like Parasite Is Spreading in North America
(Huffington Post 2/16/2016)
A malaria-like parasite called babesia is rapidly spreading throughout the United States through ticks and through donated blood. Babesia can kill, and it can cause chronic health conditions, which raises the question of why donated blood is not tested for babesia.
A Big Week for Lyme Disease Patient and Physician Rights
(Huffington Post 6/3/2016)
A summary and discussion of important recent developments pertaining to Lyme and associated diseases, including state laws that protect doctors who treat Lyme disease patients and the development of improved diagnostic tools.
The Guardian
(A moment that changed me: Lyme disease turned my life upside down | David Conner | Opinion | The Guardian 12/24/2015)
An op-ed solicited by The Guardian that discusses my experience with Lyme disease. The piece focuses on the painful, disorienting journey to my original diagnosis and treatment at age 18 to years of doctors denying further investigation, finally culminating in a re-diagnosis at age 36, after which my health improved markedly. Doctors must learn to listen to their patients and treat them with care, respect, and trust.
The Tragic Gunshot That Ruined Lucille Ball's Childhood
(Huffington Post 1/15/2016)
A tragic gunshot that paralyzed Lucille Ball's childhood neighbor ruined the lives of Ball and her family. This article discusses those who are seriously harmed by gun violence, but who are not reported as casualties because they were not killed, including the mother of one of my friends from graduate school. This controversial article garnered almost 400 reader comments within a few days.
Man Dies From Lyme Disease: 'No One Wants to Talk About It'
(Huffington Post 6/3/2016)
Tara Geraghty observed a contemporary phenomenon while she watched her husband’s health decline and doctors reject even looking into the possibility of her husband having Lyme and not ALS: “There’s something about Lyme disease that no one wants to talk about it." Geraghty's husband died from Lyme disease one year after he was diagnosed. This article discusses Lyme-related questions that are regarded by federal authorities and journalistic enterprises as too taboo to discuss, including possible correlations between Lyme, multiple sclerosis, and other neurodegenerative diseases.
An Open Letter to Andy Cohen Regarding The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills
(Huffington Post 12/23/2015)
An open letter to the producers of Bravo's "Real Housewives of Beverly Hills" asking for a more responsible and accurate depiction of Lyme disease on the series, as well as useful resources for viewers who may have or may know someone who has Lyme disease.
The Insanity of Lyme Disease, Part 1: The Bug That Hijacked My Mind and Body
(Huffington Post 12/2/2015)
People who live with Lyme disease are not delusional or overly imaginative; however, Lyme disease can cause severe and well-defined neuropsychiatric symptoms ranging from depression and panic disorders to mood imbalances, hallucinations, and psychosis.
Is Lyme the New AIDS? Part Two: Life With Lyme and Controversies
(The Huffington Post 10/30/2015)
Patients with Lyme disease often are misdiagnosed with other ailments, from multiple sclerosis and Meniere's disease to anxiety and overactive imaginations. This was the case for me -- until I found a doctor who knew better.

LGBT Commentary

The Trouble with Happy Endings
(The Advocate 3/23/2011)
Advocate contributor David Michael Conner says he believes "It Gets Better" for some, but for him, it seems to be taking a long, long time.
The Past is Never Dead
(The Advocate 3/25/2011)
After publicly revealing his very personal battle with depression and attempted suicide on Advocate.com, David Michael Conner says he's heard from hundreds of people who feel the same way he does — and it's helping.