Holly Lang

From text: Cal McCloskey sat in his apartment, a pale, tan box of two rooms perched on the 11th floor of a Southside complex for senior citizens, his pills laid out on the coffee table. There were two slender blue ones for diabetes, two larger white pills for congenital heart disease, and another, also white, for his cholesterol. Finally, three more, including a large gold pill as thick as a pencil, all used to combat a deadly virus. McCloskey is 67. He has AIDS. One in 10 of all AIDS cases nationally occur in people 50 and older. In Florida and Arizona - popular retirement destinations - almost 14 out of 100 of all AIDS cases are diagnosed in seniors, according to the Centers of Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta. "It's not a death sentence," McCloskey, a retired teacher, said as he rose from his overstuffed chair, preparing to start his morning volunteering at a local AIDS outreach organization. "Life isn't over yet."

From text: Condoleezza Rice was the girl many remembered as always studying, her face close to her books as darkness would fall on her Titusville street in the 1950s and '60s. ''Condi always put her studies first, even though we always played sports like baseball in the afternoon,'' Birmingham City Councilwoman Carole Smitherman said. Smitherman lived across the street from Rice. ''She would never come out and play until all her work was done. From sunup to 5 in afternoon at least, she'd work,'' Smitherman said. ''And it was all worth it.'' Last week, President Bush nominated Rice, 51, to succeed Colin Powell as secretary of state. Powell, whose wife, Alma Powell, also is from Birmingham, said he would not serve in Bush's second term administration. ''It's the classic American dream, right here from Titusville,'' Smitherman said.

"The Notorious B.I.G.: A Biography" will be released late October 2007. Sample text coming soon.

"Dr. Dre: A Biography" was published by Greenwood Publishing Group in late 2006. Sample text coming soon.

"...Fast-forward from the April show to a few weekends back in July, the pool tables at Lenny’s replacing the washer and dryer in the corner of that early house show, as the harder, methodical rock of the Liverhearts is put aside for easier, quirky pop of several solo artists. The crowd, quieter but sprawling throughout the dingy venue, happily listened to Jason Harris, his twin -- and fellow Selmanaire band member -- Herb Harris watching from the far left corner. ...Performers Pete DeLorenzo and Anna Kramer, ... sat off to the side, their hands intertwined. Flagel worked the door as Lindsay worked the merchandise booth, their goods spread across the folding table. The solo Selmanaire sat on the stage, guitar in hand as bands of silver bells snaked around his left ankle, shaking as he stomped. His sound is that of a lazy, sexy pop, sort of like the Kinks (which he covers) but also like those Beatles songs that end up being background during a make-out session."

"...Of course you already know that intellectually traversing the vast array of human medical conditions is an exhilarating adventure inside your own mind, like riding a roller coaster or screaming through a good horror movie. ...There’s never been a better time to be a hypochondriac. ... Print and broadcast news has increased its coverage of healthy issues, including obesity, diabetes, cancer Alzheimer's disease and autism over the past few years. ... The boom in advertising for prescription medication punctuates television hospital dramas, and if you flip the channel, you can find reality programming set in emergency rooms. ...Not only does this groundswell make it appear that disease is more prevalent and common than it actually is... They prompt increased awareness and personal scrutiny while conferring social acceptability to constant health self-analysis, bringing the rest of America right in step with the hypochondriac."

A parody of self-help books, "How to Procrastinate" is part of Knock Knock's series of self-hurt guides. The book's main goal was to help others learn to procrastinate. Sample text coming soon.

LA CEIBA, Honduras — The small, thin girl holds out dirty hands to Mario Miralda, her eyes glancing down. "Please, sir, please," she says in Spanish, her voice quiet against the loud laughter of the other children. She wears a torn, black dress and no shoes. Each foot has six toes, her teeth — too large for her mouth — protrude when she shyly smiles at Miralda. Gripping a ladle, he looks at her and sighs. As a permanent worker with the Mision Cruzada del Evangelico, a religious organization largely sponsored by Alabamians, Miralda sees these children each week. He brings them food to this lot, a barren dirt patch. They wait there, knowing the days he will arrive. The lot, located directly across the street from one of La Ceiba's most affluent neighborhoods, is filled with the remnants of homes damaged in 1998 by Hurricane Mitch.

LA CEIBA, Honduras — Still bloody from being beaten the day before, Oscar Martinez pulled a .38-caliber special from his jeans and shot Raeton Gualino dead. Second in command for a rival gang, Gualino wasn't a man Martinez said he knew personally. But to prove his loyalty to gang Mara Salvatrucha 13, or MS-13, Martinez said he had to kill Gualino, a Guatemalan who ran with a gang known simply as Mara 18. "They were our enemy," Martinez said of the 1988 murder, when he was only 16. "So I kill him."

This white paper on credit freeze legislation in Georgia and in the United States received national attention, having become one of the more comprehensive overviews of the legislation. News outlets that ran stories on this paper include the Associated Press, NPR, CNN and Fox.

This is the front image of the magazine I created.

Springfield, Ga. -- Eyes darkened by a persistent strain of the flu that won't leave her slight body, my sister Traci Bishop sat center of a cramped living room in Springfield, Ga., weighing her limited options on how to finally feel better. She could again try over-the-counter remedies, though they've yet to relieve the aches that have endured for nearly three weeks. She could schedule an appointment with one of only a small handful of general physicians in town, though their schedules are often booked and, without insurance, costly. By all definitions, Traci is medically indigent, a chronic condition with little chance for a cure in Georgia. There is no real figure on how many indigent patients there are in Georgia, though as the economy continues to slide, joblessness increases and public assistance falters, more of the state's patients are likely to find themselves without many choices for care.

Propaganda has often proved to be an effective tool to convey ideas. The images are almost a visual onomatopoeia, instantly conveying a thought or idea most often without the need for words. Think Russia during wars, or the image of Che Guevara, which is one of the world's most universally merchandized images.

from text: The federal inmates at Keaton Correctional Institute watched intently as Neonta Williams held the bright green condom firmly in her hand. "Check for tears," she said, the words "Acquired Immune Deficiency" in large letters on the white board behind her. "And make sure there are no rips, even small ones." .... "They just appreciate the fact that someone comes in here and talks to them about this. And they need this information." And as Williams stood before the inmates Tuesday, this need for education was apparent. She asked the class what the letters HIV meant. Silence. Then a man meekly raised his hand. "Isn't the letter H for homosexual?" he asked. The rest of the class shrugged.