United States
I'm an editor and writer with over 20 years of experience in higher education, magazines, newspapers and nonprofits. I'm fascinated by what makes certain stories land with people. Whether it's a feature article, a magazine strategy or an impact story, I help organizations craft narratives that resonate, build trust and move people to care.
FEATURE WRITING: ALUMNI MAGAZINES
Emma Specter '15 on success, storytelling and self-acceptance.
An illuminating Q&A with software engineer and firefighter Gabe Shine '05 of Watch Duty.
20 things to know about Kenyon's twentieth president that you won't find on her resume.
A conversation with outgoing president Sean Decatur about science, higher education and his groundbreaking new role at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City
In the summer of 2015, one of the world's biggest pop stars, Taylor Swift, was in the midst of her popular "1989 World Tour." At each stop, she brought out a surprise celebrity or two to perform with her, and her July performance at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, was no exception.
Looking back on the past year, it can be challenging to remember anything but the hardships we have endured. From the big things - a deadly pandemic, an economic crisis and an overdue reckoning with systemic racism and oppression - to the daily stressors brought on by life in lockdown, there's still so much left to process.
"It's a strange time to be on a trip," Stephanie Danler '06 said when I reached her by phone on a Friday afternoon in March. She was in Hawaii with her husband and their toddler son, Julian. "We got here before things turned," she added, referring, of course, to the COVID-19 pandemic that was beginning to spread like wildfire on the mainland.
On an April afternoon, more than halfway through her first semester at Kenyon, Hanaa Ibrahim '22 stood in front of an intimate gathering of her peers in Peirce Dining Hall's Bemis Music Room. She had agreed to speak as part of the Diversity Advisors' Storytime, a bimonthly series that invites Kenyon community members to share their personal experiences.
The Sept. 8, 1969, edition of the Cleveland Plain Dealer featured a news article about a big change underway at Kenyon College. The headline read, "Male Tradition Broken: Coeds at Kenyon after 145 Years," followed by, "A new look comes to Kenyon College today - girls.
It was like a scene out of the movie "Groundhog Day." In late December, Justin Martin '19 should have been focused on his upcoming final exams. Instead, he was afraid that at any moment, an obscure legislative rule, which he had fought once already, working its way through state government would force him to withdraw from Kenyon.
Anatole France, the French poet, journalist and novelist, was correct when he said, "Until one has loved an animal, a part of one's soul remains unawakened," then Gambier is home to many awakened souls. In and out of the classroom, Kenyon faculty, staff and students share an appreciation for the natural world and all of its living creatures.
Who's going to give the future its breakthroughs and discoveries, its page-turners and show-stoppers, its innovations in teaching, policy, media and tech? Meet a young alumni from every graduating class between 2007 and 2016 worthy of your attention. Only a few years ago, they were marching down Middle Path toward that big Commencement stage.
When it comes to Obies moving to Brooklyn after graduation, Joanna Smith Rakoff '94 wrote the book For most Oberlin alumni, reunion weekend is a memorable time. For Joanna Smith Rakoff, whose critically acclaimed debut novel A Fortunate Age (Scribner, 2009) centers around a group of recent Oberlin grads living in Brooklyn, N.Y., the 2009 reunion held even more meaning.
A not very definitive, somewhat idiosyncratic, and entirely unthematic glimpse of the strangely mighty literary output of a pretty small college in the middle of Ohio. "It happens when you're a kid-you sit with a book, and two hours later you lift your head and you haven't been in your bedroom.
"It's an ongoing miracle that people, in this age where you can have everything you've ever wanted, in terms of entertainment, brought to your home at the push of a button, still drag themselves out to a show and hang out with strangers to see music."
While touring a handful of U.S. colleges and universities 13 years ago, Mark Brunton, a London-based management consultant, was struck by something absent from campus bookstores-commemorative "coffee table" books that represented the uniqueness and spirit of each institution. The books that were offered were often dry and academic and lacked any kind of personal reflections or compelling photography.
Independent theaters founded by Obies thrive in Chicago On a mild Tuesday evening in late August, more than a dozen arts patrons gather in a house in Wicker Park, a trendy Chicago neighborhood situated northwest of the Loop.
If you were or had a child anytime after 1963, you're probably familiar with Encyclopedia Brown. The perpetually popular, ongoing children's mystery book series by author Donald J. Sobol '48 centers on fictional child sleuth Leroy "Encyclopedia" Brown, the smartest 10-year-old on the block in his made-up town of Idaville, Florida.
Articles in Ohio State University Moritz College of Law alumni magazine
Articles in Ohio State University Moritz College of Law alumni magazine
Cultural Reporting
Steve Schimoler, owner and chef at Cleveland, Ohio'sCrop Bistro & Bar, has been working hard to create the perfect rock-themed menu for his restaurant, with the hopes of attracting some of the rock stars, record industry executives, and music fans who will flood into town for the27th annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony later this month.
Nearly 900 people crowded into Cleveland’s Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum on the evening of Aug. 28 for a memorial service to honor pioneering rock music reporter Jane Scott. Affectionately known throughout her career as the “world’s oldest teenager,” Scott was remembered by friends, family and colleagues as one of rock’n’roll’s earliest -- and greatest -- advocates.
By Elizabeth Weinstein Photos by Jennifer Grimm Just before 5 p.m. on Sunday, May 31, Seattle-based singer-songwriter Brandi Carlile looked out at the large, energetic and sweaty crowd from her perch, front and center on the Nelsonville Music Festival 's Main Stage, and grinned widely.
"Eat your vegetables." Chances are you heard that phrase a lot growing up. Those sad canned peas and carrots or overcooked Brussels sprouts on your plate were a necessary evil to conquer if you wanted dessert. Or perhaps your vegetables were hidden in unsuspecting foods, like smoothies and brownies, in the hopes that you wouldn't notice they were there.
A few months ago, I found myself wasting time on WarbyParker.com, scrolling through page after page of attractive frames. I hadn't bought new glasses in years and, thanks to a brand-new prescription, was desperately in search of the perfect pair of red glasses.
If you came of age - or questioned your sexual orientation - in the late 1990s and early 2000s, chances are good that you also spent many hours lip syncing in front of your mirror to the music of Teg...
If you ask fans of the Avett Brothers what they love most about the band, they will likely mention the electrifying energy that the folk rockers famously exude during live shows.
As a child growing up on the north side of Columbus, award-winning journalist and author Wil Haygood spent his days exploring the two miles that stretched between his house and the Olentangy River dam.
Betsy Ross was a Philadelphia-born upholsterer who sewed the first American flag in 1776. But around Columbus, her name has recently become synonymous with an indie rock band, made up of singer/guitarist Charity Crowe, 22; her bassist brother Schuyler Crowe, 24; and drummer David Wegner, also 24.
Perhaps you know him as the scheming yet loveable Eli Gold on CBS's "The Good Wife," or as the villainous TV host Fegan Floop in the popular "Spy Kids" movies.
If you ever find yourself deep in conversation with Lucy Dacus, and seemingly out of the blue she announces that she has to run, don't take it personally. In fact, consider it a compliment. Some musicians are most productive when they block out chunks of the day to sit down and write songs; Dacus is not one of them.
After playing Ted Mosby for nine years on the hugely popular TV show, "How I Met Your Mother," no one would blame Josh Radnor if he decided to take a break after the show came to an end in 2014.
Profile of Brandi Carlile for Cleveland LGBTQ+ publication
We asked Amanda Anderson, wine and cheese director for The Hills Market Downtown, to help us build a cheese board that is sure to impress palates of all stripes. "The best cheese boards look kind of like they are a mess, but they really are not," Anderson said.
"Are you going to Pride?" You've probably heard this question a lot this month. That's because, in recent years, Columbus has become almost legendary for its annual Stonewall Columbus Pride Parade and Festival, which takes over much of the Short North, Goodale Park and Downtown this weekend.
One of my earliest memories is of a studio on Mercantile Road in Beachwood. It was my grandmother's art studio, which she shared for 22 years with her friend Bernadine Silberman, a sculptor. It was a cavernous space ,filled, floor-to-ceiling, with larger-than-life, abstract, three-dimensional paintings by my grandmother Lynn Kaye.
There's nothing quite like watching a movie, uninterrupted, in a crowded, dark theater. Even Associate Professor Robert Spadoni, who spends his days reading, writing, thinking and talking about film, isn't immune to the magic of the experience. "When you come blinking out of a theater and you say, 'Oh my gosh, is it day or night?'
A shortage of ample square footage doesn't mean you can't have your #squad over for a killer holiday party. Brooke Kinsey, partner and executive chef at Bleu & Fig, a full-service boutique catering a...
Inspired by the Arnold Sports Fest, we talked to four Columbus trainers about the role of music in their workouts
One common complaint of music journalists is the amount of bureaucracy that stands between them and the artists they cover. Particularly with musicians who have reached a certain level of fame, there...
When Adam Brouillette and the other artists of Tacocat Cooperative moved to their Grandview location in March 2013 after the closing of Junctionview Studios, they knew the Burrell Ave. converted ware...