It’s that time of year again, so I’m reposting my seasonal rant against Rudolph. In the age of Trump, this originally lighthearted piece triggers a bit more of an ominous response. After all, we thought we had left some of this behind, didn’t we? Here goes: No, this isn’t an environmental screed. Rudolph and Santa actually seem to live a pretty low impact life in … Continue reading The illogic of Rudolph
I love it when my local reporting for The Observer here in Jefferson County, West Virginia links to larger national (or international) issues. That’s what happened when I dug deeply into animal cruelty charges against a local farmer last year. Danny Rohrer had been a cornerstone of our weekly farmers’ market for more than a decade, and our community was stunned when sensational headlines about … Continue reading Reporting locally, thinking globally
The Observer’s new editor and publisher Michael Chalmers revamped the magazine’s look this month, both online and in print. And I’m thrilled to be a part of it. I’ve been contributing to The Observer as a feature writer regularly for more than two years (and intermittently before that), focusing on land use, historic preservation and related issues in and around Jefferson County, West Virginia. Mike’s … Continue reading The Observer moves forward
For the past few years, my husband John and I have traveled north from our home in West Virginia to central New York for Christmas. My father lives there, around the corner from my sister and her family. Or at least he used to live there; first with his wife, and then alone. Every year, John and I would drive over the rivers and through … Continue reading Co-home for the holidays
A nonfiction writer always faces a fundamental question when beginning a piece of work, namely: Do I insert myself in the narrative? If the piece is about oneself, then the answer is obvious. But most of us are writing about other topics, and inserting oneself often simply gets in the way. Still, there are times when a writer’s role in the story is impossible to … Continue reading It’s not about you. But…
