Writing samples

I know they’re in here somewhere … gimme a few minutes.

Since leaving CNN, I’ve been focusing on video and other social media verification, finding the story, the source, the image, the video from the cacophony of Twitter, Facebook and the like. It’s a dirty job, but somebody’s got to do it.

Here’s a couple of actual news stories from my days at CNN:

• Bernie Wilson of Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes fame obituary
• George W. Bush goes for some marine conservation
• Galveston, 1900
• Police shooting suspect may have been white supremacist
• Mir’s return brings back Skylab memories
• Letter from shooting suspect reveals paranoia
• Seismic activity in country’s center sparks debate (I got tagged all over the internet for talking about “the big one,” as if I didn’t know it’s not really real — but my premise was that a lot of people were talking about it, and the story was about New Madrid anyway)
• Peace prospects uncertain as Israel looks to new elections
• Asphalt dreams (unfortunately, this is a very old story on CNN.com, and the excellent images are now gone
• Miles from nowhere, close to the heart (same with this one)

I recently applied for a job that I felt needed a different type of story, so I dug through my collection of published articles and came up with these three from the mid-1990s. They’re in pdf format. Enjoy.

• Postcards from Camp (about the tribulations of operating a lesbian camp in very rural Mississippi)
• Common Bond (two lesbians survive a massive flood in rural Georgia with the help of their neighbors)
• Gay in Hutsville (a gay homeless community. I share a byline on this story, but in reality I wrote it — Liz gathered the information)

And finally, I’m editing and writing at Like the Dew, a site put together by a bunch of fine writers who once worked for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. It has a southern focus, but it’s oh, so much more than that.