On my mission: This paper was written -- with only a few recent edits -- as a result of a Master's level non-fiction writing class I took at The Ohio State University in the 1990s. I completed this too late for class perusal to my regret and submitted something forgetably mediocre, instead. But, I still wish to share. I learned a great deal about writing and about the importance of being yourself from that class -- not the least of which, I learned again what an extraordinary experience being a missionary was and is. I hope this captures my love for my faith and for my mission experience.
Spiro Agnew's Des Moines speech: This paper was submitted to a BEA contest in December 2004. It is about the 1969 speech Spiro Agnew gave on network commentators. The research comes from the Nixon papers in Washington D.C. and the Agnew papers at the University of Maryland. Agnew's speech is significant because, in many ways, it set the stage for the on-going conversation about media bias that has not abated in more than three decades. It received the second-place in the 2005 debut paper competition.
Still a hero. This article for a class with Haynes Johnson at the University of Maryland takes the Agnew paper a step further. It is an attempt to look at his arguments about media bias and see how much they relate with the scholarly record on media bias. In point of fact, he did a fairly good job in his media criticism, as supported by more contemporary media scholarship.
An Unusual record of safety: This paper discusses two important books on America's open-air nuclear testing program and their place in the literary journalism universe. I wrote it as part of a literary journalism class at The Ohio State University.
Into the Light: My master's degree reporting project. This is a .pdf file. I spent a year researching America's drug approval process. My conclusion: That as often as regulations save lives by preventing drugs from coming onto the market, they take them by making it too difficult and too expensive to get on the market. This story is of photofrin, a useful cancer therapy that took more than 20 years to get to market.
On blogging: A speech I delivered in front of the East Idaho Falls Rotary Club.