Other Writing
Besides news and feature articles, I have written book reviews, essays, travel guide content, annual reports, newsletters and public information materials for a variety of clients. I’ve even written legends for National Geographic maps. A sample of my work follows.
Washington Independent Review of Books
Q&A with Janice P. Nimura, author of Daughters of the Samurai, 5/27/2016
Without You There Is No Us: My Times With the Sons of North Korea’s Elite, 1/1/2015
Eating Mud Crabs in Kandahar, 11/2011
Indigo: In Search of the Color That Seduced the World, 8/12/2011
A Covert Affair: Julia Child and Paul Child in the OSS, 5/10/2011
Ravenous: A Food Lover’s Journey From Obsession to Freedom, 3/23/2011
National Geographic News
“In Africa, Decoding the Language of Elephants,” 2/21/2003
“Maya Hieroglyphics Recount ‘Giant War,’ ” 10/19/2002
“Crossbow Rivalry of Two Italian Towns Dates to Middle Ages,” 9/6/2002
“Skull Fossil Opens Window onto Early Human Origins,” 7/11/2002
“City Occupied by Inca Discovered on Andean Peak in Peru,” 3/18/2002
“High-Tech Fishing Is Emptying Deep Seas, Scientists Warn,” 2/26/2002
” ‘SuperCroc’ Fossil Found in Sahara,” 10/25/2001
“Skeleton of New Dinosaur ‘Titan’ Found in Madagascar,” 8/1/2001
“Tiny Fossil From Early Jurassic Fills New Niche in Mammal Evolution,” 5/24/2001
Other Selected Articles
“Giant Footprint,” Smithsonian.com, 1/28/2008
“Monumental Shift,” Smithsonian.com, 7/31/2007
“Remnants of the Past: High-Tech Analyses of Ancient Textiles Yield Clues to Cultures,” Science News, 12/11/2004
“Assault on Autism,” Science News, 11/9/2004
“Design College’s New Provost Hopes to Contribute to Another Detroit Renaissance,” Chronicle of Higher Education, 1/6/2014
“New Signs of Hope in the Struggle for Human Rights: Indonesia,” Ford Foundation Report, Fall 1998
“Maternal Death Rate Tough to Reduce,” Indonesian Observer, 4/12/1998
“Project Seeks to Shed Light on Human Rights Abuses in Haiti,” Science, 6/30/1995
“Helping Students Learn Science the Way Science Works,” Science, 9/30/1994
“Medicine and the Humanities,” Humanities, Jan.–Feb. 1992
“Charles Peirce: An American Original,” Humanities, May/June 1989
“The Animal Rights Movement Has Closed Down and Stalled Research,” NIDA Notes, Spring/Summer 1989
“Community Colleges Exhibit New Spirit of Fund-Raising Aggressiveness,” Trustee Quarterly, Winter 1989
“Nixon’s Ghosts Haunt the Archives,” Common Cause, July/August 1986
“Putting Geography Back on the Map,” The Washington Post, 4/20/1986
“Crossroads (South Africa): In a Rural Settlement, Medical Students Are Learning Both Medicine and the Realities of Politics,” The New Physician, 7/8/1984
Essays
“On the Porch,” Washingtonian, 8/1/2009
“Carried Away,” Potomac Review, Fall 2007
Travel Guides
National Geographic Traveler: Washington, D.C.
Lead writer for updates of 2005, 2007 and 2010 editions
The Jakarta Explorer, 1999
Editorial coordinator and contributing writer and photographer
Other
National Geographic: Fold-out maps on “Special Places of the World” series, New York City (Sept. 1990) and the Holy Land (Dec. 1989)
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS): Annual Reports 1994, 1995
Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), Bogor, Indonesia: Annual Report 1998; CIFOR newsletter, Nos. 19–27, June 1998 to March/April 2001
World Fish Center, Penang, Malaysia: Annual Report 2005/06
National Institutes of Health/Sigma Health Consulting: executive summaries of investigator workshops
“There’s always room for a story that can transport people to another place.”