PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Freelance Photographer and Writer
since 2002
Report, review, research, and take pictures for magazines, newspapers, and websites.
- Photograph public officials, press conferences, rallies, and other events for websites and newspapers including The Chief, (the newspaper for New York’s civil employees), New York Teacher, (the United Federation of Teachers), Clarion (the Professional Staff Congress of the City University of New York), Communiqué (CWA 1180), The Unionist (Social Service Employees Local 371 of DC 37) Public Employees Press (DC 37) and for other unions, city agencies, political candidates, businesses, and nonprofits.
- Wrote articles, interviews, and reviews for newspapers, magazine, and websites including Britannica.com, Extra!, (from FAIR–Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting) and Grand Street News (former Lower East Side magazine).
- Created and maintain a personal website, blogs and photo portfolio sites, posting current and past articles and pictures.
- Wrote monthly article about the waterfront and occasional cover stories for Gotham Gazette (online policy magazine about New York City) (2003-2006).
- Fact checked materials for Reader’s Digest, Meredith Corporation (magazine publishers), and other publications (2002-2004).
Research Editor
Reader’s Digest, Pleasantville, New York
2000 – 2002
Verified accuracy of articles and provided original reporting using scholarly studies, the Internet, libraries, and interviews with experts and subjects of stories. Reported and wrote short articles.
Culture Editor
In These Times, Chicago, Illinois
1997 – 1998
Edited culture section and wrote for In These Times, an independent newsmagazine that covers national and international politics and culture. Hired writers, edited book, film, music, and television reviews and “In the End” feature.
Editor
Southern Exposure, Durham, North Carolina
1994 – 1997
Edited quarterly magazine of regional politics and culture. Developed special issues focusing on aspects of Southern life, assigned and edited stories, supervised editorial staff, worked with freelance writers, photographers, artists, designers and printers, wrote articles, and took photographs.
Editor
East Tennessee State University, Johnson City, Tennessee
1986 -1994
Edited Appalachian magazines, Now and Then, and a scholarly publication, Journal of the Appalachian Studies Association. Assigned and edited stories, wrote articles, took photographs, supervised editorial staff, created layout and design.
EDUCATION
Marshall University
Huntington, West Virginia
Regents B.A., concentration on journalism and photography
East Tennessee State University
Johnson City, Tennessee
Additional 21 undergraduate hours, photography and Spanish
SELECTED ARTICLES AND PHOTOGRAPHS
- Featured photographer in Harriette Arnow-focused issue of Appalachian Heritage, the Berea College magazine, Spring 2012, with pictures of Harold and Harriette Arnow in the 1970s, and of their land in Kentucky in recent years (for which I have become the steward).
- Photo of silversmiths Maureen and Michael Banner accompanying their work at the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Renwick Gallery Luce Foundation for Center for American Art collection and on the website.
- Slide shows on the United Federation of Teachers website including Jobs and Justice march to Union Square in New York City, Halloween parties in the Bronx (2011 and 2010), and Students making fractal art in Brooklyn.
- Photos of Lobby Day in the New York State Capital, March 2012, the Professional Staff Congress, the union for the City University of New York.
- Photo of Rep. Charles Rangel with a rabbi who threw a bar mitzvah in a jail for the son of a rich prisoner, in The New York Times, June, 2009.
- Photos and essay about taking pictures at the Chicago Board of Trade, 1971, in Gapers Block, an online Chicago magazine, published September 2009.
- “From Self-Censorship to Official Censorship,” from Extra! the publication of FAIR—Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting, April 2007.
- “Abortion in New York City,” issue of the week, Gotham Gazette, August 2006.
- “Where Have All the Bodies Gone?” feature about portrayal of war dead in the media, Extra! the publication of FAIR—Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting. July/August 2005.
- “Hope and Politics,” memory of In These Times publisher James Weinstein, In These Times, July 2005
- “New York Times Bylines Sideline Women,” feature about the dearth of female reporters writing significant stories, Extra!, July/August 2004.
- “Shooting in New York,” issue of the week about moviemaking in the city, Gotham Gazette, February 23, 2004.
- “Obesity in the Schools,” issue of the week, Gotham Gazette, November 24, 2003.
- “Now and Then Becomes a Then,” history of a magazine, Now and Then, Winter 2003.
- Shorts for the Reader’s Digest “RD You” section, November and December 2001, January 2002 and June 2002.
- “Technophilia and Its Discontents: An Interview with Ellen Ullman,” Britannica.com, discussion about impact of technology on human life, August 30, 2000.
- “Snake Handling,” Southern Exposure, Fall 1999. (PDF file)
- “Ms. Meets Bust,” Gazette-Mail (Charleston, W.Va.), feature comparing and contrasting two feminist magazines, June 27, 1999.
- “Another campaign for black vets,” News & Observer, January 7, 1999, and “The Old South,” In These Times, March 21, 1999, articles about segregation in a Durham, N.C., American Legion post.
- “A Road Closes,” feature about the demise of a progressive touring theater company in the mountains, In These Times, September 6, 1998.
- “The Alternate ROOTS Dilemma: From Little Black Sambo to Son of White Man,” article and analysis about a group of theaters in the South and racial issues, spring 1996, Southern Exposure, reprinted online by the Community Arts Network.
- “Shut Up and Shut Down,” cover story on censored and de-funded art in the South, Southern Exposure, Winter 1996. (PDF)
- “Sevier County, Tennessee,” investigation of impact of tourism in Smoky Mountain area, Now and Then, Spring 1991.
- Photo of Jo Carson for book jacket, Stories I Ain’t Told Nobody Yet, 1990, and for American Theater, January 1990.
- Photo of whittler Bill Henry selected for John Rice Irwin’s Museum of Appalachia’s Hall of Fame, 1990.
BOOK CHAPTERS
- “Southern Theater for Social Change,” history of significant political theater groups in the South from the 1970s through the 1990s, Radicalism in the South since Reconstruction, edited by Chris Green, Rachel Rubin, and James Smethurst, Palgrave Macmillan, 2006.
- The Encyclopedia of Appalachia, article and photographs for entries, University of Tennessee Press, 2006.
- Appalachia and Beyond: Conversations with Writers from the Mountain South, interview with playwright, performer, and raconteur Jo Carson, edited by John Lang, University of Tennessee Press, 2006. (Originally published in Iron Mountain Review, 1998).
- Conversations with Lee Smith, interview with the novelist in anthology, edited by Linda Tate, University Press of Mississippi, 2001 (first published in Now & Then, 1989).
- “Not Enough,” story, In Place, anthology of short fiction, edited by Ronald K. Giles, published by East Tennessee State University, 1998.
- “Crime in Appalachia,” article comparing crime rates in Appalachia to other parts of the country, co-author (with Norma Myers) in anthology, Appalachia Inside Out,edited by Robert J. Higgs, Ambrose N. Manning and Jim Wayne Miller, University of Tennessee Press, Knoxville, 1995.
- “To Forgive, Not to Forget,” essay in anthology of writing from the Hindman Settlement School, Gathering at the Forks, edited by George Ella Lyon, Jim Wayne Miller, Gurney Norman, Vision Books, 1993.
REVIEWS
- Best of the South: From the Second Decade of New Stories from the South, selected by Anne Tyler, edited by Shannon Ravenel, Appalachian Journal, Spring/Summer 2006.
- Review, Sodom Laurel Album by Rob Amberg, University of North Carolina Press, Now and Then, Winter 2002.
- Gap Creek by Robert Morgan, Algonquin Press, News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.), October 3, 1999 and Now and Then, Spring 2001 (also quoted on book cover).
- Prodigal Summer by Barbara Kingsolver, HarperCollins, News & Observer, November 19, 2000, and Philosophy & Geography, V. 4, #1, February 2001.
- Rebels in White Gloves: Coming of Age with Hillary’s Class–Wellesley ’69 by Miriam Horn, Times Books; News & Observer, June 27, 1999.
- The World Through a Monocle: The New Yorker at Midcentury by Mary F. Corey, News & Observer, April 18, 1999.
- In Sam We Trust: The Untold Story of Sam Walton and How Wal-Mart Is Devouring America by Bob Ortega, Times Books, News & Observer, November 15, 1998.
PLAY
- “Cancell’d Destiny,” co-author (with Christine Murdock and Steve Giles) of a one-woman play based on the life of an East Tennessee teacher, by The Necessary Theatre, Louisville, Ky., May 2004. Produced by Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg, Va., February 1990, and by the Road Company professional touring theater, Johnson City, Tenn., February-March 1990, and for Regional Organization of Theaters South (ROOTS) festival, Atlanta, Ga.
Many other articles, reviews, and photographs are available through the Clipslink on my website.
ASSOCIATIONS
- New York Press Photographers Association.
- New York City certified woman-owned business.
- Founding Board Chair, Independent Press Association, 1996.
- Chair, Publications Committee, Appalachian Consortium Press, 1989-1992.
- Member, Program and Steering Committee, Appalachian Studies Association, 1990-1991.