“The Blank Page” column / Taunton Daily Gazette / 1985-1986

The articles included in “The Blank Page” column were written for The Taunton Daily Gazette in 1985 and 1986.  Since then, I have worked and traveled in Japan, earned two graduate degrees, and taught literature and writing on the college level for 21 years.  I was very young when I wrote these columns and believe my thinking has become more complex and sophisticated since this period in my life.  If you are reading on a computer, please click on the titles listed under “The Blank Page” on the right side of this page.  If you are reading on a mobile phone, you will find the links at the bottom of the page.

“The View From Japan” column / Brockton Enterprise / 1988-1989

The articles included in “The View From Japan” column were written for The Brockton Enterprise while I was living and working as an English as a Second Language teacher at a community college in Chiba, Japan.  One of the requirements of my teaching job was that I speak only English with my students.  While I studied Japanese on my own, I never reached full fluency.  This sometimes complicated my ability to understand what was happening around me.  The end result is a travel column that captures my struggle to understand my environment and make sense of it.  If you are reading on a computer, please click on the titles listed under “The View From Japan” on the right side of this page.  If you are reading on a mobile phone, you will find the links at the bottom of the page.

Historical Feature Articles/ Taunton Daily Gazette / 1985-86

Someone reading my columns at the start of my career might have been able to predict I would spend a considerable portion of my life as a literature professor.  While I certainly covered my share of local news, reporting on city board meetings, writing about politics and politicians, the work I most enjoyed involved the telling of true stories.  For this work, though the stories are all true, I employed strategies from fiction making that seemed appropriate to the telling of a compelling true story.  If you are reading on a computer, please click on the titles listed under “Historical Feature Articles” on the right side of this page.  If you are reading on a mobile phone, you will find the links at the bottom of the page.

Profiles / Taunton Daily Gazette / 1985-1986

Another opportunity I had to tell true stories was in writing profiles on people.  The best profiles emerge out of a good conversation between the writer and the subject.  I  enjoyed researching, interviewing, and writing these articles.  I hope you enjoy them too. If you are reading on a computer, please click on the titles listed under “Profiles” on the right side of this page.  If you are reading on a mobile phone, you will find the links at the bottom of the page.

 

Scholarly Essays

As a college professor, I belong in the literature department, but with a toe-hold in journalism and writing.  I kept up my knowledge of journalism by teaching courses including Introduction to Print Journalism, Writing Across the Media, and Feature Writing and Beat Reporting, but the majority of my writing during my days as a college teacher was scholarly.  During this time I completed my dissertation.  I began publishing book reviews for a publication called Brontë Studies.  The same journal published an article of mine in 2010.  For a bibliography of these writings, please see my Curriculum Vitae on the career page of this web site.