Reporting/Editing

An Italian journalist took this photo of me in the pressroom before we covered Pope John Paul II's historic visit to Arizona in September, 1987. He and his friend left me an "autographed" photo, on which the Pope allegedly praised my school board meeting stories in the Tempe Daily News.

I spent fourteen years as a daily newspaper reporter, writing mainly about education and issues affecting young people. I also covered state and federal courts, inner-city issues, suburban government, religion/spirituality, and general assignment.

I started at the scrappy Tempe Daily News in suburban Phoenix, Arizona, where I successfully sued the Tempe School Board for Open Meetings Law Violations and received the 1987 Arizona Society of Professional Journalists/SDX Freedom of Information Award. Sadly, the Tempe Daily News is no longer publishing.

I loved Arizona, but it was a dream to return to Iowa to work for The Des Moines Register, the statewide, Pulitzer-winning newspaper that I had grown up reading. I spent eleven years there, winning awards for writing and investigative reporting, and creating a full-time beat focused on young people.

I quit to become a self-employed freelance writer and editor, writing for Better Homes and Gardens, Parents, Glamour, and Ladies' Home Journal as well as for companies such as Liberty Mutual Insurance, Carnival Cruise Lines, Kraft Foods and Lane Bryant.

I also have extensive editing experience. For years I worked for months at a time on-site at Midwest Living as a special projects manager and as an editor, filling in for staff members on leave.

Occasionally, I still dive into reporting a great story, such as this piece for dsm celebrating the 50th anniversary of the landmark Tinker case and this three-part-series on gender discrimination in the natural products industry for Nutrition Business Journal.

Please contact me to discuss a possible collaboration.