Journalism
Proximity Magazine
This story won first prize in Proximity’s first inaugural narrative journalism prize. Judge Bronwen Dickey (we weren’t friends yet) said of it:
I was struck immediately by what an intimate and well-reported piece “The Day That Never Comes” is, and how deeply it took me into the lives of Dan and Gil Harrington, whose 20 year-old daughter, Morgan, was abducted and murdered in Virginia in 2009. Without ever veering into sensationalism (all too easy to do when reporting on crimes), this writer made me feel that I, too, was sitting at the Harringtons’ kitchen table, trying to cope with a loss that no parent should ever have to bear. Far from being a grim statistic on the evening news, Morgan Harrington — full of opinions and quirks, as we all are — truly comes alive. This writer has performed a great service, not just for the family, whose story was told with incredible respect, but for readers, who should always remember that no one is ever just a headline.
Mountain Home Magazine
Here are some stories I’ve written for this lovely magazine including several I won awards for.
The Great Potato Toss, maybe the funnest story I’ve written.
I won first place for this story about a 169-year-old dairy farm.
This story about a weatherman won a second-place Keystone Award: Rodan the Weatherman.
Bleacher Report
I wrote several hundred slideshows and columns for Bleacher Report, though the following features are what I’m most proud of: a feature on American Pharoah and one on race caller Larry Collmus.
Book Review
Good Prose at Brevity.com
My book review of Tracy Kidder and Richard Todd’s fantastic book on writing nonfiction, Good Prose.
Essays (Craft and Personal)
Brevity
“What Metallica’s ‘Black Album’ Teaches Us About Writing Briefly“
Creative Nonfiction
“The Gentleman’s Guide to Arousal-Free Slow Dancing” appeared in Issue 62 of this great lit journal. You can listen to it on The Creative Nonfiction Podcast.
Proximity Magazine
My essay The Sultans of Swing, culled from my memoir-in-progress about a road trip my father and I went on during February break.
The Last Championship
An essay whereby the son watches the father play ball. This essay will be the basis of a father-son baseball memoir title “The Last Championship.”
You can read it here.
A No-Doubt-About-It Winner
An essay I wrote about 2006 Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro. It recounts my experience at that Kentucky Derby as well as the breakdown and eventual death of this champion colt. You can read it here.
The Good Old Days
An essay about my life as a struggling writer in Upstate New York. You can read it here.
Fear of Flying
An essay about how I cope with my fear of flying framed around a puddle-jumping flight in the context of recent aerial disasters. You can read it here.