[Regrettably, some of these may require subscription. Or, if you're lucky, you may catch the paywall on an unusually porous day.]
There's Too Much Science in the Curriculum. How an obsessive commitment to diversity has destroyed the integrity of medical education. Quillette, May 1, 2026.
The Worst Racial Slur in Context. It's the most egregious taboo in the American language...but it doesn't always mean what you think it does. Quillette, March 2, 2025.
Media Contagion. The most famous/infamous line in journalism is, "if it bleeds, it leads." Is that mantra a self-fulfilling prophecy? Quillette, April 24, 2023.
The Burden of the Best. Today we preach self-care and knowing your limits. But evidence suggests that such negative self-awareness stunts growth...and deprives us of the obsessives we need to move the dial. Quillette, June 12, 2022.
News, Pre-News, Fake News and Statistics. There is reality...and there is the inverse of reality. Guess which the news biz gives us. Quillette, March 17, 2019.
News, Pre-News, Fake News and Statistics. There is reality...and there is the inverse of reality. Guess which the news biz gives us. Quillette, March 17, 2019.
The River Runs Through Us. Award-winning story about teaching my troubled young grandson to trust and love. AARP, April/May 2018.
The Dance Between Anchor and Assassin. CNN and the rest of broadcast media must own up to their role in catalyzing mass shootings. USAToday, October 17, 2017.
Pride is Prejudice. When you celebrate your racial or ethnic heritage, you embrace the language and logic of the bigot. USAToday, April 1, 2017.
Like It Never Even Happened. Self-help guru James Arthur Ray wants us to forget that his methods have resulted in the deaths of at least three of his followers. Slate, December 1, 2016.
The Feel of Nothing. A long memoir of how America's batting cages became, for this one misfit of a child, "my all-purpose touchstone, confidante, cross, and whipping boy rolled into one..." Fittingly enough, for Longreads, March 5, 2014.
Criminal Injustice. A highly controversial exploration of the criminal-justice system and the assumptions on which it rests. For Skeptic, July-August 2009.
Journalist Bites Reality! What's wrong with today's broadcast news media? Just about everything. For Skeptic, February 13, 2008.
Pride is Prejudice. When you celebrate your racial or ethnic heritage, you embrace the language and logic of the bigot. USAToday, April 1, 2017.
Like It Never Even Happened. Self-help guru James Arthur Ray wants us to forget that his methods have resulted in the deaths of at least three of his followers. Slate, December 1, 2016.
The Feel of Nothing. A long memoir of how America's batting cages became, for this one misfit of a child, "my all-purpose touchstone, confidante, cross, and whipping boy rolled into one..." Fittingly enough, for Longreads, March 5, 2014.
Criminal Injustice. A highly controversial exploration of the criminal-justice system and the assumptions on which it rests. For Skeptic, July-August 2009.
Journalist Bites Reality! What's wrong with today's broadcast news media? Just about everything. For Skeptic, February 13, 2008.
This calls for a lot of back-story, but I can actually and truthfully say "I wrote the book on sex!" Edited it, anyway. Got me fired from a six-figure job in editorial management. If we ever run into each other, it's a fun story.
Notable among my major works in PR/corporate image consulting were annual reports for $2.4 billion Minerals Technologies (NYSE: MTX). These reports took first place in industry competitions three years running, 2001-2003.
