top of page
"A Parent Interview: Personal & Cultural Values Shaping Infant Care Practices"
Psychology 250, Professor Kathleen Jodl, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan
 


 

"The Detroit Partnership: Communications Assessment and Action Plan"
Writing 200, Professor Christine Modey, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

 

"My Way or the Highway?"
English 140, Professor Tung-Hui Hu, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan


 

Other Works of Writing

A Sampling of My Work, Undergraduate and Otherwise

April 2013

The final assignment of a class entitled "Paranoia and the American Film" called for an analysis of either a scene from a movie, an episode of a television show, or any other object of "visual culture." Of the many things loosely categorized under that term, I chose a video game series: Fable. I remember this piece being a challenge, one that I had to play around with for quite some time. This is the version I turned in for class; a slightly altered version was published in an online edition of the student-led magazine The Michiganian and can be found here.

More along the lines of traditional academic writing, this research paper was thrust upon me during the first weeks of my sophomore year at the University of Michigan. I interviewed a mother about the caretaking practices she had employed in the raising of her children (who were all at least 13 years of age by that time). The parent interview and a study conducted by developmental psychologists which is referenced numerous times throughout the paper provided the backbone for this piece. 

September 2013

The Writing 200 course I took at the University of Michigan was called "New Media for Non-Profits," and a crucial component was participating in an internship with a local nonprofit. For the second semester of sophomore year, then, I interned with The Detroit Partnership, an organization dedicated to building bridges between Ann Arbor and the city of Detroit, mostly through service learning opportunities. I was a social media intern, dedicating time to an online portfolio for the organization that was eventually going to be showcased on a site highlighting student organizations on campus. As part of class, I conducted a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis of The DP's social media presence and compiled that information in this document.

February 2014

"The Stirrings of a Movement"
History 374, Professor Matthew Countryman, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

November 2014

"The Stirrings of a Movement" was my term paper for History 374: "The Politics and Culture of the 'Sixties.'" Focusing on the many social, cultural and political changes of the oft-termed "turbulent decade" in America, I chose to write about the particular issue of the changing roles of women in society. To do this, I focused on a fundamental literary work of the time, Helen Gurley Brown's Sex and the Single Girl. I argue that the book was one of the first steps toward real change in regards to women's societal roles, especially as "traditional femininity" was concerned.

"Face to Face"
English 223, Professor Elizabeth Hutton, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Michigan

April 2015

"Face to Face" is a short story that appears in the portfolio project I put together for my poems and short fiction class. The idea came to me while hiking a mountain in Vermont and I was quick to pull out the small notebook I'd brought with me and jot down my thoughts. The setting of the story is on that mountain I was climbing, the very real Mount Ascutney. This is the third or fourth version of the story, and I'm positive I'm not finished with it.

"Wellston Family Dedicates Time to Volunteer Firefighting"
Article written for the Manistee News Advocate, Editor: Michelle Graves, Manistee, Michigan

June 2015

Between the summer of my junior and senior years at the University of Michigan, I acquired an internship with my hometown's newspaper, the Manistee News Advocate. Near the end of my first month with the publication, I sat down with a family from one of Manistee County's outlying townships to get the scoop on their involvement with the local volunteer fire department. More of a human interest piece than a news story, it was one of the pieces I most enjoyed writing for the Advocate. 

"That Time I Climbed a Mountain Alone"
Column written for the Manistee News Advocate, Editor: Michelle Graves, Manistee, Michigan

July 2015

During my time as a summer intern at the Manistee News Advocate, I had the chance to contribute opinion pieces every once in a while. I wrote this column shortly after Independence Day, reflecting on the time I decided it was a great idea to hike up a mountain all by myself. This occurred during my solo journey up through Ontario and Quebec and then down into the northeastern United States, which took place in March 2015. This column is the real-world look at the inspiration for my short story, "Face to Face", which, if you're so inclined, you can read by scrolling up the page just a hair.

(Click the images to open each piece.)

August 2015

"Life on the Road: Couple Originally from Northern Michigan tours the U.S."
Article written for the Manistee News Advocate, Editor: Michelle Graves, Manistee, Michigan

Perhaps my favorite thing I wrote during my internship at the Manistee News Advocate during summer 2015 was this piece about a one-man band and his girlfriend who decided, earlier this year, to sell most of their belongings and live out of a 98-square-foot trailer-turned-tiny-house. The phone interview I conducted with the couple was one of the longest during my three-month tenure at the Advocate, and, in the same vein, the article was my longest piece of the summer. I was lucky my regular editor was on vacation that week, because I would not have gotten away with the length otherwise.

bottom of page