Short Articles
While all the glory goes to the features, magazines would fall apart without concise and catchy department articles. Telling a story in just a few hundred words can be a tricky and frustrating exercise. Often I find myself with hours of tape from interviews but only enough space to squeeze a single quote into the final story. But if you find the right quote--one that cuts to the core of your character's personality or perfectly encapsulates a complicated issue--then it's possible to pack a lot of voice into a very small space and leave your reader simultaneously satisfied and wanting more.
The Right Home
Yankee Magazine: January/February 2015
How do you build an archive in our increasingly digital and disposable world? It turns out the first step is still the same as it's always been: choosing not to throw something away. Lorna Condon, archivist at Historic New England, explains how photos, letters, and all the mundane trappings of human life find their way into her collection and are transformed from one person's private treasure into our shared history.
Yankee Magazine: January/February 2015
How do you build an archive in our increasingly digital and disposable world? It turns out the first step is still the same as it's always been: choosing not to throw something away. Lorna Condon, archivist at Historic New England, explains how photos, letters, and all the mundane trappings of human life find their way into her collection and are transformed from one person's private treasure into our shared history.
| the_right_home.pdf |
The Collector
Yankee Magazine: January/February 2015
In the 1980's, Aaron Lansky stumbled upon his life's quest: saving the world's Yiddish books. Spoken by three-quarters of the world's Jewish population in 1939, the horrors of the Holocaust and the pressures of assimilation have since driven the language to the brink of extinction. Fearing what would happen to his people's literature, Lansky formed an organization to scour the globe for Yiddish tomes. A sliver of the 1.5 million works he has collected so far are on display at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA. One book at a time, Lansky and his team are translating these works into English so the tales of his ancestors will not vanish into history.
Yankee Magazine: January/February 2015
In the 1980's, Aaron Lansky stumbled upon his life's quest: saving the world's Yiddish books. Spoken by three-quarters of the world's Jewish population in 1939, the horrors of the Holocaust and the pressures of assimilation have since driven the language to the brink of extinction. Fearing what would happen to his people's literature, Lansky formed an organization to scour the globe for Yiddish tomes. A sliver of the 1.5 million works he has collected so far are on display at the Yiddish Book Center in Amherst, MA. One book at a time, Lansky and his team are translating these works into English so the tales of his ancestors will not vanish into history.
| the_collector.pdf |
Keeper of the Faith
Yankee Magazine: November/December 2009
Sometimes in order to find the purest examples of historic architecture, you have to go off the beaten path. The small towns of New England are dotted with ancient meetinghouses, many dating back to the 1700s. Photographer Paul Wainwright dedicated years of his life to documenting these structures. This essay accompanied a photo essay of his work and offers a glimpse into his life and that of those few people who care for these time-worn cradles of democracy.
Yankee Magazine: November/December 2009
Sometimes in order to find the purest examples of historic architecture, you have to go off the beaten path. The small towns of New England are dotted with ancient meetinghouses, many dating back to the 1700s. Photographer Paul Wainwright dedicated years of his life to documenting these structures. This essay accompanied a photo essay of his work and offers a glimpse into his life and that of those few people who care for these time-worn cradles of democracy.
| meetinghouses.pdf |
A Place of Unsettling Authenticity
Yankee Magazine: November/December 2008
The Pilgrims have been idolized in countless Thanksgiving pageants, but the true story of their early settlement is much more complicated. At the Plimoth Plantation living history museum, Pilgrim interpreters and modern Wampanoag Indians address this history with stark honesty. This essay accompanied a photo essay of the museum.
Yankee Magazine: November/December 2008
The Pilgrims have been idolized in countless Thanksgiving pageants, but the true story of their early settlement is much more complicated. At the Plimoth Plantation living history museum, Pilgrim interpreters and modern Wampanoag Indians address this history with stark honesty. This essay accompanied a photo essay of the museum.
| plimoth.pdf |
Soaring Through Color
Yankee Magazine: September/October 2009
Ziplining is growing in popularity as an easily accessible "extreme" sport, but has anyone ever packaged it as a foliage-viewing experience? I overcome my fear of heights to to see what the fall colors look like at eye level and 40 mph.
Yankee Magazine: September/October 2009
Ziplining is growing in popularity as an easily accessible "extreme" sport, but has anyone ever packaged it as a foliage-viewing experience? I overcome my fear of heights to to see what the fall colors look like at eye level and 40 mph.
| ziplinetravel.pdf |
The Dead Frog Circus
Yankee Magazine: November/December 2009
Until recently, the basement of the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke, Massachusetts hid a terrible secret. Under a thin coating of dust the Holyoke Dead Frog Circus--the bizarre masterwork of taxidermist Burlingham Schurr--stood frozen in time. Comprised of over four dozen frogs and several assorted mice, rats, and other vermin, the disturbing tableau depicted a rollicking circus scene. Frogs swung from the trapeze, played musical instruments, and cracked whips at ferocious hamsters. Curators at the museum would have been happy to leave the artifact hidden away if not for one thing: the citizens of Holyoke desperately wanted it back.
Yankee Magazine: November/December 2009
Until recently, the basement of the Wistariahurst Museum in Holyoke, Massachusetts hid a terrible secret. Under a thin coating of dust the Holyoke Dead Frog Circus--the bizarre masterwork of taxidermist Burlingham Schurr--stood frozen in time. Comprised of over four dozen frogs and several assorted mice, rats, and other vermin, the disturbing tableau depicted a rollicking circus scene. Frogs swung from the trapeze, played musical instruments, and cracked whips at ferocious hamsters. Curators at the museum would have been happy to leave the artifact hidden away if not for one thing: the citizens of Holyoke desperately wanted it back.
| 11-09_dead_frog_circus.pdf |
Club Passim
Yankee Magazine: September/October 2010
Every folk musician worth their salt has played the intimate listening room known as Club Passim. This small, hole-in-the-wall music club has done more to preserve and promote American folk music than any other organization, though you'd be hard pressed to find it if you didn't know where to look.
Yankee Magazine: September/October 2010
Every folk musician worth their salt has played the intimate listening room known as Club Passim. This small, hole-in-the-wall music club has done more to preserve and promote American folk music than any other organization, though you'd be hard pressed to find it if you didn't know where to look.
| club_passim.pdf |
Free Muffins!
Yankee Magazine: March/April 2010
Never underestimate the power of a free muffin. In the remote town of Skowhegan, Maine, artist James Sham established the world's first muffin endowment. Through donations, Sham was able to sock away enough money in an account so that the daily interest was enough to cover the cost of the sugar, flour, and blueberries needed to produce a single muffin. The gratis confection would then be awarded to one lucky patron based on criteria of that day's waitress's choosing.
Yankee Magazine: March/April 2010
Never underestimate the power of a free muffin. In the remote town of Skowhegan, Maine, artist James Sham established the world's first muffin endowment. Through donations, Sham was able to sock away enough money in an account so that the daily interest was enough to cover the cost of the sugar, flour, and blueberries needed to produce a single muffin. The gratis confection would then be awarded to one lucky patron based on criteria of that day's waitress's choosing.
| free_muffins.pdf |