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articles

Profile of Bob Hall, campus minister
An article I wrote in college that was published in a state newspaper

The Potter, the Clay, and the Turning Wheel (Word doc)
This is an article I wrote for a Journalism class in college (c. 1986). The assignment was to write a long article about a process. I've tried to show restraint on fixing what I (and in some cases, the professor) missed the first time around, with mostly only minor punctuation revisions.

Michelle Young: Marked For Success
Read all about Michelle Young, my friend and occasional co-crooner of cool Christmas carols (so much for the objective approach to journalism).

Women In The Round (press release)
I was so excited about Women In The Round (Ashley Cleveland, Tricia Walker and Karen Staley) appearing at Riverbend in my former stomping grounds of Chattanooga for the Riverbend Festival, I got their permission to write this up and send it out.

Tin Pan South 2006 (1.7 MB pdf)
Filled in for a friend of mine in New York to cover Tin Pan South, the week-long songwriters festival in Nashville, for "Country Music Scene," the newsletter of the New Jersey Country Music Assn. (which, apparently, exists--to steal a line from SNL). Took the pictures, too.

Tin Pan South 2007 (3.6 MB pdf)
My second stint as stringer for "Country Music Scene." You can tell it's the more recent TPS article because the pictures are in color!

Radio spot for Edgehill Studios Cafe (mp3)
Aired on WRLT, Lightning 100

Below are links to some articles I wrote for my high school newspaper. As I read them now, I am alternately amused and taken aback by the partially-informed opinions and stilted style in which they were expressed. I called a Neil Simon play "fairly well-written"! HA! And I labored under the assumption that Kerry Livgren played keyboards and not guitar for Kansas (hey, they didn't include credits on 8-tracks). I remember how, when that paper containing my first column was delivered in class, I was mortified to see how the typesetter had mangled my prose with the most egregious typos and misspellings which, I'd like to emphasize, were not my fault ("Clever, Hugh?"). I didn't write most of the headlines, either.

But I'm also pretty happy with some of the stuff. I was Features Editor, and even won 2nd place in a state competition (that I don't recall entering). But because I rode the bus through senior year and couldn't stay after school to work on the paper, I was an editor in title only (a masthead figurehead!). I did eventually start checking the copy after the girl typed up my articles and before they were sent to the printer. Live and learn.

If you read these, please make sure you read some of my later work above, and realize, as I have, that we all start somewhere, but usually we go on to bigger and better things!

"Mark's Remarks" April 15, 1981 debut column; album review

"Mark's Remarks" May 19, 1981 "Little Me" drama review

"Mark's Remarks" Sept. 30, 1981 Kerry Livgren "Seeds of Change" review

"Mark's Remarks" Nov. 25, 1981 Ranstrassy show choir review

"Mark's Remarks" Jan. 29, 1982 "Life on a G-string" character study

"Mark's Remarks" April 30, 1982 "Are You a Video Junkie?" self-help quiz parody