This piece was written before the pandemic started and copy-edited and completed this fall and winter. Many thanks to Polly Saltonstall and her staff at…
This is a story that was a long time in the making: it reached its best incarnation this summer and appropriately landed here: http://failbetter.com. She named…
In the spring of 2016, I worked with Bristol Myers Squibb to help create a brochure that illustrated the company’s progress in meeting its sustainability…
In her six years as the social worker at El Dorado Elementary in San Francisco, Jennifer Caldwell has witnessed significant change. “It’s a lot calmer,”…
This story appeared in Northwest Review, Volume 39, Number 2, 2001. ________________ But our contractor says, “Jerry, please.” And of course I say yes, because…
Soon after James Ponce became superintendent of McAllen Independent School District in Texas, in May 2009, he assembled a cadre of educators, students, parents, and…
In the view of Chester E. Finn, Jr., president of the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, in Washington, D.C., there’s something particularly American about recovering high…
Two students Ron Walker encountered while working as a young teacher in Philadelphia led him to start the Coalition of Schools Educating Boys of Color.…
In January 2013, Joshua Starr, Ed.M.’98, Ed.D.’01, the superintendent of Montgomery County [Md.] Public Schools, was walking through New York City’s Central Park when the idea hit…
Working together as DPI Creative, Designer Deirdre Reznick and I created a web site for the wonderful “design build” interior design company Mind/Hand. To explore…
Commonwealth students tend to be a remarkably creative bunch–from studio to classroom, students are encouraged to make unexpected connections and then follow these new ideas.…
One thing is clear: David Lorsch ’88, vice president of strategy and business development at Strava, Inc., a social media platform for athletes, did not…
Here is the second of the three installments designer Deirdre Reznik and I created chronicling the first modules of Teachers College’s new XMA program. This…
Some years ago, Lalitha Vasudevan spent the summer knocking around West Philadelphia with a group of fifth-grade boys, ostensibly making a mock horror movie. Vasudevan,…
It’s early summer and ordinarily about now, my elder daughter would be preparing for camp. But not this year. Instead, she’s starting an internship, learning…
IN A RECENT ISSUE OF MONITOR ON PSYCHOLOGY MAGAZINE, Jeanne Brooks-Gunn was reported to be “giddy with excitement.” The cause: She and her colleagues are…
As the president battled with a recalcitrant Congress, and the Republicans, claiming to represent a conservative constituency, had us hurtling further toward financial oblivion, the…
This is a piece I wrote for American Express’ internal publication, Context. It appeared in the summer, 2008 issue. ____________ When Rohit Berry thinks of…
It’s hot. People are dealing with this with various levels of success. Some spend their day running from air conditioning to air conditioning. Developing a…
For years I wrote regularly for Bristol-Myers Squibb’s internal communications website Intouch. Here is a profile I wrote of senior Bristol-Myers Squibb executive Mike Seeley.…
As part of years of work for the company’s internal communications website InTouch, I wrote this series on the company’s global travel department, which appeared…
Lebron is coming. Someone showed him an apartment in the Time Warner Center. Someone else showed him a townhouse in the Village. Our sportswriters are…
This is an internal communication I wrote supporting Deloitte’s diversity efforts. It was circulated on Veteran’s Day, in 2003. __________________ Marketing Manager Eric Lambert’s computer…
This is an article about outsourcing school system management that was written for the 2009 Teachers College Annual Report. It includes discussion of the phenomenon…
This article appeared in the Spring 2007 issue of TC Today. Last spring Teacher’s College’s academic programs related to health worked together to formulate a…
As a regular writer for Bristol-Myers Squibb, I was given the responsibility of helping to manage and produce several brochures, among them this one reporting…
One of my favorite moments as a writer for Bristol-Myers Squibb was the creation of this diversity brochure, which merged design and purpose towards a…
This is a story about childbirth, among other things. It appeared in the Summer 2000 issue of the Laurel Review. _______________ “Hey,” my neighbor says…
This is a short story about three friends which appeared in the summer, 1996, issue of The Laurel Review. ________________________ He begins by apologizing. “Right…
This was my first published short story after college. It takes place in a car dealership and appeared in the Spring/Summer 1996 issue of Confrontation.…
For a transplant, there was something both comforting and embarrassing about the appearance on Broadway of a satellite of the famous Boston mainstay Filene’s. In…
In the early nineties, I wrote regularly for the New Yorker’s Goings on About Town section, doing short pieces about unusual outdoor sculpture that appeared…