I’ve been meaning for some time to write an entry here about one of my current freelance writing clients: Wharton Studio Museum, the Ithaca-based non-profit that preserves and promotes the city’s legacy as a silent film production center. I have been involved with this organization for a couple of years, and my role has evolved …
[TL;DR – See my radio portfolio on this website!] My motivation for launching this website was to help with marketing and attracting clients for my freelance writing and editing work. From that narrow perspective, I would have to say the site has not delivered success to this point. Such a view, however, suffers from a …
On the video podcast I co-host, When Humanists Attack!!, I recently had the pleasure of interviewing one of the greatest performance artists working today, Bill Talen, AKA Reverend Billy of the Church of Stop Shopping. Billy’s message has been resounding in my head ever since—it was echoing when I learned about the latest pronouncement from …
Jan. 20, 2021 – Stirred by today’s inauguration of the second Catholic POTUS and first female VPOTUS, I suddenly remembered this unpublished op-ed I wrote in the middle of 2018. I thought I’d take the opportunity to place it on the record today, just as a testament to what we may, if we’re lucky, be …
The Syncopated Times has published this article detailing how syncopation conquered the Broadway stage in and around 1920, giving birth to what’s now called the “American popular songbook” of show tunes, and describing the early careers of Irving Berlin (look at that boychik!), Jerome Kern, and George Gershwin. This is the longest piece I’ve ever …
Since 2020 began I’ve been thinking about some of the year’s significant anniversaries, especially it being the 75th anniversary of everything that happened in 1945. I was expecting that we’d have heard a lot about 1945 by this point in the year, with world leaders gathering and doing whatever they do at commemorations: pompous speeches, …
The March 2020 issue of The Syncopated Times newspaper will run my article on the historic 1920 recording of “Crazy Blues,” by Mamie Smith and her Jazz Hounds, the disc that opened the way for African American artists in the record business. The article explores the circumstances of the recording and the career of Perry …
Reflections on the latest “Doomsday Clock” reset, published January 29 by the Progressive Media Project. This is your wake-up call! This piece was distributed over the Tribune News Service wire and was printed in newspapers and websites coast to coast! Print pickups include The Republican of Springfield, MA; Kenosha News of Kenosha, WI; Times Leader …
On the International Day of Peace, The Progressive magazine’s website published my review of Randy Forsberg’s fascinating book, Toward a Theory of Peace: The Role of Moral Beliefs. I had suggested a clever title for the article—”From the Unthinkable to the Inconceivable”—but I suppose clever titles aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. (If anyone …
“I’ve worked with Roger for ten years and he’s never disappointed me. As a writer on many different educational projects, from encyclopedias to literary criticism to K-12 reading passages, he’s invariably produced copy that’s authoritative, sparkling clean, lively, and engaging. As a news editor he has excellent judgment and a wide breadth of knowledge, and …