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The Project Writer Writing ~ Editing ~ Research |
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Selected
Nonfiction Writing Who owns rain? The idea that anyone “owns” rain struck Bolivians as so outrageous that it fueled a massive “Water Revolt” in 2000. Ownership of rainwater was not the immediate issue, but it came to symbolize everything Bolivians hated about the heavy-handed economic policies imposed by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. [Read more] What’s the difference between a chimpanzee, a sewage sludge hauler, and my mother? As I discovered while following the plight of an Austrian chimpanzee called Hiasl, that’s a very good question. Hiasl was captured in Sierra Leone in 1982. A pharmaceutical company attempted to smuggle him into Austria for its vivisection laboratory, but he was seized in customs. In 2007, the sanctuary where he had ended up went bankrupt, and a philanthropist wanted to donate money for his support. But according to Austrian law, only a person can receive money. The sanctuary’s creditors would get the donation – and the vivisection lab would get Hiasl. [Read more] Good News: Fewer Choices I read some great news in the New York Times the other day: supermarkets are getting smaller and offering fewer choices. “After years of building bigger stores — many larger than a football field and carrying 60,000 items — retailers are experimenting with radically smaller grocery stores…. ‘The average person goes shopping for 22 minutes,’ said Phil Lempert, who edits Supermarketguru.com, a Web site that tracks retail trends. ‘You can’t see 30,000 or 40,000 products. We are moving into an era when people want less assortment.’” [Read more] Book review: When Science Goes Wrong When Science Goes Wrong: Twelve Tales from the Dark Side of Discovery by neuroscientist Simon LeVay (Plume, 2008) is fascinating reading for those of us who take an interest in the impact of science on society. LeVay presents 12 stories of disaster in a range of scientific and technological fields such as medicine, engineering, psychology, meteorology, forensic science, and volcanology, and over a period of time from 1928 to the present. [Read more] Identity Crisis Americans are uniquely concerned with individuality, independence, and personal identity. But research shows that there is a powerful social, collective element to identity, too. In our single-minded focus on individual identity, we may be neglecting to demand policies that strengthen our social and civic identities. Consider our voting system. Practices such as “caging” cause the identity and eligibility of many citizens to be challenged at polling places for questionable reasons. [Read more] Good Coffee, Better World: The Ethics and Economics of Fair Trade Coffee Helen Haynes, a Providence, Rhode Island, resident with a long-time interest in environmental issues, was disturbed. She had read that small coffee farmers in poor countries were suffering massive starvation because world prices for raw beans had crashed, but that the corporations dominating coffee sales in the U.S. continued to charge high prices and gather huge profits. Then she noticed signs about “fair trade coffee” at the Coffee Exchange, a popular local coffeehouse. [Read more] In Her Own Words As the elevator door opens, I hear the nursing-home aides kidding around with my mother. "Hey, Frances, what language you speaking?" My mother laughs. "A-bawse, za-bawse, za-BAWWWWSE," she says cheerfully. "The boss? Who's the boss?" one of the aides asks. "You, me, or George [my father]?" Everyone guffaws, including my mother. [Read more] Profile: Laurie Lewis Long-term EFA member Laurie Lewis has been a successful freelancer since 1985. Her path has been idiosyncratic, like that of most freelancers. But the story of how she built her career reveals some practical lessons – and shows that it can be done. [Read more] All content © 2003–2009 Margaret Balch-Gonzalez / The Project Writer, Providence, Rhode Island Last updated May 7, 2009 |
