Keene Sentinel Stories
I wrote for the Keene Sentinel, a mid-sized daily newspaper in Keene, New Hampshire for a little more than a year. I started by writing very ordinary small-town stories, but over time, my stuff got odder and odder, until by the time I wrote a piece on birdwatching, it became clear that the paper and I had different visions of life. It was a great introduction to professional writing however. Here are some of my favorite pieces from my time at the Sentinel:
A Runner's Tour of Keene, NH - When I first started writing for the Sentinel, I anticipated writing mostly about outdoors activities. This is the piece that I had written out in my head while I was running.
Folliage - This is a fluff piece, but a pretty good one.
Graves - This is a story I did around Halloween. I take a look at interesting local cemeteries.
Jazz - This was an assignment. I was told to profile the newly revamped Vermont Jazz Center in Brattleboro. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I got a strong response from people about it - a positive one, fortunately.
Bentley The Cat - I'm particularly proud of this story. It was only my second piece for the paper and the first one that I tracked down on my own.
Turtle Watching - This is a piece that suggests a low-key alternative to birdwatching.
Stained Glass Window - I wrote this for the Sentinel's Saturday Religion Page - a slightly different take on a standard church story.
Mountain Biking - This is a light piece that describes an easy mountain bike trail for beginners.
*Snorkeling - A view of Keene's Ashuelot River Park from a different perspective.
High-End Christmas Gifts - A seasonal piece on unaffordable holiday gifts.
*Barbershop Shaves - Why you can't find them anymore.
*Fish Dance - This was an assignment to reminisce about a vivid summer memory. This was the most vivid one I could think of.
100th Annual Christmas Bird Count - an offbeat look at the Audubon Society's annual census and the secret peril of the Bohemian Waxwing. (It was at this point that my editor started to realize that my niche in life wasn't serious journalism.)
Bulletin Boards - What can you find out about a community from its bulletin boards?
Matching Paint Colors - What do butter and paint have to do with each other?
