A personal site and a college graduate's proof of purchase and sleep deprivation.
Works
A collection of short stories and novels-in-progress. I write about small sparks of warmth, humanity and defiance in otherwise bleak scenarios, often using science fiction as a platform to create believable worlds and compelling characters and stories.
Thoughts & Process
Thoughts & Process is the culmination of three and a half years (the majority of my time at Linfield) of researching various aspects of mental illness.
Mental health has always intrigued me, and for some time I had wanted to write a meaningful story, but felt I lacked the tools to do so. I wanted to tell human stories, yes, but I also wanted those stories to be backed with enough historical context to not be too reliant on emotional appeal. So, I started reading, writing and listening.
My first year I started by exploring the topic from a narrow perspective; I wrote a feature story on a friend of mine who dealt with mental illness, and detailed the general experiences of those with mental illnesses through him.
In the Information Gathering course I deeply researched a specific policy that would affect mental health crisis response. I concluded that the proposed policy solution would not work, because, due to the issue's history, the healthcare system itself does not function in a way that would allow for the change. While this research provided a broader view of the issue, it lacked a human focus.
Finally, for my capstone project, I had enough background to maintain a narrowed-in, human focus, while also being able to write broad about the history and societal influences behind the issue. I used the knowledge about the system gained during Information Gathering to provide a fact-based platform for individuals affected by a social issue to tell their own stories.
The result, I hope, are human stories backed by the needed context to be impactful, but also provide the reader some insight into the "Why?" of one of today's pressing issues.
Portfolio
Selections of my work from various mass communication courses.