Category: Sample Columns

The chance for a living history lesson

March 29, 2014 Brody No Comments

Even today, nearly 70 years since he joined the first wave of soldiers through the surf onto the German-fortified shores of Normandy, Charles Chappell remembers. “I am getting really forgetful about a lot of things,” he said. “But I can picture today right in front of my eyes how that beach looked that day.” Born…

Journalism, Non-Fiction, Sample Columns

Too accustomed to staying connected

March 24, 2014March 24, 2014 Brody No Comments

This column appeared in The Herald-Sun in March 2014: I’ve been plugged in, one way or another, ever since I was a kid – certainly as long as I remember. Sitting in front of the TV, I watched “Sesame Street” and the Watergate hearings with equal interest, if not always equal comprehension. It was a…

Journalism, Non-Fiction, Sample Columns

Time to feed some hungry brains

March 10, 2014 Brody No Comments

This column appeared in The Herald-Sun in March 2014: Don’t spoil the end of “A Dance with Dragons” for me. Three years ago, I bought the latest George R.R. Martin novel. I’ve taken my sweet time reading it in brief bursts. I’m about three-quarters of the way through it. I didn’t want to rush the…

Journalism, Non-Fiction, Sample Columns

Living in another world, not far away

February 27, 2014 Brody No Comments

This column appeared in The Herald-Sun in February 2014:

I live less than three miles up the Durham Freeway from where police say a man accidentally shot a baby with a gun stashed in the pocket of his hooded sweatshirt on Wednesday morning.

The only thing that’s liable to go off in one of my pockets is my phone, pinging as yet another Words with Friends challenge arrives.

That usually doesn’t hurt anything but my ego.

So why in the world would Arin Tavon Futrell pack a gun in his pocket while standing on the porch of his girlfriend’s house on Macon Street?

What was he thinking?

Journalism, Non-Fiction, Sample Columns