I was doing some work for an old friend and former employer today and found myself reflecting on the wide variety of writing I’ve undertaken for pay in the past 30 years. Beginning as an undergraduate working in the Yale School of Music Concert Office, I’ve been creating marketing materials and writing profiles, features, articles, and speeches on everything from interior design to kung fu to the public impact of higher education.

So, just for kicks, here are a few recent bylines I’ve rediscovered. For those that are available online, I’ve included links.

It’s All Academic

I have only vague recollections of writing these and being the only non-PhD/PhD candidate most of the time. My primary role was ensuring readability.

• Konkle, E. A., Bruininks, R. H., Jones, R., Sommers, J. K. & Thorp, J. (2022). Addressing the gathering storm of external forcers. In Furco, A., Bruininks, R. H., Jones, R. J., & Kent, K. (Eds.). Re-envisioning the public research university: tensions and demands (19-37). New York: Routledge.
• Bruninks, R. H., Susman-Stillman, A., & Thorp, J. (2014). Call to action: human capital: challenges and opportunity. In Reynolds, A. J., Rolnick, A. J., & Temple, J. A. (eds.). Health and education in early childhood: predictors, interventions, and policies (392-396). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
• Bruininks, R. H., Keeney, B., & Thorp, J. (2010, January 27). Transforming America’s universities to compete inthe “new normal.” Innovative Higher Education.

Everybody Was Kung-Fu Writing

• History Is the Best Teacher: From Boston to Hong Kong by way of Xi’an, two young Americans learn firsthand that the roots of wushu and kung fu cinema are steeped in traditional martial arts (from the June 2007 issue of Kung Fu Tai Chi magazine). Cool article, especially if you dig martial artist and actor Donnie Yen (Star Wars: Rogue One, John Wick 4).
• Fist First: Mastery of Chen-style taijiquan’s empty-hand forms is the key to effectively wielding weapons (from the February 2007 issue of Inside Kung Fu magazine). That cover…are you kidding me?

The Writing Is on the Wall

My favorite corporate client during my agency days was Sherwin-Williams, for which we produced a custom publication with inspiring content on color for interior designers.

• Solar Power, from STIR, a custom publication of Sherwin Williams. On the meaning and impact of the color yellow…
• Color Chips, from STIR, a custom publication of Sherwin Williams. On the history and meaning of certain colors in popular culture and products.
• Final Touch: Permanent Ink, from STIR, a custom publication of Sherwin Williams. On the origins and use of color in tattooing.

Write on Target

In journalism, PR, and even the occasional paid essay, I loved to find an interesting angle, whatever the topic, and visual ways to set the scene for the reader.

• A Conversation with Willie Ruff (from the early/mid-1990s at the Yale School of Music). Willie Ruff is an accomplished scholar, teacher, and jazz performer on both French horn and upright bass, and one of the most colorful and interesting people I’ve ever met.
• A ‘Night’ to Remember: Students tackle Shakespeare in auditorium’s theatrical premiere (from the late 1990s, I think, at The Pioneer newspaper). I pushed the edge with that “ass by the ears” line in paragraph three…also, high-school theater student Kyle Kowlaczyk is now Father Kyle Kowlaczyk in Delano!
• Just Warming Up: With plans for a new HVACR facility at Ferris, the nation’s best keeps getting better (from the early 2000s at Ferris State Unversity). I didn’t know a thing about HVACR, but it was fun to watch these guys works in the lab.
• Road Rations: Cars, caffeine, and the culture of convenience (from a boxed set of screenprints developed by Twin Cities artist collaborative Squad 19 to raise money for America’s Second Harvest in 2005.)

Crazy…and that barely touches the daily articles, opinion pieces, and more written day and day for The Pioneer, Ferris, and the University of Minnesota.

I even went through a stretch where I was a crisis communications spokeperson on the topics of college drinking, joyriding police cadets, and young adults who found a body in the woods and turned it into a party attraction…as well as a “subject matter expert” on how college students make career choices.

I don’t remember half the stuff I supposedly know. Perhaps that’s for the best.

It’s fun to stumble across this stuff again…