Private biographies, more writing

My most recent five projects have been private biographies. This is rewarding work. These are for private clients and will go to private press, so I won't link to them here.

Pennywise choices for school fundraisers

My article on pennywise choices for school fundraisers was linked to by a frugal-minded blog.

Boogie-Woogie Google Boy

I have a fun piece on Clay Cotton live at Action Online:

Clay Cotton made his living at the piano from the 1960s to the 1990s. After contracting MS, he switched to mastering a whole other keyboard.

by Rebecca Kellogg

Clay Cotton was an in-demand piano man. At the height of his musical career, he played as a talented side man for musicians including Eric Clapton, Janis Joplin, Jimi Hendrix, Jerry Garcia, and B.B. King.

That all changed after he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS).

Eventually his hands could no longer play the notes that had earned him his livelihood and he was forced to find another line of work. He and his wife, both early adopters of the Internet, have supported themselves entirely as online marketers since 1996.

Read the rest at Action Online.

Rockin' Roller

I have the cover story on the May/June 2009 issue of Action magazine.

The story is now up online.

Here's the opening:

Toby Forrest fronts hard-rocking band Cityzen in his wheelchair.

By Rebecca Kellogg

It is a chilly March night on Santa Monica Pier. Even in darkness, anglers huddle by baited lines at pier’s end. Beyond them the famous Pacific Wheel spins steadily, brightening the night with a light show visible for miles up the Pacific Coast Highway. Near the mouth of the pier, at Rusty’s restaurant, a battle of the bands is underway.

The bar is full, and so are most of Rusty’s tables. Decked out with an ocean theme, Rusty’s sports surfboards on walls alongside surf movie posters. The tables are draped with plastic beach floral tablecloths with lit candles as centerpieces.

At 8:30 p.m. the second band of the evening’s competition is ready to start its set. Cityzen, a five-member band, has completed its sound check. In the middle of the stage, Toby Forrest, the lead singer and a wheelchair user, is the center of attention. Forrest is flanked on the left by a keyboardist and on the right by a drummer and two guitar players. The band is ready to put on a show.

***

Visit the United Spinal web site to read the rest:
http://tinyurl.com/rockinroller

Laundry Savings

A new piece up at www.stretcher.com:

Laundry Savings
by R. Kellogg

It begins:

Awhile back, we took a good hard look at how we were doing our laundry and asked ourselves what we could do to save space, money, and time on laundry. Here's what we came up with . . .

Go to The Dollar Stretcher to read the rest

Modes of Transportation

My piece "Modes of Transportation" will appear in an upcoming issue of Appleseeds, a social studies magazine. Appleseeds bought all rights but gave permission for me to run the article on my blog. Here it is.

Modes of Transportation

by Rebecca Kellogg

Bus, boat, passeo, or car. People must travel--wherever they are!

How do people travel through the cities of the world?

Boat--Venice is built on an archipelago of 118 islands. Instead of roads, the city has canals. People travel by motorized waterbus or by gondola, or they use bridges to cross canals by foot.

Rickshaw--In some areas of Bangladesh, rickshaws are the only vehicles that fit the narrow streets. Many countries are replacing runner-pulled rickshaws with bicycle-powered pedicabs.

Cable car--In San Fransisco, cable cars move safely up and down steep city hills. Cable cars are propelled forward by gripping a moving cable.

Maglev train--In Shanghai a Maglev train rides above the rails, lifted by magnetic force. This train rushes from downtown to Pudong airport at up to 311 miles per hour.

Subway systems--in major cities including New York, Moscow, Tokyo, and London, subway trains run below ground. Riding underground has advantages--no stopping for surface traffic. But the subway can be crowded with many riders.

Steam train--In India and some African countries, steam trains are still used to transport people.

Why do different places use different kinds of transport? A city may choose a type of transportation because it suits that area's climate and terrain, because of cost, or to protect nature.

Cost can affect transportation choices greatly.

"In wealthy countries people might ride a brand new high-speed electric train," said transit planners Steven Brye and Sarah Manning in an email interview. "In some parts of the world like in India and Africa, people still ride steam-locomotive drawn trains because they cannot yet afford new trains."

In other situations transportation choices protect nature.

San Francisco's "Spare the Air" campaign asks people to take public transportation to work or to school to reduce pollution. In St. Paul, Minnesota, a light rail train was built as part of a movement to encourage better air quality. Sydney, Australia, also has a light rail system--and it runs twenty-four hours a day.

SIDEBAR: WALKING IN CITIES

In many cities people travel by foot.

Apartments, schools, and stores are close together. To travel further people can use light rail, subways, buses, and taxis.

In Santa Clarita, California, a network of paved paths called "paseos" connect homes, stores, and schools. Residents can walk or bike on the paseos while enjoying California's mild climate.

Some cities are friendlier to foot traffic than others.

"Cities that were built before cars became popular and accessible, like New York, Philadelphia, and Boston, usually have more public transit and are easier to walk around," said transit planners Steven Brye and Sarah Manning in an email interview.

In some parts of the world, after the car became popular many cities removed streetcars and other mass transit. Today, much work is being done to rebuild efficient public transportation.

How to write a press release

My piece "How to write a press release" is now available for viewing at Massage Magazine Online.

Learning to write a good press release is a useful skill for anyone in business for themselves to master. If you don't want to learn to write them yourself, hire a writer!