The first sample here is a breezy, blog-style journal entry from September 2008, when I was working on the Obama campaign
in Virginia. It was a personal piece of writing, and I did not publish it in 2008 for concern that the campaign should stay
on message – the campaign had good reason to want to minimize the politics of race in Virginia, and in the country at large –
but I do think this is a sample of my ability to mix humor writing with reportage. It is also a sample of my ability to work
quickly: this first and final draft was composed in less than one hour.
A Dispatch from Virginia's Rural Heartland - PDF
This next sample demonstrates my ability to write academic prose in a readable manner. It addresses the work of Lars Von Trier.
As preface, I will mention that, in 2003, I left Stanford when I was in an accident, took time off from college, and for geographic
reasons I later finished my degree at the University of Virginia. One of the pleasures of my time off from college and then my time
at UVA was the opportunity to immerse myself in the history of western art and the history of film. I did this in the classroom, but
also auto-didactically. This essay shows off some of my knowledge of film history as well as of the history and context of images
in western culture. I am not Marshall McLuhan, but I do know a thing or two.
Von Trier Essay - PDF
These movie reviews are New-Yorker-esque blurbs that I wrote at the Sundance Film Festival in 2003, while I was on assignment for
Stanford’s newspaper. I include the linked sample simply to show that I have been playing at a pretty high level in the writing game for quite some time.
Sundance Reviews - External Link
