I've been a professional writer since 2000 (as well as a photographer and videographer. Check out my photo and video galleries. All handmade by yours truly).
My forte is the human interest story, but I've done my fair share of investigative news, business profiles, and "advertorial" features. At Warner Pacific College, where I serve as the Director of Communications, I single-handedly write, edit, photograph, and design the college's magazine "The Experience" (see sample covers above), as well as craft press releases, web content, brochures, and donor letters. I try to keep things punchy, concise, and easy on the eyes. What's most important is to hook the reader from the get go. If you find yourself wanting to read more of a given clip, than I did my job.
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("The Experience" Magazine, Summer 2007)
Are you my Daddy?
Biology research project investigates the mating habits of American Kestrels.
According to Warner Pacific Biology professor Dr. Ted Whitehead ‘88, there’s a dirty little secret about birds.
“People have this preconceived notion that birds are monogamous and that mommy and daddy raise their chicks together like one happy family,” said Whitehead. “The more we study birds, the more we see that’s not the case.”
For three years, Whitehead and fellow Biology professor Dr. Brad Tripp have been investigating evidence of monogamy among mating pairs of American Kestrels, the smallest falcons in North America. Whitehead and Tripp are looking to see if Kestrels’ monogamy is genetic or social. If it’s genetic, the two adults will have no other partners during a mating season. If it’s social, the female will pair up with one male to help her with the nest, but then sneak off to have trysts with other males in order to find superior genetic material for her offspring.
If the nest mate discovers the infidelity, he will likely abandon the nest, guaranteeing the demise of the chicks. Better genes or dependable help back home? What’s a mother to do when the propagation of the species is at stake?
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("The Experience" Magazine, Fall 2007)
High Tech CEO
From military satellites to touch screen navigation systems, business leader Dean Senner '79 has managed cutting edge projects in Silicon Valley.
The next time you watch a TV program via satellite or find directions using a computer screen in your rental car, you just might have Dean Senner '79 to thank. As an accomplished leader in the aeronautics and high tech industries, Senner has built military and commercial satellites, led an international company involved with global positioning systems (GPS), and currently serves as the CEO of a California company on the cutting edge of laser-based communications. Not bad for someone who attended Warner Pacific on a music scholarship, albeit to study business.
"Once I got to Warner and started business classes, I knew immediately that this felt right to me," said Senner, who transferred to Warner pacific in 1977 after attending community college in Vancouver, Wash.
Senner, 50, landed his first job right out of college almost as a fluke. He moved to central California after graduating from Warner Pacific in 1979. He was driving along a stretch of highway near San Jose when he noticed some huge antenna dishes in the distance. He took the next exit to investigate and found his way to the headquarters of aeronautics giant Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin). He walked into the human resources department unnannounced and walked out with a job managing spare missile parts.
"That's literally how I ended up at Lockheed," Senner said, "driving down the freeway."
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("East County News," August 2000)
The Boss behind the Sauce
Junki Yoshida’s outrageous public persona hides an introspective and loyal man driven to be a mentor to others.
Chances are, the version of Junki Yoshida most people know is that of the zany pitch man unabashedly touting his colorful line of gourmet sauces. Big as life on billboards, clad in everything from an Elvis jumpsuit to bunny rabbit ears, and flashing his trademark, ear-to-ear smile, Yoshida is pure panache.
And yet, this outlandish persona belies the introspective, intensely loyal man that is also Junki Yoshida. He still tears up when he recalls how his oldest daughter nearly died, while an infant, 26 years ago. He shakes his head in amazement over the sacrifices his wife, Linda, has made throughout their 27-year marriage. And he speaks humbly about the many times he has found himself overextended, at the brink of financial collapse, only to be saved at the last moment by the timely generosity and sacrifice of others.
Despite presiding over a group of companies that garnered over $100 million in revenues last year, Yoshida frankly doesn’t believe he deserves all that he has gained. In fact, his idea of success has more to do with persevering in the face of failure, rather than avoiding failure in the first place.
“All my life is not a success story," he said. "Everything I [have] done I failed. Somehow I learned to climb up, get up [out] of the mess. I think that’s why my nickname is ‘The Pit Bull.’ Once I bite it, I don’t let it go."
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("Lifestyles Northwest Magazine," May 2001)
Husband and wife fall in love with acting, each other
Actors Jonathon Farewell and Deb Note-Farwell will perform "Dear Liar" for a Mt. Hood Repertory Theater fundraiser.
Husband and wife actors Jonathan Farwell and Deb Note-Farwell still aren’t sure whether six years ago, while working on a play in Sonora, Calif., they fell under the spell of a particularly spiritual script, or whether their romance simply was the handiwork of a divine casting director. Whatever the truth, while playing the leading roles in the deeply emotional play "Shadowlands"—which depicts the true-life love affair between renowned Christian apologist C.S. Lewis and Joy Davidman, a cancer-stricken American poet 17 years his junior—Farwell, then a 64-year-old veteran of stage and television, and Note, a local 42-year-old actress, found themselves undergoing the same emotional transformation as their characters.
After the show closed, Farwell returned to Ashland, Oregon, and the two carried on a long-distance courtship of sorts, until a year later, when they were asked to reprise their roles for a production of "Shadowlands" in a small theater outside Ashland. It was during this second run that Note and Farwell realized their love was undeniable. And true to form, they elected to declare it in truly dramatic fashion.
“[We] realized on re-rehearsing the play that it was bigger than the both of us, so we decided to get married, on stage, after a Sunday matinee—a curtain call wedding,” Farwell recalled, with a sizable grin.
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("Lifestyles Northwest Magazine, 2000)
Edgewood Downs has a new look, same service
The Beaverton Retirement community is undergoing major remodeling and construction, but residents are already seeing the fruit of the labor.
Life at Edgewood Downs Retirement community has been a bit on the noisy side for the last year, but for good reason. From new carpeting and artwork to an expanded dining room area and soon-to-be tiled bathroom floors, Edgewood’s owner, Holiday Retirement Inc., is sparing little expense upgrading the independent living facility located next to Whitford Elementary School, in Beaverton.
HRI is also constructing an adjacent assisted living / Alzheimer’s facility, which will be completed later this fall. Residents currently living independently will simply be able to move to the neighboring complex when their day-to-day needs increase. The sister buildings will be graced by a small, man-made lake, and connected via stone walkways. When the project is finally completed, the results will undoubtedly cause a few jaws to drop.
“They’re going to make Edgewood a flagship building,” said co-manager Loren Lacey, who manages with his wife, Elizabeth. “All of the units [in the assisted care facility] are rented. We could have filled that building twice.”
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("Lifestyles Northwest" Magazine, March 2000)
Nite Hawk restaurant offers a slice of Americana
Delors Eades has a deal for you. The soft spoken waitress at the Nite Hawk restaurant guarantees that her milkshakes and malts - made with a vintage Kitchen-Aid mixer, mind you - are the best in town.
"I tell customers that if that ain't the best you've ever had, I'll drink it for you," she said. "I've never had anyone take me up on it."
For 15 years, Delors has been a mainstay at the North Portland eatery, which serves vintage American food at the corner of N. Interstate and Portland Boulevard. You'll find no organic carrot juice or tofu pudding on this menu. Instead, the Nite Hawk offers a classic variety of reasonably priced dishes, including rib eye steak and eggs, roast beef sandwiches, omelets served all day long, and even liver and onions.
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(East County News, May 2001)
Goodfornothin: Punk Rock Ambassodors
It's only fitting that the Gresham-based punk rock group "goodfornothin" happened to be playing a gig in Seattle on the same night as the infamous WTO riots last year. Though the band wasn't anywhere near the melee in the streets, its blazing brand of punk rock would have made a fitting soundtrack. When in action, the quartet thunders with an explosive blast of electric guitars and a galloping drum kit, while the voice of lead singer Chad Daly, 18, screeches through the din.
Off stage, however, the four players - Daly, Billy Manes, 18, (lead guitar); Issac Fonseca, 20 (bass); and Adam Thorsfeldt, 19 (drums) - revert back to their every day, generally laid back personas. They explain that while they're really not as angry as their music might suggest, they do have planty of penned up emotions - and punk rock is simply their catharsis of choice.
"Growing up at the age of 13, I had a lot of stuff going on, with family and things like that," Daly said. "When I heard [punk rock], it was more meaningful to me than anything [else] at the time. It's a way to express anger and hurt and pain for me. That probably comes out in the way it sounds. Love songs are always softer than hearbreak."