|
What's New?
|
|
A Newsletter Exploring
page one page two
If Science is So Important, How Come Nobody Understands it?
I'm what you call a science writer — not a scientist who gathers data and forms hypotheses, but a writer of plain English who follows the progress of science and helps explain it to everyday folks. It's sort of like being a sports writer: I don't play the game, but I understand its intricacies quite well and have the home phone numbers of some of the great players. My work offers much of the excitement of science with none of the drudgery or failed experiments. There are a lot of folks like me laboring in the background out there, mostly working for universities, but also in the science sections of major newspapers and magazines, the cable channels, nonfiction books, patient education materials, and increasingly websites and blogs. What the job requires is strong journalism skills (talking to people and writing things down), and a well-rounded education in high school level sciences. That's it. Really! I couldn't have told you in high school that I'd be here now, but in retrospect, you can sort of see it taking shape. One, I always wanted to write. And two, I liked science a lot more than my high school chemistry grade would have led you to believe. My father was the kind of doctor we'd now call a family practitioner. I grew up hearing about his interesting cases at the dinner table, being taught all sorts of science at his elbow, and even leafing through some of his professional journals. ("Water Skier's Enema" was a favorite case I recall.) This stuff wasn't icky to me, it was fascinating and inspiring. To Dad's disappointment, I didn't grow up to be a doctor. But I had started writing, just for myself really, as early as middle school. Somewhere in my head it was just the thing I was headed for. At Kalamazoo College, in addition to taking a well-rounded liberal arts program that included some basic science, and rooming with chemistry and biology majors and other assorted pre-meds, I worked my way up to leadership of the student newspaper. I also did an internship as a real reporter. This newspaper thing was indeed something I liked and that I could do. Continued on page 2... page one page two You may download a PDF format of the actual newsletter. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
We Want to Hear From You! We want to include your stories, comments, or questions relating to animals in your classroom in upcoming editions of BioFocus. Please email stories to mismr@umich.edu. |