Ritterleaf Ink

Brag

A week or so ago, I got very hot under the collar about the disparity between the healthcare that our elected representatives receive and what we, their constituents, do. I penned Open letter and posted it to my main blog. Today I got word that the post received BlogHer of the Week! Here's a little screen cap of the notice on the BlogHer homepage:

 

Ms. Stone wrote:

For her use of data, for moving beyond typical partisan party-name-calling to focus on the economics of the exquisitely low cost of coverage for Congress compared with their constituents (albeit sarcastically), we congratulate Livingston, I Presume on being BlogHer of the Week!

Thank you, BlogHer!

Before "Double Take"

A couple of years ago, my editor Megan asked if I wanted to do a story for Montana Quarterly about an MSU student with no legs who was a skiing champion. When I met Kevin Connolly to do the story, it turned out that the skiing was less interesting than the project he was doing, going around the world with little more than a skateboard and a camera. The story I wrote (Download Kevin Connolly) remains one of my favorite, two years after its publication.

I knew at the time that my article would end up being one of many that will be written about Connolly. Thankfully, he also decided to write about himself in Double Take, a book that was published this month by HarperStudio. It's getting great reviews. Be sure to check out the promotional video at his site--hilarious! Congratulations to Kevin, one of the most fascinating people I've ever had the opportunity to meet and the good fortune to profile.

Sweet Tart

I had a lot of fun recently interviewing Anna Visscher of the Emerson boutique tart for a story for Balance. The day that it was published, I got this nice note from Anna:

Hi Nicole,

Thank you for a beautiful article!  Your writing is impeccable, and at the same time warm and friendly.  I have never before been so comfortable being interviewed or so happy with the results!

Anna

"Good, clean prostitutes"

I'm doing an article for Montana Quarterly about a restaurant in Helena called The Windbag. One of its claims to fame is that the building housed Montana's last remaining brothel, Big Dorothy's, until it was raided and closed down in 1973. In doing some research about the place, I stumbled on this great website, Helena History, which has a whole page about Dorothy. There is a fascinating newspaper article from the period reprinted on the site, and the best part of it has to be the quotations from a city commissioner at the time, Ed Loranz. Let me just say that I don't think this guy would be elected today. Here's a taste:

“Dorothy...has just as much right to be part of this town as the air we breathe."...“Look at the kids of today. All they hear about is sex, sex, sex. Well, by the time they get 15 or so, they want to find out what it’s about. That’s where we need good, clean prostitutes.”

Autopilot, Inc.

One of my favorite kind of business features are the ones that uncover hardworking business-owners doing amazing things that no one knows about. The crew at Autopilot Inc. fit the bill on all counts. I knew it was going to be my kind of place when the CEO slid down a fireman's pole to meet me in the lobby.

Download Autopilot_2

Not so funemployment

In contrast to my lack of experience with dating and Facebook, I unfortunately had plenty of firsthand knowledge to call upon when I wrote a piece about families and unemployment for Healthy MT. Read all about it!

Love in the Age of Facebook

The Great Falls Tribune's Healthy MT publication asked me to do a piece about dating in the age of social networking. Considering that I haven't dated since, oh, 1994, it was nice of them to let me try it. Click over to the Trib site to read all about it.

New column: The cat came back

This month, I rant a little about veterinary care.

Happy Birthday, Walter!

Walter Breuning--now the world's oldest man--turns 113 today! You can read about him in my Montana Quarterly profile from their spring 2009 issue. (Amazing photography by Thomas Lee, by the way.)

Download Breuning_1 and Download Breuning_2

"Strategy Maven"

One of the advantages of working for an editor for a long time is having the editor really get a sense of the kind of piece I'll enjoy. Megan (who also maintains this fabulous blog) often gives me first dibs on some great stories. This piece on Romi Neustadt was definitely one of those. What a fun woman to meet and story to write!

Download Balance Mag Story May 2009