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NCSWHATNCSWA Newsletter, Spring 2004Editor: Jane Stevens, jsteven@mmjourno.com
Robert Adler's third book, Medical Firsts: From Hippocrates to the Human Genome, was released by Wiley & Sons on March 19. The book presents some of the major advances in medicine from the ancient Greeks on through the implications of decoding the human genome. Robert Sapolsky at Stanford writes, "Medical Firsts is a great introduction to some of the high points in the history of medicine – clear, accessible writing, factual, and so up-to-date that some sections contain this season's cutting-edge science. This is a terrific book." Any NCSWA member who would like a review copy – for a formal review or even for a reader's review on Amazon.com or BN.com – is welcome to email adler@nasw.org. One of our members who prefers to remain Anonymous for the moment wants to know if any freelancers are facing this situation: Oakland said that she was operating a business without a license and has to pay back-business tax for the past four years – $3.60 per $1,000 – based on her Schedule C GROSS income. If the income was earned from sources outside Oakland, she has to pay the tax on 30 percent of her income. Apparently, Oakland bought information from the Franchise Tax Board to find all people who have filed a Schedule C and haven’t paid for a business license. Seeing as how she’s never heard of freelance writers having a business license, she wanted to know if anyone has advice for her. Send email to the NCSWA newsletter editor – Jane Stevens jstevens@mmjourno.com – and it will be forwarded to the Oakland writer. After nearly six years at Intel, on-again/off-again NCSWA member, Geoff Koch, decided to earn his M.A. in communication at Stanford. He's spending the spring quarter as an intern for Dawn Levy at the Stanford News Service. Then it's off to the Dallas Morning News and a summer internship under Tom Siegfried. How's life away from the corporate cubicle? Wonderful, Top Ramen and all. Mary Miller (on maternity leave from NCSWA presidency) is proud to announce the arrival of her son, Christopher Boone Miller. He was born on January 22, the first day of Chinese New Year in the year of the monkey. Mary's little monkey weighed 8 pounds, 10 ounces at birth and has already attended two science lectures and tolerated them well – a little science writer in the making. J. Madeleine Nash of Time Magazine won the David Perlman Award for Excellence in Science Journalism - News for her article, "Fireproofing the Forests," which appeared in Time's August 18, 2003, issue. During a summer of massive forest fires in western United States and Canada, Nash looked into controversial techniques proposed for making forests less susceptible to massive conflagrations, especially the thinning of smaller trees in a forest's understory. Judges said Nash, working under deadline pressure, "melded science with current events and public policy, used a number of sources to present the science, and constructively interwove the information from those sources ..." Nash will pick up a plaque and $2,000 next month in Montreal. Her winning article is online. Dave Perlman, 85, wasn’t at AAAS this year,
nor at the Marcia Wood, editor of the Agricultural Research Service Food and Nutrition Briefs, followed her job from Albany, CA, to Beltsville, MD. But her heart remains here, with her new husband. In December 2003, she married Bill Flenniken, a San Francisco attorney. She describes him as her "backpacking/snow-camping buddy and soul mate." As you can imagine, she says, she takes the red-eye a lot. Sylvia Wright, a science PIO at UC Davis since 1997 and a past sci-med editor of the San Jose Mercury News, will serve as UC Davis News Service director from April through September while an upper-management vacancy is filled. Sylvia is not looking for a return to management and expects to resume her enviro-sci PIO job. However, in the interim, the News Service hopes to be allowed to hire a half-time or three-quarter-time temporary science PIO. If you think you'd be interested, drop Sylvia a note at swright@ucdavis.edu. NEW NCSWANS from membership chair Sarah Yang: Michael Chorost, an educational researcher at SRI International, has a book on the science and technology of cochlear implants due out in 2005. To be published by Houghton Mifflin, it's called Software in the Bone: Bionic Ears, Cybermedicine, and the Rebuilding of Human Beings. Meredith Dutton is completing her PhD in comparative literature at UC Davis. She has experience translating text intended for publication in scientific journals from French to English, and recently completed a stint working as the assistant to the director of a research lab at UCSF. Ceiridwen Terrill is a science writer and lecturer at the University of Nevada, Reno, and UC Santa Barbara. Ceiridwen is completing a book about arid islands and introduced species. Becky Trout, reporter with the Woodland Daily Democrat, got her MS degree in Ecology from UC Davis, and was awarded a 2003 fellowship to attend the New Horizons in Science briefing. Peter Wang, a research associate at Stanford
University, is "very SPRING DINNER MEETING If you missed the fascinating “Red Galaxies, Red Planet” March 23 dinner meeting, Rob Irion summarizes it thusly: About 50 NCSWAns and their guests dined on duck and listened to talks about space research at the Basque Cultural Center in South San Francisco on March 23, at the spring quarterly dinner. Astronomer Garth Illingworth of UC Santa Cruz showed highlights of the "Hubble Ultra Deep Field," the latest and deepest view of the distant universe by the Hubble Space Telescope. Tiny red flecks in the image, Illingworth explained, are galaxies that probably existed when the universe was just 500 to 800 million years old – the true building blocks of modern galaxies. The red theme continued when planetary scientist Pascal Lee, of the NASA Ames Research Center and the Mars Institute, talked about NASA's rover missions on Mars and his team's work at an asteroid impact crater in the Canadian High Arctic. The geology of the crater, on Devon Island, is remarkably similar to many patterns observed on Mars: networks of ice-carved valleys, gullies in crater walls, and a barren rock-strewn impact zone. Lee and his colleagues are testing vehicles, communication devices, habitats, and other elements of possible future Mars exploration. The two speakers then held forth on recent changes at NASA that have unified their seemingly disparate programs: the president's emphasis on a return to the moon and Mars, and the subsequent decision at NASA to cancel the next planned space shuttle mission to Hubble. Illingworth described a furious political and scientific campaign to restore the shuttle flight, but the odds are no better than 1-in-4 that Hubble will be saved, he believes. Without the service, the telescope will expire by 2006 or 2007, he notes. Lee agreed with Illingworth that Hubble merits more time, but he feels that venturing to Mars – by way of the Moon – will be both scientifically fruitful and inspiring for people and society. He compared the moon to Antarctica, where a permanent presence was established not for scientific reasons but for sociopolitical ones. But science soon followed, with a sweep that no one had envisioned. THIS N THAT American Medical Writers Association: Northern California Chapter Meeting The next meeting of the Northern California Chapter of AMWA, features writer, editor, and Web producer Caitlin Burke, who will introduce some of the tools and technology of Web sites and show how to organize the material for a portfolio Web site. The meeting will take place at Hobee’s Redwood Shores. DATE: Sunday, May 2, 2004 RSVP: Required by April 23 (whether paying in advance or at the door) to Toni Derion at toniderion@comcast.net HOW TO PAY: Advance payment ($18): send check (payable to AMWA Northern
California) to At the door ($20): cash or check (payable to AMWA Northern California) NOTE: Registration is limited to the first 40 registrants; cancellations may be made until April 23 with full refund. PARKING: Available onsite at no charge. BRUNCH SELECTIONS (select upon arrival): Grotto Seminars at the Mechanics' Institute The San Francisco Writers Grotto is leading a weekend writing seminar May 8 and 9 at the Mechanics' Institute Library in downtown San Francisco. The Grotto Seminars at the Mechanics' Institute are designed for veteran and aspiring writers who would like to broaden their understanding of the publishing world and deepen their craft. Participants may sign up for either Saturday or Sunday's workshops, or both. Lunch is included. Space is limited to 60 participants. Saturday, May 8 Afternoon: Mini-courses (choose one): Reception-wine-tasting and repartee Sunday, May 9 Morning: Overview of magazine publishing Afternoon: Breakout sessions (choose one): Fees: Saturday only, May 8 $160, $112 Mechanics Institute Registration: For information, email seminars@sfgrotto.org, visit sfgrotto.org, or call the Mechanics Institute at (415) 393-0100. To register, fill out the form at sfgrotto.org or milibrary.org. Send the form along with payment to the Mechanics Institute, 57 Post Street, Room 406, San Francisco, CA 94104. Grotto Seminars are produced by Laura Fraser and Constance Hale. Call for Entries: Excellence in Environmental Journalism Awards Reuters Foundation and IUCN announce the 2004 Media Awards, a worldwide competition aimed at raising global awareness of environmental and sustainable development issues, by encouraging excellence in environmental reporting worldwide. Journalists working in print and online media are invited to submit All submissions must have been published between January 1, 2003 and August 15, 2004. Candidates may submit one article only, accompanied by an entry form, to the nearest IUCN office. Entries written in a language other than English, French or Spanish must be accompanied by a translation. The deadline for entries is 31 August 2004. More information and application forms can be found on the Reuters |
