Articles I'm Working On For Publication

I have several articles in the process of being written, along with two books which I never work on online. Of course I don't plan to write in so many fragment sentences...and will need an editor! I like my own fragmented, broken English style for my personal and creative writing but I'd clean it up for publication. And, you know, I don't just write for money. I write for the love of writing and exploring a topic and explaining something to others that may be interesting.

1. Got permission from a tattoo shop to observe the process of tattooing and interview people about why they get tattoos. I was actually told about an apprenticeship which would enable me to tattoo others professionally. Kinda cool! but I said I didn't know that my own artwork would be good enough. So I asked if I could write about it instead. Would market to tattoo magazines or some other alternative or even conservative paper.

2. Hanford Nuclear. I want to do an investigative piece about what is going on at Hanford, from both a positive and negative standpoint. I would like to find out more about nuclear energy and its benefits and then how it's affected others' lives in a negative way. I want to take a closer look at the lawsuit the Native American tribes have brought against the state, Hanford, U.S., for releasing known toxins and pollutants into their water and not informing them about it. I would like to gain permission to make a field trip to Hanford and learn more about what they're doing.

3. I haven't started this yet, but I would like to write a piece about journalists, from all countries, who are arrested and imprisoned for what they write, especially in times of war but others times too, and in their own countries. I want to write about the bravery of those who embrace free speech and yet the risks which go along with that. Like the Russian journalist who writes about political corruption and has to take cameras with him at all times, and people in the U.S., even whistleblowers. I'd like to write something about the liason of whistleblowers and writers and lawyers. They all need eachother.

4. Kool cigarettes. Why do they impact the system differently? I recently have explored a little cigarette smoking and tried different brands, and the only one which really made me feel the pull of a potential addiction, was the Kool brand. It made me wonder why they're stronger or more addictive-feeling and wonder what's in them. So I went to wiki, which isn't always reliable, but it's still a good place to start, and Kool is a subsidiary of Brown & Williamson, which is the same company that was exposed by his biochemical director, for purposefully putting addictive materials in their products. The guy who CBS wouldn't cover fully and who benefited from the acts of some conscientous journalist who "leaked" information about hearings to the public. This is the guy who they used in "The Insider". I love that movie because I can relate to what this guy went through! But I'm sort of curious about what is going on in the tobacco world and why this is allowed but marijuana legalization isn't going anywhere yet. It is my opinion tobacco is far more addictive and harmful and while it may have a few medicinal purposes (vasoconstrictive), I think marijuana has more.

5. The Middle Class Catch for potential college students & Legal Emancipation as strategy. I am one daughter of the middle class who didn't go to college right out of high school because "My parents made too much money." They made too much money for me to get decent financial aid, but not enough to support me, or chose not to. It's a misnomer that if parents have money, they are sharing that with their children. Why should a parent's income be counted against the income of the actual student when there are plenty of kids who are out of the house at age 18 and independent thereon? Because of this "catch" I waited until I was 24 and could be declared "independent" to go to college FT. I couldn't afford it before. I lost athletic scholarship potential when I injured my knee in high school and my GPA was only 2.7. I wasn't a stand-out in any form. Then I talk to people in this same position all the time, whose parents won't or cannot pay a dime, who are waiting until they're independent to get loans. There should be some other form for students to prove their income is independent of their parents so they can take advantage of loans or grant money. I would like to explore the idea of Legal Emancipation as a strategic way to get around this loophole until policy changes. When could a child ask for emancipation and what is the process? does it need to be done before age 18 to qualify as independent for student loans? can it be done after age 18? Aha! It can be done! See this link: http://www.ehow.com/how_2072457_become-emancipated-minor-washington-state.html. For $50 kids and parents, you can go to college and get loans which match the student's income, not that of the parents. But you need to file for this between the ages of 16-18. I think you can use this to prove "independence" financially whereas just turning 18 gives you adult status but doesn't keep the gov. from using your parent's income. I'm going to find out, if you actually become legally emancipated, how that will count or not count as being "independent" before 24, so you can get better grants and loans. If I'd even known about this or thought about it, when I was younger, I would have done it. I wasn't so daring then, and didn't have the info I needed. Knowledge is power, anyway you look at it. If this is possible, I'd like to see a lot of kids and parents take this option. For the $50 application fee, do you KNOW how MUCH you would save by being able to get free money and aid and better loans? It's a huge, huge, investment, which, if it works, is worth every penny.