Live from Nevada City, It’s the Geezer Gig! - “Party like an
animal and be home in bed by 10.” Proving you’re never
too old to rock’n’roll, Bob Woods and friends
tear it up in a world-wide webcast by KVMR
community radio from the Crazy Horse Saloon
in Nevada City, California.
Easy reading is damn hard writing.
- Maya Angelou
What follows are links to samples of my writing from very
asssorted genres. I will rotate articles from time to time.
Some of the links will take you off-site. Please don’t forget
to come back.
News Reporting
Native Americans locked out of their cemetery - This
was the beginning of a strange tale of covert racism,
white guilt, intertribal tensions, and
bureaucratic gridlock. The cemetery was
quickly reopened, but the underlying issues
were still unresolved when I left the the
newspaper.
Raid on a pot farm - It can take a long time for law
enforcement officers to trust a reporter. While it’s easy
enough to get a press relations ride-along in a patrol
car, it’s not so easy when guns and deep undercover
officers are involved.
Investigative Reporting
I’ve investigated street drugs, alleged prostitution, illegal
marijuana grows and crooked contractors, but the most
enterprising investigation I’ve ever done was to find out
who ran a secret satirical e-zine that was amusing and
annoying prominent citizens. It took me months to pierce
their veil of secrecy: The Nevada County Scooper sheds
light on “issues of the day” through satire.
Creative Nonfiction
Sometimes you get an assignment that is so weird that
you have to take a weird angle to do justice to the subject.
As my publisher Gil Gordon noted in his introduction to
A Tale of Two Commuters, the topic was, on the face of it,
totally crackpot - until I put a face on it.
One Minute to Deadline - This hasn’t been published yet,
but it’s here because this is a true story creatively told. I
wrote it when I was supposed to be writing something
else. Some stories just write themselves.
my occasional privilege to interview Wim Roelandts, the
CEO of Xilinx Inc., and write his column. Here’s what he
had to say about How to Survive a Recession and Gain
Market Leadership.
Copywriting
Durkin Gibbs & Associates - I wrote
this about 35 years ago. It was my
philosophy then, and it still is.
Marketing
In 2017, One Source-Empowering Caregivers was a new
nonprofit that needed to establish its service to the
community, so I put them on the front page: Caring for
the Caregiver. For the next two years, I maintained their
dynamic presence in print and social media. The
contract concluded with a creative training and
recruitment documentary called It Takes a Village.
Legal and Legislative Analysis
CTA v Gould I - Pre-verdict analysis of a multi-year, multi-
million dollar lawsuit by the California Teachers Association
against the State of California over the misappropriation of
funds from Proposition 98 lottery income designated for
education. There was a gag order, but I found deep-throat
sources on both sides.
CTA v Gould II - Post-verdict analysis. CTA won. Most
papers reported a $373 million settlement, but that was
only the first payout. The actual settlement was $1.76
billion. Most papers didn’t get that.
Personality Profiles
Julie Baker took a “funky little performing arts center” in
Grass Valley, California, and turned The Center for the Arts
into a nationally known venue for A-list
performers and stars in niche genres. After
eight years, she stepped down to start her own
arts and entertainment company.
Tom Durkin
multimedia writer-editor-photographer
Good writing
is rewriting.
© Tom Durkin Media
1998-2020
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