Wiccan Soldier's Widow Petitions for Recognition

Update: Over on NPR.org you can listen to a 2006 report by RBM on efforts to recognize the Wiccan pentacle as a government-approved burial marker. The feature aired on NPR's All Things Considered. An excerpt from the intro:

The widow of a Nevada National Guardsman killed in Afghanistan wants her husband's Wiccan faith recognized. The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs permits 38 religious symbols to adorn headstones and memorials, like the one commemorating Sgt. Patrick Stewart's unit. That list includes the Christian cross and even a symbol for atheists, but the government has not yet approved the Wiccan pentacle.

Ward One Gentrification

Update: Over on the Internet Archive you can check out a 2006 report by RBM on changes coming to some of the District of Columbia's most densely-populated neighborhoods. The story was broadcast by WAMU 88.5 FM in Washington. An excerpt from the intro:

if you throw a dart at a map of the district, you're not likely to hit Ward One. It's not only the city's smallest ward, it's also the most diverse. Perhaps it's no wonder, then, that life in Columbia Heights, Mount Pleasant, and Adams Morgan is changing. As WAMU's Raul Moreno reports, gentrification is having a profound impact on Ward-One schools, especially those serving DC's Latino community.

Khan Goes to Court

Update: Over on the Internet Archive you can check out a 2005 report by RBM on conflict between military recruiters and college students, broadcast by WAMU 88.5 FM in Washington. An excerpt from the intro:

You've heard the stories: military recruiters for the all-volunteer armed forces are having trouble meeting their quotas. They're trying hard to attract young people - particularly students looking for a career. But not all students are eager to talk to a military recruiter. Case-in-point: an undergrad at George Mason University who's encouraging other students NOT to sign on the dotted line, and who's now in legal trouble because of it. He could face charges of trespassing and disorderly conduct next week in Fairfax after he handed out pamphlets that urged young people not to join the military. It's a legal issue that's drawing a lot of attention, as we hear from reporter Raul Moreno.

"He Was More than Just One Soldier": Narrating National Identiy in Small-town America

Update: RBM's master's thesis, an ethnography of wartime in Palouse, Washington, was presented to the 2004 conference of the Northwest Communication Association in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho. The original text is available from the Washington State University library collections.

Mountain Climbers

Update: An essay by RBM about a father and son's attempt to climb Mount Rainier, the most heavily glaciated peak in the continental United States, was published this year in LandEscapes, a literary journal of the Washington State University English Department.

Reaching the Far Side

A column by RBM appears this spring in The Murrow Communicator, a publication of Washington State University's Edward R. Murrow School of Journalism. An excerpt:

A dozen shivering young landlubbers stood around the shallow end, clutching paddleboards and trying to ignore parents waving encouragement from the second floor balcony (to my dismay, Mom assured me she would leap to my rescue, tennis shoes and all, if I started to sink). Chlorine wafted off the turquoise depths, making me slightly woozy. Then the roll call from Ron, a jovial, pot-bellied fortysomething with a jaguar tattoo on his backside.

Judging the Impact: A Post 9-11 America

Update: Over on the Internet Archive you can view a briefing on post-September 11 governmental reforms co-authored by RBM, who interned for National Public Radio's National Desk over the summer. It was published online in July by NPR.org. An excerpt:

In the past three years, the nation's law enforcement and intelligence communities addressed vulnerabilities exposed by the Sept. 11 attacks. And the creation of the vast new Department of Homeland Security capped a massive reorganization of the federal government. But members of the 9-11 Commission say those reforms are insufficient.