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Travel Writing

Here are some of my recent articles for the Chicago Tribune Travel section: I added a little minor league baseball to a college-visit trip to Nashville, Asheville and Durham, creating a memorable father-son road trip. You can read it here. Southern Rhode Island is often overlooked amid other popular New England destinations. But it offers everything one could want from a lazy beach vacation, without the hassles and crowds of more popular spots. Here’s my love-letter to fresh oysters, sandy beaches, and happy hours on the lawn. Two Lake Michigan ferries… Read more Travel Writing

Seven Songs in Seven Days: Answering the challenge

Day Seven “Forty-five Years” by Stan Rogers There are a few things I’ve missed in this seven-day exercise. No Bob Dylan songs, for one, which isn’t right. No Little Feat, REM, Fred Eaglesmith, or Flight of the Conchords. Ah well. It’s almost Valentine’s Day. So I couldn’t resist adding this one for the person I most enjoy listening to music with. A Boston bar singer lead me to Stan Rogers. He played “Barrett’s Privateers” at the Purple Shamrock, and I walked up and asked him about it during a break.… Read more Seven Songs in Seven Days: Answering the challenge

Northwestern uses technology to target pitcher elbow injuries

(Note: This story was published in the Chicago Tribune April 14, 2015, and recently won a MORE award from the American Academy of Orthopedic Surgeons.) By John Carpenter Two Northwestern University biomedical engineers have taken a new approach to one of the most confounding injuries in professional sports, using digital tools to study the way baseball pitchers, especially hard-throwing big-leaguers, keep destroying their elbows. Researchers James Buffi and Wendy Murray in a recent study used digital modeling to simulate the effect of varying levels of muscle strength on the elbow joint during… Read more Northwestern uses technology to target pitcher elbow injuries