Master of Public Administration
Writing, technical writing, editing
project management, research, analysis
Info (at) marionblackurn.net
Greenville, NC
Marion Blackburn is a creative writer, with broad experience in technical, medical, and political writing; features, arts, and health. She is a policy developer, researcher, and data analyst.
Her many years as a freelance and creative writer are represented on this site.
Find examples of her professional work on this page, and this page.
She is working on a novel, Curing Time, and a short story collection, When Summer Ends. She holds a Master of Public Administration degree.
She is a marathon runner and animal lover.
She has run 15 marathons, and you can read about her first, at Medoc Mountain State Park, in her "Existential Thoughts from a First Marathon."
She currently serves as the District 3 representative for the Greenville, N.C. City Council 2009-2015 and 2022-present
My study of Jack Kerouac spans many years, starting with my discovery of On the Road in 1981, when I bought my first copy in Paris.
In 2018, I visited Jack Kerouac's Rocky Mount home, where he lived with his sister, Nin, in the mid-1950s.
That's Martha, the Polish Hound.
Return to the Trail of Tears in Archaeology magazine.
Janice Faulker in of East magazine
________________________________
Public radio commentary
My Running Year on Public Radio East
________________________________
Battlefield surgeon, back from the war
________________________________
A first section of my novel in progress has been posted as a pdf. Email comments to info@marionblackburn.net.I am working on the second installment. The excerpt also appears on my blog.
In 2009 a gentle, humble Walker hound came into my life, earning the name Mayberry for a relaxed style straight from an old country store. He shared his adventures with me, my two beagles, Dewey and Geppeto, and the cats. In 2012, suddenly but without suffering, he left me. These days my family includes Martha the Polish Hound, Maurice the Beagle, and my cat family, Garbo, Camille, Poppy, Star, and Mouse.
__________________
Atamasco lily at Medoc Mountain State Park
This Polish director's works probe human nature, give us sadness and joy, always shadowed by melancholy ...
________________________________
Visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama online
________________________________
Audio Postcard from Public Radio East: Marion and her sister run in the Komen Race for the Cure
COMMENTARY: Strangers in the Night
A feature profile on the late writer David Foster Wallace examines the complexity of this serious writing talent for our times. ______________________________________________
JACK KEROUAC: THE MYTHICAL SCROLL
As part of his own journey as a writer, Kerouac dispensed with traditional narrative process and in a single burst of literary activity wrote the novel in about three weeks in 1951. He typed it onto 120-feet of taped paper sheets; together his manuscript forms a a scroll that reflects the seeming infinity of blacktop leading west. Legend has mistakenly registered it as an episode of first-draft brilliance, but Kerouac had been working on drafts for years. Nicknamed “Memory Babe” because of his prodigious recall, he likely had the entire novel scripted in his mind before sitting at the typewriter that April day in New York. Indeed, he obsessed over writing. The act of writing, like Sal’s act of traveling, allowed Kerouac to find the ethereal.
-- from an article by Marion Blackburn
The 120-foot long manuscript of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road" was on view in New York, along with notebooks, novel outlines, notes, paintings and sketches that show Kerouac's complexity as a writer and artist. U-Tex Austin exhibit here. Image: New York Public Library, Berg Collection, Jack Kerouac Archive. Reproduced courtesy of John G. Sampas, legal representative of the estates of Jack and Stella Kerouac.
MYTHIC MILES Part One & Part Two
PUBLIC RADIO EAST diary of Kerouac in New York
________________________________________
These are low-resolution pdfs of the article, "A Blossom, a Man, a Promise - Seeing His Holiness the Dalai Lama Brings Hope" which appeared Jan. 6, 2008 in The Daily Reflector.
________________________________________
________________________________________
Marion Blackburn is a writer whose creative projects include short stories, essays and a novel in progress. Professional projects include magazine and feature writing, brochures, marketing and narratives. She formerly served as a member of the Greenville, N.C. City Council.
For short stories, click here
For Fiction Daily, click here
A special section on Jack Kerouac
A special section on His Holiness the Dalai Lama
For professional projects, click here
For Public Radio features, click here
______________
Slaves made their home in the Great Dismal Swamp for a chance at self-determiniation. An article in Archaeology magazine
___________
Excavations are providing a new look at some of the Civil War’s earliest fugitive slaves—considered war goods or contraband—and their first taste of liberty An article in Archaeology magazine
___________
___________
___________
____________________
_____________
Visit these links
Copyright The Sonic Agency, Inc. All rights reserved.
Info (at) marionblackurn.net
Greenville, NC