Here is a selection of some of my stories over the years. You can select from the topics at left, or scroll through the stories. The entire texts of the pieces will come up when their titles are clicked.
My Story Topics
Please click below to see selections of my stories.
Here is my heretofore-unpublished photo of the man who stopped the column of tanks during the democracy protests at Tiananmen Square in Beijing in 1989. I had not shared the photo for 20 years, but agreed to have it published in the New York Times online on the 20th anniversary of the Chinese army's crackdown. See a larger photo at the NY Times site here, along with a story about my taking the photo, and comments by visitors to the site. Here also is a magazine piece in which I give more detail about where and how I took the photo, how the negatives were handled and how the photo itself got overlooked, leading to it remaining unpublished for 20 years.
Below are links to the first half of my multimedia China project I am producing as part of the Kiplinger Fellowship in digital media: a proposed Introduction, and a proposed Part 1 (of three eventual chapters). The tentative introduction is 5 minutes, 1 second long; the tentative Part 1 is 6:52. Passwords are required to view both elements.
TIANJIN, China (Reuters) –Traffic weaves lazily through a Chinese industrial park lined with imposing buildings –home to the company that is outbidding the world's top two cable companies for Dutch industry player Draka. Before its audacious cash bid, which trumps an agreed takeover by Italy's Prysmian, Xinmao was little known abroad –or in most of China for that matter.
SOMETIMES WE DO THINGS –or don't do things –that we can't easily explain. This summer I've been mulling over how I sat on, without publishing or publicizing, a remarkable photograph for two decades ... a picture I took 20 years ago that is an alternative viewpoint of an iconic image that captivated much of the world.
I was extremely high strung by June 5 (1989) when I took this photo I had been running on little sleep since students began a hunger strike in Tiananmen Square on May 13, and I had been trading shifts with other AP repoters, staffing the square 24/7 for nearly three weeks. ... I was in front of the Beijing Hotel, when another volley of shots rang out from where the tanks were, and people began ducking, shrieking, stumbling and running toward me. I lifted my camera and squeezed off a single shot before retreating back behind more trees and bushes where hundreds of onlookers were cowering.
BEIJING –Beijing's "Airport Road" was more of a tree-lined country lane in the 1980s. Today the way in from Capital Airport is a multi-lane freeway, and the entire route is lined with building after building. It's a far cry from my first trip to China in 1976 with my mother, a Beijing native, to visit my grandfather. ... . Mao Zedong died three days after I arrived, and my memories are of traveling in a China gripped by emotional mourning and of a Beijing strewn with piles of rubble from the ruinous Tangshan earthquake. My visit to the Olympics this summer was my first to China in 19 years. The phrase I heard the most -- "Beijing de bianhua hen da!" (Beijing has changed a lot, eh!) -- was borne out daily.
Lenovo Vies for Big Win at Olympics Los Angeles Times - Feb. 11, 2006SAN FRANCISCOAs athletes from 84 countries vie for Olympic medals in Italy, one Chinese competitor is aiming for a different kind of gold. Executives at Lenovo, China’s biggest computer maker, hope that being the Winter Games’ official computer supplier will boost recognition of what became the world's third-largest personal computer maker when acquired the PC business of IBM Corp.
Spying Case Underscores Rivalry of Asian Chip FIrms Los Angeles Times - Jan. 3, 2005 SAN JOSE, Calif. – In a California court, Taiwan Semiconductor is accusing Shanghai-based SMIC of blatantly stealing its manufacturing secrets, and flagrantly poaching many of its key personnel.
Kenneth Lieberthal: China Reconsidered Los Angeles Times - July 29, 2001 ANN ARBOR, Mich. –As a senior National Security Council official under President Clinton, Kenneth Lieberthal helped shape U.S. policy toward Asia, especially toward China and Taiwan. Lieberthal, a professor of Chinese politics and business studies at the University of Michigan, opposes confrontation and containment and advocates ongoing dialogue and engagement with China.
NEW YORK –Mao toasted with it. In 1957 Zhou Enlai anointed it China's state banquet beer. Established in 1915, Five Star beer is an old standard in China, but just about unknown beyond its borders. Jack Perkowski hopes to change that.
Waiters Grill Industry Conditions Associated Press - Oct. 26, 1997 NEW YORK (AP) –There’s a festive look to Jing Fong, the biggest restaurant in New York’s Chinatown. The waiters, however, are not a happy lot. Jing Fong is at the center of a dispute over exploitation in Chinatown’s restaurant industry, where immigrants often do backbreaking work for less than a dollar an hour.
Deng Xiaoping’s Death: Mood in China Was Different in 1976 when Mao Died Associated Press - Feb. 23, 1997 NEW YORK (AP) – Deng Xiaoping's death this week was greeted in China with sadness, curiosity or indifference, and little interruption to daily routines. But when Mao Tse-tung died 21 years ago at 82, one-fourth of humanity came to a standstill. I was 17 years old on my first visit to China, and I remember throngs of Chinese weeping in the streets, and the military going on national alert, fearing attack by the Soviet Union or the United States.
BEIJING (AP) – Mao Xinyu wears patched clothes and leads a quiet life at a prestigious Beijing university despite being the grandson of Mao Tse-tung, the revolutionary founder of communist China. But a black military limousine regularly glides up to take the descendant of the Great Helmsman to an expensive health club, or to his home, where he has his clothes washed and an army cook prepares "good food."
BEIJING (AP) – A student involved in China's crushed democracy movement looked out over Tiananmen Square on Sunday and mourned what he said was the death of his generation's campaign for a freer society. He gazed out over the immaculate _ and empty _ square from the rostrum of the Gate of Heavenly Peace, saying, "It feels as though I've died and come back again."
BEIJING (AP) – They lay on filthy mattresses caked with dried blood, their clothes torn, bandages hastily applied to bullet wounds. A grim story of carnage emerged as victims from Sunday's violence in Beijing recalled the Chinese army shooting, clubbing and even strangling its way through a sea of unarmed protesters. Students Leaving Beijing, Say They'll Spread the Message Associated Press - 27 May 1989
BEIJING (AP) – Yang Jianjun says it is time to bring the spirit of the pro-democracy revolution that has convulsed the Chinese capital for the last two weeks out to the nation’s countryside. Yang, from northeast China, was one of thousands leaving Beijing Station Saturday to spread the word of the student-led protest in their home provinces.
Tokyo Taxi Battery Exchange: Future of Big-City Cab Industry? Edmunds.com, Aug. 6, 2010 TOKYO - Tucked into a nondescript corner of central Tokyo's Toranomon business district is a conceptually simple but technology formidable experiment that could lead to a sweeping makeover of how taxis, and potentially other vehicles, function in sprawling, crowded cities. (With two videos.)
At a time of soaring energy costs and fragile financial markets, executives are increasingly looking toward sustainability strategies to save money, cut emissions and simply do the right thing. Information technology can help lead the way. In addition to operational issues, companies are now leveraging IT to facilitate sustainability initiatives in new areas, including fleet management, paperless billing, and construction and facility management, among others.
The rapid transformation of how, where and with whom companies do business has posed big challenges to manufacturing executives worldwide. As manufactured products have become more complex and the amount of data surrounding their processing grows ever more voluminous, companies are increasingly turning towards management tools to archive and control information.
Drivers are using a variety of clever techniques to "hypermile," the fine art of wringing the greatest fuel economy possible from a vehicle by the way you drive.
The Candidates' Energy Plans: A Green Car Primer Edmunds.com - January 2, 2008 Democratic candidates' energy plans almost all spell out specific fuel economy standards, while Republicans speak in broader terms of ending dependence on foreign oil. Here's the rundown on the candidates from a green car perspective.
Intel Explores the World of Entertainment Los Angeles Times, Aug. 14, 2006 Little in Kevin Corbett’s schooling as an engineer or his career at Intel Corp. prepared him for his current gig: striking distribution deals for movies, television shows and broadcasts of sporting events
Class of '76 Got Chatty Los Angeles Times- Page 1 - July 8, 2006 Before their 30-year reunion, the author and scores of Claremont High graduates went online to really get to know one another.
If This Were a Term Paper, You Might Have Seen It on the Web Los Angeles Times - Page 1 - June 17, 2006 The availability of term papers to copy or purchase from the Web have made it easier for students to cheat. But teachers and schools have a growing arsenal of tools to fight back.
24/7, Teens Get the Message Los Angeles Times - Page 1 - June 23, 2005 Digital devices keep young people connected -- to each other. E-mail is too slow but 10 hours a day on a cellphone isn't too much.
A Law of Continuing Returns Los Angeles Times, April 17, 2005 As computer chip components get ever more microscopic, Moore's Law, the Silicon Valley axiom which holds that the amount of circuitry on a computer chip will double every 18-24 months, is making silicon engineers wonder, "What next?" Carbon nanotubes and DNA may be the answer.
Spying Case Underscores Rivalry of Asian Chip FIrms Los Angeles Times - Jan. 3, 2005 In a California court, Taiwan Semiconductor is accusing Shanghai-based SMIC of blatantly stealing its manufacturing secrets.
PDA reports for active duty Los Angeles Times - May 21, 2003 With the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the U.S. military is discovering the benefits of civilian-developed hand-held computing, whether on board ship, during training or on the battlefield.
Tech Industry May Get Upgrade in 2003 Los Angeles Times - Dec. 31, 2002 With the new year about to begin, it looks like a high-tech turnaround is on the way – albeit a relatively slow and modest one, as corporations move to upgrade their aging computer systems and look for people to maintain them.
Tokyo Taxi Battery Exchange: Future of Big-City Cab Industry? Edmunds.com, Aug. 6, 2010 TOKYO - Tucked into a nondescript corner of central Tokyo's Toranomon business district is a conceptually simple but technology formidable experiment that could lead to a sweeping makeover of how taxis, and potentially other vehicles, function in sprawling, crowded cities. (With two videos.)
TOKYO - Mitsubishi Motors Corp. launched the modern era's first mass-produced electric vehicle today with plans to sell more EVs than any company ever has. "We're late to the game as far as hybrids go," said Kenichiro Wada, a senior engineer. "But we've researched EVs since the 1960s, so we have a broad base of know-how. Without this technology, you can't survive as an auto maker."
Federal regulators heard conflicting arguments today from environmentalists and California officials on one side and supporters of the auto industry on the other whether the Environmental Protection Agency should reverse an earlier decision and grant California the right to set tough greenhouse gas emissions standards for cars and trucks - standards that would apply in at least 14 states.
A Last Look at the Candidates' Positions on Green-Car Issues Edmunds.com - Nov. 1, 2008 How about putting one million made-in-the-U.S. plug-in hybrid cars, each getting 150 miles per gallon, on American roads by 2015, and handing a $7,000 tax credit to anyone purchasing an "advanced vehicle"?
Extreme Driving Techniques for Extreme Fuel Economy Edmunds.com - June 4, 2008 Drivers are using a variety of clever techniques to "hypermile," the fine art of wringing the greatest fuel economy possible from a vehicle by how you drive.
The Candidates' Energy Plans: A Green Car Primer Edmunds.com - January 2, 2008 Democratic candidates' energy plans almost all spell out specific fuel economy standards, while Republicans speak in broader terms of ending dependence on foreign oil. Here's the rundown on the candidates from a green car perspective.
Mileage Improvements Easy -- Or Not -- Depends on Who's Talking Edmunds.com - Dec. 21, 2007 Carmakers say it will be tough to meet fuel efficiency standards signed into law this week. But climate experts say the industry can act relatively quickly to meet the average 35 mpg mark by 2020 – and could get there much sooner.
U.S., Foreign Automakers Agree to Improve SUV Safety Standards Los Angeles Times - Feb. 14, 2003 Stung by growing criticism over the safety of sport utility vehicles, a coalition of U.S. and foreign auto manufacturers pledge to work with federal regulators to lessen the dangers that SUVs pose to passenger cars.
Car Buyers Believe They’re Getting More for Their Money Los Angeles Times -Sept. 9, 2002 Incentives by auto makers after last September’s terrorist attacks and higher-quality cars and trucks have elevated buyers’ perception of their vehicles’ value, according to an annual survey by an automotive consulting group.
End of the Road for the Olds Los Angeles Times - Page 1 - Aug. 19, 2002 Business isn’t exactly booming at this Oldsmobile dealership outside Louisville, KY, where Donny Ethington manages to sell only one new car about every two weeks. Oldsmobile, the 105-year-old GM nameplate, been put on death row.
Toyota Had Highest Rise in Carbon Emissions in 1990s: Study Los Angeles Times - July 31, 2002 Despite dominating the low-emission hybrid-electric market in the U.S., Toyota increased its carbon emissions more than any other major auto maker in this country in the 1990s, according to a report by Environmental Defense.
Despite Upbeat CEO, Chrysler Faces More Obstacles Los Angeles Times - Oct. 11, 2001 A beaming Chrysler Group President Dieter Zetsche opened a new dealership in a patriotic ceremony a month after the Sept. 11 attacks “to show that we are not scared.” But the upbeat mood was in contrast to Chrysler's dire prospects.
Nasser Faces Tough Test: Restore Ford's Reputation Los Angeles Times - June 19, 2001 It was an astonishing admission from the head of the world’s No. 2 auto maker, one whose motto had long been “Quality is Job 1.” Right after announcing a recall of 13 million Firestone tires late last month, Ford CEO Jacques Nasser said, “For quality, I’d say we’re about average. It’s not where we think we should be.” He had good reason to be concerned.
Firestone’s Japanese CEO Suddenly at Center of the Storm Los Angeles Times - Aug. 30, 2000 Masatoshi Ono, CEO of beleaguered tire maker Bridgestone/Firestone, was ordered to give a deposition in a wrongful-death trial, had congressional investigators nosing around his offices and got into a public dispute with Ford Motor Co., his biggest customer. And all that was just Monday.
A case for a Nissan rebound can be made right in the American market. The brand has been doing badly here, a fact that has contributed greatly to the companys string of six losses in the past seven years. But Nissan has responded correctly: It will design more cars specifically for Americans, who account for a third of the company's revenue.
A case for a Nissan rebound can be made right in the American market. The brand has been doing badly here, a fact that has contributed greatly to the companys string of six losses in the past seven years. But Nissan has responded correctly: It will design more cars specifically for Americans, who account for a third of the company's revenue.
Perrier water is French. And so is the water that comes out of the taps in such cities as Indianapolis, Gary, Milwaukee and San Antonio. And soon in Atlanta. Right now only about 15% of American municipal water systems are privatized, but more and more towns want out of the capital-intensive business and are considering outsourcing to private companies. Paris-based Suez Lyonnaise des Eaux brings big money to the table in bidding for the privatized waterworks.
Mao toasted with it. In 1957 Zhou Enlai anointed it China's state banquet beer. Established in 1915, Five Star beer is an old standard in China, but just about unknown beyond its borders. Jack Perkowski hopes to change that.
A revolution is beginning to percolate throughout France's creaky economy, and 41-year-old Jean-Marie Messier is in the vanguard. In place of liberté, égalité, fraternité, Messier wields slogans like shareholder value, return on capital and stock options."What is happening to old-fashioned French capitalism is that there is a new generation coming to power, and this generation is much more international, "says Messier, president of Cie. Générale des Eaux, the world's largest producer of water treatment and distribution services.
Michigan Campus Erupts in Debate Over Affirmative Action Los Angeles Times - Jan. 19, 2003 The University of Michigan and the Bush Administration are squaring off over the school's affirmative action admissions policy, which has broad implications for higher education nationwide.
Movement Would Thrust Greatness on Lake St. Clair Los Angeles Times - Oct. 20, 2002 Is Lake St. Clair a "Great Lake"? Some would like it to be, and a movement to have it named the sixth official Great Lake is getting underway.
Terror Case ‘Painful’ to Detroit Arab Americans Los Angeles Times - Aug. 31, 2002 The U.S. builds its case that four Detroit-area Arab men allegedly conspired to engage in a “global jihad.” The country’s largest Arab American community is alarmed at being forced to live under a cloud of suspicion.
Fearless Football Fans Pack the Big House Los Angeles Times - Oct. 14, 2001 A country at war and anthrax scares didn’t keep the football faithful from crowding into Michigan's Big House–110,540 of them on Saturday, to be precise, for the largest gathering of people anywhere in the country this day.
The Man Who Conquered the Towers Los Angeles Times - Sept. 24, 2001 Tens of thousands of people watched, shocked and transfixed, as Philippe Petit pulled off the performance of his lifetime in 1977. On Sept. 11, the man who walked a tightrope strung between New York’s World Trade Center towers, stood riveted by the same emotions and more, as he watched the twin towers crumble before his eyes.
Wine Coach Fills His Students' Cups With Confidence Los Angeles Times - April 21, 2001 Kevin Zraly, one of the country's most prominent wine coaches, is on a mission is to demystify wine and empower his students with confidence when faced with a snooty sommelier or choosing, say, between a Pouilly-Fumé or a Pouilly-Fuissé.
Jef Raskin, 61: Led Team That Created Macintosh Computer Los Angeles Times - March 1, 2005 Jef Raskin, the software developer and renaissance man behind Apple’s pioneering Macintosh personal computer, died on Saturday of pancreatic cancer. Raskin joined the fledgling
Apple in 1978 and later became head of the team developing the Macintosh.
Stephen P. Yokich, 66; Former President of UAW Los Angeles Times - Aug. 7, 2002 DETROIT – Stephen P. Yokich was the firebrand former leader of the United Auto Workers who was a leading force in a crippling strike against General Motors Corp. four years ago but who significantly increased benefits for union members.
Ralph Hoar, 56; Car Safety Advocate Los Angeles Times - Sept. 27, 2001 DETROIT – Ralph Hoar: veteran consumer safety advocate who waged campaigns for product recalls in the automotive industry and who became a major resource for trial attorneys filing suits against auto and tire manufacturers.
Leonard Woodcock; President of UAW, U.S. Envoy to China Los Angeles Times – Jan. 18, 2001 DETROIT – The son of a machine worker who also was a labor activist, Leonard Woodcock played a key role in the growth of the United Auto Workers into the largest industrial union in North America, and later was President Jimmy Carter's envoy to China.
Jacques Demy, French Film Director, Dead at 59 Associated Press – Oct. 28, 1990 PARIS (AP) – Jacques Demy, the French master of musical comedies who brought to France the genre popularized in Hollywood but which was never big in this country, has died of a brain hemorrhage brought on by leukemia. He was best known for his 1963 film "Les Parapluies de Cherbourg."
`Alexandria Quartet' Author Lawrence Durrell, Dead at 78 Associated Press – Nov. 8, 1990 PARIS (AP) – Lawrence Durrell, the British novelist who conveyed his love for Mediterranean life in "The Alexandria Quartet" and other lyrical works, died at his home in southern France, his family said Thursday. He was 78.
