Author: Jourdan Arenson

I now write humorous essays about science and the environment for my local paper and High Country News. But for most of my writing career, I've written dull unfunny stuff. My first writing gig was drafting grant proposals for development projects in Northeast Thailand. My Thai colleague would say: "Build dam, then rice growing many up." I would type: "Dam construction will increase agricultural output." During the Asian economic boom of the 1990s I did business reporting and public relations writing. After the Asian economic bust, I got a job as a technical writer for an IT department of a large bank in California. At first, I wrote guides that told users how to use computer systems. I then got a promotion and wrote specifications that told programmers how to build computer systems. It was all dull and unfunny stuff but--unlike public relations--at least I got to tell the truth. After twenty years of this, my two kids were grown up and out of the house. So I quit my job and started writing essays for zero pay. I live in Eugene, Oregon with my wife of 26 years, who is from Amagasaki, Japan. We used to keep chickens but they stopped laying and we had to get rid of them, which is harder than you'd think.