Marion Blackburn
Master of Public Administration
Writing, project management, editing, research, analysis
Info (at) marionblackurn.net
Greenville, NC
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WELCOME
Marion Blackburn is an advanced technical and medical writer, features writer and editor, policy developer, researcher, and data analyst
Her many years as a freelance and creative writer are represented on this site.
She is working on a novel, The Curing Season and a short story collection, When Summer Ends. She holds the Master of Public Administration degree.
She is a marathon runner and animal advocate.
She has run 10 marathons, and you can read about her first, at Medoc Mountain State Park, in her "Existential Thoughts from a First Marathon."
She served as the District 3 representative for the Greenville, N.C. City Council 2009-2015
Excerpt from her novella, "Unsealed," is below.
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.
That's Martha
, the Polish Hound. You can follow Geppeto the Beagle on Facebook.
Return to the Trail of Tears in Archaeology magazine.
A Cure for August commentary
Cover story on the ECU School of Dental Medicine in East magazine
Janice Faulker in the summer 2011 issue ofEast magazine
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Public radio commentary
My Running Year on Public Radio East
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Battlefield surgeon, back from the war
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Novella in progress: "Unsealed"
Into the place between sleep and awareness came details, images, feelings and signs sent to this day from the one before. I am Delia Legrace. This is my bedroom. It is Wednesday. That is my alarm clock. What did it mean, Delia Legrace. What time it is, what day is it. Who is here, asleep upstairs. I am alone. A dog is breathing, a cat is at my feet. The sunlight is crisp, like autumn. What is the date.
The thoughts she fell asleep to, music and colors in her mind, sadness and anger, transcendence and weightlessness, left their traces, impressions she would have to figure out. Maybe. Maybe this morning. She would lie still until she knew. Clearly. As clearly as a morning long ago when it was summer and she grabbed seersucker shorts and shirt and ran down the stairs without thought.
-- from "Unsealed," by Marion Blackburn
The Curing Season
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, his Facebook page is scribed by Geppeto the Beagle.
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Atamasco lily at Medoc Mountain State Park
This Polish director's works probe human nature, give us sadness and joy, always shadowed by melancholy ...
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Visit His Holiness the Dalai Lama online
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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
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ON THE SAFFRON PATH Special section A three-part audio diary of Marion's journey to see the Dalai Lama in Atlanta, which aired on Public Radio East. Download here.A blossom, a man, a promise
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.
Audio from His Holiness, 14th Dalai Lama
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My mother, the stripper
Raising a Cannon from Queen Anne's Revenge
Former blog is here
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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 serves 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
For Marion Blackburn's City Council Web site, click here
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Letter from Virginia
Slaves made their home in the Great Dismal Swamp for a chance at self-determiniation. An article in Archaeology magazine
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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
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Archaeology Magazine
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Sea Hunt
A cover story on Underwater Archaeology at East Carolina University
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Figuratively Speaking on Public Radio East
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MYTHIC MILES
FINDING JACK KEROUAC IN N.C. & NEW YORK
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Visit these links
Info (at) marionblackurn.net
Greenville, NC