Thursday, October 23, 2008

Adding a New Direction

I'm adding another facet to my career, and how it might fit under my byline is still evolving. Not long ago I signed up for an online nutrition course with the Global College of Natural Medicine. The program leads to certification in nutritional consulting, the goal being to make me more "expert" at providing information about food, eating and health (not that I haven't been doing this already! ask my family members, who for the last few decades have put up with my pronouncements about the virtues of B vitamins. As my sister Adrienne said when I told her I'd signed up for the program, "Duh, Kate! What took you so long?!").

The first assignment I took on within this self-paced curriculum is a Mini-Course called "Writing for Publication." Very fun to go back to beginner's mind and write from a new angle. Although, really, it's not totally new: I've done a little food writing in the past; writing about nutrition can fit neatly under the umbrella of science writing; and penning articles about holistic health dovetails nicely with environmental journalism, writing about nature and sustainability. So no matter how much I end up providing nutritional advice, I'll still be writing.

Right now I'm drafting a piece on cell phones and health, looking at how the close exposures to electromagnetic radiation from cell phone use might affect our needs for certain nutrients. A preliminary conclusion: I'm glad I never started using a cell phone. A link that can tell you more is at:

http://www.environmentaloncology.org/node/201
(University of Pittsburgh Cancer Center's concerns about cell phones, with ten precautionary recommendations)

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