Mike Bodine

Journalist and story teller

- 15-year small-town newspaper reporter/photographer Eastern California
- Investigative journalism, Information requests, breaking local and state news
- contributor to local visitor guides
- Member of the Society of Professional Obituary Writers

From the local Mule Days Parade, to conducting jailhouse interviews and exposing corruption and scandal.
Publishers repeatedly assign me to write obituaries, profiles and human interest pieces or set me loose on "bulldog" assignments i.e., investigations, impersonations, covert interviews and records collection. Both kinds of assignments are an invasion of personal space that require patience and maturity to investigate and detail with respect and objectivity. The details of any story are going to be as different as people are, but these kinds of stories all require an intrusion of someones personal space. They are the stories that readers, myself included, can relate to and repeatedly enjoy.
I am often told by readers and editors alike that I have a different way of looking at the world, seeing colors that others may not notice. I have a healthy imagination, but it has a dial and I know to use it. Sometimes I can't help but point at the absurdity, no matter the situation, and usually wind up sharing a laugh with someone.
I am patient, sensitive and empathetic - rules hard forged from being the newsman in small towns where your credibility can hang on how you treated someone 20 years ago.
I believe in showing face, whether it's attending a meeting after publishing a damning article or the face-to-face interview, as body language and detail are the key to a successful profile; like the butcher who wielded a 12-inch stick of pepperoni like a conductor's wand during an interview or the eerie quiet made by hundreds of wildland firefighters getting chow at a camp beneath smoke filled skies. I can “call it like I see it,” go gonzo, tastefully sensationalize, highlight the absurd, make jokes, transcribe or write it straight. I have earned the trust of publishers to be autonomous with content and angles.
I am also a published poet and instructor for the California Poets in the Schools, teaching the craft to students.
My career as a journalist has paralleled the rise of the Internet, and I have learned to operate analog and digital tools; from cold-calling and chasing ambulances, to teasing stories on social media, computer hacking and fake news.
As a researcher for Project Censored at Sonoma State University, I learned how to follow a paper trail and witnessed the direct influence of advertising dollars on editorial content. Project Censored is an annual publication that details and ranks major news stories that have been buried and then exposes the subjects further. Churning out books and curious minds since 1976, Project Censored was once considered the Pulitzer Prize for alternative media.
I landed my first newspaper gig because I could write, finally being hired at the local rag, the only writing gig in town, after two communication majors hired ahead of me couldn't produce. Being a poet makes the writing colorful and being curious has made the reporting part easy.
As a freelance writer for the past five years, primarily for The Sheet News in Mammoth Lakes, I was given reign and direction to conduct deeper, long-range investigations. I was never scooped at The Sheet, and the other three local outlets were usually unaware of my stories until we published.
I have taught poetry, wrote for a semi-independent college paper post-Hazelwood decision, was “staffulty” or half-faculty, half-staff member at the ultra-exclusive Deep Springs College and produced news and a jazz show for Sonoma State radio, KSUN.
Nature called to me as a child and I developed a strong relationship with, and appreciation for, the outside world. I have contacts on the ecological and environmental activism and conservation front lines and backcountry.
Music is my special friend and have extensive knowledge of early hard rock/heavy metal, jazz, (bop, post, Downtown), world and electronic music.
I'm genuine and sincere, and incredibly creative.