Reporting
Hi, I'm John.
I'm a freelance writer from Wisconsin, living in Green Bay.
I have reported on breaking labor news, the politics of a prominent Midwest gas station chain, the intimacy of food in the face of a global pandemic, and interviewed multiple New York Times Bestselling authors.
I also write about music that grips me and the people behind the songs. I enjoy finding odd facts, digging through public records, and gathering important details to provide a clear picture of a story.
Apart from my reporting experience, I have over two years of grant writing experience with successful grant applications totaling over $400,000 in received funding and with single sum awards over $70,000. If you are interested in seeing examples of my grant writing or curious about my rates, please email - [email protected]
My experience also includes copywriting, social media copywriting, e-newsletters, and I'd also love to help your band with a press kit, building out your bio, and press releases.
Thanks for stopping by, I look forward to hearing from you.
Fill out the contact form or email [email protected] to reach me.
(he/him/his)
Reporting
BROWN COUNTY - "We opened in the middle of August,” said local beer connoisseur Nick Calaway with a slight laugh. “The whole project had been underway for several years and there was no stopping it.” The project was the construction of a new, 16-line taproom and brewery with 18-foot-tall ceilings for Ahnapee Brewery in Suamico, the second location for the Algoma-based brewery.
GREEN BAY - The City of Green Bay is being sued by its largest taxpayer claiming a wrongful 2020 property tax assessment, based on a difference of almost $73 million in property value.
GREEN BAY - Local restaurants have relied on customers ordering food with a single click from the comfort of their couches throughout the pandemic, but not without a few technical glitches.
An end to the pandemic is within sight, but in the meantime, cold weather, isolation, and already-strained public health infrastructure will converge in the state this winter.
From conception to estimated completion, the South Bridge Connector project in De Pere will take upwards of 64 years to finish, and at this point in time there are questions still to be answered.
Anti-carceral activists turn their attention to the state's long-running "Prison Industries" program.
Randy Styczynski inherited a few young calves from his grandparents when he was a junior at Green Bay Southwest High School in 1979. His grandparents sold off their milking herd and Styczysnki began to purchase more cattle. He took over operations and was milking a small head of eight dairy cows in the following spring. Come early 2021, Styczynski is retiring as the last operating dairy farm in the Village of Suamico.
Laura Schley is the only paid staff member at the City of Green Bay’s Public Art Commission (GBPAC), a division of the community and economic development department. A single full-time employee devoted to public arts in Wisconsin’s third largest city is not uncommon.
A mathematician, photographer and political scientist walk into Neville Public Museum after hours, each bringing a unique conversation, and anyone with an internet connection can watch. STEAM Engine is a local organization providing interactive
As the Green Bay Packers look to climb the NFC North Division rankings, another ruthless offense is making its way to the top of an unsavory list - rats.
Green Bay is approximately 6 percent below the national average for undergraduate degrees produced, according to the most recent Census data. Despite the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, leaders in the field are hopeful to bridge that higher education gap.
As Wisconsin's right-wing convenience store empire expands, what happens to contraception access?
John McCracken contributed additional reporting for this story.
Restaurants have been juggling how to respond to disturbances on top of the added stress of sanitization to slow the spread of COVID-19.
GREEN BAY - Local youth ages 8 and older can soon go head-to-head without meeting face-to-face thanks to Green Bay's Parks, Recreation and Forestry's Esports program, launching next year.
BROWN COUNTY - Thanks to a mostly mild winter up to this point, Brown County parks have seen an uptick in visitors using the trail system.
The plan for a new distribution center imperils the future of Milwaukee Street, just as the retail giant's labor practices reach new lows.
The downtown record store calls it quits after 23 years.
Music Writing
Stalwart Wisconsin DIY musician Amos Pitsch (best known for his work in Tenement and Dusk and more recently his solo records) finds that the personal remnants of used media allow him to peer deep into former owners’ psyches.
The Madison band talks with us about "Imposter Syndrome," released on June 4.
The world of dinosaur tribute videos has been unearthed and these oddities feature nostalgia drenched 2000s rock hits. An unlikely pairing, these lengthy videos pay homage to beasts and songs of a forgotten time.
A strange journey to Geeks Mania and the heart of the WJJO Sound Lounge.
We crunched the numbers on WJJO's weirdly repetitive stage.
100 Gecs is an electronic music duo created by DJs and producers Dylan Brady and Laura Les. Besides that, nothing about 100 Gecs makes any sense.
Beginning in a Chicago college dorm in the late 2000s, the story of Ratboys is a familiar one: Members meeting early in their school years, releasing sparse demos and EPs, and formulating a sound of their own in a sea of indie hyphen everything. The result of that is a calculated indie-rock sound where a penchant for precision meets an affinity for deeply personal songwriting.
Hailing from Oldham County, Kentucky, Knocked Loose has continually set and often exceeded the bar for hardcore since its 2013 inception, touring nonstop and capturing a powerfully distilled anger on its 2016 debut LP, Laugh Tracks. Their 2019 follow-up, A Different Shade Of Blue, will be looked at as a pivotal moment for the hardcore genre in the coming years.
Opinion, Personal Essay, & Oddities
Exploring far-flung flavor variations with musician Nick Davies.
The love language of food perseveres in a crisis.
"The one thing about this particular medium is that even though it's grotesque and repulsive, there's something of beauty within if you look hard enough. That's what we see on the tables here."
This year's Go Big Read selection only further poisons the discourse about rural decline.
An aversion to politics talk causes a Madison musicians Facebook group to implode.
Podcast Interviews
The author joins us to discuss and read from her debut novel, "Mostly Dead Things."
The fiction writer and current UW-Madison fellow discusses her work and reads from a new short story.
The Madison-based writer joins us to discuss her new book, "The Immortalists."
The poet discusses his work in an interview co-produced with The Adroit Journal.
The Madison-based author discusses her multi-faceted writing life and reads from her novel "Bread And Butter."
The Madison-based poet discusses and reads from his debut collection, "Trouble The Water."
Fundraising & Audience Engagement
Is it ok if I call you that? To Tone Madison, you are so much more. You're an inquisitor, listener, audience member, mourning show-goer, art-lover, public-commenter, thought-provoker, brick-thrower, gut-buster, retweeter, whistleblower, cheerleader, and that's not even the half of it. To us, you are a lifeline. You are a source of love and sustainability.
Just for Tone Madison Sustainers, here's a look behind the scenes with the authors. These were gathered together to showcase the variety of perspectives involved in Tone Madison and the care that we take when reporting on the Madison community.
Thanks to the generosity of an anonymous donor, all gifts in support of FAM received by September 1 will be matched up to $25,000! Would you consider making your second gift today?
The landscape of local music and events has changed. Tone Madison hasn't skipped a beat.
Email marketing piece sent to promote an annual fundraising and music event for an independent, local news outlet in Madison, WI.