AJ McDougall

Staff Writer, Columbia Spectator

United States

I've written longform investigative articles and personal essays for the Tahoe Quarterly, the Columbia Daily Spectator, and have worked in newsrooms writing entertainment news articles for Backstage Magazine and E!.

Portfolio
Tahoe Quarterly
09/27/2019
The Boom and Bust of Ski Ballet

Flamboyant style and innovation defined ski ballet until the sport flamed out in an explosion of tassels, synth pop and spandex Bob Howard had been benched. Again. For five games in a row, the college football coach had stared hard at the lanky running...

Columbia Daily Spectator
First, Advise No Harm: The Open, Closed, and Revolving Doors of Columbia's Socially Responsible...

ACSRI has remained consistent in its policies and makeup over the last two decades, Anne Sullivan and Merritt Fox, ACSRI's current non-voting administrative supervisor and chair, respectively, told The Eye. Later, Sullivan characterized the Committee as a "very deliberate body:" "They take their role very seriously," she says, "I think, feel the weight of being representative of the broader university community."

Tahoe Quarterly
02/24/2020
After the Chase

Born with methamphetamine in his bloodstream, Roger Carver went on to become a child snowboarding prodigy before ultimately walking away from the sport in his prime.

Backstage
11/19/2018
Why Every Actor Should Study Puppetry

Puppetry, from Big Bird, to the velociraptors in "Jurassic Park," to the wings on the Angel in "Angels in America," tells stories. If you got into theater, film, or television because you felt you have a story to tell, and an ability to manifest that story, a puppet can be your next tool.

E! Online
06/17/2019
6 Defining Moments of This Year's E3 Expo (That Weren't Games or Demos)

Christian Petersen/Getty Images If anyone saw anything walking into E3 today on Pico please let me know. My car is (was?) a black Nissan 370Z. It was parked a block and a half from the convention center in front of the Starbucks/Robek's on the right-hand side. Stolen from 9:15AM to 11:30AM.

Columbia Daily Spectator
Starr's Wars: Episode 1

Welcome to the third season of The Ear, The Eye 's podcast dedicated to documenting, detailing, and excavating Columbia's history! This week's episode is the first in a two-part series about the historical role of chaplains at Columbia. Reporter AJ McDougall investigates the legacies of John D.

Columbia Daily Spectator
Because we can

The state of the debate on the right to free speech is, at best, contentious right now. (At worst, it's a shitshow.) It's not just the guy declaring, "It's a free country, bro!" as a thinly veiled excuse to be -ist or -phobic anymore.

Columbia Daily Spectator
Inside the Pigeon-Eat-Pigeon World of Hall Council Politics

"THE MCBAIN FACADE IS UNSTABLE AND UNSAFE," the poster read. Then, in bold underline: "SO AM I." Dozens of these posters would soon be hung in strategic locations in and around McBain. But for now, I was just another student gingerly picking gum off the underside of my sneaker outside of Lewisohn in late September.