2005 was an exciting year in my writing career. I started off with the ambitions of being a regular writer for my school newspaper, The Wheaton Record, and I finished the year having written multiple articles for a national publication (website). Let me give you a rundown.

In January 2005 I wrote a piece for The Wheaton Record concerning the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. In February, after much thoughtful dialogue with friends at Wheaton and online, I wrote a piece entitled, What Would it Take, looking at Walmart and our consumerism and the impact of where we spend our dollars. Finally, in late April I wrote a letter to my fellow seniors encouraging them to begin tithing regularly after graduation.

After reading What would it Take, someone suggested that I submit it to Relevant Magazine and see if they might publish it. It was a delight and a surprise when, less then a month later, Won Kim, the managing editor sent me this email:

Hey Ariah,

Posted your article in the life section of the site a day ago. Very challenging and insightful … It’s awesome when a submission doesn’t have to be preachy but intellectually challenging … It lets our readers follow it all the way thru and collect their thoughts.

Hope to hear more from you.

Best,
won

I was estatic and a couple days later I was added to the list of regular freelance writers for the Revolution section. The article generated more discussion and dialogue then any other article I had seen posted on Relevant. It was that feedback that pushed me to set up THIS blog in an effort to capture interested readers.
I quickly had two articles lined up to be posted at the launch of the new Relevantmagazine.com site, which ended up being two months of eager anticipation and delays. I've since had multiple articles published at the Relevantmagazine.com site discussing everything from world hunger and 9/11, stewarship in college, fair trade consumerism, genocide in Darfur, and the Earthquake in Pakistan.

In Order: What Would it Take, Poor College Students, Remembering 9/10, Crisis in Darfur, Earthquake in Pakistan, Fair Trade at the Supermarket, New Year's Resolutions. (click on the image for an image of the page, click on the linked titles to go to the Relevant Magazine website posting of the article, and leave a comment if you do).

The year concluded with another exciting development, my article (edited by Jesse Carey) about New Year's Resolutions was the featured article on the email newsletter, 850 words of Relevant.

Looking Forward
What will this next year bring for my writing and publishing? I'm excited to announce that I'm hoping to have my first print article (and paid) published early this year. In addition, I'm looking to start submitting articles to other publications. I'd love to have something in Geez Magazine before 2007.

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