Freelance writer Susan Brackney’s clips for national and regional publications
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Adventures in Beekeeping
Plenty Magazine
The truth is, I wouldn’t be a beekeeper if it weren’t for a strange man I’d never met falling in love with a lady who was allergic to bees. The pair got married, and, not long after, the fellow sold his hives, honey extractor, smoker, veils, gloves, and back issues of "Bee Culture" magazine—all easily worth thousands of dollars—to a dear friend of mine for just 250 bucks. I thought it was all rather touching—not to mention quite the haul, as my friend turned right around and gifted the equipment to me.Writing Topic: Beekeeping | Environmental Affairs | Green Living | Nature
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Garden Grit: Worth the Fuss
Hobby Farm Home Magazine
Popular in the South and Southwest, the striking tigridia pavonia—sometimes known as tiger flower or peacock flower—features bold, triangular flower heads with deep-pink spotted throats. Native to Central and South America, Tigridia pavonia is hardy only in zones 8 through 10, but, when set out in the garden after the weather warms, it'll thrive in full sun and well-draining soil. Because the tiger flower can easily handle heat and times of drought, it's a good candidate for gardeners looking to experiment with tender bulbs.Writing Topic: Organic Gardening
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Onions for Keeps
Organic Gardening Magazine
Choose the right varieties for your conditions, give the crop proper care after harvest, and you'll be savoring homegrown flavor until spring comes again.Writing Topic: Organic Gardening
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Tough Enough: Julie Kedzie Kicks It Up a Notch in the Mixed Martial Arts World
Indianapolis Woman Magazine
Julie Kedzie's nose bleeds again, and her hair's a mess. Wisps of it have come free from her tight cornrows. She's working hard to catch her breath. Still, the professional mixed martial arts fighter beams like a cheerleader at the top of the pyramid. It's a clear case of “You should see the other guy.” The referee has called a stop to Kedzie's fight with Julia Berezekova at the Ice Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. The packed venue erupts as Kedzie raises her arms in victory.
“In the middle of that fight I kind of got this, 'Oh my gosh, I'm getting beat up' feeling, and then, all of a sudden, the tide turned, and I realized that, 'You know, this is going to go my way,'” Kedzie recalls.Writing Topic:
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Recycle It: Bottle Cap Madness
CRAFT Magazine
Somewhere in the world, there are drunken revelers crooning about 100 bottles of beer on the wall. Meanwhile, I fret about the scores of precious bottle caps that will go to waste. The Red Stripes. The Heinekens. The occasional LaBatt. They're all so varied and colorful—not to mention sturdy enough to be the stuff of real crafting.Writing Topic: Arts and Crafts | Green Living
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Farm Garden: How Sweet It is
Hobby Farms Magazine
The sweet potato may be a natural fit for gardeners in the Deep South, but that doesn't mean this farm market favorite can't thrive in more northern climes. Provided you have plenty of room, you can grow one of several early harvest types such as the rich, red-skinned Beauregard or the high-yielding Georgia Jet.Writing Topic: Green Living | Organic Gardening
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Farm Garden: Get Growing
Hobby Farms Magazine
When soil temps reach 45 degrees or so, it's time to put in the season's first crop of peas. Both traditional shelling and edible pod peas thrive in cool weather and are among the easiest crops to grow. Just make sure to offer them well-draining soil with a pH between 6.0 and 6.7.Writing Topic: Green Living | Organic Gardening
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The Goods on Good Hires
Pizza Today Magazine
If all the world's a stage, consider your wait staff the actors and your food, the play. Quality entrees and great service will nearly guarantee “encore performances,” but the opposite is, unfortunately, also true. Writing Topic: Business
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Ditching the Dump
Plenty Magazine
Several North American communities are considering losing their landfills and instead turning their trash into energy.Writing Topic: Environmental Affairs | Green Living
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The Real Life of Bees
The New York Times
The walking, talking, sneaker-wearing honeybees in Jerry Seinfeld’s animated film certainly are cute. But if a beekeeper like me had been in the director’s chair, “Bee Movie” would have looked quite a bit different.
Writing Topic: Beekeeping
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Cut Paper Mosaic
CRAFT Magazine
Maybe it was the wall-to-wall green shag or the fact that the previous owner had housed 14 cats there, but my charming 1930s bungalow was a steal. The place purportedly had gorgeous hardwood floors throughout, and, mostly, it did, but ripping up that smelly-cat carpeting had revealed one 8'x10' expanse of ugly pine boards -- raw, uneven, and studded with rusty nail heads -- smack in the middle of my living room. Turns out that leaving such unfinished business was pretty common back then; nice wood is expensive, and most people had area rugs anyway.
Rather than spend a fortune on refinishing or carpeting, I would do as the Romans did. A nod to Pompeii and my precious pooch, this durable “Beware of Dog” mosaic on-the-cheap is tiled with paper, not marble, and held together with glue, not grout.Writing Topic: Arts and Crafts | Green Living
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A Honey of a Mystery
Boys Life Magazine
Beekeepers around the United States are puzzling over a big mystery: Beehives buzzing with activity one day are nearly completely empty when next inspected. Normally when something goes wrong, beekeepers find piles of dead bees and other clues, but with what scientists have named Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), beekeepers find no dead bees—just honey, eggs, larvae and pupae left behind.Writing Topic: Beekeeping | Environmental Affairs | Nature
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How to Give Away One Million Dollars and Seven Things to Know Before You Donate a Dime
Indianapolis Monthly Magazine
So, you have good intentions and a substantial bank account. Not a bad start, but it's a far cry from making you a philanthropic powerhouse. Just ask Marilyn Glick and her husband, Eugene. Supporting countless Indy nonprofits—and recently donating $20 million to the IU School of Medicine—the two know a few things about giving. "It's easy to give money away," Marilyn Glick says, "but it's difficult to give it away wisely." Some nonprofit groups go out of business. Some turn out to be a poor fit for your particular interests. And sometimes, often due to ineffective executive leadership, not enough of the money gets to the people who need it. Amassing a fortune may actually be easier than giving it away. Still, with careful research, planning, and connecting with the right nonprofits, you'll get real results.Writing Topic: Business | Miscellaneous
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Security Check: Christopher Soghoian thinks what we don’t know can hurt us
Indianapolis Monthly Magazine
It looked like a scene right out of Law & Order. Christopher Soghoian arrived at his small Bloomington apartment last October to find smashed glass, books tossed on the floor, and computer and equipment gone. But the IU computer-science grad student hadn't been robbed. He'd been served—an FBI search warrant had been taped to the kitchen table.Writing Topic: Business | Miscellaneous
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Talking Trash: Is a plasma-arc plant really the answer to Indiana’s waste and energy problems?
Indianapolis Monthly Magazine
Imagine a world without landfills. Imagine a factory that converts trash into energy and construction materials simply by superheating the refuse. Imagine a permanent solution to the problematic disposal of hazardous substances found in medical waste, batteries and paint. These visions are the promise of the purveyors of an emerging “waste-to-energy” technology, known as plasma-arc solid waste processing, who want to bring a plant to Indy’s northwest side. The process, they claim, turns all sorts of trash into energy-generating gas along with other usable end-products such as countertops and even jewelry.Writing Topic: Environmental Affairs | Green Living
To see other writing samples, please use the topical navigation menu on the lower right to see all samples sorted topically.
Kudos
Susan Brackney is a creative thinker and a careful writer. She's also a very thoughtful and dependable person. I've enjoyed following her career and am always on the lookout for ways I can publish her work in our newspaper.
Bob Zaltsberg
The Herald Times
What I love about Susan? She's proactive, organized, smart and dependable. She's an idea factory, pitching timely and fun stories. She's in tune with our needs and editorial calendar, and her work is lively, thorough and complete. No hand-holding, no whining, no mess. Susan gets it--which is why she's in active rotation on our freelance list.
Cara McDonald
Indianapolis Monthly Magazine
Some authors have the gift of connecting with their readers on an intimate level of mutual understanding and acceptance. Susan is one of these authors that I have been privileged to work with on the Creativity Portal.
Chris Dunmire
http://www.creativity-portal.com
To say the least, Susan Brackney's writing has been a welcome addition to our Homes section. Each week, her 'Hoosier Roots' column on gardening proves to be one of the liveliest stories found in those pages. The Indianapolis Star is a publication that values local content, and Susan always finds a way to infuse the column with tips relevant to the region in which we live. It's the kind of content we simply couldn't get from the wire. She's been a pleasure to work with.
Daniel S. Comiskey, Custom Publications Writer/Editor
The Indianapolis Star