Biography & Contact

Childhood 

johncflavin@gmail.com

My website is mostly devoted to Flavin Stories; however, you can click on menu items along the top of each page to find links to a wider variety of my work.

Also available: a script for a short film about a boy who meets a wish maker in the forest; a full-length satirical manuscript about the one, true afterworld (110,000 words); an excerpt from a post-apocalyptic, historically-based science fiction novel (35,000 words), and a partially completed dark (possibly too dark) satire.

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I was born in Detroit, Michigan, where my childhood was animated by art, laughter, sports, welfare, and sibling arguments over how many bowls of Cap’n Crunch cereal we could eat at certain times of day. There were splashes of idyllic Christmas mornings and real tooth fairies.

Then came the stomach-punches: divorce, runaways, and waves of cancer that took my mother and aunts and uncles, and then the family gatherings on the 4th of July were over. Everyone wandered in all directions, from law school at the University of Washington to marriage in Texas to mental illness in New Hampshire.

My education was lived and learned, formally and informally. It took 11 years, but I earned two bachelor’s degrees from the University of Washington: Political Science and Comparative History of Ideas. I earned minor equivalents in English and history (with a taste of science), and later a master’s in education. I have half a master’s in English from Portland State University, of which I intend to direct to my current pursuit, which is a master’s in Creative Nonfiction at Goucher College outside Baltimore.

I ran a short video group in Seattle for a short while, spent a few years editing video, and continued educating myself in any and all aspects of writing.

I taught for 12 years at a rural high school just outside Portland, Oregon, where I was the Chair of English Language Arts department and advisor to the school newspaper and magazine. I was a contributing freelance writer and photographer for The Oregonian for nine years.

I have since found love, adventure, and decency on the East Coast, and now I reside and teach high school in Baltimore County.

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Genres

I write in many genres. I love writing social and political pieces, as well as formal and informal academic essays. While I have limited experience writing scripts, I have found success there, too. I have been paid extensively for writing a broad variety of newspaper, magazine, and online articles.

I welcome opportunities to create and/or collaborate on a new writing projects. I am interested in publishing my work, discussing new writing projects or proposals, and I am open to all feedback.

Some links below are “private”. Please contact me by email (johncflavin@gmail.com) if interested.

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Articles

St. Louis,Missouri | Feast Magazine human interest story about the personal tragedy of area wine connoisseur, Darryl Vennard: “After Tragic Family Loss, St. Louis Food Community Rallies Around Corked Tree.”

Oregonian op-ed on the state of American public education: Diane Ravitch, a historian of education, an educational policy analyst, and a research professor at New York University, posted this article.

“What if…” A lead feature article on a local tragedy and what it meant for the Seattle-area residents.

Book review on Charlie LeDuff’s book, Detroit: an American Autopsy. 

Art review on Woodburn, Oregon artist Doug Mosley.

A Family Builds an energy-independent house out of straw; a human interest story.

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Satire

The Big World 

A completed satirical novel about the one, real afterworld. The Director of Limbo and narrator of the story, Neither-Nor Johnson, takes the reader on an absolutely true tour of heaven and hell in a race to prevent Satan from being “loosed out of his prison”, as we have all been promised in the Holy Bible.

110,400 words.

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Science Fiction

Lorac

A science fiction, post-post-apocalyptic novel. The main plot takes place far in the future, 4447, long after the swelling human populations had been obliterated and every scrap of ice on the Earth melted. Small tribes are scattered around the globe and worldwide population is at pre-historic levels–about 15 million people. Coastal regions of the continents are under water and the majority of the people live in the Himalayas. There are two main societies: those who still believe in progress and those who do not.

About 20% complete. 28,750 words. 

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 Social Commentary

“More, I Want More”

Social commentary about how the last 40 years have propagated Americans (in particular) who incessantly seek more; it touches on some of the commercial, political, and psychological explanations. It is light-hearted and humorous. (While not an academic piece, citations and links exist.)

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Academic

“Effective Ambiguity in A Clockwork Orange“

This academic essay was written for a graduate-level English course at Portland State University. The objective of the assignment was to identify any British author, then analyze the use of language and how that language affected the reader’s experience. A Clockwork Orange, written by Anthony Burgess and published in 1962, is a deceptively complex work with regard to Burgess’s treatment of language. He combines straight English, Cockney English, and a Russian-influenced argot called “Nasdat”. 

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Radio Story

“The Curse of Ted Gunderson

I wrote, directed, and produced a 30-minute story that aired on late-night radio in Los Angeles. While it pokes fun at people who believe they are the focus of an insidious invisible power, and thereby cursed, it carries a Twilight Zone-like feel.

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Other

52 Weekends in Seattle

I wrote the “edgy” blurbs for Ink & Paper Group, a former Portland publisher, who printed a deck of cards to inspire locals to enjoy their city or tourists to try something new.

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johncflavin@gmail.com

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