When I walked into Taylor Hall as an 18-year-old freshman in 1983, I had no idea that the foundation for my professional and personal life would take place there.
While earning a bachelor’s degree in Journalism in 1987, I was a section editor at the Daily Kent Stater — in a newsroom packed with future journalism giants whose achievements are too numerous to mention.
I took an architecture survey class upstairs – cementing my life of writing about design and the built environment.
My wife of 33 years, Heidi Johnson-Wright (B.A. in English, Kent, 1982) lived next door at Prentice Hall. My wife uses a wheelchair for mobility and did then. The seeds of my activism for people with disabilities and all marginalized folks were planted right there – in the sacred ground between Taylor and Prentice, where May 4th observances take place.
My first job was with the Columbus Dispatch (I zeroed in only on central Ohio where my wife was starting law school at Ohio State.) I figured I would work at a large daily newspaper as a reporter for 40-plus years.
I covered growth, planning, urban affairs and when I could get away with it – news, travel and lifestyle stories on people with disabilities, including the landmark passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act in 1990.