Meet the Mini-Grant Recipients, Part IV

The latest in our intro series features two more grant recipients, Karen Wehrstein and Michael Pollock. Ladies first….

“I am a freelance writer, novelist and computer artist. I’ve published three novels (Lion’s Heart and Lion’s Soul, solo works, and Shadow’s Son, with Shirley Meier and S.M. Stirling) as well as several short stories and innumerable journalistic articles, mostly for publications in Ontario, where I live.”

Karen intends to work on two separate areas:

“Media Malfeasance in the Voter Fraud Issue: Has the US media (traditional or otherwise) been aiding the Republican Party in exaggerating claims of Democratic voter fraud? I’ll look deeply into the accusations against ACORN during the 2008 presidential campaign, but trace the issue further back and more broadly than that.”

“The Road to Universal Healthcare in the USA: Every other country in the developed world has it. Why doesn’t the richest? This timeline explores the historical background, previous efforts to establish universal health care, and the developing story of initiatives that are being planned during the Obama administration.”

———-

Michael Pollock is the sixth of our seven recipients. He writes, “I am a freelance writer living in North Carolina. I studied biology and anthropology at UNC Chapel Hill. I’m interested in the history of socialism, the Cold War, and how economics relates to politics and international relations, so I am reading about modern Albanian history, and since the Albanian national minority in Yugoslavia is a pressing issue, with direct US involvement under both Democrats and Republicans, I proposed that as subject for a new timeline.

“I’m not sure about a title, but I plan to write a timeline about the Albanian minority in the former Yugoslavia and the struggle over Kosovo (Kosova to
Albanians), possibly later broadening to show how Yugoslavia came apart and other ethnic conflicts in the Balkans.”