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I write a biweekly newspaper column for The Rancho Santa Fe Review, featuring literary and library news. As well, I publish the occasional feature story. Here are two recent pieces...

Love Your Library: Bestselling author asks ‘Where Will You Be In Five Years?’
Fairytale Friendship: Mini horse mourns the loss of her dog sister

 

Love Your Library: Go online for reading, learning and entertainment

by Sarah Z Sleeper
Although the Rancho Santa Fe Library has been closed for about a month, there are plenty of ways to access resources online. Here are a few great options.

Sizing Up San Diego’s Nonprofit CEO Pay

Sizing Up San Diego’s Nonprofit CEO Pay
by Sarah Z Sleeper
Sizing Up San Diego’s Nonprofit CEO Pay
San Diego Metropolitan, June 2004

It is a sensitive subject. Ask for a CEO’s salary and the answer is likely to be a cold stare. But in an era of financial scandals, calls for fiscal transparency are on the rise. Not only corporate CEOs, but also executives of tax-exempt nonprofits are finding themselves under scrutiny to prove their financial houses are in order.

Ansys Engineers Success

Ansys Engineers Success
by Sarah Z Sleeper
The Motley Fool
June 23, 2004

You gotta love a company with geek appeal. Unless you’re a rocket scientist, you may not have heard of Ansys (Nasdaq: ANSS), which sells engineering software used by the lofty likes of NASA.

UCSD’s Quiet New Cancer Czar

UCSD’s Quiet New Cancer Czar
by Sarah Z Sleeper

San Diego Metropolitan
November 2003

In his late 70s, William Kronenberg began feeling lousy. Exhausted and aching, he figured he had overdone it during his move to California from New York. It was 1987 and not an auspicious start to his retirement in Laguna Hills with his wife, Dorothy. Consultations with physicians at UCLA resulted in bad news. Kronenberg wasn’t just tired. He had hairy cell leukemia, a serious, sometimes deadly, but slow-moving form of blood cancer, so-named because of the fuzzy “hair” that surrounds affected white blood cells.

When a legendary local company is taken over

When a legendary local company is taken over
by Sarah Z Sleeper
North County Times
March 3, 2003

Daniel Levy has owned the Mail Boxes Etc. franchise on Highway 101 in Solana Beach for 14 years. He’s put blood, sweat and tears into building his business, he says, by delivering great customer service.

Wireless Technology Boosting Qualcomm

Wireless Technology Boosting Qualcomm
by Sarah Z Sleeper

Investor’s Business Daily
October 16, 2002

Analysts give Qualcomm credit for having technology that trumps systems by rivals. My article details why the company is in the wireless cat-bird seat.

She Put Truth on the Front Line

She Put Truth on the Front Line
by Sarah Z Sleeper

Journalist Martha Gellhorn chased the news with honesty and bravery
Investor’s Business Daily
JUNE 19, 2002

It was 1944, and Martha Gellhorn’s goal was to sneak ashore during the bloody D-Day invasion of Normandy. But as a reporter and a woman, her chances of getting into the action were slim to none.

Fed Aims For Web ‘Transparency’

Fed Aims For Web ‘Transparency’
by Sarah Z Sleeper

Investor’s Business Daily
November 29, 2001

When Federal Reserve Board Chairman Alan Greenspan speaks, people listen.

Unfortunately, if they watch him on TV broadcasts, they hear only about five seconds of a much longer speech. It’s tough to get a clear picture of his economic policy decisions that way.

Poet Emily Dickinson: Focus, Persistence And Determined Uniqueness Earned Her Literary Fame

Poet Emily Dickinson: Focus, Persistence And Determined Uniqueness Earned Her Literary Fame
by Sarah Z Sleeper

Investor’s Business Daily, June 7, 2001

In 1862, Emily Dickinson tried, and failed, to write a poem about a hummingbird. She decided that the final piece was awkward, and put it aside. Eighteen years later, she returned to the poem, editing the original 20 lines down to eight. 

In Search of a Multicultural Media

In Search of a Multicultural Media
by Sarah Z Sleeper

Office.com
January 1, 2001

It’s a deal that results in the disappearance of the second-largest African American-owned media company in the country. On November 3 Viacom Inc., the media giant that owns CBS, UPN and a smorgasbord of other media offerings, announced that it would purchase the privately held BET Holdings II Inc., including Black Entertainment Television, for $2.3 billion in stock.

Publishing’s Electronic Battlefield

Publishing’s Electronic Battlefield
by Sarah Z Sleeper
Smart Business
January, 2001

When Newsbytes writer and editor Kevin Featherly coined the phrase “Napstered” to refer to the illegal sales of his articles online, he was joking. An avid user of the controversial music site where users can “share” copyrighted tunes over the Internet, he found it ironic when he discovered his own intellectual property for sale on Contentville.

Low on Profits, High on Attitude

Low on Profits, High on Attitude
by Sarah Z Sleeper

Smart Business
November 2000

E*Trade’s irreverent advertisements portray it as the hippest place to invest online. But coolness might not equal cash.

“We’re so much more than a cheap trade.”