Singles Say They’d Rather Be Alone Than Settle On Valentine’s Day

By Christie Nicholson
Article published in The Columbia Journalist on February 14, 2006.

On a day when some singles feel as invisible as a high school student without a prom date, others are celebrating the fact that they have not settled. They belong to a band of uncompromising singles who call themselves the “quirkyalones.”
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This entry was written by Christie, posted on February 14, 2007 at 1:20 pm, filed under Home, Print. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Framing Science – the new science of persuasion

Observer Magazine – January 2007
Volume 20, Number 1
Framing Science

By Christie Nicholson

In 1998, a national $206 billion lawsuit settled against four tobacco companies, the Master Settlement Agreement, provided the funding to launch a series of anti-smoking television commercials. This series, called the “truth,” launched in 2000 and became one of the largest and most effective anti-smoking campaigns in American history. Out of nearly 100 ads in the series, which still continues today, a 30-second spot called “Body Bags” stands out.

Here’s the scene: Vans pull up outside the corporate offices of an unnamed tobacco company. Teenagers pile out, dragging body bags and dumping them on the sidewalk in front of the offices; 1,200 body bags, the ad tells us. A teen shouts into a loudspeaker: “Do you know how many people tobacco kills every day?” The camera catches a curious corporate suit peering out the window to the kids below. “You know what?” the teen says looking up, “We’re going to leave these here for you, so you can see what 1,200 people actually look like.” Cut to an overhead shot of the body bags covering two city blocks. Sound of wind blowing. Fade to black.
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This entry was written by Christie, posted on February 7, 2007 at 8:48 pm, filed under Home, Print. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

fMRI – reading the brain

Observer Magazine – September 2006
Volume 19, Number 9
Thinking It Over, fMRI and Psychological Science

By Christie Nicholson

In 1880 an Italian peasant named Bertino survived a horrific accident that cracked open his skull and left sections of his brain exposed. Surprisingly Bertino felt fine, even though one could see blood pulsating through his frontal lobes. His physician, Angelo Mosso, noticed something else very strange. Every time church bells rang in town, blood surged through Bertino’s lobes. Mosso took a guess that the blood surged because the bells reminded Bertino of prayer. When Mosso asked Bertino directly, “Do the bells make you think of prayer?” Bertino answered, “Yes.” At that moment blood again engorged the exposed veins. Then Mosso asked, “What is eight by 12?” Bertino answered, “96.” More blood pulsed through. The link Mosso had stumbled upon was perhaps the first connection made between blood flow and brain activity — a serendipitous connection that, more than century later, would become the foundation for a revolutionary tool to study the brain: functional magnetic resonance imaging, or fMRI.
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This entry was written by Christie, posted on September 1, 2006 at 8:22 pm, filed under Home, Print. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Performance Anxiety – everyone gets it

Theme Magazine, Fall 2006

Click here for .pdf of article

In 1999, musician Jana McCall was set to play the biggest show of her life. She was on right before the headline band at Bumbershoot, the Seattle festival that has become a modern-day Woodstock for West Coast rock ’n rollers. The place was packed with thousands of fans, it was hot, and the crowd was rowdy.
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This entry was written by Christie, posted on June 7, 2006 at 8:10 pm, filed under Home, Print. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.

Sexy Skirts Are Out, Cargo Pants Are in for Presenters at Auto Show

By Christie Nicholson
Article published in The Columbia Journalist on March 18, 2006.

Some men say they are more likely to check out a car if an attractive woman stands next to it. But times have changed, and presenters at the auto show are flaunting their car smarts, not their legs.
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This entry was written by Christie, posted on March 18, 2006 at 1:15 pm, filed under Home, Print. Leave a comment or view the discussion at the permalink.