Meghan Mutchler Deerin

Freelance Writer

Washington, DC

Meghan Mutchler Deerin is a writer specializing in articles on health, education, parenting and social issues for national and local publications. She has written for the New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, U.S. Airway's Attache Magazine, Catalyst Magazine, Master Athlete and Womensnewslink.com.

Meghan Mutchler Deerin

Freelance Writer

Washington, DC

Hometown Advantage
Graduates Of A College Incentive Program Give Hope To Their Struggling Suburb. Perhaps an even better measure of the program's impact is that only five students have dropped out of Prairie State, and three of those five later returned to complete their degrees. At Governors State, the only Learning in Context students who left the university without degrees transferred to other colleges.
The Chicago Tribune
Roosevelt's Disability An Issue at Memorial
For much of his life, Franklin Delano Roosevelt struggled to play down the fact that he could not walk unaided. For four decades, his relatives and admirers have worked to create a monument here to his memory. Now, construction is well along, but the monument is suddenly caught up in controversy over its builders' decision to continue to veil the disability Roosevelt tried to disguise.
The New York Times
`Spirited' child needs structure--and patience
It might be the kid in the restaurant running circles around the table, the preschooler demanding that his mother cut all the tags out of his clothing, or the little girl flinging herself on the floor of the grocery store, shrieking for her favorite brand of cereal. Parents often describe such offspring as difficult, challenging or strong-willed.
The Chicago Tribune
The Teen Brain Theory
Some scientists believe that kids simply aren't wired to care. "Most 15-year-olds are not going around shooting each other, but you have to accept the fact that most teens are going to experiment," Phelan said. "You want to minimize the more dangerous forms of experimentation and not have a cow or a fit when you run across your teen doing something you don't like."
The Chicago Tribune
Peace talks
from offering a shovel to another kid to building a castle without showering everyone else in sand--through a running commentary that goes something like this: "Good job building that sand castle ... nice sharing with the little girl ... oh, I like the way you just handed her the shovel." When John David slips up and throws a little sand, Vargo doesn't admonish him--prompting another round of raised eyebrows from the stroller patrol.
The Chicago Tribune
Goodbye, green envy
Executive women no longer hole up in the office while their male counterparts mix business with pleasure on the course. "Obviously, golf is a big part of building client relationships, but we were all so bad we were embarrassed to go out and play," remembered Cheryl Fox, an advertising sales representative for Lifetime Television who formerly was a sales account executive in CNN Networks' Chicago office.
The Chicago Tribune
Orphan In Midlife -- Adults Can Feel Deep Emptiness
The word "orphan'' summons images of bereft children, not middle-age adults, but when Martin Auz lost both his parents in 1997, the husband and father was struck by the realization that he was now an orphan. "It never occurred to me that I would feel like an orphan after my parents died, but I did,'' said Auz, 53, a U.S.
The Orlando Sentinel
Young Disabled Search For Access To Love And Romance
Cameron Gross doesn't seem like a kid who needs tips on dating. The high school sophomore already has had several girlfriends: He just broke up with a freshman ("too immature"), had a blast with his homecoming date and recently asked a girl to a movie. A decent dance card for any 16-year-old boy, but Gross isn't just any 16-year-old boy; he was born with spina bifida.
The Chicago Tribune
Schools put individual stamp on dual language
While the Board of Education wants to get English learners into all-English classes as quickly as possible, it also is, allowing schools to develop students native languages. Called dual language, the approach puts English speakers and non-English speakers in the same classes and teaches them in both languages.
The Chicago Reporter
You Call This A Hospital?
Fright was etched on Daniel Keefer's face as the 5-year-old rode the elevator to Loyola University Medical Center's fourth floor. But when the elevator door slid open, the little boy with pneumonia smiled, stepping out into a cheery hallway painted to resemble the view from an elevated train platform in Wrigleyville.
The Chicago Tribune
Arab-american Girls Find The Teen Years Test Their Faith And Fidelity To Parents
Cloaked in head scarves and floor-skimming black robes, high school classmates Amina Dafalla and Soomaya Mohamed spend each weekday wading through a sea of teenagers clad in the latest MTV fashions. "For me, the first day was hard," said Dafalla, a soft-spoken 15-year-old Muslim from Yemen, now a sophomore at Stagg High School in Palos Hills.
The Chicago Tribune
Heart disease kills more women than cancer, yet it is rarely perceived as a serious threat
But looking back, she "was a walking poster child for heart disease." She was overweight, smoked, had a high-stress job and a family history of heart disease. Her father had his first heart attack at 45 and died of another at 57. But heart disease just wasn't on her radar screen on that day in September 2000.
The Chicago Tribune
Featured
‘Wander Women’ Cross the Country to Find Adventure
Hitting the hiking trails to explore, stay active, find joy
AARP Staying Sharp

About

Meghan Mutchler Deerin

writing

editing

storytelling

After receiving a B.A. in English from Boston College, I began my writing career at the New York Times as a news clerk in the Washington bureau. Between coffee runs for the editors, I squeezed in my first articles, including a story on FDR that led the National page.
I moved on to a full-time reporting job at a local daily, The Prince George's Journal, earning first-place in editorial contests for coverage of the police and education beats.
In Chicago, I continued to cover education at the regional and state levels for the award-winning Daily Southtown. I later joined the paper's feature staff, writing centerpiece stories for the lifestyle section. After the birth of the second of my four daughters, I embraced the freelance life, becoming a regular contributor to the Chicago Tribune.
Since moving back to my hometown of Washington, DC, I have continued to specialize in articles on health, education, parenting and social issues.