I specialize in two areas. This one is my true love. I've made more of a mark in the other--(investigative reporting, see next section)--but I'm still young. Sorta.

Nothing more intoxicating I can think of, than diving into quirky, clandestine, or oddly-misunderstood subcultures, thrashing about till I think I understand them, coming up for air and dragging you guys guys back with me. Can't decide which I like more: getting to know the characters, or turning them into Characters that will bring them alive for you.

Examples: closeted army and marine officers, Columbine Evangelicals, voracious Barbie doll collectors, "gay for pay" porn stars, Air Force Academy cadets . . .

I never quite heard what my calling was, until my friend Miles Harvey wrote a blurb for my non-existent book and called me a cultural translator. Oh. I'm pretty sure that's the thing.

So now I'm a Denver writer, out here wandering the hinterland for material. Former Army officer, former computer analyst, former management consultant for the former Arthur Andersen. MA in creative writing, and yes I think that was invaluable. At least for me. Meanwhile, I'm a moderately-lonely Denver writer, out here wandering the hinterland for material. Former Army officer, former computer analyst, former management consultant for the former Arthur Andersen. MA in creative writing, and no writing school isn't a big sham. Not for me. By the fourth year of the two-year program, I had found my voice, and cranked out the bulk of my memoir, which will be the only book I'm remembered for a hundred years from now. In my dreams, anyway. (And it's not an autobiography, it's a memoir about a particular two-year period that was pretty wild. But I was still living it at the time, and the distance has been enlightening.) I was still pretty rough when I got out, but Joan Walsh at Salon taught me everything else I needed. And Frank Rich and Richard Goldstein gave me the confidence I'll be eternally grateful for.

So that's what I really want to do when I grow up. Ask me just about anything, just don't ask me to write it like AP.

Links to Some of My Better Published Work

Investigative reporting is the second great love of my life, just not quite marriage material. But so far it's taken me a lot further.

I ran into myself on Google's Directory of Journalists, and discovered I'm "best known for debunking many of the biggest Columbine myths." I guess it must be true. This time, I think it probably is--either for the myths, or just for Salon's Columbine coverage in general. It's definitely what most of my email-from-strangers is still all about. I broke several national stories in that run, including first leaks from Eric Harris's journal, and the news that Christian martyr Cassie Bernall never "Said Yes." The biggest break was persuading Columbine Lead Investigator Kate Battan to break her silence and reveal what Columbine was really about five months after the massacre. Except she didn't completely get it right--she understood everything but the motives, but they had people specializing in that who understood it much better than her. I've been messing around with a book about the killers motives for years, but I can't tell whether there's a market for it. For now, I've pulled together everything I've ever found on Columbine, organized it into categories, put together a commentary on what's reliable and what's garbage, and tagged it with the title The Columbine Almanac. I was going to use it as an appendix someday, but it works much better online anyway.

Sometimes investigating merges with the cultural translating, that's when I go to heaven. Best assignment ever was spending six months inside a closeted community of gay army and marine officers in Colorado Springs. The best part was, it wasn't assigned. I was working on something similar, kinda stumbled into it. Couldn't let it go. Produced my best work ever, "Don't ask, Don't tell, Don't Fall in Love" (part 1, part 2). It won a GLAAD Award, and that really made my year. That was three years ago. The three captains have all made major now, and they're ready to do it all over again. (You wouldn't believe what they've been up to. I never would have guessed who would almost marry a woman, or who would fall in love with a man.)

I want to do it again too, but I need to find a long-term home for it, preferably in a big magazine with a wide audience. I want to take you back every three years or so, in something roughly akin to Michael Apted's mesmerizing ". . . Up" series. (If you have not seen them, stop what you're doing this moment, drive to a non-evil video store meaning not Blockbuster, bring home a copy of 42 Up, then return here and continue reading the next sentence.) OK, what did you think? If you're a magazine editor, what the hell are you waiting for?

Links to Some of My Better Published Work

- 2001 GLAAD Media Award: Best online magazine article. Don't ask, don't tell, don't fall in love, part 1 , Part 2

- 2000 SPJ Awards: First in Breaking News, Honorable Mention in Depth Reporting (both Columbine).

- 2000 Online Journalism Awards finalist (expose on Columbine martyr Cassie Bernall).

- Five 1999 and 2000 Best of Salon Awards.

- 2002 Dart Fellow.

Literary Agent: Betsy Lerner, The Gernert Co.

Email: cullendave-AT-gmail-DOT-com

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Quarterly is in quotes because you can expect it roughly four times a year, but sporadically. They sure won't be on a strict quarterly schedule.

• MY BLOG: Conclusive Evidence--of Dave Cullen having existed
• Some of My Better Published Work
• The Columbine Almanac
• Media On Dean (archive of recent press coverage)
• Gays in the military site--under construction
• JUST POSTED ON SLATE: The Air Force Academy's Show Trial