Brendan McKinnon ’19, Writer
McKinnon is a rising 2L at Boston College Law School and is making his first contribution to BC Law Magazine. He is a graduate of the US Coast Guard Academy and George Washington University, and served in the Coast Guard. His national security-focused writing has been published by the Boston Herald, Greenburg (SC) Times, Southington (CT) Observer, Lima Charlie News, and the BC Law Impact blog. His article in this issue began as a post for the Truman National Security Project Doctrine Blog, but he was eager to share it with lawyers. “This started as a piece about the operational failures of the War on Drugs,” he says, “but it’s impossible to advance this conversation without recognizing the role BC Law alumni and other lawyers will play in enforcing and reforming these policies in the future.”
Yuta Onoda, Illustrator
Originally from Japan, Onoda is an illustrator based in Toronto, Canada. In creating his art, he explores various forms of media in search of new ways to express himself. His clients include TIME, Playboy, Rolling Stone, New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, USA Today, Wired, Scholastic, Atlantic, Tor Books, Simon & Schuster, and Major League Baseball. He has received recognition from the Society of Illustrators, Communication Arts Illustration Annual, and Creative Quarterly. In 2012 he won the Green Earth Book Award in the children’s fiction category. Of his assignment to illustrate “Ode to a Lost Cause,” he says: “My challenge for this project was to integrate iconic elements related to the Coast Guard into one illustration that conveys the idea of losing the War on Drugs.”
Jane Whitehead, Writer
British-born freelance writer Jane Whitehead is based in Boston and New York. An Oxford graduate, she was associate director of Health Promotion Services in Cambridge, England, before coming to the US in 1992. Her features, essays, and profiles have appeared in the Boston Globe, ArchitectureBoston, The Horn Book Magazine, and many local newspapers and alumni publications, including Boston College and Boston College Law School magazines. Of her pieces in this issue, she says: “Every interview opens up new angles on the world. Now, thanks to fashion industry attorney Hank Rouda ’86, when I go into H&M or window shop at Giorgio Armani, I have some insight into their very different corporate cultures. And Dallas Taylor ’17 just bowled me over with his honesty, humility, resilience, empathy, and focus.”
John Ritter, Illustrator
Ritter is an American illustrator and post pop artist whose depictions of celebrities and popular culture have consistently defined the pages of the New Yorker, TIME, GQ, the New York Times, and Harper’s Magazine. Never relegating himself to a single format, his work is seen not only in numerous national and international publications, but also in Broadway advertising campaigns, corporate art installations, and gallery exhibitions (NYC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Pittsburgh). The Standing Rock cover hit home for Ritter since he and his family have been greatly affected by the shale gas industry in Western Pennsylvania, where they live. They plan an active role in opposing unrestricted access to public and private land for natural gas development (fracking) due to its documented affect on land, water, air quality, and health.