: About Me

After 27 years in corporate communications, Joel became a full-time freelance journalist and public relations/corporate communications writer.

Since then he has had more than 150 articles and essays published in newspapers and magazines, including the New York Times, New Jersey Monthly, Moment Magazine, The Gateway Guide, Vicinity Magazine, New Jersey & Company, Revitalization Digest and others. His two humor columns, "Point of Departure" and "The Roamin' Scribe," have been popular in local publications for several years. He also assists several companies and organizations with their employee and public relations projects, including press releases, newsletters, advertorials, editing and proofing and other services. These companies are involved in a wide variety of industries, inclusing medical imaging, municipal revitalization, music and theatre and more.

In his spare time he works on a variety of creative endeavors. His series of short plays, collectively called "Six Tens From a Fifty," was performed by the Brief Acts Theatre Company in Manhattan in February 2008. He is also the author of two published nonfiction books on culture and religion. His newest book, a bio/memoir called "Grandpa Had a Long One: Personal Notes on the Life, Career and Legacy of Benny Bell," based on his relationship with his grandfather, will be published this spring.

A 1979 graduate of Hofstra University where he studied journalism and theatre, Joel began his career as an editor on trade books and magazines for the photography and home video industries, including The Video Source Book, for which he wrote hundreds of capsule reviews. Following that, he ran the communications departments for several major consumer electronics firms.

Joel lives with his wife, Bonnie, and teenaged son, Daniel, in New Jersey. His daughter Celia is married and lives in Connecticut, and his daughter Kate is studying theatre at Emerson College in Boston.

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