Books. Blogs. Annual Reports. Videos. Interactive games.

Our Marto Writing team does all of this and more. It’s no secret that story telling is our passion. Here’s some of our recent work (click on the green text to see the actual work):

Books

• For People, Not for Profit, a history of Fenway Community Health Center, chronicles 40 years of community health care from 1971 - 2011. It begins with stories of 1970s counterculture, continues through the shocking challenge of the AIDS crisis, and introduces the organizations many pioneering achievements in LGBTQ and community health care.

• An Island in the Family is the story of Ed and Judy McDevitt, who served as caretakers on Peddocks Island in Boston Harbor from 1960 through the 1970s. They raised four children without television, electricity, or even running water; Ed took his kids to school every day by boat. They loved every minute of it. Chapter One chronicles how Ed and Judy met.

• Barnstorming. Co-written with Jonathan Carroll, this is an historical novel about forbidden romance set in the context of Negro Baseball in mid-twentieth century Houston, Texas. Tom’s roles included historical research about the “New South” and other story lines, character development, and editorial review.

• Coming soon in early 2021, Scows and Scallywags. Russell Tripp is the larger-than-life founder of Bay State Towboat Company, which was based on the MassPort Pier in East Boston from 1986 through the early 2000s. His career also includes time as a tugboat captain and crew member, a diver for underwater construction and salvage projects, and chief engineer for the refits of old boats he bought and renovated for use in his fleet. This book is due in January of 2021.

Education and Travel

• Morales at the Burns, an educational blog documenting Boston College’s Music Department’s work in support of original renaissance music found in the archives of the Cathedral of Toledo. Shot in both Chestnut Hill, Mass., and Toledo, Spain with videographer Cameron Kirkpatrick, this project showed behind-the-scenes preparations for a re-creation of the funeral mass for the painter El Greco on the 500thanniversary of his death.

• “Corruption at the Panama Canal,” a chapter from Managing TrumPolitical Projects, was co-authored with Yasser and Yara Osman, a father and daughter team of architects. It’s a guide for project managers on how to deal with official corruption without sacrificing one’s personal ethics. Real-life stories were told in fictional contexts - in this case the 1903 construction of the Panama Canal - to protect sources.

Business Documents

• 2020 Annual Report, Quincy Asian Resources, Inc., Quincy, Mass. This immigrant services organization celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2021. Its growing programs more than met the challenges of a pandemic, echoing its survival through previous challenges. Their annual report highlights QARI’s ability to adapt to a changing world in the same way it supports the immigrants it serves.

Videos and Games

• “Turning AID Around,” an economic and community development video presentation produced for Direct Impact Africa (DIA) highlighting its programs in the Lower Zambezi River Basin in Zambia.

• Watch this space for announcement of an educational game designed for board members and senior managers of nonprofit organizations. It should be released in the first quarter of 2021.