Meredith O’Brien has written a variety of pieces on topics from pop culture, politics and gender issues, to education and media criticism, including more than a dozen pieces for the Society of Professional Journalists’ publication Quill. She is currently a contributing writer to The Mighty website and the National Multiple Sclerosis Society’s MS Connection website.

Her work has appeared in a wide array of venues including: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, The Baltimore Sun, the Babble website, The Boston Globe, GateHouse News Service, The Hartford Courant, Health Central, The Huffington Post, The Indianapolis Star, Inside Higher Ed, The Mighty, The Nation, The Poynter Institute website, Remedy Health Media, the Smart Music website, The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, STAT News, The Washington Post, The Avalon Literary Review, and Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine.

Meredith was a newspaper reporter for the The Boston Herald, The Republican (then The Union-News), Holyoke Transcript-Telegram, and the Westfield Evening News. She was a blogger for The Boston Herald online, writing its parenting blog, The Boston Mommy Blog which contained news and commentary.

She also researched and wrote several investigative reports for The Center for Public Integrity, a nonprofit, nonpartisan investigative reporting organization in Washington, D.C. Among those reports were a two-part, digitally published report about the 2004 presidential nominating conventions:

• It’s their party: DNC demands boost cost of convention, paid for by special interests
• The Republican convention: The party begins in New York City, paid for by special interests 

Samples of Meredith’s work.

• • A journalism educator wonders: How can I teach students how to maintain their credibility? An essay on the Poynter Institute’s website about new challenges facing journalists when it comes to gathering and disseminating news on social media platforms.
  • On TikTok, I’m the new face of taco salad. Opinion piece for the Boston Globe about my humbling surprise to learn that a viral TikTok used my author photo to depict the type of person who orders a taco salad in a Mexican restaurant.
  • How politics, money and science steered the quest for a coronavirus vaccine. A review for the Washington Post about two books exploring the origins of the COVID-19 vaccines.
  • A chronic illness conundrum: Should I tell my employer about my MS? An essay for STAT News about the pros and cons of informing an employer about one’s chronic illness.
  • What’s Being Bought in Boston. An essay in The Baltimore Sun about the 2004 Democratic presidential convention.
  • Place Your Bets: The Gambling Industry and the 1996 Presidential Election. A white paper released by the Center for Public Integrity about the influence of gambling interests on the two presidential candidates.
  • My Story is Your Story. An essay for a multiple sclerosis patient Remedy Health Media publication.
  • Parenting the Age of School Shootings. An essay published by the Worcester Telegram & Gazette about how parents react when their child’s school is threatened with a mass shooting.
  • Music lessons from Mr. Clark. A GateHouse News Service column on the lessons learned from a year spent watching a middle school jazz band director work with his grieving students.
  • Teaching Journalism in the Age of Trump. An essay on the website Inside Higher Ed about the challenges of teaching journalism students in the age of Trump.
  • Got Milk? Adventures with a Dairy Allergy. An essay on the website The Mighty about what it’s like to try to navigate the world of food when one has a food allergy.
  • Led by a teen back to the debate. A GateHouse News Service column on the influence of a first-time voter on his debate-weary mother.
  • Quill-HowDidWeGetItSoWrong_2001 Cover story for Quill Magazine about the botched 2000 presidential election calls made by the national news media.
  • Outsourcing parenting. A GateHouse News Service column analyzing of a recent book about the boom in services designed to help parents raise their children.
  • Life Imitates Art: Juno & Jamie Lynn Spears. A Huffington Post column about teen pregnancy in real life and on the big screen.
  • The Newsroom — Getting it right instead of getting it first. Analysis of a first season episode of the HBO drama on the CliqueClack TV web site.
  • The Politician’s Good Wife. A column examining political wives, both fictional and real-life on the Mommy Tracked web site.
  • When MS Gives You Summertime Restrictions on Your Comings and Goings. An essay on The Mighty’s website about multiple sclerosis putting its patients under house arrest.
  • Dear Cubs Fans: Your time will come. A Chicago Parent column in the form of a letter to Cubs fans after the Boston Red Sox won the 2004 World Series following an 86-year-long championship drought.
  • Getting Steamy with Dr. Uhthoff. An essay in Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine about the impact of heat sensitivity on the life of a multiple sclerosis patient.
  • Another Game Day. An essay in Intima: A Journal of Narrative Medicine about coming to terms with having all of your life’s plans become provisional due to a chronic illness.
  • When You Have MS, Politics is Personal. A piece on the MS Connection website exploring the intersection of politics and healthcare and the popularization of the hashtag #IAmAPreExistingCondition.
  • The Chamber of Commerce Welcomes You to Pottersville. An essay on Medium that re-imagines It’s a Wonderful Life’s Pottersville as coming to life in modern-day America and led by our current Mr. Potter-like president.

She formerly wrote on a regular basis for:

• • Modern Mom/Mommy Tracked: Meredith was a featured weekly columnist who wrote about pop culture and politics with a focus on the depiction of women in the media. Mommy Tracked (later bought by Modern Mom) was listed on Forbes‘ top 100 sites for women and was called “edgy” by the Wall Street Journal.
  • Blogger, Picket Fence Post: Blogged about parenting and suburban family lifestyles. Nominated as a Best of Boston Blog by local CBS affiliate.
  • Blogger, Notes from the Asylum: Pop culture, politics and media blogger. Nominated as a Best of Boston Blog by local CBS affiliate.
  • Syndicated columnist, blogger for GateHouse News Service: Wrote a monthly, award-winning column about parenting.
  • Blogger, CliqueClackTV/CliqueClack Flicks: Former contributor to TV and film blogs.
  • Blogger, DotMoms: Blogged about parenting.