One of The Mountain-Ear’s longest-running occasional columnists, Mark Cohen lived in Nederland for 21 years before departing for “an undisclosed, secure location.” (A hint: he used to comment about residing in the local North Korean consulate.)

This may give readers the idea that Cohen is sometimes not meant to be taken too seriously…and yet, there are times when he is very serious indeed. He likes to write satire and humor, but often writes about political issues. While he writes stories about local residents, he also writes on those “political issues impacting the community….I enjoy sharing what I write, and for each polarizing political piece, I try to balance it out with a non-political humorous piece that hopefully causes others to smile.”

A busy lawyer, he claims that “My passion is drafting clear legal documents and helping clients resolve disputes arising out of poorly drafted documents (or the lack of any documents at all).” The clarity of his legal writing is reflected in the writing he does for The Mountain-Ear.

He very much enjoys sharing his writing with a small community of people, many of whom he knows personally. Writing for The Mountain-Ear gives him “the freedom to write what I want and share it with other residents.” He says he is grateful for the opportunity to do this.