I am a long-time freelance writer with ~1,000 bylines since 1995 in a variety of alternative newsweeklies, industry trade magazines, newspapers, and nonprofit organizational newsletters and periodicals. I was a digital-space pioneer, having launched a still-active personal website in 1995; over 1,200 archival articles are available at jericsmith.com. I graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1986, and later earned a Masters of Public Affairs and Policy from the State University of New York at Albany. Following eleven years with the Naval Reactors headquarters directorate, I transitioned to the nonprofit sector, where I eventually held four CEO positions and maintained a long-standing writing and advisory career. I am the co-author (with Rear Admiral James McNeal) of "Side by Side in Eternity: The Lives Behind Adjacent American Military Graves," published by McFarland Books (Jefferson, North Carolina) in February 2023. My full-length fiction book, "Ubulembu and Other Stories," won the Unleash Creatives Book Prize in March 2023; it will be published by Unleash Press in October 2023.