Writing

My first love was investigative journalism. One of the most difficult things about the daily grind as a journalist is creating work you can be proud of forever. Here’s some of mine.

Derek Olson at a desk in a dim room, on the phone, with an old rotary telephone and a desk lamp

Cover stories

OC Weekly cover: an illustrated woman in a red dress among dark trees, with the headline Spare the Child

Cover story · May 2007

Spare the Child

Amy Bril grew up in the Children of God, the cult now called the Family. As her divorce heads to court, she and her husband disagree about whether the group has anything to do with it, and about where their three children should grow up.

“I was raised never believing I would live past 13 years old.”

Amy Bril

20 min readRead the story

OC Weekly cover: a bald man in profile, with the headline Roll Player

Cover story · Aug 2007

Roll Player

Charles Monson, a quadriplegic, drives to rehab centers to help severely disabled patients fight their health plan for the power wheelchairs it keeps denying.

18 min readRead the story

OC Weekly cover: the shadow of a fighter between two gloved hands, with the headline Sparring With Shadows

Cover story · May 2008

Sparring With Shadows

A year after the suicide of coach Jeremy Williams, Orange County’s first professional mixed-martial-arts team is still fighting. His parents remember the son who handed his money to a stranger on the street.

13 min readRead the story

OC Weekly cover: Quinton 'Rampage' Jackson shirtless in a heavy chain, with the headline Get in the Cage!

Cover story · Sep 2007

Get in the Cage!

Three weeks before the biggest fight of his career, Irvine’s Quinton “Rampage” Jackson trains near Big Bear Lake, trying to turn a following in Japan into a household name in America.

“Why should I look like every other fighter, walk down, be quiet and not show who I am? Hide my personality. Why should I do that? You can't please everybody.”

Quinton “Rampage” Jackson

14 min readRead the story

Cover story · Oct 2007

“We have self-confidence and self-esteem. We know what's the right thing to do, and we do it.”

Elsayed, a recent graduate, speaking to new members

Against the Wall

Praying, eating and bowling with the most hated student group at UC Irvine, a group so wary of the press that its president asked me to stop interviewing members until he had spoken with me.

19 min readRead the story

OC Weekly cover: a man holding a sign in front of a demolition claw, with the headline House of Pain

Cover story · Mar 2008

House of Pain

Arther Masaoka fought Tustin for years over his house, and lost. Even the lawyer who used to represent him calls him “a total jerk,” then adds that what happened to him was wrong.

14 min readRead the story

OC Weekly cover: a taxi driver's eyes in the rearview mirror, with the headline Taken for a Ride

Cover story · Feb 2008

Taken for a Ride

Kamran Mashayekhi, 66, says crimes he witnessed as a cab driver have put him on a hit list. Some in law enforcement aren’t so sure.

19 min readRead the story

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