Your Host
I built Two Mile Ranch as a personal retreat beginning in 2005 and it has welcomed guests with creative projects who sought to work in the quiet of the surrounding habitat to write. Several academic projects owe their publication to the work space here. I recognized the opportunity for a writer’s retreat while working with dozens of students and creative people who felt there was a need for a place to get away to concentrate on their work. I wanted to create a retreat where the main attraction was: there is no distraction.
I spent the first 30 years of my creative and work life helping others tell their stories.
My current project is my own work: Concealed – The Book of Joshua. The novel is a story about crossing lines and keeping secrets, in the aftermath of a violent assault on a quiet, Midwestern campus. I’m humbled by it’s early reception and initial reviews.
Recently, I’ve split my time between two worlds. In one, I’m an assistant professor for a graduate medical school. In the other, I’m a small rancher. During my career I’ve been a special assistant to the president of a four-year college, the program director of a paramedic training program, vice president of a multi-million dollar advertising agency, president of my own consulting firm, and co-founder of a non-profit organization that worked with two Nobel Prize-nominated charities along with a select group of NGOs that were making a significant difference in the lives of people who were in need or at risk.
Working in 12 countries I’ve produced documentaries, and was an early pioneer in producing Internet-based multimedia storytelling projects in the early 1990s. My first commercial Web site for a client launched in 1994.
Recognized for my creative work four times by USA Today, twice I was picked as one of the Top 100 Producers by AV Video/Multimedia Producer magazine, and recognized by the National Press Photographers Association.
In academic work and research, I’ve focused on the topics of learning styles, evidence-based practice, and the role gender plays in healthcare leadership. I teach courses in food policy and public health, healthcare leadership, and lecture frequently on change leadership.
Welcome, and I look forward to you staying and creating here beginning next year.
F.R. “Fritz” Nordengren, MPH
Two Mile Ranch
Post Office Box 1
19986 125th Avenue
Grand River, Iowa 50108