Selected Writing
I have written and reported hundreds of stories for daily newspapers, alt-weeklies, literary magazines, and public radio. Here are some of my favorites.
Views from the Colorado Plateau: The Bears Ears in Two Histories - Terrain.org, August 4, 2016
This longform piece explores the cultural and historical context behind the debate over Bears Ears National Monument in southern Utah. “It is about the struggle to maintain tradition and culture in the face of a rapidly changing world, the lines we draw to define and defend what is ours, the ties that bind us together, and the fear that threatens to tear us apart. It is about voices that haven’t been heard and stories that haven’t been told.”
Transportation Challenges Complicate School Choice for S.F. Students - San Francisco Public Press, January 29, 2015
Part of an award-winning collaborative investigation into the unintended consequences of the San Francisco Unified School District’s school-choice policy. “San Francisco public schools, like those in many cities nationwide, are increasingly re-segregating as decades of court-ordered diversity measures recede into history.”
The Great Uncrowding - Monterey County Weekly, September 22, 2011
A 2011 U.S. Supreme Court ruling shifted more than 30,000 of California’s prison inmates from state to county jails to address overcrowding issues. There was just one problem: county jails had no room, either - and no funding to meet the mandate.
Reading Kevin Starr: Can the California Dream Be Redeemed? - Boom: A Journal of California, Winter 2013 [pdf of print edition can be found here]
“Bemoaning California’s fall from grace has become a source of morbid fixation for pundits and other onlookers, with no shortage of schadenfreude,” I wrote for Boom: A Journal of California in 2013. But could the Golden State still win what philosopher Josiah Royce called its “struggle for redemption in the face of failure”?
Letter to America - Terrain.org, January 10, 2017
My essay for Terrain’s “Letter to America” series explores political polarization and hope for healing among Native and non-Native residents of San Juan County, Utah.
Artist Martha Villa Makes Up Her City - KALW Bay Area, October 28, 2014
In this radio piece, my conversations with a San Francisco makeup artist take listeners from zombie proms to drag shows to a “shrine to the strange.”
Tricks of the Trade - Monterey County Weekly, July 11, 2011
A deep dive into the sex trade in Monterey County, California. “Undocumented women servicing field workers, streetwalkers in seedy motels, high-end flesh sold at high-end events: Sex sells in Monterey County.”
Motel Limbo - Street Roots, September 2, 2009
Homelessness takes many forms in Portland, Oregon, but some are less visible than others. In this feature for Street Roots, I explore the world of the “hotel homeless.”
Power Trip - Portland Mercury, August 5, 2010
In which I join a busload of environmental activists on a field trip to document Oregon’s efforts to shift away from fossil fuels.
Boise Voices project excites young historians - The Oregonian, April 24, 2010
An unconventional oral history project connected youth and elders in one of Portland, Oregon’s gentrifying neighborhoods. Together, they worked to document the changes and constants in their corner of the city.
The Invisible Michelangelo - Monterey County Weekly, January 12, 2012
A profile of a “midnight muralist” whose work quietly captures the beauty of his adopted country. “I want to paint it. It don’t matter the price, I want to do it.”