What You’re Reading

So many people in my field — loosely, journalism — agonize over what to do next, what to do with this digital age. As we fret and flail, we risk forgetting about the words we're stringing together, the information we're reflecting upon and sharing, and the stories we're telling. Whether breath on our lips, ink spread across a page, keys hammering into a ribbon or electrons running through a circuit, I'm concerned with how thoughts are captured, contained, altered and disseminated.

I don't believe it's true that journalism is dying. It is simply changing. Yet, too many people are trying too hard, throwing whatever they can at the wall until they see what sticks.

This site serves as a central repository for my books, freelance writing, photography, and audio reporting. This work is often characterized by narratives with a strong sense of place and time, but also includes breaking news, analysis and features. I’m particularly interested in writing about history, democracy, gaming, energy infrastructure, technology, community identity, transportation, climate change, and disaster resilience, but I’m ultimately most passionate about anything that’s a great story.

I also intend this site to provide a contemplative web publication. Something pondered, researched, and, whenever possible, unrushed. We can innovate and tweet and network, but none of that means anything if we’re not able to articulate anything, if we’re not able to say why what we’re doing matters.

I’d like to think this will appeal to those who value complete writing combined with an extensive eye. Readers might be people who want perspective on the world broader than a slim glimpse. I write for people who want to savor instead of merely taste, and I hope to offer a deeply connected, reflective banquet of thoughts to satisfy their appetites.

I believe in a world that still values words but doesn’t neglect the power of images and sound. I believe in making space for fierce independence while cultivating cooperation and community. I believe in a sense of place, whether that place is a neighborhood, a city, a nation, a biosphere, a world, or a universe, or even whether that place is virtual, physical, emotional, or chronological.

With that in mind, I hope this site will reflect these aims, and I hope you will enjoy your time lingering here.