For The Guardian, I wrote about the DNA Doe Project, a volunteer organization using investigative genetic genealogy to track down the identities of Jane and John Does. I was amazed by the number of cases they’ve solved–some of these people…
For Alta Journal, I wrote about San Diego’s Frozen Zoo, which is cloning endangered animals to revitalize their genetic diversity. I look into the cases of the last wild horses and the black-footed ferret and ask, can cloning save them?…
While reading a newspaper from 1914 (as you do) I came upon this suffragist satirical poem by Alice Duer Miller. It was one of many she wrote under her column in the New York Tribune titled Are Women People? Miller…
Last year I had the opportunity to retrace John Steinbeck’s journey on his boat Western Flyer to Baja, Mexico. He and his best friend, marine biologist Ed Ricketts, collected specimens in one of the most biologically diverse oceans in the…
I’m thrilled to share my first piece for The New Yorker. It’s about the Beat poet Lenore Kandel, whose erotic poetry collection, The Love Book, led to San Francisco’s last and longest obscenity trial. Read more about this story of…
My article on Anais Nin for Alta Magazine is now online! For decades, Anaïs Nin was married to two different men on separate coasts of the United States. Neither man knew about the other. She called this complicated situation her…
Did you know that soil can become endangered and even go extinct? For Outrider, I wrote about how the complex ecosystems that make up “dirt” and the dangers of losing it to climate change. Read it here.
My newest article for Alta Magazine is about a murder mystery that happened in Carmel in 1914. A writer named Alice MacGowan discovered a mysterious box of marshmallows sitting on her back porch. She thought they were from a friend.…
My article Flight of the Condors, originally published in Alta Magazine, was a finalist in the 64th Southern California Journalism Awards. Read the full list of winners here.
For Alta Magazine, I wrote an ode to my favorite childhood bookstore, Tin Can Mailman in Arcata, California. I also wrote a round-up of North Coast Bookstores.
For Mental Floss, I wrote 10 Juicy Facts About Mary Astor’s Purple Diary, Old Hollywood’s Most Infamous Sex Scandal. This scandal was a huge inspiration for my novel, Right Back Where We Started From. Poor Mary Astor was done dirty.
I was invited by Alta Magazine to discuss my article When Mark Twain Canceled Bret Harte on Alta Live. I was joined by Russell Jeung, professor of Asian American studies and one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People of…