Writing

I write longform features, profiles, essays, and sometimes commentary. Here are some favorite pieces.

“The Bird Patrol” | Belt Magazine
Chicago is the most dangerous city in the country for birds. This group wants to change that.

“Riding the Fort Wayne Line” | Belt Magazine
On the history and uncertain future of Indiana passenger rail.

“Armed, Angry Men”Belt Magazine
On Trump, militias, and the long history of voter intimidation and suppression in the Midwest.

“The Theory and Practice of Rivers” | Cleveland Metroparks
A talk delivered in Cleveland, Ohio, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Cuyahoga River fire.

“Changes in the Land” | ACRES Quarterly
A long essay on the Cedar Creek corridor, in support of a project by ACRES Land Trust (buy the booklet here).

“Losing the Farm” | Belt Magazine
“The story of the twentieth century in American agriculture is a story, mainly, of exodus.”

“Margins” | Terrain.org
On the places between places, and what it means to belong somewhere.

“The Iconic Windmills that Made the American West”Atlas Obscura
The life and times of the classic American self-regulating water pump windmill.

“A ‘Toxic Tour’ of the Whiting Refinery” | Belt Magazine
Dispatch from the southern shores of Lake Michigan.

“The Oil Pipelines Putting the Great Lakes at Risk”Belt Magazine
On oil pipelines, the Great Lakes, and the complicated mixing of oil and water.

“Chicago Notebook”Rust Belt Chicago: An Anthology
On moving to Chicago, moving away from Chicago, and the impossibility of ever truly leaving a place.

“Family Bones” | Belt Magazine
Searching for my roots in rural Indiana. Also featuring my grandparents’ house.