About

Raised in Arizona, based in the Pacific Northwest, at home in the world.

I’ve written reported stories and personal essays for Harper’s, The Atlantic, The New York Times, Sierra, Slate, Paris Review Daily, Adventure Journal, Red Canary, Capitol Weekly, and The Dublin Review. 

My stories have been nominated for a James Beard Award, the LA Press Club’s SoCal Journalism Award, and named notables in Best American Essays, Best American Travel Writing, and Best American Sports Writing. My third book, The Heart of California: Exploring the San Joaquin Valley, was a finalist for the 2022 Oregon Book Award. I recently serialized the multimedia book Deconstruction: Portrait of a Quiet Masterpiece, about the overlooked cult classic album from the 1990s. I run the Alive in the Nineties music series on Substack.

Even after decades away, everything I do still seems influenced by my native Arizona. The Mexican food I cook, the cactus I draw, my enduring interest in water management, irrigation systems, agricultural productivity, forest health, and renewable energy—it all came from living in densely populated Sunbelt cities where water evaporated from aboveground canals and too few people had solar panels on their houses.

Around work, I share the world with my daughter, I hike, skate, garden, and draw. You can buy prints of my visual art at Society6.