Featured Posts
Whale Watching and Whispering
“I had the thought: I wonder if anyone heard me? I dove down again and listened. Someone had. A voice, faint, plaintive yet serene, reached through the water. From maybe a hundred yards away, or a hundred miles—no way to know—but its reverberance was stirring. I went up for air, dove down and tried to imitate what I’d heard, waited, and heard a response—or was it an inquiry? A pretty dull conversation for the whale, no doubt, as I just tried to repeat what I heard, but we sustained this back-and-forth for the length of my mostly underwater, sounding swim back.”
Community IDs for New Residents Suddenly Make a Splash
I’m guessing that most of the folks who renew their resident card each year in my suburb don’t know any of the backstory about municipal IDs and wouldn’t connect the card they scan at the pool to the wider conversations around immigration, trust in law enforcement, access to healthcare, support for the arts, and more.
The Dawn-ing of a Social Lubricant
A few years ago, Dawn started bringing along watercolors to gatherings. We’d be sitting around in someone’s back yard, and she’d be sketching and painting away … and suddenly the scene would come to life in her little book. As a word person, I find the process of watching a blank page fill with art completely magical. And letting others witness that process seems very brave to me. But for Dawn, it’s the exact opposite. Creating in public brings her comfort, especially in new settings where she might otherwise feel uncomfortable.
Reporting from the Squirrel Cooking World Championship
This story from Eater about the World Champion Squirrel Cook Off is my favorite kind of writing: quirky, fun, but ultimately very respectful of the unique people and traditions that make our world so wonderfully diverse.
One Year Into a Heartwarming Journey That No One Wants to Be On
In 2023, a little boy named Logan was hit by a car. But I don’t want you to think about his life as a tragedy. He is full of joy, and his grandmother is full of determination to help him achieve his full potential. I’m honored to have been entrusted with their story.
Watercolors of ‘Colorful Threads’ (aka Immigrants)
In “Threads: A Celebration of the Immigrant Story in Watercolor,” artist Carol Carter is responding to the newcomers in her community, going one-on-one with them through the intimate act of painting their portraits. As the introductory essay promises, “Each one acts as a beacon of freedom and opportunity; together—drawn from every corner of the world—Threads shows an America bursting with energy.”
‘Tis the Season for Fireflies and Glow Worms
An Australian journalist details his search for the first fireflies of the season in a New South Wales park in 2023. His guide is a bioluminescence chaser who also points out glow worms during their excursion.
Being Arab in My Suburb in the 1970s
Our suburban school district has a reputation for not having much diversity. And it has always irked me. On our street alone, there are people from Ecuador, Mexico, and Vietnam. A man from Ireland who used to live down the block just moved houses. The catch is that most of these people don’t look like they’re from somewhere else. And that’s why I love the title of the book “But You Don’t Look Arab: And Other Tales of Unbelonging” by Emmy Award-winning international journalist Hala Gorani, which includes cameos from folks I actually know.
Translating the Sights of the Holidays for Those with Vision Impairments
When my son was diagnosed with red-green colorblindness as a teenager in 2019, fall colors were at their height. I suddenly understood why he had always been meh about the changing leaves—unless they happened to be vibrant yellow. In the past three years, I’ve learned a great deal about my son’s visual experiences, and I’m better (but nowhere near perfect) at skipping past colors and identifying the many other sensory delights during the winter holidays.
Snoot Sandwiches, Sundown Towns and a Chef’s Reckoning with Racism
I didn’t know what a sundown town was until I moved to St. Louis. And I’ll be honest, it still jars me to hear people describe it casually, as in this deeply personal segment of the local TV show “Food Is Love.” I don’t want to give away spoilers about what Chef Lasse Sorensen learns about his own complicity in this episode, which aired in 2022. But I commend him for his brutal honesty in sharing the lesson publicly as it unfolded.
5 Paths to New Outdoor Adventures
My first time rappelling happened in France. I was with a longtime friend and her cousin, who only spoke French. He suggested something that I vaguely understood to be an outdoor activity. My friend agreed with gusto for both of us. And that’s how I found myself strapped to a rope and descending off an abandoned railroad bridge to practice. Then it was off to the real adventure on the cliffs of Ardeche.