In February, I traveled to Istanbul with my pregnant wife and our 3-year-old son, Theo. Between the recent terrorism attacks and the increasingly autocratic government, Turkey wasn’t the obvious choice for a family holiday. But we had a fabulous vacation there, and found that Turkey was the most child-friendly country we’d ever visited. I wrote a piece for AFAR about the ins and outs of traveling in Turkey with children. It’s online here.
The element lithium powers our phones and our electric cars. It is also one of the most effective treatments for bipolar disorder. But how much do we know about one of the oldest, scarcest elements in the universe, one on which our future increasingly relies? I wrote the life story of lithium, in five acts,…
I wrote about the absurd, abstract history of money and one wild-eyed, vegetarian, free-love-promoting German economist’s idea to create a currency that decayed over time. The story is published here, in Noema Magazine.
My hometown of Missoula has a new community news outlet called The Pulp. I wrote the first feature story for them, about a small team of EMTs and clinical social workers who respond to people experiencing mental health crises. The Mobile Support Team shows up to a scene not with sirens, guns, and flashing lights,…
Are we the same person all of our lives? The average human cell only lasts seven years. We, and everything else, are constantly in flux. So what endures? I explored these questions and others in this essay about identity, water, family and home for Noema Magazine.
I recently got a fun assignment to profile Jimmy Chin for GQ, a job that brought me to a cliff in the Tetons where the Oscar-winning climber, photographer, and filmmaker talked me off the ledge. Here’s the story.
My father-in-law, Jerry McGahan, knew how to create a new variety of apple. He knew how to hunt with an eagle. He knew how to catch a porcupine. But most of all, he knew how to live well, which meant he knew how to die well. My essay about him won a National Magazine Award.…
