[Updated in 2024] I've been very lucky in this life.
From the time I joined the school newspaper in eighth grade (the "Battlecry" at Riverdale Junior High in Riverdale, Georgia) on through today, my prowess with the pen has opened the door to a lifetime of extraordinary experiences. My odd but rewarding journalism career got its start with a post-collegiate, post-world-travel opportunity to serve as a reporter and then managing editor at a bilingual newspaper in Atlanta (Mundo Hispanico).
That opened the doors to a freelance journalism career, then opportunities to serve the cause of conserving land and protecting the environment as a communications manager/director for The Trust For Public Land and for The Wilderness Society. After a sort-of accidental detour into the antiques, collectibles and estate liquidation business, I'm working my way back to writing for a living.
Through it all, I've met amazing people, visited spectacular places, and found joy and sadness in perhaps random happenings.
I've written for Salon about the vicious mental disorder of hoarding and the work I've done cleaning hoarders' homes when asked by family members to help -- and, more painfully, when someone hires us for one thing but doesn't realize she's afflicted by the disorder and needs help I'm not qualified to provide.
I've enjoyed a night of rapture beneath a Silent Sky and a President's box pondering Lincoln's last thoughts at Ford's Theatre.
I've penned a book review about the world's most fascinating animals -- wolves -- for the Washington Independent Review of Books. Yellowstone Wolves: Science and Discovery in the World's First National Park is a brilliant, understandable and inspiring epic published in December of 2020. It's a must-read for everyone who cares about nature, conservation, and how both can make us better as human beings. I've also written reviews about other great books including the posthumous wisdom of Barry Lopez in Syntax of the River; Quiet Desperation, Savage Delight by David Gessner; A Forest Journey: The Role of Trees in the Fate of Civilization.
Most of what I write now is about nature and the environment, including this piece for Canada's Rewilding magazine about the rewilding work my wife and I do in our yard to replace lawn grass with wildlife habitat and food for ourselves. I dabble in poetry, too -- like this poem for A Thin Slice of Anxiety about a mind-bending hike along the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River.
I've followed mentor Henry David Thoreau's charge and sucked all the marrow out of life that I can. Along the way, I hope I've made a difference. I recently wrote a Thoreau-related book review on "Quiet Desperation, Savage Delight: Sheltering With Thoreau In The Age Of Crisis" by David Gessner. I tore it apart and sucked the marrow out of that, too, as it's more of a book about how to live better and make the world a better place than a treatise on Gessner's and my friend Thoreau.
One of my current passion projects is a multimedia website that my wife and I launched in March 2020 called Eye On Sligo Creek. It's aimed at inspiring more people to experience the transformative power of nature along the Anacostia River Tributary Trail System here in Maryland. In the coronavirus era, we're also doing all we can to create content that brings nature to people stuck at home. It's already full of reporting, heart-felt essays, poetry, photography, videos, audio and more. And we're just getting started! One of my essays here even helped land me one of 12 spots in the 2023 Orion Magazine Environmental Writer's Workshop this June. I'll be heading to the Writers for the Wild workshop with David Gessner and Craig Childs in May.
My nature writing sometimes lends itself to poetry, too -- like a free verse poem I wrote for A Thin Slice of Anxiety about a time-bending hike on the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River.
I share here some of the other pieces I've written that have meant the most to me. I'll keep adding to this list as time and publication warrants.
"Pounding It Home: Visit animal control provides lessons about people who care -- and the many who do not" (Creative Loafing): Researching this story turned my stomach but the piece caused two important things to happen: it introduced me to a damn good dog, the blue-eyed lass on the cover I named Orion and cherished for 10 years; The shelter set a one-week adoption record the week after my story came out. Download Pounding It Home
"Putting Hate On Trial: Lawyer Morris Dees" (Biography magazine): Entrepreneur-turned-justice-seeker Morris Dees is an Alabama man who puts his life on the line every day to fight for victims of hate crimes. Download Putting Hate on Trial
"Beyond The Border: What a mill town in the Deep South might show the rest of the nation about integrating the newest wave of immigrants" (Hope magazine): Former Congressman Erwin Mitchell pioneered an education program that broke down the wall between America and its youngest immigrants. Download Beyond The Border
"Profiles Of Wealth: Elena Diaz Verson-Amos" (Hispanic Business magazine): The widow of AFLAC founder John Amos didn't rest on her riches. She used her money to make a difference. Download Profiles Of Wealth -- Elena Diaz-Verson Amos (Takes about 10-15 seconds to download.) Also check out the cover story I did about potential new business opportunities in Cuba. Download The Promise of Cuba
"Refuge On The Edge Of Space" (Wildlife Journal magazine): A visit to Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral offers more than a glimpse of the final frontier. It's also a chance to explore one of the great wildlife refuges on the east coast. Download Refuge On The Edge Of Space (Takes 7-10 seconds to download.)
"Wild World Of Sports: Thrills, spills, and yes, even chills. Real-life entrepreneurs share their secrets for riding the wave of a sports trend" (Entrepreneur magazine): Article can ideas can strike any time, even when I'm in couch potato mode. Thank you, American Express. Download Wild World Of Sports
"Shaking Hands With History: Genealogical research at the Georgia Archives links families to the past" (Gwinnett Business Journal): There's a coincidence in this one that's so unlikely that I even wrote in the piece that it staggers the imagination. I'm no math genius but I don't think anyone could calculate the odds of it happening. Download Shaking Hands With History
"The Gift Of Closure: WW II veteran returns books to Germany after more than sixty years" (Fine Books & Collections magazine): I'm a fanatic book collector myself so I found this man's unselfishness to be truly impressive. The story struck such a nerve that I turned around and blogged about it after the story came out.
"The Unknown Revolutionary: Alexandria tomb with Legion roots often overlooked today" (American Legion magazine): My heart aches every time I visit the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier of the American Revolution. Hard to locate even if you're trying to find it on purpose, it rests in a tiny, hidden cemetery -- tucked in a corner with its back up against a wall. And it just may be my second favorite place in the D.C. area -- and one you should visit immediately. (The Library of Congress ranks No. 1.) Download The Unknown Revolutionary
The American Revolution (Various pubs): I am in no finer company than when I convene with this nation's founding mothers and fathers. I spend enormous amounts of time studying and writing about this subject. My idea of a dream vacation is going to Boston and spending my time in some of the founder's footsteps. I collect antiquarian books on the subject and review modern-day editions such as "Following The Drum", a recent book about the women encamped at Valley Forge. Closer to home, I frequently visit George Washington's home at Mt. Vernon, consider joining the Continental Army, finally find a group I feel like I belong to, camp out with Ben Franklin in Philadelphia, and anchor myself in rare books and manuscripts at the Library of Congress. Naturally, I've built my own humble library of 18th and 19th-century books about the American Revolution -- writing a guide on the subject for Fine Books & Collections magazine. See "Collecting the Revolution: A budding collector's search for early American people, places and books." I also previewed the opening of George Washington's new library.
Tennis, Anyone?: I've played and followed tennis all my life. I even got lucky enough to cover pro tennis for World Tennis Magazine for a couple of summers starting in 2011. I covered the Roger' Cup in Montreal, giving me the opportunity to write about and talk to the greats including Roger Federer, and explore what makes Novak Djokovic so menacing. I also witnessed one of the most stunning upsets in recent years -- completely obscure Ivan Dodig knocking off Rafael Nadal. I also started doing on-camera interviews with a wide range of men's and women's tour players. The lesser-known players often had the most powerful stories to tell. Jewish player Shahar Peer nearly brought me to tears with accounts ranging from a teacher she'll never forget, to a tour of Auschwitz concentration camp. I interviewed Madison Keys well before she became a household name -- though I knew that would change.
Even with the Maryland estate liquidation company I run, Orion's Attic, I still get to have a little fun writing. I took a virtual time machine to 500 B.C. to explore Etruscan pottery. I learned how to see Elvis through my mother's eyes.
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