Selected Writing

The Southeast Asia Globe

Mining companies hunt for buried treasure on indigenous Cambodian land [12/24/21]

“Companies granted economic land concessions and, in the case of Angkor [Resources], mineral exploration licences have operated on indigenous land in Ratanakiri for decades under the protection of Cambodian law but without the consent of communities.”

Camera in hand, Cambodia’s indigenous youth record cultures under threat [9/2/21]

In the Kingdom, most stories are told in Khmer. But the Bophana Centre’s filmmaking programme is training indigenous youth in northeastern Cambodia to document their communities and languages that risk being subsumed by the dominant national culture

Death in a greenhouse [10/15/21]

After a Cambodian labourer died on a South Korean farm, migrant worker policies came under renewed scrutiny, propelling reform efforts and inspiring migrants to fight for their rights

The Providence Journal

Elder abuse in R.I.: Reported attacks on the rise, yet most perpetrators avoid prison

“A year-long investigation by a team of Brown University students found that 87 percent of those charged with elder-abuse offenses in R.I. between 2000 and 2017 did not go to prison for those crimes, leaving their elderly victims vulnerable to repeated attacks.”

Nine part series running from 8/24/18 to 9/2/18
Here’s some background on the project, and to learn about its impact click here.
To read, login: newscontest@providencejournal.com & password: PJ-contest

The Miami Herald

In foothills of Chilean Andes, a mining dam set off a years-long battle with residents [8/30/21]

“To not hear the river, it’s like a cemetery. There’s so much silence.”

Florida needs python hunters. A man in Iran is one of thousands who want the job [10/21/19]

“Statistically, it is easier to get into Harvard than to become a python removal agent.”

Haunted by violence, some cops struggle with PTSD. Now, Miami-Dade is assessing the toll [11/1/19]

“’I can tell you I know what my gun barrel tastes like.’”

Hate crimes are rare in Florida. But only because many police fail to report them accurately [11/26/19]

In comparison to Florida’s 141 official hate crimes, the District of Columbia — which has 20 million fewer people than Florida — reported 213 hate crimes.

The Christian Science Monitor

Conservation vs. copper: Minnesota town debates its future with a mine [7/2/20]

“The controversy of a proposed mine in Minnesota is about more than jobs or the environment. It’s about the identity of a region, one with a long history of mining that lies near an iconic wilderness area.”

This story was the June 22nd print cover story for the CSM magazine, and can be found here.

The Marshall Project

Shock treatment in court [7/29/19]

“’The trial court had lesser alternatives, and allowing bailiffs to use a 50,000-volt shock device in these circumstances shocks the conscience…’”

Racism tainted their trials. Should they still be executed? [8/7/19]

“Now the North Carolina Supreme Court has to decide whether that evidence of racial bias—and similar findings of systemic bias in a handful of related cases—must be taken into account in death penalty appeals.”

Brown Alumni Magazine

Unfrozen: Bathsheba Demuth applied the lessons she learned surviving as a musher in the Yukon to writing an environmental history of the Arctic [1/9/19]

“She initially struggled with her chores slicing chunks of salmon meat, breaking up fights between sled dogs that looked more like wolves than pets, and bracing herself against a cold that killed the careless.

A language, liberated: White settlers silenced the Wôpanâak language for generations. Nitana Hicks Greendeer is a leader in the effort to bring it back. [8/30/20]

“They immersed themselves in a world they were reconstructing with each acquired noun and verb, and the language emerged from their mouths first as memorized utterances, then as something more fluid, more alive and graceful, as the words became their own.”

Going Up Against Goliath: The Unlikely Moral Crusade of David Cicilline [10/21/20]

“From helping pull up the roots of Rhode Island’s infamous patronage system as a state representative to going up against notorious Providence Mayor Buddy Cianci, Cicilline has a track record of taking on entrenched systems of power—and winning.”

The Jerusalem Post

Red Cross Cuts Family Visits for Prisoners: Outrage in the West Bank [7/31/16]

“Each month Yasmin Rajoub gets to spend exactly 90 minutes with her son…”

Life in the West Bank’s ‘Capital of Martyrs’ [7/22/16]

“Iyad Zarou…had been unable to pass through the barrier of cement blocks, dirt, rocks and debris piled across the roads leading into Sa’ir, part of the IDF’s security measures to monitor movement and detain suspects inside the village.”

“I crashed a Bedouin wedding: Yes, there was a dancing camel” [8/11/16]

“I don’t care where you were in Tel Aviv on Thursday night, the best party was happening in Hura village.“

News

Rapper Kodak Black sentenced to 46 months in prison on federal weapons charges

Broke national news story for The Miami Herald, 11/13/19

Transgender woman burned to death, police say. Was it a hate crime?

The Miami Herald, 9/12/19. My reporting later cited in The Washington Post, The Guardian, USA Today, HuffPost, Business Insider, and other outlets]

Broward student suspended for handing out climate change fliers. He can’t attend prom now

Broke story for The Miami Herald, 9/16/19. Received 125,000+ views; later picked up by NPR, Buzzfeed, Politico, CBS and other national outlets.

Medical examiner testifies on the brutal last moments of Everglades kidnapping murder [The Miami Herald, 11/6/19]

Miami Dade students demand action as part of Global Youth Climate Strike [The Miami Herald, 9/20/19]

Broward man’s Tesla turned into burning ‘death trap,’ lawsuit claims. Door wouldn’t open [The Miami Herald, 10/25/19]

The College Hill Independent

On Feline Free Will [9/30/16]

The residents of Kenai, Alaska, have made the irreparable mistake of confusing cats with dogs.

The Santiago Times

Who rules Santiago’s rivers? [8/4/17]

“The controversial multi-billion dollar Alto Maipo Hydroelectric Project has access to Santiago’s most important rivers, and its construction has thrust one of the nation’s toughest female journalists from retirement back into investigation-mode”

Longing for land: The promises of a development project divide an Andean village [3/15/18]

“The Wall is like a sickness for us”