Archived Writings

Writing for Your Health
I recently began writing more health articles, including three assignments for Rodale's Best Life magazine. My articles on baldness, erectile dysfunction, and how to create a healthy office will be appear in 2008 and 2009 issues.
[pdf] - November 2006

So You Want to Ace a Summer Internship?
I wrote an advice column on how to succeed at magazine and newspaper internships for the 2007 edition of the Harvard Guide to Summer Opportunities which included tips like finding a senior editor champion and constantly pitching story ideas.
[jpeg] - May 2007

Adrift in the Land of Giants
In the spring of 2007 the editor of DestinAsian, a luxury travel magazine based in the Far East, asked me to write an account of my 2005 trip to Easter Island and describe this incredibly isolated and still mysterious South Pacific island.
[pdf] - April 2007

How to Become a Magazine Editor
To explain how I jumped from consulting to magazine journalism I wrote the essay "From Powerpoint to Publishing" for the Alumni Voices website at the Office of Career Services at Harvard University.
[html] - December 2006

How To Get Admitted to College
In the fall of 2006 I outlined key college admissions strategies in this op-ed for the Allentown Morning Call newspaper based on my experience as a Harvard interviewer and long-time interest in the topic.
[pdf] - November 2006

How to Become a YouTube Star
In early October I posted a dozen videos on outdoor skills and gear on the Backpacker.com website. Look for new and informative videos each month on the magazine's homepage, and also on our own YouTube channel.
[Backpacker.com] [YouTube] - October 2006

Shooting the Moon
In early 2006 I submitted a "Talk of the Town" story to The New Yorker. After several rounds of edits, the article didn't work out. So I sent the piece about Somali pirates and a suburban mother/blogger to The Silence of the City--a repository for rejected TotTs.
[html]-- Silence of the City - April 2006

Deep Impact
During the summer of 2006 I wrote a scientific 'cribsheet' on the morbid topic of extinction for the September issue of SEED magazine.
[html]-- SEED - September 2006

Blade Runner
I reviewed four multi-tool gadgets in the July issue of Wired as part of their summer Test section. They were great for the 10,000 home improvement projects I was battling at the time.
[html]-- Wired - July 2006

Rocket Boom
In early 2006 I profiled the major players in the private space race for the June/July 2006 issue of SEED magazine The June 2007 issue of Wired featured several stories with updates on this race.
[html] [pdf]-- SEED - June/July 2006

Last Article for Outside
Learn about "Adam's Peak," a Sri Lankan mountain holy to three religions, in a sidebar I wrote on sacred pilgrammages for Steph Pearson's Bhutan travel story, Cosmic Whiplash.
[html] - Outside - June 2006

Taming the Grid
A new generation of map technology comes to life in the March "Travel" issue of Outside--from Google mashups, to Soviet-era topographic maps.
[html] - Outside - March 2006

Snow and Ice
When the U.S. Ski Team traveled to Turin, Italy for the 2006 Winter Olympics, I wrote a brief profile of team members with New England roots for the February 2006 issue of Boston.
[Local Moguls] - Boston - February 2006

Monoliths and Monkeys
A review of a luxury lodge on Easter Island and a Q&A with King Kong actor, Andy Serkis--all in the January 2006 issue of Outside.
[Easter Island] [Andy Serkis] - Outside - January 2006

High Desert Winter
I won an Honorable Mention in the 2005 Santa Fe New Mexican winter essay contest for my description of my first winter in the southwest, "Waiting for Winter in Santa Fe."
[html] [pdf] - New Mexican - December 2005

New and Improved Al
The freshly hip Al Gore attempts to democratize television with his start-up CurrentTV--part of Outside's 2005 All-Stars coverage.
[html] [pdf]-- Outside - December 2005

New Mexican Treasure Chest
One million years ago a volcanic eruption created the golden bowl of the Valles Caldera--now a 80,000-acre recreation area that continues to ignite controversy and passion.
[pdf] -- Santa Fean - November 2005

My House is my Castle
Santa Fe-based Homewise helps low-income families buy affordable homes in one of the most overpriced real estate environments in the country.
[html]-- Shelterforce - September/October 2005

Star Gazing in New Mexico
I wrote this night sky story after spending a weekend at a "bed and telescope" on the eastern slopes of the Sangre de Cristo mountains.
[pdf]-- Santa Fean - September 2005

Operation Catherine
Early in World War II, Winston Churchill dreamed up a quixotic naval scheme to invade Hitler's backyard pond--the Baltic Sea.
[html]-- World War II - May 2005

The Earth Shakers
Bush administration heavies are radically changing your environment. Do you know who they are?
[html] [pdf]-- Outside - May 2005

Crude Reality
Preview to the 2005 Senate showdown on drilling in the Arctic, plus a call to arms by Sen. John Kerry (D-MA) that I arranged.
[html] [pdf]-- Outside - February 2005

A Road in Africa
A sudden and thought-provoking encounter on the red roads of northern Tanzania
[html] [pdf] -- Transitions Abroad - Jan/Feb 2005

Alternative Fuel Cool
Change is in the cleaner air as super-efficient vehicles shift from dreamy concepts to driveway realities
[html] [pdf]-- Outside - January 2005

Alaska Smokejumpers
Joe Don Morton jumped out of airplanes to fight fires in Alaska's worst burn season in a generation. No wonder he's one of Outside's 2004 All-Stars
[html] [pdf]-- Outside - December 2004

The Barham Conspiracy
A British battleship sunk in the Mediterranean... a Scottish woman tried as a witch.. Churchill furious... and the Normandy invasion plans in danger of being exposed -- one of the strangest tales of the Second World War.
[html] [pdf]-- World War II - December 2004

The Birthday Bird
In Tanzania, a young man's birthday party teaches me that everyone grows up faster in Africa
[html] [pdf] -- Glimpse magazine - October 2004

Barbie Dumps Ken For Australian Surfer
Mattel's plastic vixen Barbie bounces back from her February break-up
[html] -- Outside Online - July 2004

Playing Arena Politics
Newark's downtown sports arena is the latest flash point in the heated�and long running�debate about the kind of city it should be. A magazine feature update to my 2000 Harvard thesis.
[html] [pdf] -- Shelterforce - May/June 2004

Travel on a Different Path
Lose the backpack and stop to make a difference
[html] [pdf] -- Go World Travel - July 2004

Lambing Season
Two weeks on a Scottish sheep farm before "foot and mouth" disease marched in and laid waste to everything living
[html] [pdf] -- Europe from a Backpack - April 2004

Why I say 'pop'
Proudly claiming what I drink and where I call home
[html] [pdf] -- Harvard Independent - 1999

Mangled Meritocracy
How the affluent leap the college admissions hurdle
[html] [pdf] -- Harvard Independent - 1999

Conversations in Newark
What is remembered of the 1967 Newark riots more than three decades later?
[html] [pdf] -- Harvard Crimson - 1998

ACADEMIC PAPERS

From Damage Control to Abandon Ship:
The British Admiralty and the Decline of Royal Navy Battleships: 1939-1960
When battleships die, what else goes with them?
[html] [pdf] -- MSc. by Research - University of Edinburgh, 2001

The Fire This Time: Development Conflict in Newark, New Jersey
Who wants to build an arena in downtown Newark, and why do they want it so bad?
[html] -- B.2007A. magna cum laude - Harvard University, 2000