my work
Sitting in the Silence / Virginia Quarterly Review / Winter 2023-2024 // In the mountains of northern California, an art exhibit for aliens
The Unending Quest to Build a Better Chicken / Noema / December 2023 // Maybe what we need is not just a new form of poultry farming but a complete revolution in how we relate to meat
Pushing Boundaries in No Man’s Land / The Local Palate / September 2023 // A food tour along a blurry edge of “the South”
Photographing the Parks / Wildsam / July 2023 // Reflections on photographing the “wild,” from the first national park to today’s era of cell phone saturation
Inside the Quest to Engineer Climate-Saving ‘Super Trees’ / MIT Technology Review / June 2023 // A Silicon Valley startup wants to supercharge trees to soak up more carbon and cool the climate. Is this the great climate solution or a whole lot of hype?
Is the ‘Age of the Delta’ Coming to an End? / Knowable / June 2023 // River deltas have been essential to both people and wildlife for thousands of years. But recent shifts have brought on some rapid losses that worry scientists.
Monuments Upon the Tumultuous Earth / Emergence / March 2023 // For thousands of years, Indigenous societies were building elaborate earthworks along the wild waterway of the Mississippi River. What do our modern monuments along the river say about who we are—and the crises we face?
Louisiana’s Paragliding Photographer / Garden & Gun / March 2023 // From his perch in the sky, Ben Depp snapped these hauntingly beautiful images of the disappearing Gulf Coast
The Frightening Cost of Cheap Eggs / The New Republic / February 2023 // All the news coverage has been about how bird flu has increased egg prices. But maybe those cheap eggs already cost us too much.
Will the Next Pandemic Start with Chickens? / The New Republic / October 2022 // A virulent strain of bird flu ripped through U.S. farms in 2022. The public hardly noticed. That we could ignore the disease shows just how little we’ve learned about the origin of new viruses
A Congress of the Trees / Noēma / September 2022 // The philosopher Jonathon Keats wants to incorporate the world’s plants and animals into our democratic systems
How a Giant Eagle Came to Dominate New Zealand / Knowable / September 2022 // Long extinct, the largest known raptor still holds lessons for today
Down to the Tide Line / Bitter Southerner / August 2022 // As Rachel Carson knew, every beach and coastline has its own story to tell
How the Bass Pro Shops Pyramid Became a Memphis Icon / Outside / August 2022 // Twenty-four hours inside one of the strangest wildernesses in the world
The Controversial Plan to Unleash the Mississippi / Hakai + WIRED / July 2022 // Our long history of constraining the river through levees has led to massive land loss in its delta. Can we engineer our way out? And at what cost?
What Makes the Buffalo the Jewel of the Ozarks / Smithsonian / July & August 2022 // An unabashed tribute to the wild Arkansas waterway that became the nation’s first national river 50 years ago
Saguaro, Free of the Earth / Emergence / March 2022 // The O’odham peoples of the Sonoran Desert have long revered the saguaro cactus as a being with personhood. Can the idea help bring down the border wall?
Atchafalaya Mud / Bitter Southerner / January 2022 // No one can agree on what one of the country’s most iconic wilderness is supposed to look like. How do you conserve a landscape when the only constant is change?
What Makes an Animal Wild? / Outside / June 2021 // Journalist Emma Marris’s new book, ‘Wild Souls,’ asks us to reconsider our relationship to the nonhuman world
The Quest for a Floating Utopia / Hakai / April 2021 // Can casting away to inhabit sea-based colonies save us from the problems of modern life—or are we bound to repeat our mistakes?
The Nuclear Option / Mother Jones / March+April 2021 // Smaller nuclear reactors might be the bridge to a carbon-free economy. But are they worth it?
America’s Largest River Swamp / Southerly / December 2020 // A photographer and writer visit some of the hardest-to-reach corners of the Atchafalaya Basin.
The Meaning of Air / Emergence / November 2020 // To understand the wilderness, you’ll need to look beyond the rocks and trees
Good Food / Guernica / July 2020 // Assessing the full costs of “good food”
Great Escapes / American Way / July 2020 // Escaping into the luxury of the great outdoors
Wait a Minute, Mr. Postman / National Geographic / May 2020 // The tumultuous history of the U.S. Postal Service—and its constant fight for survival
Eaters of the Earth / The Counter / April 2020 // How the fertilizer industry leaves a trail of destruction across the American South
Ten Years after Deepwater Horizon, Worries Remain / Hakai / April 2020 // Efforts to clean up the lingering effects of the oil spill are well underway, but secrecy and deregulation have returned to the Gulf
Parks Are Closing—But Wilderness is All Around You / Outside / March 2020 // Social distancing is a prime opportunity to redefine our idea of what’s wild
State Parks Are Becoming Coronavirus Isolation Zones / Outside / March 2020
When Bitters Are Better / Heated / February 2020 // The outsized role of a little bottle of botanicals
Local Takes: New Orleans / American Way / February 2020 // Five notable locals show off the city, their way
Island Life Goes On / The Local Palate / February 2020 // Buffeted by hurricanes and political turmoil, Puerto Rico’s next step is certain. One thing is clear, though: the food will be divine.
To Shake or Stir? / Heated / December 2019 // As a neophyte in the world of cocktails, I decided to start here
All This Is Hers / Johns Hopkins Magazine / Winter 2019 // After years of wandering, author Jami Attenberg has settled into success in the Big Easy
Christmas on the Water / Mississippi Magazine / December 2019 // Biloxi’s annual boat parade offers a particularly Mississippi kind of Christmas
The Kamikaze Canoe / Haverford Magazine / Fall 2019 // A trip atop a perilous flood—and an attempt to understand what we’ve done to America’s iconic river
Of Chex Mix and West Indies Punch / The Local Palate / November 2019 // Nina Compton and Larry Miller welcome friends for a Christmas gathering with a menu inspired by their childhoods
The promise of the Yazoo Pumps / Southerly / October 2019 // A massive flood in the Mississippi Delta has kicked off renewed discussions of controversial infrastructure. At its heart, the debate is a question what this place is — and what we want it to be.
The troubling economics of food halls / Heated / October 2019 // What lies beneath the Instagrammable veneer of the food hall? In at least some cases, a perfect capitalistic machine.
The Spillway Versus the Oysters / The New Food Economy / September 2019 // A flood-control system meant to protect New Orleans has wreaked havoc on coastal ecosystems, killing saltwater species in a deluge of redirected river water
Good-Bye to Good Earth / Oxford American / Fall 2019 // A tribe’s long fight against an American Tide
The Mississippi Is Under Control—For Now / TIME / August 2019 // The Mississippi River is contained and controlled by one of the most ambitious systems of engineering on the globe. But as the climate changes, how much longer can the system hold?
Beyond the Levee / Oxford American / Summer 2019 // On moonshine, climate change, and the ever-wild Mississippi.
Louisiana’s Reckoning Tide / The Local Palate / May 2019 // In the face of land loss, chefs are looking for what comes next.
Wild Natchez / Southern Living / March 2019 // Known for its antebellum homes and haunted history, this Mississippi River city has another side to reveal.
Peace of Mind / Mississippi Magazine / January 2019 // Mississippi’s horseback culture stays close.
The Mighty Mississippi / The Overstory / January 2019 // On a long trip, I discovered the big river was wild—just not in the way I expected.
A Killing Season / The New Republic / December 2018 // Monsanto’s new herbicide was supposed to save U.S. farmers from financial ruin. Instead, it upended the agriculture industry, pitting neighbor against neighbor in a struggle for survival.
Small-Town Spotlight: Greenville / Mississippi Magazine / September 2018 // The heart of the Delta
Down Delta Back Roads / The Local Palate / August 2018 // Put away your phone: the gems of Highway 1 are unmapped
Small-Town Spotlight: New Albany / Mississippi Magazine / July 2018 // Head for the hills.
America’s River 2.0 / Sierra Magazine / Summer 2018 // Paddling the Mississippi River is not a Huck Finn journey anymore.
The Many Voyages of Walter Anderson / Bitter Southerner / May 2018 // The beloved painter had a deep connection with the natural world--but it came at a cost.
Agitating for a Sea Change / Modern Farmer / April 2018 // Most fish feed is derived from... well, fish. But change may be coming.
El Corazon de Cuba / The Local Palate / March 2018 / Touring the island by bike.
The After-Monkey Blues / The Believer / February 2018 // Searching for a juke-joint prince.
Partially Wild / The Pulse / October 2017 // Are so-called 'novel ecosystems' the solution to our Anthropocene problems? Or will they just cause more?
Chicken tikka masala and cracklins', please / Parts Unknown / August 2017 // "Taste of India" serves up delicious Indian cooking—in a gas station.
Eating the world in the Delta / Parts Unknown / August 2017 // Whether you're craving Indian, Lebanese, or Mexican, you're covered here.
The Walled-In Wild / Roads & Kingdoms / August 2017 // Searching for the remains of a lost culture in the ancient swamps and wetlands of the Mississippi Delta.
Small Town Spotlight: Laurel / Mississippi Magazine / May 2017 // In a reality-TV town, nothing beats the real thing.
A Hidden Delta / The Local Palate / April 2017 // Mai Little China illuminates a forgotten corner of Mississippi history.
The Last of the Buffalo Fishermen / The Local Palate / March 2017 // Once a rich way of life, fishing on the Mississippi is nearly gone.
After the Oxbow / Undark / January 2017 // Along the Mississippi River, largely beyond our notice, an essential wildlife habitat is beginning to disappear. Can it be saved?
Paddling the Mississippi / Meridian / November 2016 // One of America’s great wildernesses sits, largely unnoticed, along the Blues River.
Red Hot Tamales / Meridian / November 2016 // How did a Mexican staple become the favorite food of the Mississippi Delta?
Up All Night on Farish Street / Bitter Southerner / August 2016 // What does it say that it’s only deep into the night in the illicit glowing neon of a juke joint when we can muster the courage to come together, black and white?
Small Town Spotlight: Southaven / Mississippi Magazine / July 2016 // A bustling city grown up from small-town dreams.
Morgan Freeman Takes His 'Best Shot' / The ‘Sip / Mississippi Today / July 2016 // An acclaimed actor aims to leave his mark on Mississippi.
Small-Town Spotlight: McComb / Mississippi Magazine / May 2016 // Catch a ride.
To Catch a Carp / Scalawag / January 2016 // Asian carp, beloved by Chinese diners, are overrunning the Mississippi River. There it is: supply, demand. So why is this so hard?
An Interstate Battle for Groundwater / The Atlantic / December 2015 // Mississippi and Tennessee are locked in a dispute over who can use the Delta’s aquifers.
The Great American Breakfast Porridge / Roads & Kingdoms / August 2015 // What does oatmeal really mean?
Wild Miles on the Big River / Bitter Southerner / July 2015 // The Mississippi River is big, dangerous, industrialized—and wild. John Ruskey wants you to join him there.
Plantation Biscuits / Roads & Kingdoms / March 2015 // Some thoughts on a Southern breakfast.
A Pageant in Catfish Country / Roads & Kingdoms / May 2014 // In the Mississippi Delta, farmed catfish swim in a deep pond of politics, history, and big business.
The Hot Tamales of Issaquena County / Roads & Kingdoms / December 2013 // On the hunt for an unexpected Southern staple.