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Inside the Inheritance July 4, 2026

Inside the Inheritance

I thought I was excavating the ruins of America. It took me years to realize I was excavating my own.

The Four Enemies of Belonging June 5, 2026

The Four Enemies of Belonging

The feeling is always the same.

This Land Was Made for You and Me March 13, 2026

This Land Was Made for You and Me

Why “us vs. them” is powered by proximity.

Spotted Cow and Fried Cheese Curds January 28, 2026

Spotted Cow and Fried Cheese Curds

What Wisconsin taught me about being somewhere specific.

Bury My Heart at the Corner of 26th and Nicollet January 25, 2026

Bury My Heart at the Corner of 26th and Nicollet

A corner in Minneapolis. A story that stays with you.

America Is Divided in Public but Grieving in Private January 20, 2026

America Is Divided in Public but Grieving in Private

What the noise is covering up.

The Ghost in the Machine January 19, 2026

The Ghost in the Machine

How conscience survives when truth is negotiable.

The Physicality of the Line November 6, 2025

The Physicality of the Line

Hunger and America's moral budget.

The Curiosity Imperative October 25, 2025

The Curiosity Imperative

How to stop missing your life.

No Irish Need Apply October 22, 2025

No Irish Need Apply

The raw history of being unwanted.

The Myth of the Clean Slate October 7, 2025

The Myth of the Clean Slate

Destructive amnesia and the true cost of rebuilding America.

The Disunited States of America: Season 249 September 17, 2025

The Disunited States of America: Season 249

On the eve of 250 years, what are we actually celebrating?

Finding Home: Lessons From Wandering Across Three Continents June 9, 2025

Finding Home: Lessons From Wandering Across Three Continents

Thirty homes. Three continents. One question.

Finding America May 7, 2025

Finding America

I didn't set out to find America; maybe I was trying to find myself.

Right Now, I Live Here: A Case for Slow Travel May 6, 2025

Right Now, I Live Here: A Case for Slow Travel

What 2.5 years in 30 places taught me about staying.

From the Journey

Field Dispatches

Essays written from the road, tied to the cities visited along the way. Grouped by place rather than by date.

Charleston

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Oak-lined path through White Point Garden, Charleston September 14, 2026

A Place for the Things I Had Collected

Walking South of Broad, I began furnishing a house I did not own — and found the fantasy of staying was never quite separate from the arithmetic of leaving.

 Sky over the stadium lights at dusk, Joseph P. Riley Jr. Park, Charleston September 14, 2026

A Night at The Joe

A wristband I didn't know I needed, a family in front of me, and a conversation about masonry, Cuba, and the houses South of Broad that lasted the whole game.

Panama City

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Rain falling across a Casco Viejo street at dusk, a lit bell tower visible through the storm September 13, 2026

Rain Across the Balcony

The same Casco Viejo street, morning, storm, and night — and what it meant to watch one view hold three different conditions without ever repeating itself.

 Gravel path leading into the rainforest near the Panama Rainforest Discovery Center, Gamboa September 12, 2026

The Driver Who Waited

An Uber into the rainforest near Gamboa, a driver who asked the question I hadn't adequately considered, and a walk among hummingbirds and leaf-cutter ants while he waited.

Bogotá

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Lion mural inside Culto, a cafe in Bogota September 9, 2026

A Version of My Life

A café, a grocery store, a familiar walk — and what it means to build a small, temporary routine in an enormous city.

 The sanctuary at Monserrate, Bogota September 9, 2026

The Long Way Up

Climbing Monserrate on foot in jeans, and what the city looked like from the top.

 BOGOTA sign among palm trees September 9, 2026

The Long Walk to the Garden

Four miles to the Bogotá Botanical Garden, a bee on a pink flower, and what having somewhere to walk gave an unanswered afternoon.

 Crowd watching Copa America on a large public screen at Parque de la 93, Bogota September 9, 2026

Ninety Minutes of Belonging

Joining a Copa América watch party without a jersey, an invitation, or perfect Spanish.

Tulsa

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The Philbrook Museum villa and water staircase, Tulsa September 8, 2026

Friday at the Philbrook

An afternoon inside Waite Phillips' Italian Renaissance villa and the gardens surrounding it.

 Black Wall Street mural in Greenwood, Tulsa September 8, 2026

The Size of Greenwood

Walking the streets of Black Wall Street, and the distance between a number in a chronology and a place you can cross on foot.

 Handwritten lyrics facsimile of This Land Is Your Land by Woody Guthrie September 8, 2026

The Words That Didn't Survive

At the Bob Dylan Center and the Woody Guthrie Center, the finished songs were less interesting to me than the crossed-out words that came before them.