An Open Letter To Non-Voters
Not voting is less passive resistance, more passive aggressive, and opting out of the democratic process risks losing it altogether.
Democracy is fragile and doesn’t just die in darkness. It so easily dies in the light of day.
Glorified Bottom Feeders
The sad fact that Naomi Osaka, not the press, stepped back from the French Open, has me thinking about my previous career, and the glaring overlap between sports and arts writers.
Surging in Silence
My Pulitzer Center-backed series examining the effects of the pandemic on domestic and sexual violence in Nashville and Memphis.
Home Invasion
Large-scale violence is disorienting, especially when it involves political figures. So let’s transpose the attack on the US Capitol into a more personal scale. And see if politics still seems relevant.
The Floor Is Lava: Teachers Ask How They Can Logistically Protect Kids, And Themselves, In Classrooms
Teachers fears’ are growing as the new academic year approaches. And they say have many questions that need answering, about the nuts and bolts of keeping children and themselves, healthy and alive.
TN doctors warn ICU beds are filling up fast, again beg Gov. Lee to adopt a statewide containment strategy
Tennessee doctors are once again begging for science, not politics, to drive public-health decisions during the pandemic.
First #BlackBirdersWeek Draws Fans — And Some Controversy — In Tennessee
Produced for Nashville Public Radio.
"Digital Divide" Meets Social Divide for Shelby County Students
Radio feature produced for WKNO FM (Memphis NPR station), as companion piece to Daily Memphian article.
In post-COVID world, education officials hope to bridge local digital divide
Published by the Institute for Public Service Reporting in the Daily Memphian.
Middle Tennessee Teachers Worry About What’s Ahead As A Strange School Year Ends
Radio feature produced for Nashville Public Radio.
The Alternate Reality That Fuels White America’s Fear
By not admitting to a collective racism, we white people are fueling a deadly "alternate reality." One in which black and brown people have systemically terrorized white people and must somehow prove we are safe when they're jogging or existing near us, not the other way around.
Audio Postcard From My Neighborhood
LISTEN IN: On a random walk, five strangers were kind enough to share their pandemic fears, hopes, music and gardening.
Getting tested for the coronavirus
Of all the things I imagined happening when getting swabbed, squawking like a chicken was not one of them.
Interview with Dr. Aaron Milstone: State re-openings are a “science experiment” some may “fail miserably.”
The physician talks openly (again) about his fears of relaxing social distancing, how the coronavirus may be smarter than a vaccine, and what could best prepare us for the virus' return in the fall.
Apart Together: Lockdown Life in Italy
Reflections and tips on life under lockdown, from my friend and colleague Aminda Leigh, who lives and works in Rome.
Nashville’s Public Schools Pivot From Distributing Food To Teaching, But Hurdles Remain
The pandemic is exposing how education inequality is really about income inequality.
Unprepared for COVID-19: Did Memphis, state missteps early on cost us?
My coverage of the state’s slow response to the C-19 threat, from a meatier article written with Marc Perrusquia (Institute for Public Service Reporting), who digs into what consequences state and county delays could have on one of the most vulnerable regions in Tennessee.
Self-isolation will always require more policy than personal responsibility. Or rebranding.
Let’s turn self-isolation into a drinking game for those who still practice the most blatant form it, by ignoring the magnitude of this pandemic.
“I have three little children who lost their father,” I tell [the doctor]. “Save me.”
A 38-year-old woman relates her fear and isolation in surviving COVID-19, and how the staff of the Papa Giovanni XIII Hospital in Bergamo (the hardest hit facility and city in Italy) made everyone feel like one big family.
There are certain text messages you never want to receive. "I tested positive for COVID…"
Emergency call center nurse Paolo Baldini on what it feels like when a close co-worker gets COVID-19 and is themselves hospitalized.