It's tough to choose a few favorites from the gripping, hilarious, and heartbreaking narratives I've been lucky enough to help bring into the world. Generally, the pieces below caused a stir—shared by world-class filmmakers, covered on NPR, featured on Digg and Longreads, or earning top spots on Google News.
After the Oakland warehouse fire, I put out a call for pitches; I believe I asked for something about artists who "choose" to sacrifice comfort in pursuit of their art. The writer who won me over was bold enough to tell me I had the angle all wrong. We worked throughout a single weekend on this piece, demanding compromises from each other, and it became the first of our many collaborations. I'm so pleased with how the beautiful final product tackles a delicate subject responsibly — and with sensitivity to spare.
This story. It's the only one I've worked on that made me cry. The writer and I went back and forth on edits for months, hashing out the ethics of anonymous sources, worrying over whether it was a benefit or a problem for a man to report on women's sexual health, looking for places to cut but ultimately deciding that this subject deserved 6,400 words of serious consideration. I also fought tooth and nail for the story not to be killed. Once published, it became a viral phenomenon, dominating 25-50% of site traffic for the bulk of two weeks, while earning recognition from industry tastemakers on Longreads and Digg.
This reporting duo was willing to devote months of work on this incredible Iraq series, featuring 360° video, remarkable photographs, and a simply unforgettable story. The writer had seen so much he could have put out a book, but we trimmed it down! I was thankful to be part of this important (and entertaining!) report, which was covered on NPR's "The Takeaway."
Roles: Assigning Editor, Art Director, Writer
Links: Feature, Photographs, Video
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In Issue 39, this quirky piece about our staid future president-elect was one of the first pieces we "closed." Check! A month later, Hillary lost, and we mourned the piece, along with the incredible art that accompanied it. Yet the writer and I fought for a relevant pivot. I believe it was among the most crucial moments in the Trump-heavy issue.
When the first draft of this piece landed in my inbox, I was still high on good feelings from my own participation in the Women's March. I don't think I've ever personally disagreed so much with a writer's premise! But this sharp, critical take on the biggest protest in U.S. history was the first of its kind, and rightly became of our most-viewed stories of all time.
I confess: I was so glad when this charming story started ricocheting around the internet, appearing above the fold on Digg and — on the same day that Sweden was building nuclear bunkers due to tensions with Russia — it snagged the No. 1 slot in Google News for the term "Sweden." Turns out I'm far from alone in my obsession with Scandi!
This feature becomes eerily relevant every day. All I'll say is that, during an edit of the piece on a chilly weekend, I stood up at my kitchen table and screamed; I'd been hunting for photos on Getty Images and I spotted a supposedly antifa protestor wearing the exact mask the writer stumbled upon on 4Chan.
Halfway through the editing process of this story (originally headlined "Can Gay Culture Save Detroit?"), marriage equality passed in the Supreme Court, turning a speculative argument into a devastatingly real phenomenon We basically started from scratch on an edit, and ended up with a really original take on a still-ongoing conversation in the LGBT community.