To the Lighthouse, on a Kayak
A bottlenose dolphin has surfaced no more than six feet from my boat, its shiny dorsal fin catching the morning light.
You can see all my Texas Monthly bylines here.
Texas Monthly (Writing)
Filters & Sorting
Whooping Cranes Are Back From the Brink
The cranes' movements are deliberate, regal, and severe, a march of impossibly tall, thin, chopsticklike black legs propping up snowy white feathers.
Wake Up, Sheeple! Nothing Controls Grass on Solar Farms as Well as Sheep
A Texas farmer explains why solar energy companies prefer to maintain their land with hungry livestock rather than industrial mowers.
Empire, Wide and Glorious
As we celebrate one hundred years of our state parks, they are more popular than ever. But our booming population is overwhelming the state’s scarce public lands. What will the next century hold for Texas’s “best idea”?
A Rare Disease Causes a Mother’s Body to Attack Her Unborn Child. Now a Texas Doctor Has Found a Drug to Stop It.
The only available treatment for HDFN can itself be fatal, but a clinical trial led by an Austin researcher offers new hope to families.
Stopping to Smell the Moonflower, One of Texas’s Most Tenacious (and Poisonous) Plants
Unfazed by extreme weather, this dangerous beauty blooms only at night.
Rule One of Wind Turbine Repair Work: Don’t Leave Your Phone at the Top
A Big Spring wind turbine technician says the views three hundred feet above West Texas are magnificent—just watch out for the flying ants.
How to Attract the Charming Hummingbird Moth to Your Yard
Hint: leave those leaves alone!
In This North Texas Town, It’s Always Shark Week
The small city of Sherman, which lies far from the coast, is a fossil hunter’s paradise.
Hikers Are Dying on Texas Trails in Severe Heat
Recent tragedies in Big Bend and Palo Duro Canyon are a reminder to “respect the desert,” says one ranger.
Where to Watch Thousands of Sandhill Cranes Storm the Texas Skies
Each winter, a wildlife sanctuary near the Panhandle hosts one of the world’s largest gatherings of these beautiful birds.
Why Scientists Keep Discovering Strange New Wasps on the Rice University Campus
Remarkably, this isn’t the first new insect species that Scott Egan and his team have found—and not even the first that lives on the Rice campus.
Texas Monthly (Editing)
Below are some all-time favorite stories I've edited for Texas Monthly.
Filters & Sorting
The Very Big Year
When she began her year-long bird-spotting adventure, Tiffany Kersten was lost and lonely. She ended up achieving a major milestone—and finding her way.
Pray for the Predator
Why is Texas the only state that doesn’t protect mountain lions?
A Trip to the Camel Conference, Where There is So Much Slime
Need help saddling your 1,300-pound dromedary? The Southwest Camel Conference is the place to be.
Ladies, Start Your Engines
Inside the competitive world of women's lawn mower racing.
He Died a Hero in World War II. Then His Texas Hometown Refused to Host His Memorial.
His family fought back—and made a lasting impact on the fight for Mexican American rights.
The Big Squeeze
Talented teen accordion players are keeping a historic tradition alive.
This East Texas Bird Is Off the Endangered List, but Not Out of the Woods
The red-cockaded woodpecker is an unusual bird.
How a Black Cowboy's Discovery Changed the Field of Archaeology
George McJunkin found a prehistoric bison skeleton that upended theories about human existence in the Americas.
Texas Observer
See all my Texas Observer stories here.
The Time-Traveler's Guide to the Lower Pecos
Hidden away on private land in Southwest Texas is some of the oldest and best-preserved prehistoric rock art in the world. The Rock Art Rendezvous offers a rare glimpse.
Ride Like a Girl
Women riders take the reins in the macho world of charrería.
Plight at the Museum
The best Texas history museum you’ve never heard of is staring down a financial crisis. Will it survive?
How the San Antonio Police Are Rethinking Mental Health
A new documentary on policing in San Antonio makes a simple suggestion: Instead of arresting mentally ill people, listen to them.
The Internet Broke Democracy. To Fix It, Design for Human Rights.
"What we’re seeing with the major platforms right now is a scrambled attempt to rebuild the plane while the plane is being flown."
The Ghosts of Abandoned Texas Buildings Rise Up in an Eerie New Photo Book
“Lost, Texas” features starkly beautiful photos of once-thriving rural Texas towns.
Mr. Reynolds' Opus
Walk into composer Graham Reynolds’ East Austin studio, and the first thing you’ll notice, perhaps surprisingly, is the books.
Sunk Costs
Back-to-back record flooding along the Brazos River has forced people in Richmond to make an excruciating choice: Stay or go?
Two Houston Archives Gather Harvey Memories for Historians of the Future
They’re a time capsule of the destruction wrought by the deadliest storm to hit Texas since 1919.
Fearless and Funny, Molly Ivins Comes to Life in ‘Raise Hell’
If only she were around today.
'Seadrift' Dredges Up a Little Known—and Deeply Disturbing—Texas Story
An electrifying new documentary captures a forgotten conflict in the sleepy coastal community of Seadrift.
'Another Book, Another Month, Another Day Closer to You'
Some 65,600 mothers are incarcerated nationwide, a 131-percent increase since 1991.
The Alcalde
See all my Alcalde stories here.
A Classroom at the Edge of the World
"If you don't know what you're doing in Svalbard, Svalbard will kill you."
View from the Top
“When the Space Station would fly over Texas, Jack would look up and wave and say, ‘Hi, Mommy.’”
A Cure for Clara
In 2014, the average orphan drug cost $118,820 per patient per year. That means families’ campaigning may not end even once they’ve found and funded the cure.
Through the Unthinkable
Palliative care is often confused with hospice—a narrower subtype of palliative care focused on the end of life—but increasingly, it isn’t only for people who have a terminal prognosis.
The Precursors
UT's first black undergraduates tell their stories.
Star Power
The one thing Neil deGrasse Tyson doesn't like to talk about is his time at the University of Texas.
The Alcalde: 40 Acres Field Guide | Multimedia Feature
UT is an urban university in the heart of the city, yet the campus and its environs teem with fascinating plants and animals—from tropical parakeets to the world's weirdest cactus.
Minds on Fire
What happens when disadvantaged adults learn to read Shakespeare and debate philosophy? How the Free Minds Project is changing lives through the humanities
Freelance
So You Have a Million-Dollar Idea. Now What?
Austin has more new startups per capita than any other U.S. city, including the Silicon Valley area. What’s up for debate is whether local investors have enough money to support them.
On the Nose
Even as Texans quietly mastered great but obscure wines like garnacha and mourvèdre, the world didn’t seem to notice.