Travel memoir and political argument aren't as different as they seem. Both start with arrival in a place or a situation — and ask what the map got wrong.
Published
Still on its way to Cleveland
— Longreads, September 2026
Linked by Ann Friedman Weekly and kottke.org; included in 1440, October 2026.
The Game of Holy Whispers
— The Humanist, June 2026
Social Security: A National Disgrace
— HuffPost, September 2016
Material Witness
A Fraud the Institutions Could Afford
— July 2026
The Walk Has No Patent
— July 2026
The Model That Journalism Built
— July 2026
Portugal Decriminalized Drugs, But…
— July 2026
Essay
My Peloton Doesn't Lie
The leaderboard doesn't know age. Neither does the body — if you refuse to follow the script.
Essay
Ageism Kills
Not slowly, not metaphorically. It shortens lives and we've decided that's acceptable.
Essay
Social Security: A National Disgrace
On the politics of cutting benefits while 10,000 Americans turn 65 every day.
Co-authored with Betsy Blondin. HuffPost, September 2016.
Essay
The Senate Is Not a Democracy
Two senators represent 40 million Californians. Two represent 580,000 in Wyoming. This was a design choice.
At Work on
NONFICTION
The Radical Prescription
How American medicine turned chronic illness into a business model, and what it costs to keep it that way.
MEMOIR
The Leaving
Thirty years that began with nine months on the road in 1996 and ended on the coast of Portugal.