Notebook

My First Roll with a Voigtländer Bessa I

A first test roll through a 1950s Voigtländer Bessa I. Finding a usable one, scale-focusing without a rangefinder, and learning where an old leaf shutter can and can't be trusted.

I Want My IndieWeb (and I made something to help)

After years of WordPress frustration, I built something new: a Wagtail and Django site with a portfolio, a writing section, an independent image stream, and a deep appreciation for RSS.

Ondi Timoner interview for the Mamalode Podcast

Audio Interview: Ondi Timoner (2017) I caught up with Ondi Timoner around the time her ten-part docuseries Jungletown was premiering on Viceland — a project that followed hundreds of young people attempting to build a sustainable town from scratch in the middle of the Panamanian jungle. We talked about what drew her to the story, the tension between utopian idealism and on-the-ground reality, and how she ended up making a TV series when she'd actually sworn off documentaries to pursue fiction.

Three River Sonata: Photogravures of the Clark Fork Watershed

The Field Recordings Podcast: After the World Cup Final, Paris, France on 15th July 2018

On School Shootings

Reflections on the Columbine High School shooting in the aftermath of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida.

Photoblog: New England Graveyards

Walden Pond

A visit to Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts — just after the celebration of Thoreau's 200th birthday — becomes an occasion to reflect on his writing, the failures of the modern world, and what it means to seek inspiration in a place Thoreau left behind more than a century and a half ago.

Gary Ferguson on Wildfire, Climate Change, and Land on Fire

In June 2017, I spoke with the prolific author and naturalist Gary Ferguson about his book Land on Fire, which examines the science, politics, and human cost of the megafire era in the American West. Ferguson is one of the most thoughtful voices writing about nature and the West today, and this wide-ranging conversation covers everything from firefighter instinct to carbon storage to what we can actually do about it.

Book Review: Land on Fire by Gary Ferguson

Gary Ferguson's Land on Fire trades his usual lyrical style for an informational approach, shedding light on how a century of fire suppression, climate change, and explosive development in the wildland-urban interface have set the American West on a collision course with increasingly destructive megafires. A compelling and necessary read for anyone who lives in, travels through, or cares about Western lands.

Photoblog: Metarie Cemetery in New Orleans

Metarie Cemetery in New Orleans is an amazing place to visit. Like most cemeteries in the Crescent City where the high water table requires graves be above ground, it has a unique character unlike most other cemeteries. In the case of Metarie Cemetery, there are a number of aspects which make it so fascinating: there are graves spanning over 150 years of New Orleans history, there is a wide variety of styles represented in the monuments and mausoleums, some humble, others incredibly elaborate.

Ali Baba's Cave

Gus Gus the cat has many gifts — brains, personality, and apparently an irresistible urge to collect things and bat them under the sofa. When the couch finally got moved, what emerged was less a lost toy and more an entire secret economy, including writing implements, snacks, hardware, and one clove of garlic with little cat teeth marks in it.

2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

A week in the Crescent City for one of the World's best music festivals

Meeting Chuck Berry

My encounter with Chuck Berry

A winter day in Seattle & The Chihuly Gardens, a photoblog

Photos from a rainy day spent at Chihuly Gardens in Seattle

New episode of the Mamalode Podcast with Erica Rabner

Interview with Erica Rabner for the Mamalode Podcast

Interview with Filmmaker Aslaug Holm for the Mamalode Podcast

Audio Interview: Aslaug Holm (2017) In 2017 I had the pleasure of speaking with Norwegian filmmaker Aslaug Holm about Brothers, her intimate documentary following her two sons — Markus and Lukas — from childhood through their teenage years. We talked about what it means to turn your own family into subjects, the challenge of balancing the roles of mother and filmmaker, and how the film went on to win the main prize at HotDocs and the Norwegian Amanda Award for Best Direction.

Solitude March

While my family marched in Washington and friends took to the streets across the country, I took a quiet three-hour solitude march through a snowy Montana forest with my dog. A reflection on the Women's March, what comes next, and the urgent need to support honest journalism in a new era of "alternative facts."

American Graveyard: An Inauguration Day Photoblog

On the day of Donald Trump's first inauguration and the eve of the historic Women's March on Washington...

Interview with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg for Mamalode

I spoke with Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg for the Mamalode Podcast about her book Nurture the Wow: Finding Spirituality in the Frustration, Boredom, Tears, Poop, Desperation, Wonder, and Radical Amazement of Parenting — a National Jewish Book Award finalist that argues parenting itself can be a genuine spiritual practice. Ruttenberg is a prolific author and widely recognized voice on faith, justice, and Jewish thought, named by Newsweek as one of ten "rabbis to watch."

Remembering Robert Hilferty

I've long resisted writing eulogies on this blog, but the passing of my dear friend Robert Hilferty compels me to speak. A writer, activist, and filmmaker, Robert was among the most exceptional people I've ever known — someone whose fierce commitment to storytelling, the arts, and human rights made the world genuinely better.