Gulf Coast residents are suffering the deep emotional distress that comes with a protracted crisis that has no clear end, and some communities have no safety net. Part 6 of Losing Louisiana, a series originally published in onEarth. IN THE SEVEN MONTHS SINCE the Deepwater Horizon blowout upended life on the Gulf Coast, the environmental and […]
‘The Land is Washing Back to the Sea’
Louisiana wetlands are disappearing at a rate of up to 25 square miles per year — and taking centuries-old communities with them. Part 7 of Losing Louisiana, a series originally published in onEarth. ON MY MAP, LAKE CHIEN is tiny, jutting cove-like into the bottom of Louisiana. It looks like the top of a four-tiered snowman, connected […]
Do-It-Yourself Genetics
The mapping of the human genome inspired not only a flood of scientific research, but also a flurry of commercial genetic tests aimed at the curious consumer. The author submitted his DNA and gained access to a trove of information—some fascinating, some reassuring, some terrifying. Originally published in Duke Magazine. WHEN WE ADOPTED SCOOTER IN […]
Louisiana Oystermen: Out of Work, Out of Options
A tight-knit group of oystermen on the bayou are struggling to survive after the oil spill shut down the oyster beds. Will a way of life die out? Part 2 of Losing Louisiana, a series originally published in onEarth. ELTON “HAMBONE” ENCALADE IS ONE OF THE FIRST oystermen to greet me as I pull into Beshel’s […]
Losing Louisiana
Originally published in OnEarth. The BP blowout caused months of pain and suffering for the people and environment of the Gulf Coast. But Louisiana was in trouble long before the Deepwater Horizon disaster. Its wetlands are disappearing at the rate of a football field every hour due to rising sea level, storm damage, and the […]
Youth and Promise at the DNC
An N.C. delegate to the Democratic National Convention, Raleigh’s John Verdejo sees similarities between his personal history and Barack Obama’s. Originally published in Indy Week. UNTIL HIS PLANE TOUCHED DOWN in Denver for the Democratic National Convention, John Verdejo had never in his life reset his watch. The 29-year-old’s personal history was contained entirely within the Eastern time […]
Whitewash
In his new autobiography, Jesse Helms sees himself as a humanitarian—not a racist supporter of brutal right-wing regimes who turned obstructionism into a foreign policy. Originally published in Indy Week. I’VE ONLY MET JESSE HELMS ONCE. I was profiling him for two national magazines during his 1996 Senate race, and for two days I shadowed him […]
A Taste for Tolerance
Years of struggle taught Charlotte, North Carolina, and other American cities that diversity is a growth industry. Originally published in AARP The Magazine. Charlotte TV station WBTV looks back at the student sit-ins in Charlotte. REGINALD HAWKINS COULD FEEL HIS HEART RACING as he and three friends made their way through Douglas Municipal Airport in Charlotte, North […]
Return to Loves Creek
Originally published in Indy Week. IT’S A WARM FRIDAY AFTERNOON, and I’m driving down Silk Hope Road through Alamance and Chatham counties. It’s a familiar route that I used to take several times a week, when I was reporting on the life of Siler City’s Loves Creek Hispanic Baptist Mission. For eight months in 1999 I threw […]
Surgical Strike
Originally published in Mother Jones. BARBARA HARRIS WAS EAGER TO BECOME a foster mother when she received a call from a social worker in 1990, asking her to take in an eight-month-old girl born to a woman addicted to crack cocaine. Harris, a waitress at a pancake house, agreed. Over the next two years, she […]
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