Things I’ve Written

I was a senior writer at Newsweek for seven years, covering social trends, gender, web culture and sexuality. A few favorites:

* Before I started at Tumblr, where my life is full of LOLcats, I spent two months driving back and forth to State College, Pa., covering the Jerry Sandusky child abuse case. A few of the many stories I produced.

* I write a lot about books. Mostly on women and sex.

* Here, two colleagues and I go back in time to document the 40th anniversary of a landmark gender discrimination suit against NEWSWEEK—and question how much has changed for women at work. Publishing a piece about Newsweek in Newsweek was… political. It also launched a blog.

* This piece, about the role of looks in the workplace, won first prize from the Newswomen’s Club of New York.

* I went to rural Texas to document the story of a high school cheerleader who was kicked off the squad for refusing to cheer for the athlete she said had raped her. 

* Here I tackle the issue of school bullying, and question whether 16-year-olds should be prosecuted for calling somebody a “slut.”

* I covered the debate over California’s Proposition 19, the initiative to legalize marijuana, and spent time at the country’s only “pot school” in Oakland, Calif. This series won first prize from the New York Press Club.

* I grew up in Seattle, but had no idea what a huge community of polyamorists were thriving in my hometown. Here, I document one family’s multi-partner relationship.

* I won the 2010 Nellie Bly Award, from the New York Press Club, for a series of stories, one of which documented one family’s tireless fight to get their daughter’s death photos removed from the Internet.

* Ever wonder how much money the average woman spends on a lifetime of beauty maintenance? We find out in this project, called Generation Diva, which was honored by the Society for Professional Journalists.

* In which I ask an internet reputation company to find out everything they can about me on the web, using nothing but my email address. The result is mildly terrifying.

* A colleague and I head to Compton, which is undergoing something of a community rebirth. This piece took second prize from the New York Association of Black Journalists.

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