Here are some things I’ve written:
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On programmatic ads and the American Prospect
On the unbelievable Anderson Valley Advertiser
On older people and prediction markets
On AI and “AI sandwiches” and journalism and chatbots [part of the Journalism 2050 issue, produced in partnership with the Tow Center for Digital Journalism]
On the wild world of public notices
On art writer Lucy Lippard’s fierce, funny, local newsletter and the very old village in which she lives [spotlighted in Longreads]
On a lost literary genre (the airline magazine) [spotlighted at Longreads, the Browser, and beyond]
On the “semiotics of old age”
On oldness and coverage of oldness
On corporate radio, and personal vs. corporate debt [spotlighted at Longform]
On a catastrophic Mississippi River flood, the fascinating Quad Cities, and a broadcast meteorologist working to convince his viewers of climate change
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On leaving Lubbock, surveillance, McCarthyism, and my grandfather, The Oxford American [forthcoming]
On an old gig, The Midwest Review
On Geoff Dyer’s Homework and British stuff,The Cleveland Review of Books
On pain, singing, being a Lubbock woman, Rustica
On Petrarch, Marfa, recognizing myself in a piece of fiction, fiction vs. nonfiction, getting really lost while hiking,The Adroit Journal
On “this and thats,” and towards an “ethics of digression,”The Cleveland Review of Books
On entomologist Jean-Henri Fabre’s harmas, Off Assignment [with a behind-the-scenes interview!] — a BEST AMERICAN ESSAYS 2025 notable!
On Terry Allen’s drawing of a songbird, for an exhibit at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts [print-copy only!]
On formality in contemporary nonfiction,The Paris Review Daily
On the writer Nicholson Baker, Essay Daily
On a wild trip to the sixtieth anniversary celebration of the Day the Music Died, West Branch — nominated for a Pushcart Prize in 2022.
On a certain kind of dog leash (the “Gentle Leader”) + some other things, DIAGRAM
On an old job at a naming company, and corporate language, Popula
On a garden, a homegrown language, and a weird anonymous book,Speculative Nonfiction
On fear and moving,Popula
On Jon Lovitz, obviousness, and the festering angers of childhood,Goodnight, Sweet Prince — a Pushcart Prize nominee!
On the glut of historical recreation reality television from the early 2000s (“Manor House,” “Frontier House,” etc.), Counterpunch [print]
On the Iowa caucus, Counterpunch [print copy only]
On “Wizards of Loneliness” (inaugural essay of my new travel/culture column, The Visitor), Counterpunch
On Arthur Russell and Oskaloosa,The Iowa Review [print copy only] — a Best American Essays “notable” in 2020!
On Raynaud’s Syndrome/the Polar Vortex,Lit Hub
On the amazing Bolerium Books in San Francisco, The New Yorker
On the allure of Arthur Russell,The New Yorker
On Karl Ove Knausgaard,The Millions
On Iowan labor rights/labor history (with Emmett Rensin), The New Republic
[Major oldie!] On San Francisco,The Rumpus
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I wrote the album bio for the Arthur Russell album Iowa Dream. You can read the bio at the following link to the album’s first single.
Interviews with:
-Lucy Sante
-Rick Prelinger