Novelist.
Journalist.
Storyteller.
I’ve followed stories across borders and through thresholds, into war zones, refugee camps, and remote mountain villages, in search of what holds us together. I’ve interviewed Indigenous healers in the Amazon, mothers surviving Ebola, farmers weathering drought, and more. Again and again, I’ve witnessed the quiet grace of resilience.
Along the way, I’ve founded two literary nonprofits, led communications at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul, and worked with global NGOs and foundations. What connects it all is a belief: storytelling—honest, human, deeply felt—can help us see one another more clearly.
Tracing
Memory
Over several years, I traveled with my son Cheney, an award-winning photojournalist, to Starr County, Texas—one of the least-resourced counties in the U.S., and one of the hardest hit by Alzheimer’s. TracingMemory.com is a tribute to the quiet bravery we witnessed again and again, and for anyone who has ever had to let go, and hold on, at the same time.
→ VIEW THE PROJECT
Mile
Marker
At a moment when the country feels fractured and in flux, my son and I, armed with a shared curiosity, set out to meet fellow travelers pausing at Interstate 95 rest stops to stretch, snack, and exhale. Through an intergenerational lens, we’re tracing this asphalt artery to ask not just where Americans are going, but where America is.
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Stories
From Africa to Asia, Latin America to the heart of U.S. communities, these stories trace moments of grit and grace—where farmers, health workers, teachers, and changemakers push forward, often quietly, to expand access to food, energy, care, and equitable opportunity. Told across borders and through upheaval, they bear witness to the everyday courage behind progress—and the human pulse within systems change.
→ READ ESSAYS & ARTICLESMy Books
Iris Rising
After her husband’s sudden death, Iris is drawn into a homeless veteran’s unraveling and must decide what it means to witness, forgive, and go on. Laced with dark humor, unshakable love, and the ache of family fracture, the novel moves between tenderness and blunt force to explore how we live with regret, how memory reshapes the past, and how making amends might become a form of grace.