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Writing and Editing

These are links to various books, articles and editing projects that show my range.

BOOKS

The New York Times •

After They Were Stars (Writer)

When Jesse McCartney imagines himself as an adult, he sees the sunlit world of a movie mogul. ''I want to be a director,'' he says, ''but also maintain my acting career and have a house in Beverly Hills.'' Jesse is 15, an aspiring teen star. He tells me about his Hollywood future on the phone as his mother, Ginger, listens in on the other line. We are discussing the dissolution of his band, Dream Street -- a group of boys who were supposed to become the next 'N Sync. Dream Street broke up in the

ARTICLES

City Arts Magazine •

The City Through the Eyes of an Architect (Editor)

Architect Jerry Garcia’s snapshot tour of the Seattle he believes in.

What follows is a look at the city through the eyes of one of its rising architects, Jerry Garcia, who is currently a senior project manager at the venerable firm Olson Sundberg Kundig Allen. If it is possible for someone saddled with the name of a rock legend to “make a name for himself,” Garcia is doing it in the world of architecture. For many years he worked in relative obscurity, a sort of underground architect living ha
The New York Times •

New York Times Magazine LIVES: Dishing Dirt

The day I hear the rumor I am 14 years old, enclosed in a bathroom stall. Its walls are light blue, exactly the color of mold. Through a crack in its door, I can see three girls enter: heavy metal girls with tremendous eyelashes. They stand in front of the mirror, speaking urgently:''Did you hear about H.?'' one of them says. ''I hear she did it with Mitch and all his friends, like 12 guys at once!''''Twelve guys?'' says another. ''She is disgusting!''The last chimes in. ''Oh, my God, she is suc...
Seattle Met •

Can Hugo House Write Its Next Chapter? (Writer)

From 2001 to 2003 I was a writer-in-residence at the literary nonprofit Hugo House. I was paid around $250 a month. My job was to talk to people in weekly open-to-the-public office hours, teach, and produce events. The house itself, a rambling Victorian in Capitol Hill, was almost always open. People on staff had fluid roles. The accountant might double as a DJ. The grounds manager might staff the merch table. Programming left room for surprises. Some semifamous writer might come out of hiding a...
City Arts Magazine •

The Dumbing Down of the Dailies (Writer)

Newspaper culture critics are an endangered species. What does this mean for Seattle artists?

Sheila Farr chooses her words carefully when she describes the day her job disappeared. She makes a practice of being careful with language, and this is a story she wants to get right. “Here is how it was put to me,” she says, scrupulously recreating her conversation with Seattle Times higher-ups. “They were eliminating my position as art critic. The position would be gone.” A fine-boned woman with a m
Seattle Met •

The Divorce Next Door (Writer)

IT WAS 1997 and my husband and I had lived in Leschi for a few months when Lee and Sandra moved in next door. Like us, they were a childless couple in their mid-30s. Like us, they left early on weekdays and returned late, always working. Initially we both kept the front yards of our Leschi ramblers presentable, but gradually we let them go: dandelions, moss, no sprinklers to preserve the green. If Lee and Sandra* mirrored us on a superficial level, there were deep differences, too. They were Chi
The New York Times •

School Away From School (Writer)

Andy Markishtum's hair reaches past his shoulders, thick and shining. He speaks in a low monotone, a rocker growl, and his favorite band is Cradle of Filth. As a student at McKay High School in Salem, Ore., Andy was part of the stoner crowd -- a self-described slacker with a backpack full of half-finished assignments. ''I'd get too distracted,'' he says. ''There would be kids sitting right next to me talking or something, and instead of paying attention to the teacher, I would drift off. Someone
The New York Times •

Forever Young (Writer)

Treva Throneberry sits across from me, smiling bashfully as if she is embarrassed to be seen here. We are in a dank, spooky visiting room in the Clark County Jail in Vancouver, Wash., looking at each other through a thick Plexiglas window on which someone has scrawled ''I Love You.'' We speak to each other through telephone receivers. We are talking about high school. She remembers first-period history, when she would sometimes fall asleep with her head down. ''The teacher would bang on the desk