Recent Work

Modern maple syrup collection is two-thirds technology, one-third nostalgia. As maple farmers get more sap from their trees than ever before, critics say flavor and tradition are disappearing for good.

“Mi Pueblo” was founded by a Mexican immigrant, and hires mostly Latino workers. Now, the Northern California supermarket is under a federal probe to expose undocumented workers.

If you could be at your own funeral, what would you like to do? How about dance and drink champagne with everyone you’ve ever known? A Bay Area man and his husband try to greet death in style. But they discover that death has its own agenda.
A radio documentary for the BBC World Service, BON VOYAGE has now aired across three continents.

Reporter Julia Scott spent some time with three homeless people in San Francisco to find out how they got there and how they survive day to day. And as Scott discovered, losing a job often triggers that downward spiral onto the streets.

Why drive when you can fly? California’s quirky airpark communities are a dream destination for retirees, but they’re struggling.

I mistook the first nene I ever encountered for a Canada goose, but who can blame me? The bird was leaving a line of droppings in the Kilauea Point National Wildlife Refuge in Kauai, Hawaii.

Libraries aren’t just for books or movies anymore. Increasingly, they’re a place to turn for job skills, shelter — and now, some social services for people who have nowhere else to go.

A group of amateur gardeners share a single, consuming obsession with growing giant pumpkins. They’ll stop at nothing – drain their own bank accounts, experiment with radical products and techniques – to trounce the competition and bring home the top prize: a new world record and eternal pumpkin glory.

The city of Montreal scrambles to preserve endangered artists in the midst of a real estate boom.

A review of “No Fear: A Whistleblower’s Triumph Over Corruption and Retaliation at the EPA” for Ms. Magazine.

Agriculture officials have renewed their scrutiny of the world’s best-selling pest-killer as they try to solve the mysterious collapse of the nation’s hives.