Writing
Disunion Series — The New York Times
Lincoln on Stage
April 13, 2015
“The enthralling young Lincoln thrived on his rough stages in Springfield, Ill., much as an Elizabethan actor might at the uproarious, open-air Globe. As best we know, Lincoln’s voice was not a rumbling bass, but a tenor with a drawl, a trained instrument for penetrating across rooms, lyceum halls and distances.”
Whitman in Washington
December 28, 2012
“When Whitman arrived at the field hospital set up in a mansion, he found a scene from hell, watched over by an imposing angel: Clara Barton moved amid screams of surgery, ministering to youths, bandaging the bleeding and soothing the dying with low-spoken words and water.”
Compassion Under Fire
December 9, 2011
“From the first day blood was spilled in 1861 — some of her old Massachusetts schoolmates were among the Yankee soldiers besieged in Baltimore by a mob of Southern sympathizers — the Civil War was what [Clara Barton] lived for. She left a job in Washington as a Patent Office copyist for scenes of mass misery that broke all the record books.”
The War Comes Home for Lee
July 30, 2011
“Orchards on the vast expanse of Arlington acres were clear-cut to make room for roads and telegraph poles. Union soldiers drilled on land that had been tilled by enslaved people for generations. A nameless number who died at the First Battle of Bull Run were later buried on the grounds in a not-so-subtle message that their blood was on Lee’s hands.”
Parallel Lives from the Eastern Shore
June 24, 2011
“Twenty miles away, Tubman’s family lived in still deeper isolation, in a hardscrabble part of the world with few fine indoor things. But she had the luck to know and live with most of her close-knit family; Douglass was separated from his mother and grandmother as a child, a cut that never healed.”
With Friends Like These…
April 8, 2011
“Lucretia Mott, the Philadelphia Quaker famous for her work in the abolition and women’s rights movements, never met Abraham Lincoln. But Mott and many of her faith thought they knew him well enough to be wary: though the South was up in arms over his antislavery statements, he was nowhere near radical enough for Mott’s small but influential religious community.”
Selected Recent Pieces
Democracy under fire: A first-person account inside the Capitol
San Francisco Chronicle, January 10, 2021
“Then there were footsteps, shouting, broken glass, tear gas inside. The clamor became an onslaught. Members and reporters donned escape hoods, to kneel and head for locked doors and a secret staircase. Nobody could take their eyes off a gun standoff at the chamber door. That was when I called my family.”
A tale of two cities on the streets: from D.C. to Santa Monica
San Francisco Chronicle, June 4, 2020
“It was the worst of times. But the best of times are far from here. President Trump is veering toward martial law, as announced in the Rose Garden the very moment peaceful resisters were forced out of nearby Lafayette Square.”
Trump's Plot to Take Out the Post Office
Creators Syndicate, April 29, 2020
“The United States Postal Service is under silent siege, just as the American people are, in the coronavirus crisis. Trump views the pandemic as an opportunity to choke the post office, to strangle a precious part of democracy.”
Remembering Tony Horwitz, Intrepid Traveler and Chronicler of the South
The Nation, May 31, 2019
“All his books were born of adventure. In the early Baghdad Without a Map, Horwitz all but declared to the literati that he wasn’t afraid to venture into the unknown, getting wet and dirty or hot and dusty. Authentic engagement with his subjects (living or dead) demanded he live hard to tell the narrative.”
Another Kennedy Family Tragedy
American Heritage, July/August 2020
“I know the place where they were lost. I kept thinking of lovely Shady Side on the shore of the Bay while we were celebrating the life of that remarkable woman during an online memorial service.”
Trump's Plot to Take Out the Post Office
Creators Syndicate, April 29, 2020
“The United States Postal Service is under silent siege, just as the American people are, in the coronavirus crisis. Trump views the pandemic as an opportunity to choke the post office, to strangle a precious part of democracy.”
Baltimore's Sally Michel wanted to save the world; instead, she saved me
Baltimore Sun, October 13, 2018
“She had a bright, unconditional love for the city — the whole city, not just her specific community or social set. Her inclusive vision for, and embrace of, Baltimore was for everybody. The city was her calling, particularly nurturing the talent found in its public institutions.”
Ladylike no more: suffrage out on the streets
San Francisco Chronicle, August 23, 2020
“Given our historical hour of discontent and Black Lives Matter marches, the suffrage story speaks straight to now. The arc over 70 years of struggle beams clear: It was only when women went out on the streets of Washington to protest a president, Woodrow Wilson, that they won the day.”
Seven days in June: war and peace
San Francisco Chronicle, June 12, 2020
“In June light, the American president waged war against the people. In a mass mobilization, the people won a peaceful victory, wresting the nation’s meaning from the maw. Two female leaders made all the difference.”
2020 may be historic for women in more ways than one
Washington Post, February 10, 2019
“The recent shift to the Senate as the proving ground for a presidential run serves women well. It was once an article of faith among pundits that governors made the best candidates. Women have more opportunities to enter political careers and rise on the national stage as as lawmakers than as governors.”
San Francisco’s gifts to the nation — Dianne Feinstein and Nancy Pelosi
San Francisco Chronicle, January 8, 2019
“It took each lawmaker decades to reach her pinnacle; Pelosi is the only woman to hold her post. Feinstein is the dean of Senate women. Pelosi is 78, and Feinstein is 85. They’ve seen presidents come and go. Contrary to what critics claim, their age is an asset.”
A tale of two cities on the streets: from D.C. to Santa Monica
San Francisco Chronicle, June 4, 2020
“It was the worst of times. But the best of times are far from here. President Trump is veering toward martial law, as announced in the Rose Garden the very moment peaceful resisters were forced out of nearby Lafayette Square.”
Heartland recipes for happiness in a Trumpian summer
The Capital Times (Madison), August 22, 2019
“Straight from the village bake sale in Madison, Wisconsin, on the Fourth of July, a blueberry buckle is a heartland recipe for happiness. Alan, the Shorewood Hills resident who shared his Grandma Walker's handwritten family heirloom, brings it every year to the fire station events. Every July, my knees buckle. This July, when I got home to Washington, I realized this is no ordinary time. I had to save my soul, where I live.”
Where Obama Failed: Ongoing battles over immigration and guns show how the Obama team fell short.
U.S. News & World Report, February 20, 2018
“Obama came up short, empty-handed in the end, on passing promised immigration reform and gun control bills in Congress. These losses happened in 2013. It was too bad to see legislation that he, a former senator, touted die on the Senate floor early in his second term, when he should have been at the height of his power. But Obama did not wield enough influence in the Senate to make it happen.”
See more U.S. News & World Report columns —>
It’s easier to have a boyfriend from the past than in messy real life
The Washington Post, February 2018
“Historical boyfriends never let you down. They never leave. You don’t have to worry about whether they’ll call or text. They are always in your heart.”
Trump is the return of King Henry VIII
Wisconsin State Journal, January 7, 2017
“Practicing personal desires and goals in public policy: Would Trump ever do such a thing? My fear is, that’s all he knows. Pursuing his own enrichment, power and glory is all that he’s ever done. Public service is a whole new concept.”
Two activists with ties to Philadelphia
The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 12, 2016
“Lucretia Mott and Alice Paul were revolutionary bookends, a fact about to gain national currency. The Treasury is now in on the secret of their virtual sisterhood in the City of Brotherly Love and Sisterly Affection, and will include both women on the redesigned $10 bill”
