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Posts Tagged ‘Longreads’

New(ish) Stories

Posted in Stories, tagged , , , , , , , , , on June 9, 2018|

I published a heap of new work in the early months of 2018! Some highlights:

For Outside, I traveled to Nunavut to complete a two-week boot camp in polar travel and survival. I’ve been lucky enough to do a lot of memorable trips for work, but this one was something special. I wrote about learning the secret to success on the ice.

Though it was published in 2018, that story was based on a trip I did in March 2017. The confidence I got from my time in Nunavut allowed me to enter the 100-mile Yukon Arctic Ultra here at home this past winter, and I wrote about my experience in the race for the Globe and Mail: I Would Walk 100 Miles. I also wrote a short item for Outside about the catastrophic injuries sustained by one racer during this year’s event.

Moving away from my cold-and-snow beat, I wrote a feature for WIRED’s Life Issue about the evolving science of saving extreme preemies: Saving Baby Boy Green. I really poured everything I had into that one, and I hope you’ll check it out!

For Longreads, I followed up on the Freelancers’ Roundtable that I put together a couple years ago. This time, I moderated a panel of smart folks talking about writing on both sides of the fiction-nonfiction divide.

For Seattle Met, I wrote about the mysterious disappearance of a crab boat in the Bering Sea, and the Coast Guard investigation that followed: The Boat at the Bottom of the Sea.

And most recently, Hakai published my dispatch from the westernmost village in Alaska, where a newly formed polar bear patrol aims to protect humans from bears – and bears from humans.

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What I Wrote In 2017

Posted in Stories, Updates, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , on December 1, 2017|

Oops! Somehow the year got away from me, and now it’s December 1 and I haven’t posted an update here since 2016… So, without further ado, here’s everything I wrote this year.

Back in January, The Walrus published the last in my series of short dispatches from Nunavut: Running the Road to Nowhere. Sticking with the northern theme, in February I wrote a quick hit for Hakai about a new study of Arctic shipping patterns, and for Pacific Standard I interviewed Alethea Arnaquq-Baril about her excellent and important documentary, Angry Inuk. I also wrote a short, fun dispatch for Up Here about life on Arctic Internet Time.

In late winter I had a traffic jam of features coming out all in a row. For Longreads, I profiled an elite birder and explored our need to classify and categorize the world around us: Bird Man. For Esquire, I attempted to cure my fear of heights by learning to rock climb: Exposure Therapy and the Fine Art of Scaring the Shit Out of Yourself On Purpose. For Seattle Met, I looked back at the aftermath of the Tunnel Creek avalanche (of “Snow Fall” fame) five years later: After the Fall. And for Outside, I wrote about a wild endurance climbing competition in the Ozarks: Headbangers Wall.

I also reviewed Dan Egan’s new book, The Death and Life of the Great Lakes, for the Globe and Mail. (You should read it, it’s great!) And I really enjoyed writing this short dispatch for Pacific Standard about a communal sunset in Arches National Park.

In the summer, Up Here published my short profile of a woman who built an Arctic archive on Baffin Island: The Accidental Archivist. Outside dispatched me to the Kenai Peninsula to cover another extremely rugged event: Mount Marathon is the Toughest 5K on the Planet. And Amazon published my Kindle Single about a disastrous 1928 Arctic airship expedition – it’s available for purchase for just a couple of bucks, and I’d be thrilled if you checked it out: Mussolini’s Arctic Airship. (That’s the U.S. Amazon site. And here’s the link for Canadians.)

That’s it! Roughly 38,000 words, less than half my usual output in the last few years, but my goal has been to get to a place where I can write less and still pay the bills. (I’ve got a few things slated to come out in January that I’ve already written as well. Stay tuned.)

Still a month to go, but happy almost-New Year!

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New Stories

Posted in Stories, Updates, tagged , , , , , on March 20, 2016|

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After a long lull, I’ve had a few new stories drop in the last month.

For Longreads, I sat down (well, virtually sat down) with ace freelancers Jason Fagone, Josh Dean, and May Jeong to talk about the business of freelance writing.

Here’s a short essay I wrote for Up Here’s sports issue about the steep learning curve of outdoor sports in the Yukon: Swimming in Cold Water.

And I wrote a dispatch for The Walrus about the challenges of maintaining natural golf greens at 64 degrees north.

I also wrapped up my year-long Pacific Standard column, Dispatches From a Changing Arctic, with one last entry. But that’s not the last you’ll hear from me at Pacific Standard – my print feature story about the impact of a growing cruise industry in the Northwest Passage is due out in May! The photo above was from my incredible cruise through the Passage last summer…

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New stories!

Posted in Stories, tagged , , , , , , , on February 28, 2015|

It’s been a busy few weeks. I came back from Ottawa late in January, and less than two weeks later I hit the road again to follow the Yukon Quest sled dog race to Fairbanks (by car, not by trail). I’ve been home for a little over a week now, catching up on sleep, email, etc.

Meanwhile, I’ve had a few new pieces published.

My story about surfing in Tofino is in the latest issue of AFAR. It’s available online, but pick up the print version if you can – the photo spread/layout they put together is gorgeous.

For Longreads, I wrote about how The Atlantic’s Ta-Nehisi Coates built a unique and important corner of the internet – in his comments section. It’s Yours: A Short History of The Horde.

My story about the 2015 Yukon Quest, with wonderful photos by Katie Orlinsky, is up online at National Geographic: Survival is the Ultimate Goal in World’s Toughest Sled Dog Race.

Alaska will no longer have bars on its state ferries. I wrote an obituary for them over at Hazlitt.

And my biweekly column for Pacific Standard is now through its second month. They’re all collected here.

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