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I am a freelance writer and researcher based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. (Go Birds.)
My interests, broadly, include film, literature, travel, and the internet.
Even more broadly, I am interested in conflicts between the official, institutional culture and the forces that oppose it. I am extremely curious about the conflicts between ideological and epistemological systems, particularly the dismantling of so-called “enlightenment rationality.” I also write about psychedelics, and the current “psychedelic renaissance,” which I see as an emerging site of these conflicts. You know: fun stuff!
My writing has appeared in a number of places. Among them: Wired, The Believer, Harper’s, The New Republic, The New York Times Magazine, Esquire, The Guardian, The Baffler, The Philadelphia Inquirer, VICE, Salon, Maclean's, Eater, SHARP Magazine, The AV Club, The Walrus, The Literary Review of Canada, The Toronto Star, and The Globe & Mail. I have also appeared as a commentator on CBS News, NBC Nightly News, CBC Radio, and Public Radio International.
But hey, enough of my yakking. Here are some recent pieces, for your perusal:
We’re All Living Under Gravity’s Rainbow
Looming apocalypse. Paranoid conspiracies. Rocket-obsessed oligarchs. As Thomas Pynchon’s novel turns 50, its world feels unnervingly present.
For Wired (February 2023) I wrote about the long legacy of Thomas Pynchon’s classic postmodern novel.
‘I miss eating’: the truth behind the weight loss drug that makes food repulsive
In Beverly Hills’ doctors offices, celebrities are clamoring for Ozempic prescriptions – but what are the costs of the supposed wonder drug?
For The Guardian (November 9, 2022), a report on the new trend in injectable weight loss drugs, which work in part by chemically reprogramming our relationship with food.
The Improbable Site of Conservatives’ Latest Backlash Against “Wokeness”
How election deniers, covid skeptics, and a Thomas Jefferson impersonator are disrupting the upstate New York retreat for the elites.
For The New Republic (December 2022), a spot report on the political convulsions roiling across on of America’s most esteemed intellectual retreats.
The High-Stakes Race to Engineer New Psychedelic Drugs
As psychedelic therapies for mental health go mainstream, companies are recruiting chemists to create patentable versions of hallucinogens. Critics say it’s all a bad trip.
For WIRED (September 2022), I profiled chemist Jason Wallach, whose emerging career in psychedelic chemistry underscores emerging conflicts in the field.
In addition to my print journalism, I also work as a documentary writer, researcher, developer, and story editor, with credits on the following productions.
Dark Side of the Ring (VICE) - Writer
Dark Side of Comedy (VICE) - Writer
Cursed Films (AMC/Shudder) - Researcher
We’re All Gonna Die (Even Jay Baruchel) - Developed By
This Is Pop (Netflix) - Writer, Researcher, Narrator
From The Vaults (CBC) - Researcher