Explore the tapestry
Story Categories
All stories written by me, unless noted as a collaboration.
Chronicles of edgy environments and experiences that leave us awe-struck and attentive — ready to learn lessons of humility, empathy, and purpose.
Stories of connections with elders or ancestors — through family lines or across cultures — that unearth a collective kinship, spark a creative endeavor, or preserve ancient wisdom.
Profiles of underdogs and experts exploring the frontiers of human knowledge, conducting groundbreaking research, and collaborating to achieve the unprecedented.
Clarity in Cabo Pulmo
Originally published by Sierra Magazine
The sea 40 years ago was calm and clear. It had what Juan Castro Montaño calls espejismo, which translates somewhere between mirror and mirage. It was a scorching summer day…
A Child Explorer in the Amazon
Originally published by Adventure Collection
Dad’s duffel bag was permanently damaged, but it was a small price to pay to meet a superhero, in my opinion. “Now I see why they warned us!” my mother sighed. As always, mom was right…
Awakening the Canopy
Originally published by Hidden Compass
Hundreds of giant, winding branches — some tens of thousands of years old — extend in every direction. They have been growing, ring by generational ring, ever since our…
Death Road
Originally published by The Best Travel Writing 2011
I leaned cautiously towards the road’s edge, which gave way to a sheer cliff, a gashed rock-face stretching towards the distant earth. At the bottom, a mere speck of yellow on the floor…
The Point of the Wilderness
Originally published by Hidden Compass
Eight thousand years ago, among the towering Andes and their yawning canyons, one choice changed everything. In those days, bands of hunter-gatherers made their living off of rivers…
Looking to Tourists for Revival After an Earthquake
Originally published by Ethical Traveler
It started gently, just past sunset on a Saturday evening in Canoa, a touristy surf town in Ecuador. Peter Stromberg and his wife Maija were sitting on their couch for dinner…
Trick of the Light
Originally published by Hidden Compass
Written by Annelise Jolley; Edited by Sabine K. Bergmann
As I land in Thailand, my understanding of prostitution is limited to movie depictions, cursory research about sex trafficking, and glimpses of women on street corners…
For the Memories
Originally published by Geographic Expeditions
I cried twice while in Texas, one of them out of sheer terror. My dear boyfriend, Sean, was helping me load our gun when a 45-caliber pistol went off next to us, the violent blast so…
Camping Out on Working Lands
Originally published by Bay Nature Magazine
An hour before April’s first sunrise, I wriggle out of my sleeping bag and unzip my tent flap to the chatter of birdsong. I listen for a moment—between the phrases of a robin’s song…
Lombard’s Darling Monkeyface
Originally published by Bay Nature
On an overcast afternoon in the fall of 1996, while casting his line from “Squack Rock,” a not-so-affectionately named craggy outcrop near Pescadero, Kirk Lombard paused to watch…
Sweet as Challah
Originally published by Hidden Compass
Written by Sonya Pevzner; Edited by Sabine K. Bergmann
On the morning of his fifth birthday in November of 1942, Victor Osherovich woke up in Volsk, a small, quiet town more than 500 miles from war-torn Moscow. A sleepy community on…
In Conversation With Tim Cahill
Originally published by Adventure Collection
For decades, Tim Cahill has delighted and thrilled readers by journeying wholeheartedly to far-flung destinations in pursuit of a story. Hundreds of magazine articles and ten books later…
Watching Wildlife Move Through Sonoma Valley
Originally published by Bay Nature
Her four paws pad softly along the golden grass of the Sonoma Valley floor’s oak savannas, her black-tipped ears alert for the approach of danger or the rustle of prey. She’s only…
Wade in the Water
Originally published by Hidden Compass
Written by Alexandria Scott; Edited by Sonya Pevzner and Sabine K. Bergmann
Gazing out over an uneven checkerboard of green marshes and high-tide swells, I feel quiet and grounded. Flecks of Kelly-green wild grasses and golden-brown cattails enliven ribbons…
The Unfolding Perspective of Travel
In the hour before sunrise, I pick my way along a jagged outcropping of stones along the coast of Big Sur, California. Tufts of sweet alyssum flowers are scattered among my feet…
Murder in the Muck
Originally published by California Magazine
In a long, rectangular laboratory with windows facing a dim October sky, Keith Bouma-Gregson casually shows me his collection of murder suspects. “This was sent to me…
Old Clocks
Originally published by Hidden Compass
Written by Kelsey Camacho; Edited by Sabine K. Bergmann
The silence echoes from every surface: the walls of vacated buildings, the streetlamps, the tunnels leading up to the mine. It plays the settlement like an instrument. Even the wind…
Something Deeper
Originally published by Adventure Collection
Honestly, it sounds insane: hurtling down whitewater on a piece of foam. But here I am, gripping the handles of my riverboard—a chunky style of bodyboard one rides…
Our Shot at Cosmic Stardom
Originally published by California Magazine
In the 3.5 billion-year history of life on planet Earth, a century seems barely mentionable and a decade seems insignificant—but the new revelation of a project involving a Russian…
When the World is Withdrawn
Originally published by Hidden Compass
Written by Sivani Babu; Edited by Sabine K. Bergmann
Once upon a time, I walked on stars. Distant suns shimmered above my head and beneath my feet as I stepped into a black inland sea only a few inches deep. I’d been waiting for…