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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
A Generation’s Coastal Research
Originally published by Bay Nature
On a Thursday morning last December, Alina Rainsford arrived at the Western wing of San Francisco’s Moscone Center to receive a presenter’s badge. The sprawling convention…
The Enduring Age of Exploration
Originally published by Adventure Collection
Written by Sivani Babu; Edited by Sabine K. Bergmann
The ship pitches and rolls across the Drake Passage. I brace myself and look out at the deep, velvet blue of the ocean, relishing the feeling of my stomach dropping as though at…
An Irresistible Glow
Originally published by Adventure Collection
Their traps were set: Along a dark, dripping wall of stone, silk strands dangled in waiting. The victims, attracted to an irresistible glow, would be caught in the pearls of glue that…