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.
How to Champion Community Rights on a Nature Vacation
Originally published by Ethical Traveler
“We have been residing in this area for decades, and all of a sudden the government told us to vacate,” Rafiz Ali told Reuters journalist Rina Chandran last September. Ali was…
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…
What Walls Witnessed in Morocco
Originally published by Adventure Collection
I was just passing through. I had arrived in the golden sun of Moroccan spring as one more student in Fes — a taller, blonder, less Muslim, and more female version than the city’s…
Tripping Over Wildlife
Originally published by Adventure Collection
“In this weather, you’d step on a moose before you’d see one.” Larry Benz was standing with his hands on his hips, squinting out the glass doors of his hand-built cabin at the northern…
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…
A New Narrative for Volunteering Overseas
Originally published by Ethical Traveler
The narrative of a brave white savior swooping in to the developing world and saving the needy is dead. Or, at least, it’s no longer welcome. Take Louise Linton’s recent account…
I’m a Better Person When I Travel
Originally published by Adventure Collection
The feeling of possibility is my favorite travel companion. It’s always there, but was especially lively when I arrived in Cochabamba, Bolivia, at the age of 19, with…
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…
Seeing America
Originally published by Bay Nature
Shayna Roosevelt had a clue hanging in her kitchen and she didn’t even know it. The clue was in the form of a poster, an image of silhouetted hikers trekking along purple-hued…
A Stargazer’s Guide to Protected Dark Skies
Originally published by Sierra Magazine
For millennia, human beings have gazed into the firmament and been awed by the thousands of stars, galaxies, nebulae, and other cosmic wonders visible to the naked eye. But in recent…