Published Work

US About Amazon • 07/26/2021

Top-selling items on Amazon in 2021 reflect a shifting America

Party decorations are now best sellers, tuxedo purchases have tripled in the last year, and luggage sales are up 460%. But perhaps most telling that Americans are ready to socialize this summer: Teeth-whitening toothpaste sales are climbing.

US About Amazon • 04/13/2021

Amazon helps employees become software engineers in 9 months

Amazon Technical Academy is one of nine training programs included in Upskilling 2025, Amazon’s $1.2 billion commitment to equip more than 300,000 Amazon employees with new professional skills by 2025. For employees accepted into the academy, the benefits are vast.

US About Amazon • 09/09/2021

Make an additional $10,000 a year and jumpstart your career

Amazon fulfillment centers around the world are filled with advanced technology and high-tech tools, and the company’s new global upskilling program is helping employees move into IT roles that keep these operations running smoothly.

The Seattle Times • 05/23/2016

Skip the flight, board the train to Glacier National Park

Chicago skyscrapers faded as the train picked up speed heading west toward Glacier National Park. We ordered a glass of wine, reclined our seats, and left the cross-country navigating to Amtrak's historic Empire Builder.

*Included in the book, "Get Outta Here!"

The Seattle Times • 11/20/2005

Oil and gas companies dig deep for workers

RIFLE, Colo. — Brian Barclay makes a 275-mile commute every week to work near this dusty little town, drawn by a natural-gas boom that has added trucks, cranes and hundreds of people to the rocky landscape. Asked why he travels so far for work, the former soldier grinned and answered: “The money, and it’s better than getting shot at.”

Sarasota Herald-Tribune • 10/02/2006

Golf resorts wooing women to the green

PINEHURST, N.C. — Ashley Brooker seemed oblivious to the silver-haired men teeing up next to her on a humid North Carolina afternoon. The 15-year-old raised a golf club over her right shoulder, swung and watched the small white ball disappear in the sun. She is part of a surge in female interest in golf in recent years.

The Gainesville Sun • 07/02/2005

New state of mine

LEADVILLE, Colo. - A cold wind whistled down from the summit of 13,400-foot Bartlett Mountain, blowing dust past the earth-colored buildings that have stood silently over miles of empty tunnels for a generation. The underground explosions that defined the Climax Molybdenum Mine for 50 years are long gone. But the quiet could soon be over.

Ocala Star-Banner • 12/03/2006

Hispanic workers' walkout gives opportunity to union

TAR HEEL, N.C. — For Hector Pizzaro, it wasn't the rigors of a bloody workday spent slicing freshly killed hogs along an assembly line that led him to walk off the job. It was the chance he might lose that job.

Los Angeles Times • 09/11/2005

Libraries That Habla Espanol Picked Apart

On a rainy Saturday, Miereya Gomez quietly thumbed through a book titled “Los Colores” as her two young sons carried comic books to their father. This is the children’s section of the Central Public Library on the outskirts of Denver, and it has come under fire for focusing on Spanish language material.

The Seattle Times • 06/02/2005

Running with donkeys is Colorado’s twist on marathons

DENVER — Most donkeys don’t like to do much of anything, let alone run a marathon. But they’ve been doing it in Colorado for years, and they’ll be back at it this summer. Pack burro racing has become an annual spectacle in a handful of old Colorado mining towns, where it's a mini-circuit of sorts.

via backpack • 10/23/2019

Great Baikal Trail: Best Detour Yet

My husband turns to me the first morning we wake up on the Trans-Siberian Railway. He has an idea: Let’s spend two extra weeks in eastern Russia exploring the mountains around the deepest lake in the world. The train skirts the southern edge of Lake Baikal, and stepping off the train, we find a hikers' haven.

via backpack • 07/18/2019

Osaka: Noodles, noise and cry-worthy 'coco' croissants

Imagine an outdoor Las Vegas casino, its blinking lights and ringing bells akin to Pokemon on steroids. Crowds of people, seemingly oblivious to the sensory overload, quietly weave around each other and through shops, occasionally stopping to look at frying, fragrant seafood. Or maybe socks.

via backpack • 07/24/2019

Kyoto temple stay: Meditation & dark gardens

We've spent days riding bikes around Kyoto, exploring the historic temples and shrines that dot this ancient city. Looking to slow down, we found one of the coolest experiences we’ve had so far in Japan: staying overnight and meditating at a Zen Buddhist temple in the hills of Kyoto.