freelance writer
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journalist
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freelance writer | journalist |
since 2004, I’ve worked as a freelance editorial writer. My published work includes essays, profiles, news articles, and long-form journalism.
prattfolio
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The Melt
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futurism
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prattfolio | The Melt | futurism |
Illuminating a History of Action
may, 2023
An interdisciplinary research initiative brings visibility to the Pratt community’s historical work toward equity, access, and just futures.
Naked Models, Golden Dildos: Catching up with David LaChapelle
September, 2022
Interview with David LaChapelle at the opening of his first major museum solo exhibition in North America at Fotografiska New York.
How Can Virtual Spaces Make Art More Accessible?
august, 2022
Are exhibits in virtual space more accessible? Do these metaverse exhibitions still abide by the laws and conventions of the art world? As artist Brad Downey puts it, the metaspace has a lot in common with real-world venues he’s been working in.
the line
issue #26 of The Melt
February, 2021
For two years I published a newsletter on the climate crisis called The Melt: “Many to most of these dispatches will shine a light on the darker side of humanity’s influence, the increasing speed at which we are negatively impacting our planet, and how damn awful tomorrow looks because of the actions and choices humanity made yesterday and continue to make today.”
render conferences at betaworks
september, 2020
RENDER was an all-day conference hosted at Betaworks every other month where we invited leaders and experts to help us dive deep into emerging industries and frontier technologies.
TURN, TURN, TURN
a Flashpoint of a Volatile Era Unified Young People across the Nation, including Pratt’s Class of 1970.
MAY, 2019
I was assigned the feature story for the Spring/Summer 2020 issue of Prattfolio, Pratt Institute’s alumni magazine. Until this year, Pratt’s graduating class of 1970 was the only class not to have a commencement ceremony. After interviewing graduates and professors who participated in the actions of the spring of 1970, I wrote this 3,000-word story.
This Company is Ready to Fight Back Against Climate Change
January, 2019
Maybe you missed it, but over Thanksgiving weekend a major scientific report was published on climate change. This 1,656-page, Congressionally-mandated report details the devastating effects of climate change. Not just on the environment, but also our health and the nation’s economy: crop failures, decrepit infrastructure, broken supply chains – even going so far as to report that we could lose up to 10% of gross domestic product by 2100, twice as much as our losses from 2008’s Great Recession.
We’re not talking about just wildfires anymore.
Favorite MomentS of Phish’s Summer tour 2018
october, 2018
Ah, the tour that was Summer 2018… from Tahoe to Dick’s, and the festival that didn’t happen, what can we say about this tour that hasn’t already been said? What was the best show? The worst show? The longest jam? The biggest bust-out?
Quite frankly, we’re not really sure. But what we can do is take the time to look back and some of our favorite moments of this summer. Shall we?
The Career Detective: An Interview with Illustrator Mike Force
february, 2018
Mike Force is a talented, prolific illustrator and designer. We’ve been friends for 20 years now, and collaborated on a number of projects, including my 2004 book Welcome to the Land of Cannibalistic Horses. Over the decades, Force has continually proven himself as a creative thinker, entrepreneur, and futurist.
Recently, we got together to speak about the nature of “career” for creatives in today’s modern world…
What’s He Building In There? Daniel Gardiner Morris of The Arm
January, 2018
On a quiet stretch of North 7th Street, neighboring the BQE, in the shadows of rising condominiums, lies a glass-front, converted warehouse space. There’s no signage, no buzzer, and from the outside, it’s unclear what is going on inside: a handful of people hover over large gray machines, operating levers and rolling cranks. With just a little imagination it could be a white-walled submarine or some kind of steel widget factory.
reviews & recaps at jambase.com
summer, 2017
Established in 1998, JamBase is the premier destination online for fans of live music. Over the summer of 2017, I contributed over a dozen articles, often recapping and reviewing live shows from the previous night under strict deadline, including: Dead and Company, Phish, JRAD, My Morning Jacket, Soulive, Phil Lesh, Tedeschi Trucks Band, Disco Biscuits, Dave Matthews, LCD Soundsystem, and more, not to mention a long-form profile on Brando Rich, Founder of CashorTrade.
Bringing New Pollution Protection Facewear to Market: Dan Bowden, CEO, O2O2
JUNE, 2017
Dan Bowden is the CEO of O2O2, one of the newest urban tech companies to join SOSV’s portfolio of startups. Working from a well-appointed converted warehouse space in Brooklyn, NY, Bowden spent 20 weeks in the Urban-X program further developing O2O2 and its core product: pollution protection facewear using an advanced air filtration technology and patented design.
Recently, Bowden sat down with me to discuss the incubator program and the future for O2O2. In a word? Partnerships.
Justin Bolognino’s Business of Evolution And The Future of Experience
april, 2017
Justin Bolognino’s favorite thing is evolution. “I’m a huge evolution theorist at the end of the day,” he tells me. “Conscious evolution, specifically.”
He is the Founder and CEO of META.is and we’re sitting in a coffee shop in Greenpoint on Manhattan Avenue on an unseasonably warm winter morning. I want to talk about his company, META, but he wants to talk about evolution.
JUSTIN WALDINgER of Tap and DyE, a Brooklyn Business Supporting USA Manufacturing One Camera Strap at a Time
march, 2017
Owner, Justin Waldinger, describes how he got his start in the world of handmade leather goods, catering to the analog photography community, through Instagram nonetheless.
A '90s Graffiti Artist Reflects on Bushwick: Adam Maldonado, Then And Now
January, 2017
Adam Maldonado is a 52-year-old Bushwick native and a graffiti artist since he was a teenager.
Ivy Weinglass of IIIVVVYYY Ceramics
November, 2016
Ivy Weinglass met me at Charlotte Patisserie for coffee and quiche on Tuesday morning and I had no trouble recognizing her from her emailed description, “I’m wearing a grey coat and have long brown hair!” But sitting down to meet her, it was the 11:11 timestamp stick-n-poke tattoo on her ankle that caught my eye.
“It was following me everywhere and it was a really good year,” Ivy says. “So that’s my number.”
Tiger Tooth, A BAND OF ARTISTS
November, 2016
Tiger Tooth is a bit of a unique project. A collaboration between musicians and a visual artist, former nightlife workers and impresarios, Johnny Siera, Will Broussard, and Sofia Szamosi Tiger Tooth recently released their first album and series of videos, including their latest video for the song “Polka Dot”
Starhawk Design Studio: Greenpoint's TIE DYE MECCA (Video profile)
November, 2016
Starhawk Design Studio sells a variety of tie dye clothing, custom-designs, jewelry, artwork, and more. After a long strange trip, including 17 years touring with The Grateful Dead, Thom and his brother Starhawk have returned home, to Brooklyn, and discovered a kind and generous community here in Greenpoint.
Anarchic Jubilation at the 13th Annual Bike Kill (photo essay)
OCTOBER, 2016
An East Williamsburg warehouse became a dusty arena for madcap monster cycling on Saturday afternoon.
Bike Kill is the best day of the year. It's better than New Year's, better than Christmas, it's better than my birthday.
Ted McGrath, Painter
August, 2016
Ted McGrath is originally from the Philadelphia area but has become a Brooklyn fixture over the last decade plus.
He has exhibited works at institutions like Cinders Gallery, Calico, and Black Ball Projects and he’s performed music under the moniker The Flag in venues like Death By Audio, Silent Barn, and Shea Stadium to name a few.
Paulie Gee & The Brotherhood of Pizza Entrepreneurs
JULY, 2016
To live in Greenpoint, Brooklyn is to know Paulie Gee's pizzeria. Since the restaurant first opened on Greenpoint Avenue in 2010, Paulie Gee's became first a neighborhood institution, then a dining destination, and now an ethos unto itself, captained by none other than Paul Giannone himself (a.k.a. "Paulie Gee").
A Plea For “Soft” Push Notifications in Our Sad, Scary 24/7 News Cycle
MARCH, 2016
The sad and scary truth is that terrorism is increasing.
Since March 2014, the Islamic State has carried out or inspired at least 29 deadly assaults targeting Westerners around the world, killing more than 650 people, according to a New York Times analysis of such attacks.
As a writer and news hound, I indulge in push notifications on my smart phone from a number of news outlets. I demand to know what’s happening around the world as it’s happening, and news of terror attacks is no exception. That is, until now.
PUTTING MUSIC TO WORDS: AUTHOR WALTER HOLLAND TALKS PHISH’S ‘A LIVE ONE’
MARCH, 2016
Last October, Bloomsbury’s 33 1/3 imprint published A Live One, Walter Holland’s take on the Phish album of the same name. The album, as described by the publisher, is oversized, rare, perverse and precious. And the book?
Well, personally, I was thrilled to hear that someone had decided to tackle this project: to explore Phish’s first sanctioned live album, a compilation of recordings that contains some of my own early live discoveries of the band as it did, and maybe still does, for countless other fans. Walter Holland uses 30,000 words to look closely at this album, to really scrutinize its appeal, context, relevance, and in so many ways, to ask us, Phish fans and novices alike, “What is this? And why is it important?”
Brooklyn Office Space and Coworking Provider Opens New Locations in Manhattan
February, 2016 (SPONSORED CONTENT)
The Yard continues to grow in New York City. Having opened its flagship Brooklyn location overlooking McCarren Park in 2011, The Yard has since expanded to the Lower East Side, the Upper West Side, and Midtown Manhattan. With nearly 100% occupancy, The Yard opened its Herald Square location just a few months ago and is now focused on pre-leasing for its upcoming Flatiron North location at 5th Avenue and 28th Street.
How to fake your own book deal and get away with it
April, 2015
Here’s the secret: It’s actually very easy for an unknown author to land a major publishing contract. You just cold-call a few publishing houses, get your manuscript read, and then work out a mutually beneficial payment. They need pages, you need money. Everyone wins, right?
Ten Years of Music: A Williamsburg Oral History 2002-2012
June, 2012
Tod Seelie, 33, moved to Brooklyn in 1998 to go to Pratt Institute in Clinton Hill because it was the least expensive school that accepted him. And that says a lot considering the annual tuition was $30,000.
“People comment on that period of Pratt, the late 90s, early 2000s,” says Tod Seelie. “All these really motivated and impressive people came out of that time – Swoon, Japanther, Matt and Kim – and everyone’s like, ‘Yeah, there must have been something in the water,’ I think it was something in the financial aid office.” Tod smiles. “They brought in a lot of people who had a lot of potential and were able to realize that because they were able to go to a good art school and grow.”
And I think he’s right. I enrolled at Pratt in the fall of 2000. I had never been to New York, never visited Brooklyn and suddenly I was left to my own in this new place, this massive city. I remember that first night, after college orientation, a group of my newly found friends and I braved the subway into Manhattan to see a Pedro The Lion show at The Knitting Factory on Leonard Street.
Just a year later, not long after 9-11, living in Bed-Stuy and collaborating with all these incredible creative people at Pratt… it felt like something bigger than the “college experience” I had expected or learned about from the movies.
Bjork Is The Single Most Heartbroken Woman On The Planet
APRIL, 2015
Here's the thing: I've heard a number of folks, music critics, podcasters refer to Björk's new album Vulnecuria as a "heart-break album" after her split with the artist Matthew Barney.
Ok, cool, I thought. I like a good heartbreak album… 808 and Heartbreaks is the first that comes to mind, an awesome album. Joni Mitchell's Blue is up there. Frank Ocean's Orange is a doozey. Beck's Sea Change? Forgetaboutit!
Urban Wellness Retreat at The Wythe
January, 2016
This weekend The Aerie Collective premiers in New York City with the first of two events at The Wythe hotel. “We want to treat our guests to an experience,” says The Aerie Collective co-founder Laura Sniderman. “One which leaves them convinced that their everyday can be beautiful, inspired and healthy.”
5 ways we can save ourselves from the horror that is the L train
may, 2015
Right now, with no service on weeknights or weekends, the L train is running only 55% of the time… you need at least 65% on a test to get a D. But it’s not how little the train is running that concerns me. It’ll come back. It’ll come back more crowded than ever… ridiculously, absurdly, painfully crowded.
Brooklyn will get 6,073 new apartments in 2016
June, 2015
Brooklyn is crowded as hell and only getting worse. Oh, you think it’s bad now? Here’s to 2016!
Brooklyn is now officially the fastest growing apartment submarket in the country, according to Forbes. Last year, 969 new apartment units came to market. And this year Brooklyn will gain an unfathomable 6,073 apartments.
Zablozki’s: A Classic Bar in the MakinG
MARCH, 2012
Zablozki’s has been a neighborhood fixture since 2004, before the Williamsburg gold rush, back when its neighbor, Sweetwater Restaurant, was still the punk dive Sweetwater Tavern...
Taste-Maker Mark Mangan on the Relaunch of Flavorpill
September, 2012
“Culture is a broad, broad word,” says Mark Mangan, 40, co-founder and Product Chief of Flavorpill, the hugely popular events listings website. “Some early definitions of culture refer to the evolution of the self. ‘Culture,’ by one definition, is the shared understandings and learning of a people… the ability to learn and evolve the self, whether it be through books or films or performances.”
I’m spending $4,768 dollars to see the Grateful Dead this weekend
JUly, 2015
I’ve just spent what for some Americans is three-month’s salary to see the Grateful Dead, and I’m feeling a little guilty. It’s hard to explain why I’d take time off work and spend nearly $5,000 to see a 50-year-old band whose lead singer passed away 20 years ago. Not to mention it’s an 800-mile trip.
And I’m going with my dad.
5 Things No One Tells You About Coworking Spaces - Tremr
may, 2015
I've been in the coworking game for over three years now. I currently work as Director of The Yard, a coworking space in NYC with 4 locations. But this isn't a plug! I hope for the sake of this article you'll consider my role at The Yard as simply a means to an end.
I've learned a lot while running a coworking space. And I'd like to share some of those lessons with you. Really, my goal here is to help you chose a coworking space that will increase your productivity, grow your business, and, ideally, inspire and motivate you.
Front Line: Jim Wagner's Terrorism Survival Course
December, 2008
Jim Wagner, a former soldier, SWAT officer, diplomatic bodyguard, and counterterrorist agent for the US government has made a living for t he last decade teaching “Reality-Based Survival” classes to civilians and soldiers all over the world.
About a dozen students, all adult men, mill about the gymnasium as the TERRORISM SURVIVAL lesson begins...
Welcome to the land of cannibalistic horses
APril, 2005
I wrote the book Welcome to the Land of Cannibalistic Horses during the 2004 Presidential campaigns while criss-crossing the USA in a bright green RV. Illustrated and designed by Mike Force, Cannibalistic Horses is a nearly 600-page tomb of personal narrative, comics, profiles, political reportage, and cultural criticism.
The book tells the story of visiting Orlando, Florida in search of Freedom and instead finding myself drug-addled in the Happiest Place on Earth… While contemplating who has the best job in America, I interviewed the organ player at Wrigley Field. And, on a whim, I snuck into the BET awards and the Democratic National Convention.
The book also features interviews with Wesley Willis, David LaChapelle, Bernardine Dohrn, Dan Savage, Jim Coch, Gloria Feldt and more.