Published in Age of Awareness·Jun 7, 2021Member-onlyThe USA is Not A Free Market, it’s a Rigged Monopoly GameA Market Lesson from the Global South — In the United States, we are told over and over that we live in a “free market” economy. But as an American travel/food writer and freelance environmental journalist who has spent most of the last decade living in Latin America, I have noticed that the USA is in fact quite…Latin America7 min read
Published in Cultured·Updated May 26, 2021Member-onlyDe-Colonizing Plant Medicines and Street Art with Chor BoogieHow Cultural Appropriation Damages Both Movements — A shorter version of this interview was originally published on Reset.me Chor Boogie (@chorboogie on Instagram) is an internationally recognized and widely awarded aerosol artist whose work has appeared everywhere from the 2008 Olympics in Beijing to the Berlin Wall in Germany, the Torrance Art Museum in Los Angeles to…Psychedelics8 min read
Published in The Apeiron Blog·Apr 26, 2021Member-onlyHow Camus’ “The Plague” Predicted the Covid-19 PandemicAnd why the philosophical novel also points to the way out of it. — “What’s true of all the evils in the world is true of the plague as well. It helps men to rise above themselves.” — Albert Camus “The Plague” is probably the most philosophical dive into the meaning of pandemic diseases ever written. Camus was a philosopher before anything else. His…Covid 197 min read
Published in Age of Awareness·Jun 3, 2020Member-onlyLet’s Get Real About the “All Lives Matter” CrowdIs it time to cancel the fakest social justice movement on earth? First things first. Of course all lives matter, and at face value that’s a noble sentiment. But the problem with the people who are saying it is this: They don’t really mean it at all. Because if all…Social Justice2 min read
Apr 10, 2020Member-onlyThree Common Foods With Proven Anti-Viral PropertiesIn the time of Corona Virus, your food should be your front line defense. The Corona Virus is no joke folks. But while there is no known cure for the pandemic, there are lots of studies out there on the anti-viral properties of many common foods. Many of you might…Coronavirus4 min read
Published in Age of Awareness·Dec 15, 2019Member-onlyPissing Into the InfernoTo Stop the Destruction of the Amazon, We Need Real Systemic Change As a freelance journalist that’s been covering the Amazon for years, the best thing about this horror show of fire and destruction that's been playing out over the last couple of months is to see the world finally…Environment6 min read
Dec 11, 2019Member-onlyCalifornia Just Delivered a Death Blow to Freelance Writers Like MeI have been a full-time freelance writer for over ten years. While I have bylines in everything from mainstream outlets like USA Today and Vice to niche publications like High Times and Parabola Magazine, used to write an environmental column for Paste Magazine, and am currently writing a full-length guide…Uber5 min read
May 16, 2019Member-onlyThree Reasons Why the USA Is the Worst Place to be HomelessOriginally published on Invisible People Last year, UN Human Rights Rapporteur Leilani Farha visited the San Francisco Bay Area. Her mission was to observe and report on the conditions of homeless people there. What did she find? Well, not only did she declare the homeless situation in the USA a…Homeless7 min read
Jul 24, 2018Member-onlyHuachuma Rising: This Cactus is Medicine For Modern TimesWhen all things are perceived as infinite and holy, what motive can we have for covetousness, for drearier forms of pleasure? — Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception Native to the Andean mountain range of South America, huachuma (Echinopsis pachanoi) is also known as San Pedro (Saint Peter) because it…Psychedelics8 min read
Jul 4, 2018Member-onlyGrist is Wrong: Poor People Are Not Driving the Environmental Crisis, They Are On the Front Line.Originally published in Paste Magazine The idea that capitalism will save the world and that poverty, not greed, is actually to blame for deforestation and other ecological disasters is nothing new, but I always dismissed it as more free market nutjob nonsense. When I recently saw the well-respected environmental outlet…GMO7 min read