My writing tells powerful stories, wrestles with complex questions, and explores ways to make a better world.
Follow my writing on Substack at From the Ethics Desk.
Learn how I help aspiring authors tell powerful stories.
Links to my books and published essays are below.
Unlocking the power of story
Background
I’m a nonfiction author and creator of From the Ethics Desk, a Substack newsletter about ethics, leadership, and the common good. I’ve published dozens of essays and three books, including You Mean It or You Don’t: James Baldwin’s Radical Challenge, with Jamie McGhee.
Approach
I offer a monthly writing workshop — Writing to Resonate — to help authors craft versatile, compelling essays for general audiences. I also provide editorial feedback on works-in-progress and one-on-one coaching for outlining ideas, polishing prose, and strategizing publication.
Books
You Mean It or You Don’t: James Baldwin’s Radical Challenge
with Jamie McGhee
Stratification Economics and Disability Justice
with Keisha Bentley-Edwards
The Pandemic Divide: How COVID Increased Inequality in America
Contributing Author
Creative Writing & Selected Essays
Creative Writing
“Will I get fired for wearing this?” I ask a roomful of college students. I’m standing in front of my Tuesday afternoon ethics class dressed head-to-toe in athletic wear—Lululemon, specifically.
Read “Letting Go” in MIDLVLMAG
“Grace doesn’t finish her sentence, but I have a pretty good guess at what she can’t bring herself to say. She feels like she failed. … I’ve had dozens of conversations like this with students over the years. I’ve had dozens of conversations like this with myself, too.
Read “As Long as I’ve Known Anything” in Santa Clara Review
“When you look at me, what do you see?" I ask a roomful of students. I put my notes to the side and walk around to the front of the podium. … Silence. … The question feels like a trap.
Read “What Do You See?” in Chicago Story Press
“One year a friend of mine, Annie, delivered a graduation speech. “How you receive will be just as important to changing the world as how you give,” they said. I am interested in the ethics of receiving.
Read “Fast or Slow” in Bleating Thing Magazine
Selected Essays
In 1958, Greek American film and theater director Elia Kazan asked James Baldwin to write a play. The result was Blues for Mister Charlie, a play that proved to be one of the most intimate, gut-wrenching, and emotionally exhausting experiences of Baldwin’s artistic life.
Read my short essay on Baldwin’s Blues for Mister Charlie, written with Jamie McGhee
In 2016, I came across a statement from the Harriet Tubman Collective, a group of Black disabled organizers, that called for “intentional centering” of Black disabled people in movement leadership. … I knew, when I read that statement, that I had a lot to learn.
Read an accessible summary of my research on disability justice and economic equality
When Disney’s Moana was released in 2016, many commentators called Moana “a different kind of Disney princess.” The more I watched the film with my kids, the more I started to think of her father, Chief Tui, as a different kind of Disney father.
Read an accessible summary of my essay “Chief Tui Makes Way” or the original research essay in Men and Masculinities
In March and April 2020 over 1,000 college campuses in the U.S. closed and 14 million students transitioned to online learning. Did their access to healthcare change with school closures?
Read our call for research on telemedicine access in higher education and the findings of our study on access during the pandemic