Writing

Below is a selection of writing samples that I’m particularly proud of, most of which are from my current work for University of Arizona News.

UArizona expert among first to see Easter Island's recently discovered statue

University of Arizona archaeologist Terry Hunt, a leading expert on the island natively known as Rapa Nui, arrived a day after islanders discovered a previously unknown statue. It's the latest chapter in the isolated island's long story of sustainability against the odds. (UArizona News, March 13, 2022)

A portrait of Colin Denny standing on a mesa overlooking a stream on the Navajo Nation

Researcher will showcase Native American sign language in Super Bowl performance

Colin Denny, a research assistant in the College of Education, will perform a sign language interpretation of the song "America the Beautiful" during the Super Bowl pregame show on Sunday. The performance, he said, is an opportunity to show millions of people that North American Indian Sign Language, despite being centuries old, is still here. (UArizona News, Feb. 6, 2022) (Photo by Lyle Begay)

A portrait of Michael Kotutwa Johnson leaning on his vintage Ford pickup truck

Indigenous Resilience Center is a 'seed' for tribal leaders to water and nurture

Since it was established last year, the University of Arizona's Indigenous Resilience Center has added to its roster experts who have long worked with and for Native American communities. Now, the center's leaders hope tribes can guide their next moves. (UArizona News, Nov. 16, 2022)

graduates at the UArizona Native American Students Association Convocation

UArizona to provide tuition-free education for Native American undergraduates in Arizona

The new Arizona Native Scholars Grant program, the first of its kind for a public Arizona university, will cover tuition and mandatory fees for full-time undergraduate students from Arizona's 22 federally recognized tribes who are studying on the main campus. (UArizona News, June 27, 2021)

A Woman's Dying Wish Leads to Returning a Piece of History

An intriguing voicemail left for a UArizona archaeologist in the spring led to the repatriation of artifacts to Mauritania – and became the first step toward a new partnership. (UArizona News, Dec. 15, 2021)

a laptop computer

Algorithms are Making Many of Your Decisions – and You Might be OK With That

A new study by UArizona law professor Derek Bambauer suggests that most people are content to let big data-produced algorithms decide many – but not all – of their day-to-day decisions. (UArizona News, Dec. 6, 2021)

archaeologists working in a dirt trench underneath a white tent

Those Earrings Are So Last Year – But the Reason You're Wearing Them is Ancient

Shell beads found in a cave in Morocco are at least 142,000 years old. The archaeologists who found them say they're the earliest known evidence of a widespread form of human communication. (UArizona News, Sept. 22, 2021)

Aaron Coleman leaning on a table covered in his lithography prints

UA Printmaker's Path Began Under a Bridge With Spray Paint in Hand

Not even two decades ago, Aaron Coleman was spray-painting trains. The Washington, D.C., native is now an assistant professor of art and a printmaker whose lithography and mezzotints are in collections and exhibits all over the world. (UA@Work, Jan. 24, 2018)

Richard Pablo leaning down to pick up empty glass bottles in the desert near Sells, Arizona

Recycled bottles help rebuild reservation, one man's life

A project that first set out to address a housing shortage on the Tohono O’odham Nation eventually led its organizers, and others, to confront a troubled piece of the reservation’s past. (Arizona Daily Star, Oct. 22, 2014) (Written for Arizona Sonora News, a capstone project for the UArizona School of Journalism)