In 1990 I wrote my first full-length feature on the Black Earth Creek watershed, a world-class trout stream flowing through rapidly developing farmland west of Madison, Wisconsin. It's my belief that the best environmental writing is local, and for the next few years I wrote a great deal for Isthmus, Madison's award-winning weekly, on the thrill-a-minute topic of land use planning.

From 1993 to 1995 I served as editor of the Progressive Media Project, soliciting and editing op-eds for national wire service distribution. The Progressive editor Erwin Knoll—of H-Bomb fame—assigned and edited my first magazine feature, BigBrother@cyberspace. He died soon thereafter, and his manual typewriter now sits in my office.

In 1995 I began a long investigation into a breast cancer cluster for Milwaukee Magazine. That experience led me into writing about cancer for a few years, primarily as a contributing writer for MAMM. When that topic proved too unsettling I penned lighter—but no less important—fare for Grist.

The birth of my daughter in 1998 slowed the pace a bit, and for the next five years I split my time between family and work. In 2000 I began an extensive series of articles on the complex relationship between Madison and its beloved lakes (to be posted, eventually....) and began to seriously tackle national markets.

My work has been published all over: The New York Times-Week in Review, The Los Angeles Times, Newsday, MAMM, Discover, Backpacker, OnEarth, Fit Pregnancy, The Progressive, The Nation, Rolling Stone, Grist, Milwaukee Magazine, Madison Magazine, Boston Phoenix, Wisconsin Trails, Wisconsin Academy Review, On Wisconsin, Notre Dame Alumni Magazine, Audubon, Wildlife Conservation, Conservation in Practice and Frontiers in Ecology and Environment.

Awards:

• Gold and Silver medals from the International Regional Magazine Association for my work in Wisconsin Trails.

• Best Personal Service Feature, the Milwaukee Press Club, 1998 for "The Good Death," Madison Magazine, October, 1998 (group award), along with several other feature nominations over the years.