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COVER: With ‘Green Islam,’ climate action is a religious duty – and an act of community

CSM (May 01, 2025)

Indonesia, which has the world’s largest Muslim population, is vulnerable to climate change. A national movement called Green Islam is urging all citizens to care for the Earth.

PODCAST: Fluency, curiosity, and a bike: Letting Taiwan tell its own story

CSM (Sept. 27, 202)

The story of China and Taiwan is often framed in terms of what China might do next. Our reporter went to Taiwan to report a deep story on Taiwanese perceptions of their collective identity and aims. She joined our podcast to talk about it.

PODCAST: In India’s election, a towering test for democracy – and our reporter

CSM (May 10, 2024)

Covering an election in a sprawling nation of 1.4 billion people naturally comes with logistical hurdles. Finding a way to frame it through the lens of a universal value – trust – adds to the challenge. Our India correspondent joins his editor on our podcast to explain. 

Editor jailed, staff evicted, website shut: An Indian newsroom’s fate

CSM (April 11, 2024)

Press freedom, a bellwether of democracy, is under assault in India. The government’s closure of an independent news website in Kashmir bodes ill for media elsewhere in the country.

How Taliban has complicated Afghan relief

CSM (April 11, 2024)

*Column I wrote as daily newsletter host

Amid the flood of news this weekend, a troubling story also unfolded in Afghanistan, where a 6.3 magnitude earthquake struck the western province of Herat, leveling entire villages and claiming nearly 3,000 lives, according to national authorities. Search and rescue missions are ongoing.

A museum that changes the game

CSM (October 2, 2018)

*Column I wrote as daily newsletter host

You won’t need to book a plane ticket or join a waiting list to visit the world’s newest Holocaust museum – but you will need an avatar.

Soon to be embedded in the open-world map of the online video game Fortnite, the virtual Voices of the Forgotten Museum highlights heroes who fought back against the Nazis.

The Christian Science Monitor

Stories written for The Christian Science Monitor

Who’s a Daughter of the American Revolution? Answer grows more diverse.

CSM (Oct. 25, 2021)

Over the last 40 years, the Daughters of the American Revolution has broadened its membership and historical research. At a time when American history is deeply politicized, these shifts may offer a template for rethinking America’s origin story.

The other 2020: 274 ways the world got better this year

CSM (Dec. 23, 2020)

This is more than feel-good news – it’s where the world is making concrete progress. A year’s worth of positive stories to inspire you.

Why has New England handled the pandemic so well? Thank the Puritans.

CSM (Aug. 20, 2020)

How has New England been able to get its coronavirus crisis under control, while other regions struggle? One answer may trace back to the Puritans, who laid the groundwork for strong local governments.

Women and the vote: For women of color, the fight’s not over

CSM (Aug. 17 2020)

Part of a special magazine project honoring the anniversary of the 19th Amendment.

On the precipice of a historic election, here’s a look at how the demographics and values of female voters have evolved since the 19th Amendment.

As police face a public grilling, so do iconic cop shows

CSM (July 2, 2020)

Television can be a tool for building social awareness, but recent protests against police brutality have some cop-show fans wondering if their favorite prime-time detectives are actually part of the problem.

During 2020’s wild ride, rediscovering video games

CSM (Jun. 2, 2020)

The young male video gamer stereotype may have weakened further this spring as Americans turned to new games and old – as an activity in isolation, and to share online with friends.

VIDEO: Why a small city made bus routes free to low-income residents

CSM (March 30, 2020)

As climate change and income inequality spur conversations across the country, many cities are considering changes to make public transportation work better for their citizens. For one city in Massachusetts, that meant making some buses free.

The ‘other 9 to 5’: Cities see nightlife from a new angle

CSM (Dec. 16, 2019)

Seeing opportunity in its problems led the city of Amsterdam to create the first “night mayor” position in 2012. Providence, Rhode Island, is considering the investment after a string of incidents around nightclubs.

Interstellar visitors open new window to the cosmos

CSM (Dec. 6, 2019)

Distant reaches of the universe have long been the realm of models and theory. But the arrival of space rocks from afar in our stellar neighborhood sparks a new way of thinking about the cosmos.

SPRINGFIELD POLICE TO VOTE ON CONTRACT WITH BODY CAMERA PROVISIONS

NEPR (June 21, 2018)

Members of the Springfield police union will vote on a contract agreement Friday. The deal includes a gradual 13 percent pay raise and — for the first time — police body cameras.

CONNECTICUT CASINOS SEEK LATER LAST CALL

NEPR (July 5, 2018)

Mohegan Sun and Foxwoods are pushing to keep their casino bars open beyond Connecticut’s current 2 a.m. cut-off on weekends, and 1 a.m. on weekdays. This comes after Massachusetts regulators said MGM Springfield could serve alcohol until 4 a.m. on the casino floor.

IT TAKES 500,000 POUNDS OF SAND TO THROW A BEACH PARTY IN NORTH ADAMS

NEPR (July 12, 2018)

On Saturday, nearly 500,000 pounds of donated sand will transform one of North Adams's main roads into an urban beach for the 20th annual Eagle Street Beach Party.

SEN. ELIZABETH WARREN IS HOPEFUL ABOUT SCOTUS FIGHT

NEPR (August 1, 2018)

*Picked up by POLITICO Massachusetts Newsletter

Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren has acknowledged that Democrats face an uphill battle opposing Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, but said they've won similar fights in the past.

THE ROAD TO 5G CELL SERVICE RUNS THROUGH WESTERN MASSACHUSETTS

NEPR (October 2, 2018)

*Also ran on WBUR in Boston

Americans' wireless data consumption has skyrocketed since 4G technology was introduced nearly a decade ago. Smartphones have become essential for on-the-go work and entertainment, fueling the need for 5G. But how do you create a cellular network that accommodates everything from streaming services to self-driving cars? The answer may lie in the basement of a UMass Amherst laboratory.

Miscellaneous

Freelance stories and college work

LINDSEY MCGINNIS: OPTIMISTIC ABOUT THE ROLE OF STUDENT JOURNALISTS

Daily Hampshire Gazette (August 13, 2018)

Last month, I read about Zoya Azhar’s experience running the opinions section of Smith’s student newspaper, The Sophian, and how the paper has struggled with low readership and an overall lack of writers.

In some ways, I sympathize. Having just finished my tenure as the editor-in-chief of the Mount Holyoke News, I know firsthand what it’s like to run an independent college newspaper.

FORMER RANDOLPH ‘TROUBLEMAKER’ JOINS PAUL PRATT MEMORIAL LIBRARY, BRINGING AN EYE FOR RENOVATION

The Cohasset Mariner (March 19, 2019)

Growing up, Meaghan James frequently visited her local library, but rarely checked out a book. “I was going to the library to hang out with my friends, and there might’ve been some running around, typical middle school things,” she said. A librarian would inevitably ask the rambunctious, tag-playing teenagers to leave, forcing them to regroup at a nearby frog pond.

HAUNTED DIRT: SELLING BELCHERTOWN'S BROKEN DREAM

Narrative Nonfiction Assignment

Tucked in the bucolic Western Massachusetts landscape, just south of Belchertown center, is a sprawling campus of graffitied brick buildings and white cottages. An administration building leers over a gravel parking lot on the property’s outer edge with an air of importance. A dormitory where well-meaning attendants once chemically sedated disabled residents has lost its fire escape to rust and wind. Trespassers brave enough to climb the dark, glass-strewn staircase of the former men’s ward are rewarded with access to a rain-warped rooftop with a westward view of the Mount Holyoke Range State Park. 

UP THE HILL: HOW CLINTON’S TOP ADVISOR IS MOVING ON FROM THE 2016 ELECTION

Mount Holyoke News (April 19, 2018)

Elle magazine described her as a key member of Hillary Clinton’s “Girl Squad.” To Fortune.com readers, she was “the wonk shaping Hillary Clinton’s plans for the country.” POLITICO named her one of the top 50 “thinkers, doers and visionaries” transforming American politics in 2016.

MHN 100: HOW A LETTER TO THE EDITOR SPARKED MOUNT HOLYOKE’S FIRST LESBIAN SUPPORT GROUP

Mount Holyoke News (October 19, 2017)

In September 1975, after years of living a self-described “double life,” an unidentified student penned a letter to the editor, hoping to ease the sense of isolation for “women who love other women.”

WHAT "DON'T GIVE UP THE NEWS" MEANS TO ME

The Gates (May 18, 2018)

I could fill 16 tabloid-size pages with all my thoughts about the Mount Holyoke News, and I could probably do it on a tight deadline. But who would read that?

What I will say is this: Joining the student newspaper was the best decision of my college career. Nowhere on campus feels more like home than Blanchard 324, the paper’s newsroom since 1988.

PLASTIC PINK FLAMINGOS IN THE YARD? CO-WORKERS’ ‘FLOCKING’ PRANK CATCHES ON

The Marshfield Mariner (July 13, 2016)

When the Tilden family came home from vacation Sunday, July 3, they found an army of pink plastic birds standing in their yard, along with a flamingo pin and note telling them to pass along the flock. They are the latest victims in a workplace prank streak hijacked by 9-year-old Zoe Zanetti.

NORWELL NEIGHBORHOOD GATHERS FOR ANNUAL INDEPENDENCE DAY PARADE

The Norwell Mariner (July 13, 2016)

Uncle Sam was running late to the Norwell Homes’ 7th annual Independence Day parade Sunday, July 10.

NORWELL FIRE DEPARTMENT GETS NEW BREATHING EQUIPMENT

The Patriot Ledger (July 1, 2016)

The fire department plans to buy 26 new self-contained breathing apparatuses for $16,600, just 10 percent of their overall value. The rest of the cost, nearly $150,000, will be paid by a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant.