What my dog teaches me about writing
Maggie is the best trail dog because when you’re in the woods with her she wanders with a specific sense of aimlessness that is instructive for writers. For a dog, a walk in the woods is high art. She follows the twin muses of her nose and curiosity. She engages in prolonged tangents during headlongContinue reading “What my dog teaches me about writing”
To Japan
I never planned to go to Japan. It wasn’t an accident, just somebody else’s idea. That somebody else was my daughter. I’m in the fortunate position of writing and making films and media for a living. And sometimes I get to travel to wonderful places and tell stories about interesting people. I fall in loveContinue reading “To Japan”
What I miss about the Wall
I sometimes hesitate to admit that I miss the Wall, that I feel a longing for something so awful. But back then you knew where you stood. There was a double wall of concrete with razor wire and mines in the middle, and on one side stood the good guys, bad guys on the other.Continue reading “What I miss about the Wall”
Searching for Shark Girl
It’s hard to say where stories come from. It’s a sort of archaeological game that we tend to play if we’ve ever taken a literature class and made the wildly speculative assumption that such origins exist. The online journal Failbetter.com published my novella @SharkGirl79 earlier today, so I guess if there’s a moment to spendContinue reading “Searching for Shark Girl”
Hope and resilience in Bangladesh
I expected to travel to Bangladesh to portray stories of climate victims. I expected to see a graphic illustration of a nation that is dealing with climate change problems that they had no hand in creating. I expected to see frustration and maybe even righteous fury. But instead, I found hope, grit and determination. WhenContinue reading “Hope and resilience in Bangladesh”
Traveling cinema in Colombia
Do films actually matter? I spend a lot of time wringing my hands over this question, especially since I’ve committed so much of my life to making them. A recent trip to Colombia to screen our latest film provided some answers.
Five fictional villains endlessly more fascinating than Donald Trump
Michael Shannon is an actor known for his talent for playing complex and often malevolent characters, so it was interesting to consider his response when he was…
Three days in Chicago
“Make no little plans,” or so they say. This is your guide to spending three days in Chicago, featuring pizza, blues and architecture.
Watching ‘Saving Atlantis’ in the belly of the beast
Star Wars, spotted owls and showing a science documentary about anthropogenic change in the heart of timber country.
Losing Mesopotamia
The Iraq War, the Sixth Extinction and the lightning bolt that allowed me to appreciate contemporary art.
Films premiering in 2018
Two films that I co-directed/produced will premiere in 2018
The epicurean’s gift
Giving the gift of flavor in Burgundy
Totalities
Viewing the eclipse seventy miles off of the Oregon Coast: thoughts on hype, denial, climate change and whatever remaining hope we have to make things right.
Old books and ecosystem services
How libraries are like coral reefs.
Words and Walls
A blog post from Inside Higher Ed about misguided policy, fear and the power of kindness.
The Heroic Reef
The corals of Varadero have endured five hundred years of human conflict, but they may not survive Colombia’s fragile peace.
Five books that helped me survive 2016
Five books that I read in the past year that changed the way I think.
In post-fact America, stories still win
A blog post from Inside Higher Ed about how we can fight the decidedly un-enlightened vision of the incoming regime.
Back to Burgundy – Three Days of Glory
Heading back to Burgundy to make a film about a tough year and a great wine celebration.
A visual storyteller’s guide to active consumption
How to keep yourself on the active side of the consumption equation.
Plunder on the Spanish Main
Feeling like a pirate leaving Cartagena not with a ship full of stolen Spanish plunder, but with a treasure of stories of the people working to save a small piece of of threatened reef.
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