Travel – The Dilettante's Field Manual

Lessons from the National Geographic Archives

Four things I learned from a peek under the hood at the National Geographic Archives.

The Final Voyage

I had the privilege of documenting the last voyage of the RV Oceanus after 45 years of service to the NOAA research fleet.

Asphalt Wilderness

Yellowstone is a complicated place, one where wilderness meets industrial tourism. But on a cold, wet November day it still holds some of its magic.

Anthony Bourdain, Typhoid Mary and Woody Guthrie: A Journey Into Late-Pandemic America

A dispatch from Mina, Nevada and reflections on breaking bread with strangers on the third anniversary of Anthony Bourdain’s death.

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”

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.

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.

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.

Five books that helped me survive 2016

Five books that I read in the past year that changed the way I think.

Back to Burgundy – Three Days of Glory

Heading back to Burgundy to make a film about a tough year and a great wine celebration.

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.