I’m the author of the upcoming book, THE ROAD FROM RAQQA: A Story of Brotherhood, Borders, and Belonging. I’m also a Staff Writer at The Ringer.
Photo by Samantha Hearn.
At The Ringer, I write feature stories across sports, culture, and national affairs. I’ve previously worked at Grantland (RIP) and ESPN: The Magazine. I’ve also written for The New York Times and Sports Illustrated. I got my start at the Bradley News Weekly (also RIP) and the Chattanooga Times Free Press.
My podcast, SONIC BOOM: How Seattle Lost its NBA Team, was named one of the Top 50 podcasts of 2019 by The Atlantic. It’s available on Luminary.
I’ve twice been named a finalist for The Livingston Award. Once in 2011, for my piece for The Atavist on Manute Bol’s NBA career and political activism in Sudan. Again in 2013 for my Grantland piece on the mysterious death of Kendrick Johnson and the history of racial injustice in his South Georgia hometown. My 2015 story for Grantland, The End of The Hoop Dream, was named one of the ten best pieces of that year by Longform.org.
I’ve reported on protests in Hong Kong, on the aftermath of civil war in Ivory Coast, on the independence movement in South Sudan, and on the Syrian refugee experience in southern Turkey. I’ve also reported in India, Cameroon, Israel, Oman, and all over Europe and North America.
I’m a graduate of Lee University and the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism. I currently live in Nashville, Tennessee.
Here are a few more stories I’m proud of.
My dispatch from the Hong Kong protest of 2019.
A feature on football, faith, and politics at Jerry Falwell’s Liberty University.
A profile of NBA center and enemy of the Turkish state Enes Kanter.
My story on a snake-handling preacher in Kentucky.
A piece on survivors of the Pulse nightclub shooting.
A profile of Brenda Tracy, the leading activist around issues of sexual violence in college football.
A story on the grief of Samaria Rice in the wake of her son Tamir’s death at the hands of Cleveland police.
On the disappearance of Justin Blackmon.
My piece on the murder of Garrett Phillips and the charges against a black soccer coach in a nearly all-white upstate New York town.
“The Lingerie Football Trap.”
On former basketball phenom Tommy Gaines, and his journey through homelessness and addiction.
My profile of NBA player Keyon Dooling and his recovery from childhood sexual abuse.