Essays/ Journalism

for the issues facing Highland Park.

I blog at the Huffington Post and wrote for the Chicago Tribune’s now-defunct Q section; I have written extensively on my father’s long tenure with terminal brain cancer, parenting, politics, college, and the future of books and publishing—among many other topics.

Novelist and collagist and New York Times bestselling author David Shields and I collaborated on an “argument/conversation” about literature and remix culture for The Writer’s Chronicle, Gina Frangello and I ruminated on literary culture for Powells.

I often interview interesting artists and thinkers as a way to expand my own thinking. I’ve had the good fortune to interview Hairspray filmmaker John Waters, autism advocate Temple Grandin, Edward Snowden’s ACLU lawyer Ben Wizner, The Third Coast author Thomas Dyja, MIT professor Sherry Turkle, and novelist and MacArthur grant winner Aleksandar Hemon, among others. I recently spoke with TC (Tom Constanten), former member of The Grateful D­­ead as part of my co-taught course The Grateful Dead and American Culture.