Images
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Before Audubon, there was Mark Catesby
For the Autumn 2021 issue of Fine Books magazine, I contributed a feature on Mark Catesby who visualized the vibrancy of North American nature a century before John James Audubon. I talked to historians, authors, and curators who have investigated his work and its impact: With the assistance of Indigenous guides, he journeyed through environments…
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A&E’s You Need to Know
I regularly work as a story pitcher and researcher for A&E, specifically its short video content for Biography channel. One of the latest series is “You Need to Know” which highlights significant yet often overlooked figures from history. The animated shorts now online include a feature on Osage dancer Maria Tallchief, America’s first prima ballerina.
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Fine Books Magazine Cover Story
The cover of the summer 2021 issue of Fine Books Magazine features my story on Lewis Hine and his photographs of American labor, particularly child labor in the early 1900s. The story is available in print: Hine spent 16 years traveling throughout the country, to the sardine canneries in Maine where children cut fish with…
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Great Trees of NY with Turnstile Tours
I joined Turnstile Tours for a conversation about some of the greatest trees in New York City in celebration of my new map with Blue Crow Media. It was wonderful to talk with fellow Prospect Park fans and have special on-the-ground coverage of its historic trees like the Camperdown elm and Osage orange. You can…
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Essay in Wildflowers of New York
I contributed an essay to Andrew Garden’s new book Wildflowers of New York City. It explores over 2,000 wildflowers that flourish around the five boroughs. These wildflowers are often overlooked and I love the way that Garn has captured their beauty with his photographs. The book is available from Cornell University Press and the New…
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Out Now: Great Trees of New York Map!
I’m thrilled to share that the Great Trees of New York Map that I authored and edited for Blue Crow Media is now available. It includes 50 of the oldest, rarest, strangest, and most historic trees across New York City’s five boroughs, from beloved street trees to over 300-year-old giants. I’ve been researching New York…
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Pet Cemetery Expert in New York Times
While I’ve spent a lot of time writing about cemeteries and interviewing other people about them, I don’t get interviewed too much myself so it was fun to share my pet cemetery expertise with the New York Times for “The Most Popular Pet Name of the Century (Maybe).” I find the places where people memorialize…
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The Mystical Drawings of George M. Silsbee (1840 – 1900)
I had the opportunity to write an essay on the really extraordinary charts by 19th-century Masonic artist George M. Silsbee for their first public exhibition at Ricco/Maresca in Chelsea. They are dense with symbolism and ciphers and were likely intended for some Masonic rite or ritual. There’s not much known about Silsbee except that he…
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Cemetery Symbols Talk with Morbid Anatomy
My first talk (online, as we are still in times of pandemic) of 2021 was on cemetery symbols with Morbid Anatomy. As I get the hang of these virtual lectures, one upside has been reaching a national (or even international) audience and then expanding these topics to look more globally at their origins and meaning.…
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Witchhassle Podcast
I joined Witchhassle, a podcast focused on witchcraft, magic, and other occult themes hosted by Cooper Wilhelm, to talk about cemetery symbolism and other death-related topics. Check out the episode on Soundcloud where you can find their whole archive of fascinating interviews with people exploring the arcane and wondrous in the world.
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Odd Salon Fellowship
I joined the virtual October Odd Salon, themed on “Shock & Art,” to share the story of Georgiana Houghton and her spirt-guided artwork. (You can read all about her enigmatic art in my 2019 story for the data visualization publication Nightingale.) As this was my third talk with Odd Salon, following ones on the Paris…
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JSTOR Daily: How Cremation Lost Its Stigma
In a short history post for JSTOR Daily, I wrote about how the 19th-century pro-cremation movement battled religious tradition as well as the specter of mass graves during epidemics: The cost and simplicity of cremation led to its rise in popularity through the twentieth century, supported in large part by its cultural acceptability. Now, as…
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Green-Wood Cemetery Talk
For the Halloween season I led another virtual talk for Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery on the language of flowers as it appears on tombstones, such as snapped roses for a life cut short, lotus flowers for rebirth, and poppies for sleep. I explored the Victorian-era rise of “floriography” and what these sometimes obscure symbols can reveal…
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Cooking with the Dead Zine
In a fun project, I created the Cooking with the Dead zine with two friends to try out recipes left on tombstones around the world. Carved and etched on granite gravestones, they dictate—sometimes hazily—the instructions for delicious fare such as cookies, cobblers, and bread. Scouring cemeteries and the internet, we collected and attempted seven of…
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JSTOR Daily: How Black Communities Built Their Own Schools
In a short post for JSTOR Daily, I wrote about how Black communities came together to build their own schools through the Rosenwald Fund that was established in 1917. The story also looks at how these historic sites are now in danger of being lost: When the National Trust for Historic Preservation released its annual…
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JSTOR Daily: Why Do Police Use Tear Gas When It Was Banned in War?
As the US has experienced a wave of police brutality in response to the protests, I explored why they are allowed to use tear gas when it is banned in war. From the story on JSTOR Daily: As a police tool, the current deployment of tear gas reinforces the effect that made gases so powerful…
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Wellcome Collection: Graveyards as Green Getaways
For Wellcome Collection, I interviewed three cemeteries that kept their gates open during the pandemic when so many spaces have closed to the public: Notably, many of the cemeteries that stayed open were founded in the 19th century as respites from urban life, and their capacity to accommodate people safely comes in part from their…
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Brooklyn Brainery: Cemetery Symbols
On May 28, I led an online cemetery symbols class for the Brooklyn Brainery. Thanks to the over 100 (!) people who attended (and one very attentive cat) and for the Brainery for hosting. They’ve been doing fantastic virtual programming and I recommend checking out any and all of their courses!
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Nightingale: Color Field Paintings That Anticipated “Warming Stripes”
For Earth Week 2020, I contributed a story on color field paintings and Ed Hawkin’s “Warming Stripes” visualization to the data visualization publication Nightingale: The reduction of an idea to its basic form in “Warming Stripes” is reminiscent of the Color Field style of abstract painting that emerged in the 1950s and ’60s, with hubs…
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Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast
I was interviewed on Ken Volante’s Something Rather Than Nothing Podcast about topics ranging from the 1918 flu to deeper questions about what is art. Thanks to Ken for taking a deep dive into my writing and reminding me what a wild range of topics I’ve explored! Listen here.