About Me

I'm a former staffer at three dead-tree publications--Washington City Paper, US News and World Report, and the Philadelphia Inquirer--only two of which are currently in Chapter 11. My book, One Nation Under Dog, will be published March 31 by Henry Holt. The book is about how America became a pampered-pet country. It's one part straightforward report about a (still!) booming $43 billion-a-year industry, one part zany tour through pet-obsessed country, and one part meditation on what that all means. I think of it, sort of, as Bobos in Paradise meets Marley and Me. When I'm not writing about how petcare explains America, I freelance for a handful of magazines, writing about politics, culture, and whatever else I can think of. Over the years, I've reported from Pakistan and Iraq as well as Mississippi and Philadelphia's city hall. A Philadelphia City Councilman once called me "the biggest slob of them all" and described our interactions thusly: "He gnawed at me for days and weeks, asking me what he thought were 'the tough questions,' following me down every pathway, hovering that damn tape recorder at my neck. I usually cast a blind eye, but blindness only masks disgust." The Councilman is now serving a six year corruption sentence in federal prison, and I have a blog on True/Slant. Go figure.