A solar burst is the sudden ejection of particles from the sun’s corona—responsible for the ghostly illuminations known as aurora borealis, or “Northern Lights.” In a strange collaboration with the Space Sciences Lab at UC Berkeley, composer Roberto Morales is transforming satellite recordings of solar bursts into music. This article ran in the July/August 2006 issue of California magazine.
Gilbert Lum’s volunteer garden project on the barren Diamond Head cliffside has brought him awards and local fame, but he said he gets the most satisfaction simply from watching things grow.
This feature article was published in The Honolulu Advertiser on August 6, 2004. Read the article online.
During the campaign season, media noise intensifies: Seeking votes, candidates crank up the volume with ads and appearances until the onslaught of information is difficult to ignore. Yet in the 2000 presidential election, Census figures show, only 22 percent of Hawai’i residents 18 to 24 years old bothered to vote, the lowest such turnout in any state.
This feature article was published in The Honolulu Advertiser on August 11, 2004. Read the article online.
In April 2004, the city of Honolulu publicized a new, improved hotline and advertising campaign to address illegal dumping. Two new bills signed by Gov. Linda Lingle increased penalties for illegal dumping and promised rewards to people who reported illegal dumping. But one community activist said it would take time to gauge whether such steps reduced the problem.
This article was published in The Honolulu Advertiser on July 16, 2004. Read the article online.
The Civil Rights Cold Case Project is a multimedia investigation of unsolved civil rights-era murders in the South—a collaboration between the Center for Investigative Reporting, Paperny Films, WNET, and journalists working around the country. I led the website project—from design through content creation, development, and launch.
The number of marriage licenses issued in Hawaii jumped after the first large wave of Hawaii-based soldiers was deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in early 2004; officials at the state Department of Health said military deployments are likely a reason behind the trend.
This article was published in The Honolulu Advertiser on August 4, 2004. Read the article online.
Dirty Business is a feature documentary produced by the Center for Investigative Reporting and directed by Peter Bull. The film reveals the true social and environmental costs of coal power and tells the stories of innovators who are pointing the way to an alternative energy future. Dirty Business also examines what it means to remain dependent on a 19th century technology that is the largest single source of greenhouse gases. Can coal really be made clean? Can renewables be produced on a scale large enough to replace coal? I designed the website and led the project through content creation, development, and launch.
Until a few years ago, the island of Ko Chang in the Gulf of Thailand was one of those secret travel gems that backpackers in the know only spoke about in whispers. The island’s growing popularity and easier access from Bangkok via a new flight route have since opened Ko Chang up to the rest of the world.
This travel feature was published in The Honolulu Advertiser on March 13, 2005. Read the article online.
It’s easy to shake our heads at blatant racism even as we ignore the impact of our personal choices on the shape and color of our society.
This essay was published on AlterNet.org on June 23, 2003 and republished on the website of TeachingTolerance.org and in several curriculum text books about racism in America, including “Race, Class, and Gender in the United States” by Paula S. Rothenberg (2007). Read the essay online.
Despite numerous studies that show there has been a sharp decrease in juvenile-crime rates since 1993, the media spotlight on young offenders has created the illusion of a new breed of juvenile “superpredators.” This is particularly true in California—home to one-fifth of America’s 100,000 young prisoners—where a punitive measure called the “Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act” has made it onto the March 2000 ballot. Proposition 21, as it is known, is sponsored by former Gov. Pete Wilson and a host of multinational corporations, including Chevron and Transamerica.
This news feature was published in Metroactive’s Sonoma County Independent. It also ran on AlterNet.org and TomPaine.com. Read the article online.