tl;dr
I'm a writer, podcaster, and professional troublemaker who loves new ideas and building things. I started Punk Planet magazine at 19, founded OpenNews to strengthen the community of technologists in journalism, wrote the surreal @MayorEmanuel Twitter account, and spend every day trying to make things that people love.
What I'm about.
Look, I could write a whole bio, but this isn't LinkedIn. So here's my deal:
I think things could be better than they are, a lot better, and I've dedicated my life to putting stuff out in the world that, I hope, help us get there.
That's kinda it, that's my whole deal. But, if you want more...
Instead of a bio, here's a (somewhat) definitive list of everything I've done, big and small.
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📖 I HATE THOSE MASKED BASTARDS!
A book about terror, truth, and the editor who took on the Klan in 1920s Indiana. Published by Haymarket Books, forthcoming
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📖 They Can't Take Us All
A limited-edition collection of 12 essays, sold out in three days. 2026
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📖 We Are Civic Media
Edited 25 kick-ass essays about building, making, and not taking shit from anyone. Published by Northwestern University Press, 2025
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🔉 Rebel Spirit
A deep-dive podcast into Akilah Hughes' attempt to get her high school to finally defeat the Confederacy. 2024-present
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🌐 Director of Product Design, Chicago Reader
My first job out of college was at the Chicago Reader so it was a thrill to be brought in for a year sprint to refresh their website. 2024-2025
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🌐 Question Mark, Ohio
A year-long multimedia collaboration with novelist Joe Meno about disappearances in a fictional town in rural Ohio. 2023-2024
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💸 Sinker Shop
I made a patch to remind myself to keep trying and a lot of people wanted one. Now it's a whole goddamn store. 2023-present
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📝 Chris Estrada Is the Hardest Working Man in Comedy
Chris is an old punk, funny as hell, and was on the verge of breaking through when I got to profile him. Published by Esquire, 2023
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🌐 Indictment.fyi
What if you started a newsletter and micro-site to track Trump's indictments and then he got indicted four times. 2023-2024
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🌐 Unfinished Business
I started blogging again in 2022, as one does. It's become a whole thing now. 2022
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📝 Parenting in the Age of School Shootings
Probably the hardest thing I ever wrote, in the crushing aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Published by Esquire, 2022
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📝 The Wrestler
One of my favorite things I've ever written, a story at its core about realizing that the thing you loved is still there when you're ready for it. And, you know, professional wrestling. Published by Esquire, 2022
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📝 Jeff Tweedy Knows Good Days
What a nice conversation with one of the best to do the damn thing. Published by Esquire, 2022
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🔉 The Final Clue
Produced my Says Who co-host Maureen's fake true-crime podcast to promote her novel The Box in the Woods. 2021
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📝 The Magic of Pee-wee Herman in a Dark Year
A love letter to Pee-wee Herman. I still can't believe the Atlantic let me write it. Published by The Atlantic, 2021
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📝 Parents are Not Okay
Every covid parenting essay was a gut punch to write, but this one punched way harder. Published by The Atlantic, 2021
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📝 The Easiest Part of the Pandemic? Getting My Kid the Covid Vaccine
I still remember the absolute joy of this moment. If only what followed had lived up to it. Published by Esquire, 2021
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📝 The Birds are Outside
A beautiful essay about birds and family and trying to get through hell together. Published by The New York Times, 2020
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📝 The Crushing Reality of Zoom School
*Are you muted?* Published by Esquire, 2020
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🎓 DePaul Center for Journalism Integrity and Excellence
Inaugural Fellow. Worked alongside Chicago news legends Carol Marin and Don Mosely to supercharge the next generation of investigative journalists. 2019-2024
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🎓 Annenberg Innovation Lab Civic Media Fellowship
I help run one of the most kick-ass fellowship programs around. All our fellows rule. 2019-present
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🌐 Emdash.fan
Need an emdash but can't remember the key combo? I built a site where you can just grab one. Literally helps thousands of people use an emdash every day. 2019
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🌐 Impeachment.fyi
A newsletter and micro-site that summarized Trump's two impeachments every day. He got impeached twice, so I covered it twice. 2019 & 2021
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🌐 Has Roger Stone Violated His Gag Order Yet?
A single-serving website tracking news around Roger Stone's gag order. Spoiler alert: he has. 2019
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🌐 Give Dan Money
A single-serving site created after Impeachment.fyi readers asked for the ability to leave a tip. Connects Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp. 2019
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🔉 The Hitch
A podcast about road tripping and adventure, recorded from the back of a 27' Airstream with my family. 2018-2024
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💸 Pee Tape Candles
Prayer candles for Pee Tape and Robert Mueller III. Ended up being the most funded candle in Kickstarter history. 2018
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📖 How I Resist
Wrote an essay about making things scrappy in the face of fascism. Published by Wednesday Books, 2018
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🌐 OMFG.church
Your one-stop shop for Pee Tape and Robert Mueller Prayer Candles. 2018-2019
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🌐 Trump Poop Watch
A website to track Trump's visits to his own properties. 2017-2019
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🔉 Says Who
A podcast with Maureen Johnson that started as a coping strategy for Trump's first term. Maybe someday it will end (probably not). 2016-present
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🌐 Someone With Tiny Hands
A Chrome extension I wrote that accidentally caused Wired magazine to refer to Trump as 'Someone with Tiny Hands.' 2016
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🌱 SRCCON
A yearly conference from OpenNews that brought together journalism-technologists for deep collaboration and problem solving. 2014-2018
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🌐 Tacofancy
A GitHub repository for object-oriented, collaborative taco creation. 2013-2017
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📖 Hot Doug's The Book
Hot Doug asked me to write something for his book and there was no way I was ever going to say no to that. Best damn hot dog joint in Chicago forever. Published by Agate Midway, 2013
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🌐 Source
A site from OpenNews that looked behind the scenes at the work happening in newsroom tech. 2012-2018
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🌱 OpenNews
Founded and directed an organization that strengthened the community of technologists in journalism. Worked with some of the best newsrooms and journalists in the world. I left the org in 2018 but it's still going strong. 2011-2018
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📖 The F***ing Epic Twitter Quest of @MayorEmanuel
What if you did Twitter, but a book? Published by Scribner, 2011
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🌐 @MayorEmanuel
An anonymous Twitter account telling a fantastical story of alternate-universe Chicago during the 2011 mayoral election. The Economist called it 'maybe the first truly great piece of digital literature.' 2010-2011
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🎓 Associate Professor, Columbia College Chicago
Taught online, mobile, and entrepreneurial journalism as a member of the full-time faculty. Love to my students forever. 2008-2011
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🌱 CellStories
Published short fiction exclusively to the mobile web five days a week back when mobile-friendly websites were barely even a thing. 2008-2009
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📖 We Owe You Nothing, Expanded Edition
To mark the end of Punk Planet (RIP), we released an edition of the interviews book that included interviews from the last years of the magazine. Published by Akashic Books, 2007
-
🎓 JSK Fellowship, Stanford
Became a Knight Fellow at Stanford, the first person to ever get one for making a punk zine. 2007-2008
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🌱 Bail
A magazine dedicated to the art and culture of skateboarding years before that was a thing. Four kick-ass issues. 2004
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🌱 Punk Planet Books
The book publishing arm of Punk Planet magazine, in partnership with Akashic Books. Published by Akashic Books, 2003-2007
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📖 We Owe You Nothing: Punk Planet, the Collected Interviews
The collected interviews from Punk Planet magazine. Published by Akashic Books, 2001
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🌱 Punk Planet
A music, politics, and culture magazine I founded at 19. Ran for 13 years and became the definitive voice of independent culture. 1994-2007
Oh yeah, there's also this.
I'm a writer, podcaster, and professional troublemaker who loves new ideas and building things. I started Punk Planet magazine at 19, founded OpenNews to strengthen the community of technologists in journalism, wrote the surreal @MayorEmanuel Twitter account, and spend every day trying to make things that people love.
Look, I could write a whole bio, but this isn't LinkedIn. So here's my deal:
I think things could be better than they are, a lot better, and I've dedicated my life to putting stuff out in the world that, I hope, help us get there.
That's kinda it, that's my whole deal. But, if you want more...
Instead of a bio, here's a (somewhat) definitive list of everything I've done, big and small.
A book about terror, truth, and the editor who took on the Klan in 1920s Indiana. Published by Haymarket Books, forthcoming
A limited-edition collection of 12 essays, sold out in three days. 2026
Edited 25 kick-ass essays about building, making, and not taking shit from anyone. Published by Northwestern University Press, 2025
A deep-dive podcast into Akilah Hughes' attempt to get her high school to finally defeat the Confederacy. 2024-present
My first job out of college was at the Chicago Reader so it was a thrill to be brought in for a year sprint to refresh their website. 2024-2025
A year-long multimedia collaboration with novelist Joe Meno about disappearances in a fictional town in rural Ohio. 2023-2024
I made a patch to remind myself to keep trying and a lot of people wanted one. Now it's a whole goddamn store. 2023-present
Chris is an old punk, funny as hell, and was on the verge of breaking through when I got to profile him. Published by Esquire, 2023
What if you started a newsletter and micro-site to track Trump's indictments and then he got indicted four times. 2023-2024
I started blogging again in 2022, as one does. It's become a whole thing now. 2022
Probably the hardest thing I ever wrote, in the crushing aftermath of the school shooting in Uvalde, Texas. Published by Esquire, 2022
One of my favorite things I've ever written, a story at its core about realizing that the thing you loved is still there when you're ready for it. And, you know, professional wrestling. Published by Esquire, 2022
What a nice conversation with one of the best to do the damn thing. Published by Esquire, 2022
Produced my Says Who co-host Maureen's fake true-crime podcast to promote her novel The Box in the Woods. 2021
A love letter to Pee-wee Herman. I still can't believe the Atlantic let me write it. Published by The Atlantic, 2021
Every covid parenting essay was a gut punch to write, but this one punched way harder. Published by The Atlantic, 2021
I still remember the absolute joy of this moment. If only what followed had lived up to it. Published by Esquire, 2021
A beautiful essay about birds and family and trying to get through hell together. Published by The New York Times, 2020
*Are you muted?* Published by Esquire, 2020
Inaugural Fellow. Worked alongside Chicago news legends Carol Marin and Don Mosely to supercharge the next generation of investigative journalists. 2019-2024
I help run one of the most kick-ass fellowship programs around. All our fellows rule. 2019-present
Need an emdash but can't remember the key combo? I built a site where you can just grab one. Literally helps thousands of people use an emdash every day. 2019
A newsletter and micro-site that summarized Trump's two impeachments every day. He got impeached twice, so I covered it twice. 2019 & 2021
A single-serving website tracking news around Roger Stone's gag order. Spoiler alert: he has. 2019
A single-serving site created after Impeachment.fyi readers asked for the ability to leave a tip. Connects Venmo, PayPal, and CashApp. 2019
A podcast about road tripping and adventure, recorded from the back of a 27' Airstream with my family. 2018-2024
Prayer candles for Pee Tape and Robert Mueller III. Ended up being the most funded candle in Kickstarter history. 2018
Wrote an essay about making things scrappy in the face of fascism. Published by Wednesday Books, 2018
Your one-stop shop for Pee Tape and Robert Mueller Prayer Candles. 2018-2019
A website to track Trump's visits to his own properties. 2017-2019
A podcast with Maureen Johnson that started as a coping strategy for Trump's first term. Maybe someday it will end (probably not). 2016-present
A Chrome extension I wrote that accidentally caused Wired magazine to refer to Trump as 'Someone with Tiny Hands.' 2016
A yearly conference from OpenNews that brought together journalism-technologists for deep collaboration and problem solving. 2014-2018
A GitHub repository for object-oriented, collaborative taco creation. 2013-2017
Hot Doug asked me to write something for his book and there was no way I was ever going to say no to that. Best damn hot dog joint in Chicago forever. Published by Agate Midway, 2013
A site from OpenNews that looked behind the scenes at the work happening in newsroom tech. 2012-2018
Founded and directed an organization that strengthened the community of technologists in journalism. Worked with some of the best newsrooms and journalists in the world. I left the org in 2018 but it's still going strong. 2011-2018
What if you did Twitter, but a book? Published by Scribner, 2011
An anonymous Twitter account telling a fantastical story of alternate-universe Chicago during the 2011 mayoral election. The Economist called it 'maybe the first truly great piece of digital literature.' 2010-2011
Taught online, mobile, and entrepreneurial journalism as a member of the full-time faculty. Love to my students forever. 2008-2011
Published short fiction exclusively to the mobile web five days a week back when mobile-friendly websites were barely even a thing. 2008-2009
To mark the end of Punk Planet (RIP), we released an edition of the interviews book that included interviews from the last years of the magazine. Published by Akashic Books, 2007
Became a Knight Fellow at Stanford, the first person to ever get one for making a punk zine. 2007-2008
A magazine dedicated to the art and culture of skateboarding years before that was a thing. Four kick-ass issues. 2004
The book publishing arm of Punk Planet magazine, in partnership with Akashic Books. Published by Akashic Books, 2003-2007
The collected interviews from Punk Planet magazine. Published by Akashic Books, 2001
A music, politics, and culture magazine I founded at 19. Ran for 13 years and became the definitive voice of independent culture. 1994-2007