An award-winning journalist, essayist and educator with three decades of experience reporting for newspapers, I have written extensively about war, politics and mental health. My assignments have taken me to the Middle East, Southeast Asia, Central America and the White House. Many of my stories are about trauma and resilience. Find them in Smithsonian magazine, Oxford American, Task & Purpose, The Bitter Southerner, The War Horse, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Richmond Times-Dispatch, USA Lacrosse Magazine and Inside Lacrosse. My writing has been recognized by The New York Times, "Best American Essays" and Longreads.com. I teach for the University of Missouri Journalism School and am a 2022 Ochberg Fellow with the Dart Center for Journalism and Trauma. I hold undergraduate and graduate degrees in English from George Mason University. And in 2019, I completed a Master of Fine Arts degree in narrative nonfiction writing at the University of Georgia's Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication.