Organizing for Better Cities
The Other Journal, February 2023
Kiese Laymon and Revision as a Way of Life
“The most important part of writing, and really life,” Kiese Laymon’s mother tells him, “is revision.”
The Reformed Journal, September 2022
Survival Mode
Obscure video games, pandemic coping, and finding the difference between habits of numbness and habits of rest.
The Other Journal, June 2022
Music for Old Men
James McMurtry’s portraits of American men offer hints of how to be more fully alive, even in dark times.
The Reformed Journal, January 2022
Disrupting Nature
Elizabeth Kolbert’s Under a White Sky finds both violence and beauty in our responses to climate change. But the moral dilemmas will only grow.
The Reformed Journal, June 2021
Fatherly Rage
Grappling with anger as a parent amid the pandemic’s tedium and injustice.
The Other Journal, February 2021
Peter Spier’s Vigorous Praise
The children’s author and illustrator responded to atrocity with stunning warmhearted depictions of the world.
The Christian Century, September 2018
Unearthing Seattle’s Deeper Histories
Students expose layers hidden beneath the city’s staggering wealth, using “dark tourism” to find reasons for both protest and celebration .
Simpson Center for the Humanities, September 2018
Ethnography of a Surveillance State
Anthropologist Darren Byler chronicles artistic culture in Northwest China amid a massive security crackdown.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, June 2018
Learning to Inhabit Ruins in Postwar Liberia
Anthropologist Danny Hoffman photographs urban forms to show how our lives are shaped by the spaces we inhabit.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, May 2018
Waking Up with You
Notes to my second son.
The Other Journal, May 2018
Stopping Infectious Disease Requires ‘Staff, Space, Stuff, and Systems,’ Paul Farmer Argues
The Partners in Health founder draws on history, anthropology, and clinical field work in a series of conversations with UW scholars about global-health inequities.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, February 2018
Medical Crowdfunding Researchers Draw Widespread Media Attention
Journalists turn to Simpson Center research to understand the rise of crowdfunding campaigns for health care costs.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, February 2018
A Journey to the Center of the Anthropocene
Scholars track hidden stories at the birthplace of a geologic era.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, November 2017
The Hope of Sabbath Environmentalism
An interview with Norman Wirzba.
The Other Journal, October 2017
Why can’t literature deal with climate change?
Amitav Ghosh examines the outdated conventions of realistic fiction.
Seattle Review of Books, August 2017
A Ferocious Attention
The legacy of Brian Doyle.
The Christian Century, June 2017
The Moral Failure of Crowdfunding Health Care
The rise of crowdfunding on sites like GoFundMe reflects — and potentially worsens — inequities already at play in US health care.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, April 2017
Lobbying for the Humanities in Washington, DC
I spoke with Washington state’s Congressional offices about the life-changing power of humanities and language funding.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, March 2017
Steps Toward Better Citizenship
One of the few things clear to me after the election was that I need to change my role as a citizen. Here are the steps I’m committing to take.
Think Christian, December 2016
Help for Distracted Minds
Count how many notifications you get while reading this review.
Seattle Review of Books, October 2016
Escaping the Bully-God of American Evangelicalism: An Interview with Doug Frank
With a tangle of ragged white hair and a quick, sun-creased smile, Doug gave hundreds of students, including me, permission to approach spiritual questions with curiosity instead of fear.
The Other Journal, October 2016
Why We Don’t Have Wings
Historian Phillip Thurtle draws on genetics, comics, film, and a vast array of cultural mythology to probe a question that haunts our collective past.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, September 2016
Singing with Losers
On the athletic failings and musical triumphs of the Chicago Cubs.
The Other Journal, June 2016
Feed the Fire
Confusion over God, girls, feelings & other matters …
The Curator, April 2016
Bob: A Story About a Boss
He didn’t scold me before letting me off. He saw the terrified kid at his doorstep and knew what I didn’t know.
The Sun, April 2016
The Instagram Militia and the Limits of Empathy
Designer Tad Hirsch stitches together 80,000 assault-rifle selfies to examine America’s gun divide.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, March 2016
Preserving the Lessons of the Seattle-SeaTac $15 Wage Victories
A groundbreaking digital archive preserves the history of two hard-fought minimum-wage campaigns.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, January 2016
In Praise of the Welder-Philosopher: William D. Adams on the Humanities and the Common Good
The Chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities argues for the practical value of the humanities for all citizens.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, December 2015
The Show Goes On: Examining Socially Engaged Art with a Banned Guest
Celebrated curator Kitagawa Fram was denied entry to the US, allegedly over military protests, but a robust examination of his work went on anyway.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, December 2015
Humanitarian Jihad and the Problem with Essentializing Islam
Kashmiri militants tell UW anthropologist Cabeiri Robinson why they put down weapons and picked up shovels after a devastating earthquake.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, September 2015
Having Enough: Jacob, Esau, and the Great Books
It feels silly to say I studied the classics because of slick marketing copy, but that’s what happened.
Image, July 2015
How the Age of Amazon Is Reshaping Literary History
Amazon’s dominance of the book-publishing industry and relentless focus on customer service may herald a new era in American fiction.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, June 2015
We Wandered As a Cloud
Collaborative poetry for a digital age.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, May 2015
Everything at Once
Notes to my son.
River Teeth, April 2015
Debating Palestine in the Public Sphere
Why is it so difficult to have civil public discussion about the Israel-Palestine conflict?
Simpson Center for the Humanities, March 2015
Digitizing the AIDS Quilt to Fight Cultural Amnesia
The AIDS Memorial Quilt forms an extraordinary mosaic of human grief and resolve, yet it risks fading into history.
Simpson Center for the Humanities, March 2015
The Pacific North Wet
Chasing after things that glow.
The Curator, January 2015
The Rage of Peter De Vries
A personal reckoning with a heartbroken humorist.
Image, January 2015 (full story now available!)
Planet of the Rats
Elizabeth Kolbert on extinction in progress.
Books and Culture, January 2015
Mad Men, Snickering and Sobbing
Peter De Vries on the white American male at mid-century.
The Curator, December 2014
Holden Village Journal
A mountain refuge, displaced bears, and the strange terrain of fatherhood.
The Other Journal, November 2014
Uncovering Ancient Medicine Along the Silk Road
An alumnus and a renowned Smithsonian scholar trace the path of medicinal myrrh across the ancient world.
Bastyr University, October 2014
These Bodies, This Table
I heard Edward speak only two times. The first time he wailed like a ghost.
How to Pack for Church Camp, September 2014
Children’s Book Channels Spirit of Natural Medicine
Naturopathic students launch creative projects to probe the philosophy of their medicine.
Bastyr University, July 2014
Amy Stewart Talks Drunken Botany and Wicked Plants
The author of offbeat botany books talks about the startling, scintillating world of plants.
Bastyr University, May 2014
Lego Ad Hero, Naturopathic Doctor: Meet Rachel Giordano
Alumna Rachel Giordano became an unlikely viral media star and a thoughtful commentator on gender and medicine.
Bastyr University, February 2014
The Brain on Acupuncture: New Imaging Yields Insight for Stroke Recovery
Researchers discover how to study acupuncture inside an MRI machine, enabling new studies on stroke recovery.
Bastyr University, January 2014
Who’s Radical?
Bill McKibben’s testimony.
Books and Culture, January 2014 (mostly paywalled)
Frontier Pundits
Visiting 1850s Indiana with three angry editors
Traces of Indiana and Midwestern History, December 2013
An Inside Look at Cadaver Lab
Dr. Rebecca Love takes naturopathic students on a journey terrifying for some, exhilarating for others and deeply significant for nearly all.
Bastyr University, October 2013
Northwest Tribes Reclaim Food as Medicine
“Food sovereignty is about decolonizing our diets,” said Valerie Segrest, a Muckleshoot tribal leader who learned to see nutrition as a community-organizing tool.
Bastyr University, October 2013
Probiotics May Protect Against Drug-Resistant Superbug, Study Finds
Bastyr-led research leads hospitals to rethink policies for fighting dangerous bacteria.
Bastyr University, October 2013
Sustainable Shalom: The Hope of Bright Green Urbanism
Love for creation means not just abstaining from harmful acts but partaking in creative ones.
Comment Magazine, August 2013
Behold the Cedar
An ode to the Bastyr University forest.
Bastyr University, August 2013
The Fun of It
Stories nourish and sustain me, and trying to tell some of my own seems the only decent response. Yet it’s such an everloving drag so much of the time.
The Post Calvin, July 2013
Pamoja House
This is the story of a wealthy group of students who willingly gave up everything and the one vegan stew that kept them all together.
The Other Journal, June 2013
What’s Really the Deal with Seattle Weather?
You’ve heard about the soggy, sun-deprived Pacific Northwest. Here’s some real talk.
Bastyr University, June 2013
Slow Medicine
By braiding historical searches with her time at Laguna Honda Hospital, Victoria Sweet arrives at a compelling critique of modernized health care and a vision for transforming it.
Books and Culture, June 2013 (mostly paywalled)
Going Home
“This is our couch,” she whispered, walking about. “And this is our kitchen.”
The Sun, March 2013
What We Do with Babies
A newcomer reconsiders baptism.
The Mennonite, January 2013
FDA Approves Turkey Tail Trial for Cancer Patients
Researchers study how a traditional Chinese mushroom helps cancer patients strengthen their immune systems in a $5.4 million investigation.
Bastyr University, November 2012
Modernist Cuisine Meets Whole-Food Nutrition
Influential Modernist Cuisine author Maxime Bilet talks to students about laboratory-inspired cooking and honoring ingredients.
Bastyr University, June 2012
fMRI Imaging Peers Into Qigong Healer’s Brain
Bastyr brain researchers measure a little-understood healing tradition — and wonder what it can do for cancer.
Bastyr University, May 2012
Feeding the Spirit
Nutritionist Valerie Segrest helps Northwest tribes rediscover their traditional foods.
Bastyr University, February 2012
Thirst Quenchers
West Coast water tech heads overseas.
Sustainable Industries, July 2011 (print magazine cover story)
In the Lab: VitroBricks
Could bricks made of recycled glass revive the old-school building material?
Sustainable Industries, July 2011
Waiting for a Wave
Oregon’s bid to become the Silicon Valley of wave energy.
Sustainable Industries, May 2011 (print magazine feature)
Green Schools Building Boom
Schools are spending big on energy efficiency and solar power.
Sustainable Industries, March 2011 (print magazine feature)
Bright Greens
Creation care in the city is good business for these alumni.
Response magazine (Seattle Pacific University), February 2011
The UniverCity project: An experiment in suburban urbanism
VANCOUVER, BRITISH COLUMBIA — For the green benefits of urbanism — walkability, transit, smaller dwellings, more efficient buildings — to become a truly helpful climate strategy, we’re going to need them in more than just cities.
Grist, October 2010
Flying over the tar sands
FORT MCMURRAY, ALBERTA — I should be transfixed and horrified by the landscape, but it mostly feels removed, like watching Tolkien’s Mordor from the comfort of a sofa.
Grist, October 2010
Exclusive: Obama admin unable to resolve shutdown of PACE clean-energy program
Obama administration officials have failed to resolve a dispute with Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that has shut down a popular home-solar finance plan, according to an email obtained by Grist.
Grist, July 2010
When Fannie and Freddie Attack
Few new ideas brighten the faces of clean-energy advocates as much as this Berkeley-born financing tool that’s spreading quickly throughout the country.
Mother Jones, June 2010
Wales engineers a brighter post-coal future
CARDIFF, WALES — ‘Britain’s Appalachia’ was one of the first places to rise in the industrial revolution. Then it was one of the first to see its fossil fuel–based economy bottom out.
Grist, March 2010
Could transparency make up for a lack of a carbon cap?
The U.S. EPA is about to force major polluters to report their greenhouse-gas emissions. Big whoop, you say? Well, actually, it might be.
Grist, February 2010
‘There will be no decisions about us, without us’
COPENHAGEN — The anger in Juan Carlos Soriano’s voice was clear when he rose to a podium in the Bella Center Friday afternoon.
Grist, December 2009
Hamlet’s lessons for Copenhagen climate negotiators
COPENHAGEN — I’ve been threatening my editors with a post on what Shakespeare’s Hamlet can teach the diplomats gathering in Denmark to draft a new international climate treaty …
Grist, December 2009
America’s greenest mayor, laid off and looking on
It was a dark, dreary, drizzly November morning in Seattle when I visited Greg Nickels, the city’s lame-duck mayor and an influential national voice on the need for climate action over the last decade.
Grist, December 2009
Globesity: How climate change and obesity draw from the same roots
You’ve heard all the reasons before: We drive too much. We eat too much meat and processed food. We spend too much time with computers, TVs, and air conditioners. But what problem are we talking about?
Grist, June 2009
Facebook, Twitter, MySpace become latest way for organizations to connect with potential donors and raise awareness
Nonprofits add social networking sites to toolboxes.
Puget Sound Business Journal, November 2008
Mars Hill vs. Mars Hill
A burgeoning church and an unrelated graduate school of the same name reveal very different strains of modern evangelicalism taking shape in Seattle.
Crosscut, October 2008
Obama’s green team
Meet the people who might fill top environmental jobs in a Barack Obama administration.
The Guardian, October 2008
Mountain music legend Ralph Stanley returns to Bean Blossom
Don’t be fooled by the 79-year-old’s mournful, old-fashioned mountain music. He is not a man of constant sorrow.
Brown County Democrat, October 2006
See also Grist archives.
Jonathan Hiskes 