I grew up in Friendswood, Texas, and graduated from Trinity University in San Antonio, TX in 2006. I joined the Friends Committee on National Legislation, a Quaker public interest lobby in Washington, DC, in the summer of 2007 as a Herbert Scoville Jr. Peace Fellow.

I work on nuclear nonproliferation and the 2008 election, but my interests are diverse. I've done research on dissent and repression in the Middle East. I also enjoy teaching, and general local work to help disadvantaged students realize their potential.

I have always enjoyed writing. My first piece for Helium, an essay on Burma, won the Helium/Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting contest for April. I will continue contributing pieces to Helium on a wide array of topics.

In my free time, I enjoy watching sports, reading, volunteering and meteorology.

My passion is ...

politics.

I know too much about ...

the 2008 presidential election.

My childhood ambition ...

was to be a meteorologist.

My favorite memory ...

half-day school.

Why I write ...

I write to understand difficult things.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Reading: Interpreter of Maladies; Watching: The Office; Listening: Iron & Wine

My first job ...

cart attendant at Target.

My inspiration ...

my parents.

Politics, News & Issues > Pulitzer Center In a closed society like the military dictatorship of Burma, how can journalists find the truth?

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The assumption that the purpose of journalism is solely to find truth is incorrect. In repressive and closed societies, journalists must not only discover truth, but as investigative reporter Amy Goodman says, they must give "a voice to those who have been forgotten, forsaken, and beaten down by the powerful."[1] This more engaged mission for journalists avoids the problem of seeking truth: there is no singular truth to be discovered. The perceptions of outside observers of any society are shaped by the underlying assumptions and stories portrayed by the media. When journalists construct st...

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