Journalism/Essays

Salon, November 2001
Dear Concerned Mother
My writing students in juvenile hall—addicts, thieves, gangbangers—have great parenting advice.
All you have to do is ask.

Salon, September 2000
You're an Excellent Host
Parasites can slip into your body, rewrite your DNA and, sometimes, change your mood.

Salon, October 1999
Hurting Young Men Put Pen to Rage
A writing teacher who works with juveniles sees familiar pain in the diary of Eric Harris.

Salon, October 1999
Halloween Hand-Wringing
Are the stories about trick-or-treat mayhem for real?

Salon, March 1999
Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Rat Killers
After preaching respect for animals to my kids, how could I finesse my death wish
for the rats in our walls?

Interviews

Special to the San Jose Mercury News, January, 1997
The Revolutionaries
On turning inspiration into innovation

Juvenile Justice

Childhood on Trial
Coalition for Juvenile Justice 2005 Annual Report
The failure of trying and sentencing youth in adult criminal court

Handle with Care
Coalition for Juvenile Justice 2000 Annual Report
Serving the mental health needs of young offenders

Sample Book Reviews
April 2005
True to Her Word, by Oral Lee Brown
Oral Lee Brown made a promise and kept it, changing the lives of a classroom full of Oakland kids

February 2004
The Wild Parrots of Telegraph Hill: A Love Story With Wings, by Mark Bittner
Learning about life from a flock of parrots

November 2001
A Life Without Consequences, by Stephen Elliott
San Jose Mercury News
First-time author recounts the mean streets he knew as a teen

February 1999
Crooked Cucumber: The Life and Zen Teaching of Shunryu Suzuki, by David Chadwick
San Jose Mercury News
Journeys trace the fabric of our state

Fiction for Adults

Tsatskehleh
Web Del Sol Review
Yiddish was what they spoke when they didn't want me to understand, my family's version
of spelling out words