Edge Effects, 2022: “When Wetland Restoration and Big Oil Collide“
“In an interview, a park employee tells me that she loves being able to sit in one of the gardens and see the industrial sites in the distance. She sees the park as coexisting with industry, a sentiment in line with the center’s own stance. During my visit, I find an educational sign reminding park-goers of the role the petrochemical industry has played in Baytown’s economy. The same sign also informs the viewer that these industries “play a vital role in community improvement by funding tree plantings, recycling programs, and marine debris abatement programs.” It’s clear that the park’s intent with this sign is to soften the image of industry, to frame them as good ecological neighbors in contrast to the actual environmental harm that they do.”
Blue Mesa Review, 2022: “A Study of Intimacies“
“When I first wrote a draft of this essay, I had no idea that elsewhere, a virus was bridging the species gap that would in just a few months radically change our world. In the spring of 2020, I was in school in Salt Lake City, two thousand miles from my family. I was living alone and single. I stopped seeing all but one friend in person. I rarely left my apartment except to go on walks through the city”
Burrow Press, 2022: “Camp[ing]“
“Mine is a sissy’s environmentalism. Do not ask me to go climbing. I won’t go. If I see a snake of any size, I’ll scream like a Victorian headed for the fainting couch. I choke up at downed trees. I love to hike, but every basic white gay on Tinder says he loves to hike. I’m the friend you invite camping because I can cook and occasionally light a fire; not the friend who can read the map or identify wild grasses for you.
I listen to birds without knowing their names. I cook so you will remember the land has fed you. I find nature in feeding you, feeding myself—one day I want all these nutrients to go back into the dirt, so please don’t put formaldehyde in me. I worry. Does it sound like there are as many birds in the yard as there once were?”
Edge Effects, 2020: “The Queer Ecology of Steven Universe“
“In Steven Universe, queer feelings and environmentalism are explicitly intertwined, and together they inspire revolution. The show has been widely praised for its LGBTQ+ representation—such as the first same-sex wedding and the first nonbinary character to use gender-neutral pronouns to appear on Cartoon Network—but its environmental messaging has received far less attention, despite their clear connections.”