e MOM
10 minute narrative piece
What started out as an email adoption became a real friendship.
Can't let go
Limited series narrative podcast. 20 minute episodes.
The surprising stories behind the meaningful objects we hold onto and can’t let go of. From the middle school letters of a former best friend, the tin box of foreign money collected from immigrants, to a faded Claire Denis library book receipt - each object tells the story behind a relationship and a significant life lesson.
Letter from middle school best friend, Columbine Shooter Eric Harris
Lamp bought with ex-boyfriend in Jerusalem intended for future daughter.
“Moby’s Soul” sold on eBay for $41.
Jars of pear preserves canned on the night of a break up in 2002.
Christmas present from younger sibling saved while being kicked out of the house. Saved for 56 years.
Claire Denis library book receipt that was impetus for 10 year relationship
Werther’s Original Butterscotch tin filled with foreign currency collected as a border patrol agent.
AIDS DENIALISTS
w/ Adam Sussman
As deaths from AIDS receded in the mid to late 90s, two AIDS activists - David Pasquarelli and Michael Bellefountaine- became AIDS deniers, insisting HIV was a conspiracy perpetrated by the pharmaceutical industry. They took over the San Francisco chapter of the AIDS activist group ACT-UP, and unleashed a reign of misinformation and violent harassment. They overturned tables at a fundraising dinner with Anthony Fauci and Larry Kramer. They poured 25 lbs of used cat litter over the head of an AIDS Foundation executive. Their misinformation spread globally.
One activist, Michael Lauro, saw the gravity of their threat early on. Lauro successfully organized against the AIDS denialists, founding AIDS Activists Against Violence and Lies. AAAVL joined AIDS activists, city government and law enforcement and forced those in power to take this threat seriously. The denialists were eventually found guilty of harassing health officials in 2003. The high-profile court case against the denialists led to the end of their influence, and they later died of AIDS.
AIDS Denialists meeting Mayor Willie Brown. January 16, 1999.
Dissidents disrupting the XI Conference on AIDS in Vancouver in 1996.
All My Exes
Narrative series
I interviewed all my exes to understand why I wasn’t still friends with the one ex that mattered most.