Clips
Is the Pope Catholic… Enough?
Feature for New York Times Magazine about Mel Gibson and his connection to an ultraconservative Catholic splinter group.
It Takes a Village to Help One Man
Is this a participatory feature or an exercise in masochism? Both, it turns out. For one week, I followed the advice of 12 of LA’s growing legion of “lifestyle experts ”—including a life coach, a spiritual advisor, a physical trainer and a personal brander. Ended up a little more confident, a lot more self conscious and very, very tired.
East/West Smackdown
Cover story for Calendar section in which I go head-to-head with a die-hard Westsider over the comparative merits of our ‘hoods. It gets nasty. Generated a ton of response from readers, many of whom didn’t quite get our intended cheekiness.
Cool Millions
Feature about entrepreneurs who capitalized on the hip reputation of Los Angeles’ Eastside. As the headline said: “Getting rich in an area that prides itself on being the anti-Westside can get complicated. How do you hang on to your street cred when the natives blame you for selling their little piece of boho rhapsody down the river?”
Mad Mel
Follow-up to my New York Times Magazine feature on Mel Gibson, in which I attempt to describe the deeply surreal experience of having Mad Max trash talk me live on Fox TV. Was it brilliant marketing, or pathological paranoia? Published in Salon.com.
The Trouble with Rehab
Feature for Playboy about drug rehab programs and why they so often don’t work.