I’m a career journalist who most recently spent 5-1/2 years reporting on arts and culture for Blue Ridge Public Radio, the NPR affiliate in Asheville, NC. I left the station in February 2023 to launch the production studio Podcast Asheville and The Overlook with Matt Peiken, a podcast about the news, arts, issues and trends of Asheville.

Before coming to Asheville, I was a longtime staff arts and features writer with the St. Paul (MN) Pioneer Press and arts reporter with the digital arm of WCPO-TV, in Cincinnati.

I’ve also founded and managed a variety of online journalism efforts, including the online video program 3-Minute Egg, the music-talk podcast Metal Brainiac, and the community op-ed page Opine Season. I’ve also served as managing editor of the Walker Art Center’s magazine and as a longtime contributing writer to Modern Drummer Magazine.

I self-produced God Votes No, a 45-minute video documentary about voices of faith supporting marriage equality in Minnesota. In 2006, I wrote and published a parody of self-help books called “Positive MEinforcement: Shout ‘Me First’ and Make Every Day All About You!”

I’ve won regional journalism awards from the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press, Radio Television Digital News Alliance of the Carolinas and the California Newspaper Publishers Association.