In September, I climbed aboard the 100 year old square-rig sailing ship The Balclutha with 100 other San Franciscans for the monthly Sea Chantey sing gathering.

The India documentary about the black market trade in human kidneys was recently acquired by Al Jazeera International for their new program People & Power.

It’s hard to imagine picking up a shovel to bury your neighbor, but that’s just what John Lee, Maggie McEleny, and Patrick McCarthy had to do for Vera Smith when she was killed in the Hurricane Katrina aftermath. Months after the burial, I asked the three survivors to reflect on their experience.

In January, I went to the International Rubik’s Cube Competition in San Francisco. I spoke with top competitors about why they love to cube, how they perfect their technique, and how they got into cubing in the first place.

A radio version of the story for the National Public Radio program Marketplace.

This past March I went to India to investigate the black market trade in human kidneys. I put together an 11-minute mini-documentary about the story and I’m thrilled to say it was picked up by the PBS show FRONTLINE/World as part of their online Rough Cut series.

Indie musician Aidan Hawken just played the first show for his new solo album Pillows and Records. Rather than do a straight rock show, he had original string charts written for an accompanying string trio and hired the best in the business to sit in and play with him. A daring experiment indeed.

Irvin Mayfield is one of the most talented jazz trumpet players livingin America today. When I went down to New Orleans this past spring to interview people about the slow recovery process following Hurricane Katrina, I spoke with Irvin about his own losses and how he’s recovering.

My mini-doc, India: A Pound of Flesh, won the IF Stone award for International Investigative Reporting at UC Berkeley. The piece was also just picked up by the PBS show FRONTLINE/World as part of their Rough Cut series.

Watch this mini-doc about the plight of Sonoma County Apple Farmers. The piece was selected for air by KRCB, a PBS station in Northern California, where it will screen between longer segments this summer and fall.