Writing

I’ve published numerous essays, reported articles, poems and reports over the past decade in prestigious magazines, local newspapers and literary journals.

A list is below (ability to search by theme or genre forthcoming!):

May 2022: I translate dispatches from Russian-speaking Ukrainian writer Andrei Krasniashikh as Russian troops invade his hometown. Read his essays in my translation over at LitHub and Circumference.

December 2021: Organized a panel with the Boston Globe and Nellie Mae Education Foundation on pandemic burnout in the education sector. Video recording available.

August 2021: Shreya Ramachandran, my former creative writing student, interviewed me for her series on literature and mental health.

October 2021: It’s always so rewarding to coach young people as they tell their own stories. I helped Brandon publish this personal essay showing how the education system failed him over and over again. Content warning: violence and abuse.

March 2020: My colleague Brandon Lewis and I interview five parents of color about choosing the best school for their children.

March 2020: I’m quoted extensively in a Washington City Paper article about health care.

February 2020: My work and recent successes are featured in the alumni magazine for my graduate program.

November 2019: Writing about culture-based education as a tool for Native American student resilience, in Education Post.

May 2019: My co-authored op-ed about education in the rural American South.

May 2019: Entropy magazine publishes my experimental essay, On Making Mixes for Lovers.”

April 2019: Meduza reviews an event I participated in of Soviet diaspora poets.

April 2019: I review Malaka Gharib’s coming-of-age graphic novel for Pacific Standard.

Spring 2019: My poem “Spacer” appears in the Jewish Issue of Beltway Poetry Quarterly.

December 2018: My Jewish summer camp burned down in LA’s Woolsey fires. I reflect on the loss in a piece about Jewish refugees and resilience in Lilith magazine.

October 2018: I edit and launch Eight Cities, a multimedia website that tells the stories of places that have transformed their education system to better serve kids.

June 2018: My poem “Prababushka” is published by Split This Rock and featured as Poem of the Week.

August 2017: My dog and I are featured in a segment for DCTV about the joys of pet ownership.

July 2017: I co-author a groundbreaking report on the state of diversity, equity, and inclusion in the education sector.

Summer 2017: Beltway Poetry Quarterly’s “Portfolio” issue includes three poems by me.

May 2017: “13 Former Educators Reflect on Their Most Inspiring Memories From the Classroom” at The 74

February 16, 2017: Do some trauma survivors cope by overworking? Read my original reporting in The Atlantic.

January 2017: Words Without Borders publishes my translation of “Haunted Swing“, a short story by contemporary writer Andrei Krasniashikh. They also feature a video of Andrei reading the original in Russian.

2017: My family and I are featured in a new documentary entitled “From Red State to Golden State: Soviet Jewish Immigration to the City of Angels.”

October 11, 2016: Why was I so out and proud until I became a college professor? I tell a complicated coming out story in The Washington Post.

October 11, 2016: In The Atlantic, I write about a small marine community in Maine doing innovative things in the classroom.

September 2016: My poems about bodily integrity and my love for dancers appear in Public Pool. [Sadly, this journal is now defunct.]

Spring 2016: My poetry appears in Beltway Poetry Quarterly’s LGBTQ issue.

1/9/2016: PANK Magazine runs my full translation of a Russian short story from the 1800s, which some consider to be the basis for George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.” [see Harper’s below for context]

12/17/2015: Harper’s Magazine runs excerpts of my translation of a Russian short story from the 1800s, alongside an essay from John Reed arguing that it was the plagiarized basis for George Orwell’s “Animal Farm.”

8/28/2015: I reflect on the time I spent in the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina. Read my essay about disaster tourism, being an “outsider,” resilience, and race. I worked on this one for the better part of the last decade. [The Nervous Breakdown]

4/14/2015: Former Chicago Police Chief Jon Burge brutally tortured black men during his time in the department. Efforts to memorialize this atrocity can teach us a lot about facing state-sanctioned violence. [Pacific Standard]

April 2015: Defeating the lie that poetry is dead one review at a time: I describe Abdul Ali‘s debut as a “sleepless night spent thinking of things that failed to kill but still torment.” I speak to Carolyn Forché, one of my favorite poets, about the intersections of literary art and social justice. [Washington City Paper]

March 2015: I write about my three years as an adjunct professor and get 1,200+ comments. [The Washington Post]

1/17/2015: On the bombing I survived at 13 years old. [Pacific Standard]

Winter 2015: I review “The Man Between: Michael Henry Heim and a Life in Translation” for The Quarterly Conversation.

11/20/2014: On the politics inherent in literary translation, for Words Without Borders.

6/5/2014: I have several articles in Washington City Paper, as part of the “Encyclopedia of Gay D.C.” issue.

March 15, 2014: I translate and publish an open letter from Ukrainian writers denouncing the Russian occupation. (PEN reposts it later.)

8/29/2013: My translation of a wonderful Russian short story appears in VICE magazine.

3/18/2013: I write about Mikhail Shishkin, Russian literary dissident, in a post for Three Percent, the blog of Open Letter Books. (Feministing then linked to this post here.)

2/22/2013: My profile of Brighton Beach community leader Pat Singer is up at The Jewish Daily Forward.

11/2/2012: The Millions publishes my essay about the death of famed literary translator Michael Henry Heim.

Fall 2012: My essay about Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighborhood appears in the Crab Orchard Review.

6/4/2012: Review of a Russian poet’s appearance in NYC, written for Circumference.

Summer 2012: The Massachusetts Review publishes more of my translations.

Summer 2012: The Literary Review publishes my translations of Russian prose.

2/20/2012: Grout publishes my essay about hybrid nonfiction forms.

Spring 2012: I review a documentary about Anna Politkovskaya for Bitch magazine.

Winter 2012: My review of the reality TV show “Russian Dolls” appears in Bitch Magazine.

08/17/2011: My prose poem, “reeds,” appears in The Prose-Poem Project.

04/07/11: Confronting Cruelty, Q&A with Cecilia Ballí on emotional storytelling for DartCenter.org.

11/12/10: Haiti’s Crisis Could Help Revive Its Journalism, an article for DartCenter.org.

06/15/10: An article about trauma in the Gulf after the oil spill, for DartCenter.org.

12/10/09: “Facebook Won’t Kill The Class Reunion,” an article for Campus Progress.

11/11/09: My writing is featured on the blog of The New Yorker (see “Sorting…”). (The post was originally written for the now defunct literary blog LitDrift.)

06/12/09: My favorite Russian blog reviewed for Campus Progress (scroll down).

08/12/08: Guest on XM Radio’s The Progressive Beat.

05/01/08: Video interview with Iraq expert Nir Rosen for Campus Progress.

04/28/08: Interview with Presidential Candidate Mike Gravel for Campus Progress.

03/20/08: Iraq War protest photo essay for Campus Progress.

01/16/07: Review of National Conference for Media Reform for NewAssignment.net.

01/15/07: Interview with DailyKos blogger for NewAssignment.net.

02/16/07: Radio newscast about antiwar protests for Free Speech Radio News.

Winter 07: For We Work! Magazine, an article about gay marriage amendments.