The Fight for Play
A combination of social forces, from a No Child Left Behind focus on test scores to a push for children to get ahead with programmed extracurricular activities, leaves less time for the roughhousing, fantasizing, and pretend worlds advocates say are crucial for development.  Can we bring society back from the no-play brink?  Toddlers to tweens: relearning how to play

What's happening to our daughters?
Do little girls grow up too soon? In the Christian Science Monitor magazine, a cover story exploring the "Disney Princess Effect," and how marketers are selling "sexy" to younger and younger girls. Check out the article here: Little girls or little women?

The new human rights crisis - statelessness
"In Search of Home," an award-winning multimedia iBook published by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting, explores the growing global phenomena of statelessness. With essays from Kenya, Bangladesh and the Dominican Republic, "In Search of Home" explores what it means to have – and lose – a nationality. Also, on PBS's NewsHour, a look at the human rights crisis brewing on the island of Hisapniola, where Dominicans of Haitian descent are being stripped of their citizenship.  Check it out here: In the Dominican Republic, Haitians grapple with "stateless" limbo.

A bit about me:

I am a writer, photographer and producer who has worked across Africa, the Caribbean and the USA. My work has appeared in dozens of publications, including the Christian Science Monitor, The Baltimore Sun, USA Today, Smithsonian Magazine, Boston Globe, and Africa Geographic.

I am a regular cover story contributor for the Christian Science Monitor, and launched the popular Modern Parenthood blog on CSMonitor.com. I am also thrilled to be working with Metropolitan Books - an imprint of Macmillan - on a narrative book about conservation efforts in Africa.

Other bio tidbits: I am a former staff reporter at The Baltimore Sun and a former Alicia Patterson journalism fellow.  I live in Andover, Massachusetts, with my husband, Christopher Wilson, our two young daughters, a fierce cat named Kipling and my trusty South African Labrador Retriever, Karoo.