Selected Publications

Reportage

Q&A: Family Vlogging: Good Times or Exploitation?
An interview with Fortesa Latifi, the author of Like, Follow, Subscribe: Influencer Kids and the Cost of a Childhood Online, a deep dive into the child influencer industry. [July 2026]
“The consumers of this content range from everyday moms to disparaging Redditors and pedophiles. They eagerly consume other families’ lives, participating in the multibillion-dollar industry supported by the companies that sponsor these posts, and the social media platforms that host them.” Read more at The American Prospect.

News Influencers and Gen Z Are Reshaping News
As young people increasingly seek information from social media, a crop of news influencers are rising to meet them. [May 2026]
“But even the most committed social media journalists are not immune to the constraints of video sharing on online platforms, which prioritize punchy hooks, short clips, and high engagement.” Read more at The American Prospect.

American Politics Is Already Inundated With AI Deepfakes. It’s Only Getting Worse.
An examination of the changing landscape of AI deepfakes in American electoral politics. [April 2026]
“Today, Americans find themselves in a political ecosystem where democratic norms have been shattered. The risks of AI-generated fakes are more pronounced, but public objections are less of a deterrent.” Read more at The American Prospect.

The Post-Gazette Has Stonewalled a Strike for 16 Months
Reporting on the newsroom strike at the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. [February 2024]
“The strike has brought difficult times. Talented young reporters left to pursue employment elsewhere. Workers have suffered reduced health care and wage losses. And they’ve sat through endless bargaining sessions where management refuses to move.” Read more at Jacobin.

First Tire Workers to Organize in 40 Years Win First Contract
Celebrating the workers at Kumho Tire in Georgia. [September 2023]
“It was late summer 2017 at the Overtyme Bar and Grill, a hotspot off a busy highway in Macon, Georgia, and Kumho Tire plant worker Mario Smith had important questions for local United Steelworkers (USW) president Alex Perkins: he wanted to know how he could bring a union to the one-year-old factory.” Read more at Labor Notes.

Essays

A Full Circle Moment: YOUmedia Alum Returns to CPL
Remembering transformative years at the Chicago Public Library. [July 2025]
“This is the incredible strength of Chicago Public Library and libraries in general: their power to draw youth in, bring them into the fold, and once there, hold and nurture them.” Read more on the Chicago Public Library Foundation Blog.

Conversations We Haven’t Had
A personal essay exploring Black women’s familial silence. [Winter 2023]
“In the center of these two kin secrecies, I am something of a sleuth. I listen to the silence and to admissions so quiet I might miss them. I ask myself how to carry and honor these stories, which I do not fully know.” Read more at The Plentitudes.

Working in Buffalo: An Ode to the Possible
A brief reflection on social impact work in Buffalo. [June 2022]
“This work, above all, is the incredible opportunity to contribute to the regrowth that East Siders and community organizations have already begun; it is the privilege to participate in this communal dreaming, hoping, building, answering: What do we do with vacant lots?” Read more on the ILR High Road Blog.