Thank for visiting my website. It has some information about me and links to my work.
That’s pretty much it.
My Writing
Professionals clean out a meth house in West Virginia. Photo by Nick Keppler for Vice
Drugs and Drug Policy
These Therapists Want to Help You Trip on Shrooms and Ecstasy, The Daily Beast, Aug. 13, 2022
This Horse Tranquilizer Keeps Showing Up in Human Drug Overdoses, The Daily Beast, March 2, 2020
The Powder of Death: Fentynal Is Now the Deadliest Drug on the Streets, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Fall of 2018
Heroin Hits Home: Pittsburgh Battles to Stem an Epidemic That’s Reaching Into Every Level of Society, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Fall of 2015
The Hard, Grim Work of Cleaning Up Meth Labs in West Virginia, Vice, Jan. 16,2015
A therapist speaks to a parolee who began treatment for head trauma in a prison program. Photo by Sean Corbett for Vice
Healthcare and Healthcare Access
Alzheimer’s Disease Has No Cure — But Unproven Treatments Claim Otherwise, Inverse, August 25, 2022
Fertility Clinics Turn Women Away Over Their Weight — New Research Undermines That Practice, Inverse, May 17, 2022
Contact Tracers Have Tracked the Spread of COVID-19 Fatigue, Vice, March 5, 2021
Why People Are Rationing Insulin — and Dying in the Process, Men’s Health, March 14, 2019
A Game-Changing New Cancer Treatment Is Cripplingly Expensive, Vice, March 2, 2018
Out-of-Control Plastic Surgeons' Snapchat Hijinks Are Putting Patients at Risk, Splinter, Oct. 4, 2017
Teens With Severe Depression Find an Unlikely Solution in Vitamins, Vice, Aug. 9, 2017
What Happened When a Prison Brought in a Brain Injury Specialist, Vice, Nov. 24, 2016
PA Is Losing OB Units, Making Care for Pregnant Women Tough to Reach, PublicSource, April 18, 2016
Healthcare Questions Answered
How Gross Is the Hot Tub in My Hotel or Spa?, Vice, June 6, 2018
What's the Worst a Hot Pepper Can Do To You?, Splinter, May 28, 2018
Does Wearing Headphones Lead to Hearing Loss?, Vice, May 10, 2018
How Long Can Weed Show Up in a Drug Test?, Vice, March 6, 2018
How Long Can I Delay Pregnancy and Remain Fertile?, Vice, Feb. 6, 2018
Memoirs and Personal Essays
I Stopped Paying My Private Student Loans, and Somehow Got Lucky, The New York Times, Sept. 9, 2023
I Was Just Shut Out of Student Loan Forgiveness. And I’m So Tired, Vice, Oct. 6, 2022
The Stress of My Job Destroyed My Stomach, Vice, Jan. 4, 2018
What It's Like to be Held in a Psych Ward Against Your Will, Vice, Nov. 30, 2017
Antidepressants Just Make Me Feel Worse, Vice, Dec. 6, 2016
Music
Did the “Runaway Train” Music Video Really Save 21 Kids?, Slate.com, August 8, 2023
My Nine-Hour Breakup Playlist, Explained by Scientists, Vice, June 30, 2017
An Exhibit Showcases Classic Album Covers by a Forgotten Local Artist, Pittsburgh City Paper, Oct. 29, 2014
Karen Frey campaigns for Republican candidates in the 2018 midterms in an area of Eastern Pennsylvania that became a swing district. Photo by Nick Keppler for 100 Days in Appalachia.
Politics
Custody Fight in Pennsylvania Could Decide the Political Fate of GOP Senate Candidate Sean Parnell, The Washington Post, Nov. 9, 2021
Pittsburgh Poised for History-making Election of Its First Black Mayor This Fall, The Washington Post, June 16, 2021
A Political Hot Potato for Some Pennsylvania Democrats: Party Officials Who Praise Trump, The Washington Post, April 18, 2020
Drug Addiction Used to End Political Careers, but That's Finally Changing, Vice, April 4, 2019
In Pennsylvania Trump Country, Redistricting Has Made One Solidly Red District Competitive, 100 Days in Appalachia, Oct. 30, 2018
Psychology
Is Bipolar Disorder Overdiagnosed?, Slate.com, Sept. 29, 2024
This Company Wants to Replace Therapy With Wearable Tech, Vice, Jan. 25, 2021
The Prescription for Perfection, Men’s Health, June 2020
Gifted Kids Need Just as Much Attention as Special Needs Kids, Vice, Jan. 11, 2018
Should This Guy Really Get Ten Years in Prison For Blowing Up His House?, Vice, Nov. 24, 2014
Penn Plaza, once an affordable housing development in Pittsburgh, is emptied to make room for a Whole Foods. Photo by Nick Keppler for AlterNet.
Public Policy
They’ve Been Trapped on Navy Ships for Months. Now One Has Died by Suicide, The Daily Beast, Oct. 19, 2020
The House Flippers of Pittsburgh Try a New Tactic, CityLab, Jan. 24, 2020
As Appalachian States Reform Teen Marriage Laws, West Virginia and Pennsylvania Lag Behind, 100 Days in Appalachia, May 8, 2019
In Allegheny County, Domestic Violence Offenders Often Avoid the Most Serious Punishment, PublicSource, Feb. 18, 2019
How Housing Vouchers and “Section 8” Stigma Fail Pittsburgh’s Neediest Households, PublicSource, June 8, 2017
Who Are You to Judge Me? Lawyers and Legal Novices Compete for the Same Magistrate Court Seats in Pennsylvania, PublicSource, May 15, 2017
Most of Pennsylvania’s Juvenile Lifers Are Still Awaiting Their New Day in Court, PublicSource, Dec. 22, 2016
Students at Tom Savini’s Special Make-Up Effects Program at the Douglas Education Center in Monessen, Pennsylvania. Photo by Renee Rosensteel for Pittsburgh Quarterly.
Sights and Stories from Pennsylvania
Orphaned Oil and Gas Wells Are a Huge Source of Greenhouse Gases, Sierra Magazine, Sept. 18, 2024
A Creepy Mill Town: How a Special Effects Program is Breathing Life into Depressed Monessen, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Fall of 2017
The Group of Presidents That Donald Trump Will Never Join, Slate, Jan. 23, 2017
Unclaimed Property: An Auction in Pennsylvania Where the Items Up for Bid are Guns Used in Suicides, Slate, Nov. 12, 2014
Technology
Academics Say Bots Keep Targeting Their Research on LGBTQ Health, Vice, Feb. 15, 2023
Meet the Spy Tech Companies Helping Landlords Evict People, Vice, Jan. 4, 2023
Robot Landlords Are Buying Up Houses, Vice, Nov. 28, 2022
Cost Cutting Algorithms Are Making Your Job Search a Living Hell, Vice, Feb. 12, 2020
Pittsburgh Mayor William Peduto and other officials brief the media the day after the shooting at the Tree of Life synagogue. Photo by Nick Keppler for The Daily Beast.
Tree of Life Tragedy Coverage
Gunman Robert Bowers Rants About Killing Jews, Slays 11 at Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, The Daily Beast, Oct. 27, 2018
Synagogue Shooting: How an ‘Unspeakable Act of Hate’ Unfolded, The Daily Beast, Oct. 27, 2018
Pittsburgh Shooting Victim Jerry Rabinowitz Treated Gay Men With AIDS Before It Even Had a Name, The Daily Beast, Oct. 29, 2018
Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life Worshippers Tell Trump to Denounce Nationalism or Don’t Bother Coming, The Daily Beast, Oct. 30, 2018
Protests Follow Trump, and Other Officials Stay Away, as He Visits Pittsburgh After Massacre at the Tree of Life, The Daily Beast, Oct. 30, 2018
Doctor Who Rushed to Tree of Life Massacre Thought He Might Die: “I Could Hear the Gunshots”, The Daily Beast, Oct. 31, 2018
Tree of Life Congregants Gather At Neighboring Synagogue One Week After Bloodshed, The Daily Beast, Nov. 3, 2018
Adam and Eve co-founder Phil Harvey sits in his office at his sexual paraphernalia company in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Photo by Nick Keppler for Splinter.
Other Stuff
They Were Deactivated From Delivering. Their Finances Were Devastated, New York Times, March 29, 2025
The Dementia Spurring People to Paint, BrainFacts.org, Feb. 21, 2024
Displaced and distraught: East Palestine remains at risk and without answers, Environmental Health News, June 8, 2023
In Pittsburgh, a shooting victim leaves behind legacy to help youth, The Washington Post, May 18, 2022
The Loneliest Anti-Vaxxer, Slate.com, Nov. 26, 2021
How the FBI's National Stolen Art File Reunites Lost Works With Their Rightful Owners, Mental Floss, June 15, 2021
A New Church in Troubled Towns, Pittsburgh Quarterly, Spring 2020
This Idyllic Southern Town's Economy Runs on One Sex Toy Company, Splinter, July 28, 2017
The 20-Year-Old EDM Entrepreneur Accused of Running a $500,000 Ponzi Scheme, Vice, Nov. 12, 2015
Inside a Clown's Insurance Policy, Mental Floss, June 9, 2015
If you would like to see more work in a certain subject or of a certain type, please email me!