I’m a magazine journalist who writes about living well. By that I don’t mean “living comfortably”—but rather the elements of style, drinking, eating and behaving that can blend into a legacy. I cover many beats, but I especially enjoy reporting stories about life’s unintended consequences: those clinging side effects that remind us things are not always what they seem.

Besides being a pen-for-hire, I'm the editor of a new print magazine called the Collective Quarterly. It's a travel + art publication, where we assemble a team of artists and makers, take them to one city per issue, and comb the landscape for stories and design inspiration. Everyone then goes home to create products based on the trip, which are offered for sale through the magazine. Learn more at www.collectivequarterly.com.

I’ve written for Chicago Magazine, Details.com, the Chicago Sun-Times, Michigan Avenue Magazine, Urban Daddy, Time Out Chicago, RedEye, the Kansas City Star, the Joplin Globe in Missouri and the Commercial Dispatch in Mississippi among others—reporting on everything from Jay Leno’s garage to folks who dress up in medieval armor and go to war on the weekends.

Finally, I'm the co-proprietor of The Overserved Society, a roving cocktail party in the city of Chicago, and the editor of The Midwestyle, a site dedicated to helping young men dress better in flyover country.

I’m proud of graduating from the world’s best: the Missouri School of Journalism, where I learned by doing. That’s the “Missouri Method,” as we affectionately call it. I believe in the Journalist’s Creed, as set forth by Walter Williams. I also believe that the miracle of the Internet isn’t an acceptable excuse for lazy work or shoddy ethics.