The Best of Summer

After the crummiest winter in recent memory, almost everyone’s ready for the mercury to top 70. We Minnesotans are great at making the most of our fleeting summer season, and in this cover story for Minnesota Monthly, I explored some of the best ways to make summer great. From star gazing to strawberry pie, there are an infinite number of ways to make the days between Memorial Day and Labor Day memorable.

Read more here.

If You Had A Million Miles

You might not be rich, exactly, but a million frequent flyer miles could get you anywhere in the world, first class. I talked to a few mileage junkies for a story for CreditCards.com — including two who have banked millions over the past few years alone — about the credit card strategies they’ve used to grab thousands of miles without paying a penny. If you’re not worried about your credit report, you can make the most of these deals. In fact, after I finished the story, I picked up a couple cards that will help me get 150,000 miles in the next six months without changing my spending.  You might be able to benefit, too.

Read the full story here.

All Expenses Paid

You don’t have win at a game show to get vacation perks without spending a dime — you just have to know a little insider knowledge. Getting free flights, lodging, food, and events might not be as hard as you think. If you’re willing to spend some time and think creatively, you won’t have to spend a penny to get many vacation perks. In this slide show for Bankrate.com, I share some of the key tips for getting something for nothing.

Read more here.

Getting Better

A few years ago, I wrote a story for Experience Life about Denise Morth, a woman who lost more than 225 pounds. Before she lost the weight, she tipped the scales at nearly 400 pounds, and she couldn’t fit into the seats at movie theaters or on buses. When she got committed to fitness and the accountability found in organizations like Weight Watchers and in running training groups, she lost the weight—and completed a 10-mile race. The story that led to that astonishing turnaround is excerpted in Mac Anderson’s book, One Choice.

Never Too Cool for School

It’s been a long time since I graduated from college, but every time I write profiles of students, I wish I could re-enroll. Not for the dorm rooms or the cafeteria food, maybe, but for the opportunity to try a lot of different classes, join a club, start a group, and play a sport.

The students I profiled for the Carleton Viewbook are the cream of the crop—they’re smart, engaged, thoughtful, and funny. And they’re making the most of their college experiences, whether they’re studying plants in Tanzania or captaining the nationally competitive Ultimate Frisbee team. Check out the amazing work of these students here.

Heal Thyself

Sometimes, medicine isn’t enough. Just ask Penny George, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1996. She got the best available care at the time, but she still felt that something was missing. She added acupunture, therapy, and meditation to the rigors of chemotherapy and found that adding mental and spiritual components to her care helped immensely. Now, as a philanthropist, she’s hoping to encourage more systematic integrative health and healing practices. This story, written for the University of Minnesota, shares the components of a range of new programs that are being developed with her help that will bring holistic care to a greater number of patients.

Read the full story here.

Living Dangerously

What would it take to get you to leap out of an airplane? Run a marathon in a game preserve with lions and rhinos?  Flip off of a trapeze 30 feet in the air — without a net? For the people in this story that I did for Webster University’s alumni magazine, it’s all part of a days’s work. From movie stuntmen to student driving instructors, these men and women will remind you why your office job isn’t nearly as bad as you thought.

Read it here.

Jingle All The Way To The Bank

Credit and debit card companies want you to use their cards during the holiday season—and they’re lining up some enticing deals for consumers. From improved cash back offers to free shipping, your plastic can definitely pay off this season.

Offers can be found for nearly every card, whether you carry Visa, MasterCard, American Express or Discover. Read the fine print and the expiration date and you’ll be able to afford just a little more holiday cheer.

Changing Strategies

Anyone who’s spent any time learning about credit cards knows the cardinal rules: pay them off on time and in full whenever you can. Never just pay the minimum. It turns out that those rules get thrown out the window if you’ve lost (or think you’re about to lose) your job. In an emergency, everything is different, but you should know why the rules are changing. In this  story I wrote for CreditCards.com, experts share advice on using your cards wisely if you get a pink slip.

Read the full story here.

Big Ideas

Macalester College was recently named one of the ten “most intellectual” colleges, so perhaps it’s no surprise that the professors who teach there have some pretty big ideas. For this story for Macalester Today, I talked to nearly a dozen different professors who shared their thoughts on ways to make our society smarter, healthier, and more balanced.

The great part is that you don’t have to read a 250-page dissertation to understand their clever  concepts—they’ve all been distilled to 250 words or less.

Read the full story here.