A sampling of Alex’s writing

Finding Stillness in Minnesota’s Boundary Waters in the Age of Trump

TheNewYorker.com, July 17, 2019

A Trump-Loving Town and Its Favorite Immigrant

New York Magazine, April 30, 2019

Ed Sadlowski: The Chicago Steelworker Who Fought to Unite the Working Class
The New York Times Magazine, Dec. 30, 2018

Journalists are pushing back against Trump’s attacks on press freedom. Where is Everyone Else?
Los Angeles Times, August 17, 2018

The Smugglers’ Due
The New York Times Magazine, June 11, 2006
A 14-year-old boy from China gets smuggled into the U.S. on his own – only to learn he owes the smugglers forty-five-thousand dollars.

The Trenchcoat Robbers
They were the best bank robbers in U.S. history, so good the FBI didn’t even know who they were looking for. This is the story of how they got caught.
The New Yorker, July 8, 2002

In the Face of Death
The New York Times Magazine, July 6, 2003
The story of a jury in a murder case – and how they came to spare the shooter’s life.
Winner of the Thurgood Marshall Journalism Award

A Federal Judge has a Message for Naturalized Citizens (and Trump)
The NewYorker.com, December 7, 2016

The Politics of Ibrahim Parlak
The New York Times Magazine, March 20, 2005
In the post-9/11 world, a beloved figure in a small Michigan town is labeled a terrorist.

All Boarded Up
The New York Times Magazine, March 8, 2009
In the wake of the housing collapse, one city fights back, taking on the banks and mortgage companies.

The Unprotected
The New Yorker, February 8, 1999
The arrest of two small boys for murder exposed the weaknesses of a legal system that wants to treat children like adults.

I Got the Sheriff
The New Yorker, September 25, 2000
How a small-town reporter found a big story.

Our Town
The New York Times Magazine, August 5, 2007
When leaders in a Chicago suburb go after new immigrants, they run up against some unexpected opponents.

Colorblind
The New York Times Magazine, January 11, 1998
How race comes to shape the way we view the world.

Getting to Know One Another Again and Again
The New York Times Magazine, January 10, 1997
Alex and his dad have a correspondence about what it means to grow old.

Through the Clouds
Washington Post Magazine, March 12, 2000
A trip to America’s smallest national park, Isle Royale, with my four-year-old daughter.