Writing
Essays
Seven Almonds
THE RUMPUS
July 2015
-FIRST PLACE IN 2015 SOUL-MAKING KEATS LITERARY COMPETITION
As the door in the back of the courtroom opened, I watched the jurors file in. I looked at my three trial partners and my client before I fixed my face into its well-worn litigator mask, presenting a stoic, cool gaze forward. In a ten-week-long trial with thousands of government and defense exhibits, the jurors had deliberated for only two days. It was December 21, 2011—four days before Christmas. Maybe the jury just wanted this ordeal to be over. I felt optimistic as I watched the jurors. My trial team and I believed that our client Tarek was no terrorist.
Natural Tan
LITERARY MAMA
December 2017
-HONORABLE MENTION/NONFICTION AT MENDOCINO COAST WRITERS’ CONFERENCE 2016
My daughter and I were waiting in the emergency room when she told me. I looked at her, my spunky, carefree eight-year-old. Her long legs dangled off the edge of the examination table as she tried to negotiate the crinkling paper beneath her. Above her head hung a broken cuckoo clock, its arms frozen in an awkward salute.
Memoir of an Exoneration
THE CHAMPION
April 2014
Almost 80 years old, Ruth Johns said earlier this year, “I don’t know how much longer I’m going to be around to take care of my son.” Ruth’s son, Guy Randolph, is schizophrenic. He was also a child molester. Guy insisted that he had not committed the crime for which he was convicted: molesting a six year-old girl at knifepoint in Roslindale, Mass., on New Year’s Eve in 1990.
Finding Truth in Technology
CREATIVE NONFICTION #58
Winter 2016
-A TOP 10 STORY FROM 2016 BY CREATIVE NONFICTION MAGAZINE
Here is a question for our times: can memory represent truth when technology can reveal far more than we might remember? I answer that question differently based on what professional hat I am wearing. The attorney in me knows that a video or photograph is better evidence of an event than memory alone. As a writer, though, my memories feel holy to me—an amalgam of fact and feeling where vague recollection can, in itself, be the treasured memory.
Jay Shree Krishna, Jesus Christ
THE MAINE REVIEW
January 2021
Sunlight filters through the stained glass windows amidst the tall columns supporting the ceiling of Iglesia de la Merced—built in 1534 by the Spanish conquerors of Nicaragua—and illuminates the altar of Virgen de Fatima. I find my mother there, standing before a giant sculpture of the crucifixion. The Son on the cross, his mother by his side. Both silent. My mom’s eyes are closed, her head bowed, and her tiny ponytail bounces up and down as she chants something to herself.
Visiting the Past
CREATIVE NONFICTION #54
Winter 2014
“Cows are very smart,” my mom bragged. “You know, they can find their way home.”
She paused. “It’s true.”
Interviews
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Gabriela Garcia
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Fall 2021
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist JoAnne Tompkins
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Summer 2021
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Maisy Card
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Spring 2021
The Mauritanian: An Interview
THE CHAMPION MAGAZINE
April 2021
One to Watch: Interview with Memoirist Grace Talusan
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Fall 2020
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Becky Mandelbaum
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Summer 2020
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Anita Felicelli
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Winter 2020
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Chip Cheek
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Summer 2019
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist & Poet Devi Laskar
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Winter 2019
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Anne Raeff
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Spring 2018
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Barbara Ridley
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Summer 2018
One to Watch: Interview with Novelist Lori Ostlund
CARVE MAGAZINE PREMIUM EDITION
Spring 2017
Reviews
Film Review of Moonlight
THE CHAMPION, MAGAZINE PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL ASSN. OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS
January 2017
Review of Invisible Men by Eric Freeze
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
October 25, 2016
Review of Paul Auster's The Invention of Solitude
BREVITY MAGAZINE
July 22, 2015
Film Review of Released
THE CHAMPION, MAGAZINE PUBLICATION OF THE NATIONAL ASSN. OF CRIMINAL DEFENSE LAWYERS
November 2015
Review of Christopher Castellani's The Art of Perspective
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
August 24, 2016
Paying Attention to Pain: A Book Review of the Empathy Exams by Leslie Jamison
HARVARD DIVINITY BULLETIN
Summer/Fall 2014
Academic & Trade
Sorry, That’s Classified: Post 9/11 Surveillance Powers, the Sixth Amendment, and Niebuhrian Ethics
BOSTON UNIVERSITY PUBLIC INTEREST LAW JOURNAL
Fall 2014
Kids and Gun Safety
AMERICAN BAR ASSOCIATION, SECTION OF LITIGATION, CHILDREN’S RIGHTS LITIGATION NEWSLETTER
Spring 2014
The Cost of Transcript Delay: Years Wasted in Prison
MASSACHUSETTS LAWYERS WEEKLY
October 8, 2012
Justice Denied: Appeals Mired in Delay
MASSACHUSETTS LAWYERS WEEKLY
October 8, 2012, p. 39 (with Jeanne M. Kempthorne and Allison G. Haar)
Getting It Right: Improving the Accuracy and Reliability of the Criminal Justice System in Massachusetts
REPORT BY THE BOSTON BAR ASSOCIATION TASK FORCE
December 2009
For Kids
Foreword: Mystery!
826 QUARTERLY: POETRY, FICTION, & ESSAYS BY AUTHORS 6 TO 18, VOL. 26
Summer 2018
Blog Posts
Serial - Season 2,Episode 11
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"Waiting Is Something Bowe Knows How To Do."
June 29, 2016
Serial - Season 2,Episodes 9 & 10
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"To Follow A Great Story, We Need To Eat Our Kale."
June 14, 2016
Serial - Season 2,Episodes 4 & 5
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"As Writers, We Work With This Elasticity Of Time — Honoring The Eternal Nature Of It But Also How Significant Moments Leave Impressions."
March 3, 2016
Serial - Season 2,Episodes 2 & 3
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"Should Bergdahl Be Or Not Be? We Will Keep Tuning In To Find Out."
January 19, 2016
The Serial Podcast and Creative Writing
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"I Hope To Share With You Three Pearls Of Wisdom From Each Episode About What Makes Koening Such A Stellar Storyteller."
January 11, 2016
Serial - Season 2,Episode 1
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"So Far, This Investigation Is About Big Events ... Yet, Koenig Frames The Story To Us In Human, Relatable Ways."
January 11, 2016
Too Much To Read? Here Are 5 Steps to Conquer Your Never-Ending Reading List
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"It's Easy To Get Your Reading List Under Control, If You Follow These 5 Simple Steps."
December 14, 2015
You Think Writing is Not A Job? Think Again
CARVE MAGAZINE BLOG
"I Want To Say – Boldly And With Absolutely No Hesitation – That Writing Is So A Job And A Necessary One At That."
November 19, 2015.