Maddie Oatman

Research Editor

Maddie worked as a travel guide in Argentina and a teacher at several educational nonprofits in San Francisco before joining Mother Jones. She’s written about media and the arts for The Rumpus. A proud Boulder native, she makes time for mountain climbing, stargazing, and telemark skiing.

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The Precocious Sarah Jarosz

—By Maddie Oatman

| Mon Jun. 20, 2011 3:20 AM PDT

At barely 20 years old, roots singer Sarah Jarosz has already recorded two full-length albums and performed at Telluride, Austin City Limits, Bonnaroo, and on A Prairie Home Companion. On her new CD, Follow Me Down, she plays eight instruments, and normally travels with four—guitar, mandolin, banjo, and her new favorite, octave mandolin.

Though she spent her teen years at folk festivals and mandolin camps, Jarosz opted to put year-round touring aside to pursue a degree at New England Conservatory of Music. "My parents are both teachers and I always wanted to have the college experience," she told me eagerly. She'll major in Contemporary Improvisation—put simply, the development of personal style.

[Read more in the Mixed Media blog]

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Micronesia Challenges Europe's Dirty Energy

—By Maddie Oatman

| Tue May. 24, 2011 10:00 AM PDT

The Prunéřov Power Station in Bohemia, Czech Republic

The Federated States of Micronesia (FSM), an island nation scattered across the Pacific north of New Guinea, has already had to confront the tides of climate change, which have eaten away at its coasts and left its food and water security in shambles. When leaders in FSM heard that the Czech Republic planned to extend the license on its biggest polluter, the Prunéřov power station, they decided that a coal plant halfway across the world had everything to do with their fragile island country's health. In January of 2010, FSM legally intervened in the extension of the plant by calling for a Transboundary Environmental Impact Assessment, which required the Czech government to take into account the environmental impact upon another territory when deciding whether to approve the project.

[Read more in the Blue Marble blog]

Did ICE Intentionally Mislead?

—By Maddie Oatman

| Thu May. 19, 2011 4:00 PM PDT

Yesterday, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) called again for an immediate investigation into whether Immigration and Customs Enforcement intentionally misled local authorities as to whether they could opt out of the controversial immigration enforcement program, Secure Communities. In late April, Lofgren asked ICE to investigate the program for misleading statements surrounding their opt-out policy. "I believe some of these false and misleading statements may have been made intentionally, while others were made recklessly, knowing that the statements were ambiguous and likely to create confusion," Lofgren wrote. In return, she received a promise from Acting Inspector General Charles Edwards that a review of Secure Communities, otherwise known as S-Comm, would begin at the start of the 2012 fiscal year. In a letter she sent out on May 17, Lofgren states that an investigation into the program is "pressing," and that the review should begin immediately (see "Lofgren Letters" at the end of this article for all documents).

[Read more in the MoJo blog]

Fleet Foxes Sing the Blues

—By Maddie Oatman

| Mon May. 9, 2011 3:30 AM PDT

There's a moment towards the end of Fleet Foxes' new album Helplessness Blues, during the song "The Shrine/An Argument," where front man Robin Pecknold's voice cracks in desperation. The fissure may be the emotional nadir of the record's narrative, but it sends ripples down my spine—it's probably been the highlight of my listening experience lately. For the first time, Pecknold dares to waver from his flawless vocal prowess, hinting at a darkness his listeners have rarely experienced from the angelic singer.

Helplessness Blues is not a huge departure from Fleet Foxes, the band's first CD, but it possesses more moments of frustration and despair. By allowing these feelings to creep in, Fleet Foxes have created a more complicated and ambitious repertoire, strengthening their overall reach.

[Read more in the Mixed Media blog]

CA Dems to Feds: Hands Off Our Immigrants

California fights back against a federal program that deports crime victims and minor offenders.

—By Maddie Oatman

| Wed Apr. 27, 2011 1:24 PM PDT

Jaime Aguilar, a Salvadoran immigrant going through deportation proceedings as a result of the Secure Communities program.

On February 13, Jaime Aguilar was standing at 16th and Mission streets in San Francisco when a police officer approached him for holding an open beer can. The officer asked him if he had a California ID, and when he replied that he didn't (he's an undocumented worker from El Salvador), he was arrested and taken to a nearby police station. He was then transferred to the police station on nearby Bryant Street, and within 13 hours, a man with a previously clean record—the father of two children—was wearing an ankle bracelet, about to be deported for drinking beer in public.

Aguilar, like hundreds of Californians, had been ensnared by a federal immigration program called "Secure Communities," or S-Comm. While Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) purported to target dangerous criminals when it began implementing the program a year and a half ago, recent data (PDF) reveal how the majority of those targeted in the state have committed minor crimes, such as traffic offenses, or no crimes at all. Because the program's results have differed so markedly from its declared intentions, state lawmakers have been pushing to pass a bill that would allow counties to opt out of S-Comm.

[Read the full article]