Nonfiction

Lexi’s non-fiction been published by dozens of local and national outlets, including AARP the Magazine, AARP Bulletin, The Atlantic, Bay Nature, The Bold Italic, Briefings, Bustle, California Lawyer, California Magazine, Conde Nast Traveler, Creative Nonfiction, Diablo, The East Bay Express, Gamasutra, GEN, Grist, GQ, The New Republic, New York Magazine, The New York Times, Oakland North, OK Whatever, Playboy, Richmond Confidential, San Francisco Magazine, UCSF Magazine, Vox, and WIRED. She has also written and narrated longform podcast episodes.

Select features and podcast episodes are linked below.


Welcome to Poppy’s World
WIRED

Pop singer? YouTube star? Cult leader? Whoever she is, Poppy is here to take over the internet.

Featured on Longform.org


The Next Thing You Smell Could Ruin Your Life
WIRED

Millions of people suffer debilitating reactions in the presence of certain scents and chemicals. One scientist has been struggling for decades to understand why—as she battles the condition herself.

Featured on Longform Profiles


A Wrinkle in Time
WIRED

As a young industrial designer, Patricia Moore undertook a radical experiment in aging. Her discoveries reshaped the built world.


Are You Lonely? Adopt a New Family on Facebook Today
WIRED

A goat farmer in rural Minnesota, estranged from her biological children, finds new purpose as a surrogate grandparent.

Featured on Longform Profiles


Cass Elliot, Carnie Wilson, and Fat-Shaming in Rock and Pop (podcast)
Make Me Over, a series from You Must Remember This

Listen to this episode via the link above, on Stitcher, or on Apple Podcasts.


Everyone Loves Norma Tanega with Lexi Pandell (podcast)
Have You Heard This One?, a series from Nevermind Media

Norma Tanega lived an extraordinary life. She was a talented folk musician whose work captured Bob Dylan’s attention. She had a hit song and a record deal. She was the longtime hidden romantic partner of Dusty Springfield. So why don’t more people know her name? And why does her story feel so incomplete?


Catfished by Jacob Wohl
GEN
, a publication from Medium

How a Texas oil heiress got scammed — and then seduced — by Twitter’s most inept Trump-loving troll.

Seen in “14 Stories That Capture What It Felt Like to Be Alive in 2019” and “10 Stories LEVEL Didn’t Write, but You Should Still Read (Right Now)” 


The Starlet Bandits (podcast)
Paperless, a series from Vespucci

A disparate group of sex workers are transformed into a gang of bank robbers named The Starlet Bandits.

Listen to this two-part episode via the link above or on Spotify.


The Super-Optimized Dirt That Helps Keep Racehorses Safe
WIRED

Dozens of horses died at Santa Anita Park last year. So engineer Mick Peterson is deploying everything from sensors to satellites to keep accidents down as the Breeders’ Cup approaches.


Interviewed on iHeartRadio’s The Daily Dive


This is Your Brain on Obsession
The Highlight by Vox

What the tiny Tamagotchi can teach us all.


The Vigilante of Clallam County
The Atlantic

Patrick Drum was tired of seeing sex offenders hurt children, so he decided to kill them.

Featured on Longform.org, interviewed on Newstalk’s Moncrieff


Trip Therapy
UCSF Magazine

Could psychedelics become mainstream medicines?


The Racist Origins of San Francisco’s Housing Crisis
The New Republic

For decades, the city used strict zoning laws to target the poor and people of color. Today, liberal NIMBYs are fighting to preserve them.


Mortals Anonymous: Inside the Cafés Where People Go to Talk About Dying
WIRED

Mortality is inevitable. Death Cafés just give you a safe space to talk about it.