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Hi. Welcome to my website!

I'm a journalist focused on business, the economy, sports, politics, and urbanism. I'm also a senior writer and editor for The Hustle, where I write and edit business features.   

My work has been published in The New York Times, Washington Post, Texas Monthly, Vox, GQ, WIRED, Slate, Fortune, VICE, Runner's World, The Kansas City Star, The Philadelphia Inquirer, PolitiFact and Deadline Hollywood among other publications. 


You can reach me at mdent05@gmail.com.

 
I'm also the co-author of Kingdom Quarterback, a 2023 book about Kansas City and Patrick Mahomes. It tells the history of Kansas City, Mahomes, and the Chiefs and how the city and Mahomes are trying to usher in a new era as the city confronts its past, its housing segregation, and its inferiority complex.
 
You can order the book here. 
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Kingdom Quarterback Summary

There is nobody like Patrick Mahomes.

In three seasons, he has won a Super Bowl and competed in another, earned the titles of First Team All-Pro, NFL Offensive Player of the Year, and league MVP, and turned the Kansas City Chiefs from famed playoff failures into the most successful team in the NFL. With his unique and groundbreaking playing style, and winning personality both on and off the field, Mahomes has become a truly transcendent quarterback in a journey that mirrors and accentuates the rebirth of the once swingin’ cow town of Kansas City, Missouri.

Once an adventure-filled jazz epicenter and nightlife hub to rival New Orleans, Kansas City’s wild edges and captivating neighborhoods were snuffed out in pursuit of a suburbanized dream that largely left out people of color. It’s been a long road attempting to move past the scars of segregation and overcome the city’s flyover reputation, but Kansas City is now poised to make a comeback, and no other person or team embodies that hope like Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs. Kansas City and Mahomes represent the story of the midwestern American city—how they grew, how they shaped the country, how the sport of football came to mean so much to them, how they failed, and how they are changing.

Kansas City–area natives Mark Dent and Rustin Dodd have written for outlets such as The New York Times, The Kansas City Star, and Texas Monthly, bringing their deep connection to the city, football expertise, and polished writing skills to create a serious book about a very entertaining subject—the rebirth of a city, a team’s triumph, and how Patrick Mahomes, and the team he led, were exactly what was needed to bring Kansas City back together again.

Kingdom Quarterback Excerpt

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From the Washington Post: 
When Mike Garrett, a Heisman Trophy winner from the University of Southern California, was drafted by the Kansas City Chiefs in 1966, the only thing he knew about his new home was the song.
The city surprised him. The 12th Street and Vine jazz district praised by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in “Kansas City” was floundering, but the Country Club Plaza — a Spanish-influenced medley of department stores, boutiques, restaurants and luxury apartments that is the city’s equivalent of Georgetown — seemed like a great place to live.
Garrett was turned down at every open apartment he visited....
Read more.
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