Dan Zak is a feature writer based in the Style section. His latest project is The Prophets of Oak Ridge. Recent assignments include the Vanity Fair Oscar party, Barack Obama’s second inauguration, the shooting in Newtown, and David Letterman. Past reporting trips include Louisiana for the BP oil leak and Iraq for the final months of the U.S. military presence. He has also written about official and casual pageantry at the White House, penned profiles of the famous and non-famous, and explored rural Virginia, suburban Maryland and non-federal Washington for the odd feature story. With Monica Hesse, he is co-sovereign of The List. He previously covered crime, community and exurban exotica in southern Maryland for the Metro section, and co-bylined the Three Wise Guys humor column. He joined the Post in 2005, after stints as an editorial assistant at Entertainment Weekly and a city-desk reporter and obituary writer at The Buffalo News. He was born and raised in Buffalo, N.Y. E-mail him at zakd@washpost.com.