Writing About Grief:
How Long Do We Grieve, Maria Shriver’s Open Field Network
Redefining the Five Stages of Grief, The Huffington Post
Recovering From Loss: Coping With Cancer at Age 14, The Huffington Post
The Other Side of Grief, Maria Shriver’s Open Field Network
The Hardest Job I’ve Ever Had, Maria Shriver’s Open Field Network
Why You Should Vacation While Grieving, Psychology Today
Writing About Writing:
What if We All Wrote Memoirs, Powell’s Books Blog
What We Can Learn From Teen Readers: A Conversation with 16-Year-Old Book Critic Robby Auld, The Huffington Post
On Introducing My Mother to the World, BookReporter
An Unexpected Love Affair with a Virtual World of Words, BookReporter
On Writing Letters in the Mail, The Rumpus
On Landing My First (and second) Agent, The Quivering Pen Blog
Personal Essays:
Finding My Mother Again, Salon.com
The First Year, a Post-Wedding Surprise, The Huffington Post
Portrait of My Mother: The Woman Who Taught Me How to Take Revenge, The Nervous Breakdown
How Stopping to Save a Wounded Bird Might Just be the Best Thing That Happened to Your Monday
The Nervous Breakdown
A Thousand Words: Why & Why (An Adventure in Thailand)
The Nervous Breakdown
From Right to Left: How My Father Informed My Political Decisions
Chicago Public Radio
Swimming with Thresher Sharks Seems Like the Obvious Choice When You Decide to Give Yourself Up to the World
The Nervous Breakdown
Breaking Leather: Two Co-Ed Grad Students Go on a Ride-Along with the LAPD
The Nervous Breakdown
Parenting:
To Know or Not to Know: Genetic Testing
Mamapedia, February 2010
Jealous of My Daughter’s Nanny
Momversation, December 2009
Motherless Mothering
Mamapedia, September 2009
Breastfeeding in Public: Natural or Indecent?
The Huffington Post, September 2009
An Open Letter of Apology to My Mom Friends
Momversation, August 2009
Travel:
I grew up traveling. It’s something my parents were passionate about, and having a kid didn’t put a damper on their forays into the world. They just took me with them, instilling in my a deep passion for traveling and a broad perspective of the world around me.
When I was 25 I began working for a small start-up magazine called Student Traveler, and from here I launched a minor career as a travel writer. I think if I didn’t have my hands in so many pots, and especially if I weren’t a wife and a mother, this is what I would have spent the rest of my life doing.
Here are some of my clips:
Custom Ride and Feast
Bicycling Magazine, October 1, 2008
Costa Rica: Still Some of the Greenest Travel Around
The Huffington Post, October 31, 2008
Feel-Good Travel: Giving Back Never Felt Better in Negril
Travel Age West, August 16, 2008
Going Green in Chicago
Road & Travel Magazine, August 1, 2008
Island Hopping in the Grenadines
JaxFax Travel Marketing, March 15, 2008
At Home in Bequia
American Eagle’s Latitudes, March 1, 2008
All-Natural Taitung County
Travel Age West, November 9, 2007
A Taste of Taiwan
Travel Age West, October 26, 2007
United Hotel, Tapei
Travel Age West, September 28, 2007
Swimming with Thresher Sharks Seems Like the Obvious Choice When You Decide to Give Yourself Up to the World
The Nervous Breakdown, July 12, 2007
Big Discoveries on a Small Island in the Philippines
Student Traveler, December 12, 2006
Rolf Potts Speaks Out
Student Traveler, December 3, 2006
Red Eye Editor’s Letter
Student Traveler, December 3, 2006
The Study Abroad Numbers
Student Traveler, December 9, 2006
Food:
I still remember walking along the Bowery one night with my cousin Steffani, just a few months after I had moved to New York City. I was 20 years old. I was telling her about all the different restaurants I wanted to visit in New York.
“Wouldn’t it be amazing to be a food writer?” I said aloud, dreamily.
“Pah,” she had scoffed. “Wouldn’t we all be if we could?”
Cut to four years later when I was completing a coveted internship at Time Out New York Magazine. For weeks I’d been hanging around the desks of the food writers, trying desperately to convince them that they should let me write for them. Finally, one of them threw me a bone — in the form of a new restaurant in Brooklyn that needed a review. I took my cousin Ron with me and I ate oxtail pate for the first time and thought about how proud of me my mother would have been.
I’ve now been writing about food for almost ten years. From dingy Irish pubs to some of the country’s top restaurants. And no, it never, ever gets tiresome.
Right now Greg and I are the LA editors for BlackBook Magazine’s Guide to Restaurants, Hotels and Bars. We write up new places every week. I used to list new ones below, but haven’t done so in a while since we write so many. Feel free to check the Chicago BlackBook listings for ideas though!
Food & Wine Articles:
Taste of the Nation Chicago Tries on Food Trucks
The Huffington Post, August 16, 2010
Where Are Chicago’s Food Trucks?
The Huffington Post, June 7, 2010
Chef Frank Brunacci on Cooking for the Trump Family and the Quintessential Chicago Ingredient
The Huffington Post, May 14, 2010
Chef Rick Tramonto on His New Cookbook, Chicago Cuisine and How to Cook for the Modern Family
The Huffington Post, May 11, 2010
Mercadito Brings a Little Heat to Chicago
The Huffington Post, December 1, 2009
Stephanie Izard on Her Wandering Goat Dinner Series, Twitter and the Many Uses of Bacon
The Huffington Post, August 25, 2009
Chicago: Top 10 Burgers
BlackBook, July 28, 2009
Cibo Matto
BlackBook, July 20, 2009
Frida’s
BlackBook, July 12, 2009
The Terrace at Trump
BlackBook, June 28, 2009
Chicago: Top 10 BYOB Restaurants
BlackBook, May 13, 2009
Chicago: Top 10 Places to Nosh Outdoors
BlackBook, May 11, 2009
Bonsoiree Chef Shin Thompson on Chicago’s Underground Dining Scene, Cooking for the James Beard Foundation and What’s Next on Chicago’s Plate
The Huffington Post, May 5, 2009
Tiny Lounge
BlackBook, February 9, 2009
Chicago: Top 10 Places to Eat With Strangers
BlackBook, January 21, 2009
Bull and Bear
BlackBook, January 18, 2009
Trattoria del Merlo
BlackBook, January 12, 2009
Cafe Des Architectes
BlackBook, January 5, 2009
The Lucky Lady
BlackBook, December 21, 2008
Crocodile
BlackBook, December 15, 2008
Monticchio
BlackBook, December 8, 2008
Chicago: Top 10 Bars for Dumping Your Boyfriend
BlackBook, December 1, 2008
Graham Elliot
BlackBook, December 1, 2008
Eve
BlackBook, November 16, 2008
Mantou Noodle Bar
BlackBook, November 9, 2008
The Century Public House
BlackBook, October 24, 2008
Custom Ride and Feast
Bicycling Magazine, October 1, 2008
Mado Market & Eatery
BlackBook, September 15, 2008
What Does it Take to Make a (Great) Chicago Restaurant?
The Huffington Post, September 10, 2008
Province
BlackBook, September 1, 2008
Sixteen
BlackBook, August 1, 2008
Locando del Lago
Citysearch, September 1, 2003
Saddle Ranch
Citysearch, August 15, 2003
