A dress and a friendship
Every year when I clean out my closet, I think about giving away a green dress that I bought one [...]
The Polar Bear Expedition
Over the past decade, author James Carl Nelson has filled a lamentable gap and made a niche for himself writing [...]
The perils of the markets card
In the lead-up to the 2016 Brexit referendum, a lot of the commentary focused on the potentially catastrophic outcomes of [...]
Reckoning with mistakes
Last week I took the stage with my partner as part of an acting class exercise. Everything went wrong. It [...]
By night in France
A year ago in France I drove all night from Saintes to Lascaux, through sleeping villages with lit-up statutes of [...]
The bonds that tie
The scene that best defines “The Sisters Brothers” takes place along a river bank in the remote, anarchic, gold-rush California [...]
A memoir born of newsprint
When people ask me how long it took me to write my memoir, "Dottoressa: An American Doctor in Rome," I [...]
Letter from the Eastern border
Dear European Union: My country, Romania, has been a member of your “organization” for more than 12 years now. The [...]
The eccentric food depot
Most people around the world think they have a pretty clear idea of what constitutes Italian food. Many can even […]
A toy story
Play is the way that intelligent animals learn. It's also the way children discover who they are and how they [...]
Home is where…my hairdresser is
Good hairdressers are like good editors. They accentuate what you've written and smooth any mishaps. My newest stylist, Gina, gets [...]