
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 [...]

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 [...]

Chronicles of a worrywart
I never got sick when I lived in Rome. The occasional cold, and one New Year's Eve I couldn't hold [...]

The unforgotten soldier
Recently I gave my students a lecture in the history of journalism. I told them it’s important to have a [...]

From Signorina to Signora
A few years ago, when I visited Rome for the first time since living there in my twenties, it was [...]

Love letters to heal the pain
A decade ago, columnist Kristine Crane met a man on an Italian train and felt a pull. From this came an email bond forged of grief.

The Mamma Mission
One of my missions when I visited Rome a few years ago was to find out about mamma, the mother [...]

The big toss of a small coin
My good friend Jyl put it to me well some years ago. “It’s like you don’t quite get America, and [...]

Piano keys and ponies
I learned to play piano from the woman we knew as Mrs. E. Her real name was Charlotte, and her [...]

Once upon a catwalk
Some years ago, I was a model for Halloween. In real life, I am pretty and petite, but not model [...]

Bella Ciao, and memories of a man
Recently, I played “Bella Ciao” for my students. I first heard the song as a college student in Bologna. I [...]