L’Americana

One evening, I was telling my daughter Julia a bedtime story about Fassi’s, my favorite gelateria in Rome. I was trying to seduce her into sleep with lavish descriptions of [...]

Staring into his green-gold eyes, half closed in contentment, I stroke the top of his head and say to him, “Okay, you win, you’re going to be my column.” He [...]

When I moved to New York after a decade in Italy to go to graduate school, working with audio was one of my favorite New World discoveries. I had a [...]

When I lived in Rome, I occasionally strolled through the fancy shopping streets near Piazza di Spagna. Mostly, I window shopped — at Gucci, Max Mara, and Ferragamo, telling myself [...]

When I was in college, I briefly considered a career in diplomacy. I’d never taken a political science course, and I didn’t really like politics. But diplomacy seemed different, above [...]

Every August, a box arrives on my front porch, marked “fragile,” although there’s nothing breakable inside. Just perishable. A dozen ears of corn from Iowa. I’m always hesitant to open [...]

Like many people, I started riding a Peloton exercise bicycle during the pandemic. I’m not a huge fan of indoor exercise, but jogging gets tedious, and it's hot in Florida. [...]

I never thought that I would end up teaching, certainly not based on my halting early efforts. The summer after tenth grade, I taught tennis to little kids. Though I [...]

A few mornings ago, just before I awoke from a dream, I told myself this: No one wants to move back, not even me. But there will always be some [...]

I’m spending the fall in Iowa as part of my doctoral degree program. It’s like study abroad — but in my hometown. The university has rich traditions in writing and [...]

I became a health reporter in Rome years ago. Not officially. That would come a couple of years after I moved back to America, science reporting degree and journalism job [...]