Greetings! I'm a Philadelphia-based journalist who's written for dozens of newspapers, magazines, custom publications, and websites. Click here for a long, but incomplete, list.

I like pursuing stories that stretch either my descriptive touch (such as my best travel or art pieces) or my reporting nose (a meaty business story). And, of course, I like writing articles that bring into play my specific interests: architecture and urban studies, Japanese contemporary and traditional culture, home and garden, photography and theatre, world capitals and beautiful things (jewelry, ceramics, great buildings). If I can get two or more of these to intersect-- see my report on how a Tokyo neighborhood is fighting re-development at www.metropolismag.com-- all the better.

[For samples of some recent online writing, check out my reporting on city planning issues on PlanPhilly.com. Another piece I really like is on corporate Whistleblowers, one of several I contributed to the late and lamented Conde Nast Portfolio.com.] 


 

Although actually siting down and writing prevents me from traveling as much as I'd like, last year i made a repeat visit to Japan and a first foray to Switzerland. I loved the Zurich version of French macarons so much, I wrote a tribute to them for my own amusement. That essay inspired me to think about launching an online travel magazine. I partnered with two other writers, Robert DiGiacomo and Cathleen McCarthy and by this Spring, TheCityTraveler.com will have published nearly 100 stories by some two dozen professional travel journalists.

 In addition to pushing my way towards 20 years of freelancing, I've recently taught journalism at three universities, sold my original photography, and opened and operated an evenings-only dessert cafe. In between, I've read stacks of books (I like Saramago, Henry James, Nabokov, McEwan), seen lots of movies, learned a few hundred Italian and Japanese words, flaneured my way through New York, Philadelphia, London, Paris, and Tokyo repeatedly, and watched many, many episodes of Sex & The City and Seinfeld. (Yup, I have no children...)