Ireland – How Green It Is
Dunluce Castle, Northern Ireland {August Break 8/11: Green} Today's August Break prompt of "green" is the perfect kick in the behind for me to share some of my photos from my family's trip to Ireland in July. I'm planning several other photo essays on that trip but for now, here are the greenest shots. Monasterboice Coast at Ballintoye, [...]
I’m Reading…
{August Break 8/6: I'm Reading...} I can never just read one book! My current bedtime reading is Yossi Klein Halevi's Memoirs of a Jewish Extremist. I loved his book Like Dreamers, which traces the lives of the individual paratroopers who first reached the Wailing Wall in the Six Day War. Like Dreamers taught me a lot about Israeli culture—the kibbutzim [...]
Peace is at the Beach
Temperatures have soared in Chicago, and so it's fitting that my beach article appeared on kveller today. The idea for it occurred to me many years ago while sprawled on a beach towel, running the fine Chicago beach sand through my fingers. (Side note: You can make good on an idea many years later!) Even with three boisterous kids, there [...]
Xi’an Muslim Quarter
Perhaps because, unlike sites like the Terracotta Warriors (which had been my number one China bucket list item--photos soon!), I had no preconceptions, no one else's images in my head of what it would be like. Xi'an used to be the eastern end of the Silk Road trading route, and during the reign of more tolerant dynasties, such as the [...]
Insights from Judging a Writing Contest
Hemingway Birthplace Home, Oak Park, IL I just wrapped up serving as one of the judges in the Hemingway Shorts contest sponsored by the Hemingway Foundation of Oak Park, and I thought I'd share some of the insights I came away with: Don't start your story with a weather report unless the weather is the main topic. This [...]
Grandpa and the Tractor
Father's Day is coming and so it is fitting that my essay about my grandpa, titled The Tractor, should be published this month on Thread, a literary magazine. Writing about the American side of my family (my mother's) is a new venture for me. Hopefully this will balance the scales a tiny bit since my memoir coming out in Spring [...]