Welcome to my website! Here, you'll learn what I've been working on recently, gain instant access to a (not-quite-complete) archive of my past articles, and see what I've been blogging about.
Artist Libby Hague included this painting of cherry blossoms in her recent show, Safety Net, at Toronto’s Loop Gallery.
Details from "Sui Generis" another work in Libby Hague's Toronto show. A fantastical 3-D exploration of riotous post-disaster regeneration.
My blog Walking and Talking is about the various subjects I cover: culture, food, art, Japanese-American life, health and my West Village neighborhood in New York City. Lately I've been interested in Manzanar, the WWII internment camp where the U.S. government imprisoned 10,000 people of Japanese descent, including my father and his family. I wrote this essay about my 2009 pilgrimage to Manzanar.
Eating Disorders and Nutritional News is a blog about eating disorders that I write with my co-author, Dr. Marcia Herrin. We've covered subjects as diverse as calorie postings in chain restaurants (we're against the practice), innovative research in the field, new books on eating disorders and health insurance reimbursement.
Delving into the archive of legendary restaurateur Joe Baum at the grand New York Public Library was a treat, especially since I was the first Baum chronicler to visit the archive. In researching this Edible Manhattan story on Baum, I read a number of great books on New York and American culinary history. I especially recommend William Grimes’ Appetite City and David Kamp’s The United States of Arugula.
Luckily, we happened to be planning two trips this summer, which made the assignment of evaluating different travel insurance companies both useful and fun. After this Wall Street Journal article, Planning for Volcanoes and Other Vacation Jams, came out, I was surprised by how many people I know who buy travel insurance.
There were so many retail closures in the West Village during the recession of 2008-9 that WestView started a series called "Vanishing Village." In this article, I note signs of revitalization as a spate of new business arrived with the spring tulips and daffodils. There were still casualties amid the fresh growth however, so the story is a bittersweet mix of new arrivals and lamented departures.
Writing this WestView profile of Annissa chef/owner Anita Lo reminded me how tough her business is to make it in. In 2000, she and partner Jennifer Scism put their life savings into their West village restaurant (supplemented by funds from Lo's mother), only to see a chunk of their investment go up in the smoke of an electrical fire. Lo and Sohn are back, and proof of their dedication came recently from a glowing renewal of Annisa's two-star rating in The New York Times.
NYU tax law professor Daniel Shaviro's new novel Getting It is the perfect summer read, in case you are looking for one. This mordant satire, set in a 1980s –era Washington D.C. law firm, follows the adventures of three associates vying for partnership. The book is a hilarious dissection of American corporate law firm culture. Here is my interview with the author in WestView.
