Writers are archaeologists, digging, processing and repairing the glittering and inscrutable relics to find meaning in experience. As a seven-year volunteer technician at the Independence National Park Archaeology Lab, the stories of how personal objects come to form the archaeological record—the social processes that affect an artifact’s “taphonomy”—fascinate me. My literary interest extends to contemporary objects and their owners; after a natural or man-made disaster (fire, flood, death, demolition, foreclosure), what do salvaged or sacrificed objects reveal about how a person reforms her identity, or how a community reconsiders its history?
You can read some of my published work at the links below.
My “Intersections” column tells the stories of Bryn Mawr alumnae as their lives intersect with natural, cultural, and historical forces, revealing the common imprint of our alma mater.
On Bryn Mawr’s landscape in Winter, 2020
On the secret life of objects in Fall, 2019
On reading in Spring, 2019
On learning and libraries in Fall, 2018
A brief history of social media at Bryn Mawr in Summer, 2018
On dislocation and making a new home abroad in Spring, 2018
The U-Curve: my column on Bryn Mawr women at midlife appeared regularly in The Bryn Mawr Alumnae Bulletin from 2015 – 2018.
On reclaiming time and talents in Winter, 2018
On the wisdom of the body in Fall, 2017
On rebooting through exercise in Summer, 2017
On rebuilding career and community in June, 2017
On creative renewal in March, 2017
On reconsidering your path in the light of greater self-knowledge in November, 2016
On living with loss in August, 2016
On repurposing talents and skills in March, 2016
On reconciling what we do with who we are in December, 2015
On returning to past pursuits in September, 2015
Articles and Essays
in Real Simple, April, 2021.
“Rendered in Memories” in The Winchester News Gazette, October 22, 2019.
“The High Cost of Paying to Play” in The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 25, 2017.
“The Big Tree, Phoenix, Arizona” in You Are Here: the Journal of Creative Geography (Issue XIX: Memory), 2017
“The NEA’s Calling for Artists to Give Back” in The Philadelphia Inquirer, April 2, 2017
“That Leap of Faith” in The Philadelphia Inquirer, August 28, 2016
“For the Revolution!” on the Gloria Sirens blog, September 28, 2016
“Memorial,” my guest blog for 1966: A Journal of Creative Nonfiction, May 6, 2016
“Mapping Our Way in History” in The Philadelphia Inquirer, February 21, 2016
“Preparing for Your Appointment with the Podiatrist” in The Journal of Compressed Creative Arts, February 15, 2016
“The Things We Treasure” in The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 2, 2016
“Always home for Christmas” in The Philadelphia Inquirer, December 24, 2015
“I Have, I Fear, the Literary Temperament” in 1966: A Journal of Creative Nonfiction, Winter, 2015
“Housekeeping” in the HerStories Voices column, November 11, 2015
“Believers” in Cleaver, Issue 6
“The Pit and the Page” in Creative Nonfiction, Issue 47
“Everything Must Go” in Cleaver
Close-up: A Focus on Philadelphia and the Region in The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Coach passes on lessons of her predecessors”
“Mom gets a taste of college life”
“Oh, those onerous college essays”
“Rethinking life’s priorities”
“Making history, one word at a time”
Feature Articles for The Bryn Mawr Alumnae Magazine
Q&A with B. Janet Hibbs Ph.D. ’84 on The Stressed Years of Their Lives
“The Courage of Our Contradictions: Harris Wofford, Bryn Mawr’s Fifth President (1970-1978)” and “Harris Wofford: A Time Capsule”
“An Archaeologist (Kimberlee Moran ’00) Races Against Time”
“Traditions: By Mawrters for Mawrters Since 1885”
“Food for Thought” — The farm-to-classroom pedagogy of Bryn Mawr faculty
“Dissent, Violence, Justice: A Short Course in a Long History” — A yearlong, campus-wide, multidisciplinary conversation on the international impact of structural violence
“The Culture of Integrity” — Living the Bryn Mawr Honor Code outside the Bryn Mawr bubble
“One Choice at a Time” — Karen MacAusland Tidmarsh ’71 on the art of living
“The Night Belongs to Us” — Praising Patti Smith, 2013 Hepburn Medalist
“Shifting Gears” — Alumnae tackle the challenges of resuming–and reinventing–careers after time away from the workplace
“The Power of Posse x 10” — Celebrating ten years of Posse students at Bryn Mawr
“Boomerang Kids and Granny Nannies” — The family gets a new script with adult children moving back home and older parents moving closer to grandchildren
Book Reviews and Author Interviews
The Book of X by Sarah Rose Etter in Cleaver
Bitter Orange by Claire Fuller in Cleaver
Boot Language by Vanya Erickson in Cleaver
A Conversation with Andrea Jarrell, author of I‘m the One Who Got Away in Cleaver
Fingerprints of Previous Owners by Rebecca Entel in Cleaver
Swimming Lessons by Claire Fuller in Cleaver
Brightfellow by Rikki Ducornet in Cleaver
Almost Everything Very Fast by Christopher Kloeble in Cleaver
Our Endless Numbered Days by Claire Fuller in Cleaver
Some Luck by Jane Smiley in The Philadelphia Inquirer
Spheres of Disturbance by Amy Schutzer in Cleaver
“Of Metaphors and Menopause” Q&A with poet Moira Egan in the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Magazine
More Than You Know by Melissa Malouf in Cleaver
The Geography of Memory: A Pilgrimage Through Alzheimer’s by Jeanne Murray Walker in Cleaver
The Good Lord Bird by James McBride in The Philadelphia Inquirer
How to Not Write Bad: The Most Common Writing Problems and How to Avoid Them by Ben Yagoda in The Philadelphia Inquirer
“Woman of Talents” Q&A with author Ellis Avery in the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Magazine
“Growing Up in Iran” Q&A with author Ashley Dartnell in the Bryn Mawr Alumnae Magazine
Conning Harvard: Adam Wheeler, the Con Artist Who Faked His Way Into the Ivy League by Julie Zauzmer, with additional reporting by Xi Yu in The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Next Best Thing by Jennifer Weiner in The Philadelphia Inquirer
The Story of Beautiful Girl by Rachel Simon in The Philadelphia Inquirer
Dangerous Neighbors by Beth Kephart in The Philadelphia Inquirer
War Dances by Sherman Alexie in The Philadelphia Inquirer
Elizabeth Mosier 