SELECTED ESSAYS & FEATURES

“How Do I Create the Sophisticated Narrator in a Memoir of Childhood?”, Essay Daily, January 14, 2019. Guest craft essay on narrative strategies for voice in memoir.

How Abigail Thomas Creates Narrative Tension, Brevity.com, September 9, 2014. Guest craft essay on narrative drive and the segmented memoir.

Recovered MemoriesText/Context (Jewish Week), February 22, 2011. The place of memory in Jewish memoirs.

“Exile from Guyville: A Reflection” Lilith Magazine, 2010. A reflection on growing up a guy in the 1980s.

Second Man on the Moon” Killing The Buddha, July 2009. An essay about autograph collecting, teen friendship, and absent dads.

Missing Fathers, Lost Sons. Jewish Week, July 27, 2007. Knocked Up presents the latest incarnation in a long string of lost young men.

Lost in MaineJewish Week, May 26, 2006. What’s it like to be the son or daughter of a famous writer? The story of Hugh Roth and Janna Malamud Smith.

Plot HeavyTablet Magazine, July 8, 2005. Heeb Magazine, Will Eisner, and Jewish conspiracies.

Truth and the Art of the MemoirJewish Week, January 27, 2006. How much can you lie in memoir?

Daddy, What did you do in the men’s movement? Boston Globe Ideas, June 19, 2005. Cover story about the rise and fall of the 1990s mythopoetic men's movement and contemporary masculinity.

“Spring has sprung him from his mouse trap”Boston Globe, May 8, 2005. Ever get laughed out of the hardware store? 

Strangers in a Strange Land.  Jewish Week, October 22, 2004. American writers of Russian-Jewish descent suddenly come of age.

There’s Something About Ben StillerJewish Week, January 28, 2005. A sighting on Sixth Avenue occasions a riff on Jewish masculinity in the movies.

Thrills Spills ChillsJewish Week, November 26, 2004. Michael Chabon’s novella The Final Solution. 

“A Bicycle Lesson”  Jewish Week, September 24, 2004. A reflection on my father's passing.

The New PartisansJewish Week, August 27, 2004. The Partisan Review may be long dead, but the guys behind n+1 are just getting started.

Oh! The Humanity: Habitat's Jimmy Carter Work Week Comes to NYC, Time Out New York, September 7-14, 2000.

Web Tabloid Serving Up Brash Wit, Saucy Stories in Bid for Community. The Forward, July 14, 2000.

Eyes on the PrizeTime Out New York, June 22-29, 2000. The difference between a great news photo and a good one is the difference between lightning and the lightning bug.

Popping the Cherry TreeTime Out New York, November 19-26, 1998. What was George Washington really like? I cannot lie.

Spiritual Renewal: Eldridge Street Synagogue Restored. Manhattan Spirit, October 14, 1999.

...and one of my very first feature stories, published the summer I interned at the Oakville Beaver (yes, it's real name). 


BOOK REVIEWS

Two for the Price of One. The Forward, June 9, 2006. T Cooper’s novel Lipshitz Six, or Two Angry Blondes.

Short Stories: Boys taking risks, men looking for a break and the places they hope to escape from. The Washington Post Book World, March 12, 2006.  

Generation Birthright Grows UpThe Forward, June 3, 2005. Roundup: Israel thru the lens of several new novels.

Papa Was a Rolling Stone: How One Young Woman Pieced Together Her Father’s Story. The Forward, February 11, 2005. Anna Cypra Oliver’s memoir Assembling My Father.

Be My Knife, Time Out New York, Jan 10-17, 2002. Review of the David Grossman novel.

Collected Stories of Saul Bellow, Time Out New York, November 1-8, 2001.

Nerve: Literate Smut, AOL's Book Report, October 12, 1998. Review of Nerve.com anthology.

Tall Stories: Writing New York, Manhattan Spirit, October 1, 1998. Review of the Phillip Lopate anthology.

This Side of Brightness, AOL's Book Report, July 16, 1998. Review of Colum McCann's (amazing!) debut novel.

The Iron Tracks, AOL's Book Report, June 8, 1998. Review of Aharon Appelfeld's novel.

 

PROFILES & INTERVIEWS

Other People's Secrets: An Interview with Kerry Cohen (The Truth of Memoir). Brevity.com, February 26, 2015. Guest blog interview with Kerry, looking at how writers balance conflicting demands of memoir-writing.

For a Versatile Critic, All the World (Wide Web) is a Stage. The Forward, March 27, 2008. Profile of cultural critic Lee Siegel.

From Bethlehem to Jerusalem. Tablet Magazine, August 17, 2006. Interview with author Bathsheba Monk (Now You See It: Stories from Cokesville, PA).

Pioneering Rabbi Who Softly Made Her Way (Religion Journal). The New York Times, May 20, 2006.  On the retirement of Sally Priesand, the first woman to be ordained a rabbi in the U.S.

 A Bear of a Memoir. JBooks.com, December 2005. Interview with author and memoirist Rafi Zabor (I, Wabenzi)

Seeking Virtual Realities in Both Science and Art. The Forward, April 8, 2005. Profile of David Gelernter, Yale scientist, artist, and survivor of a Unibomber attack.

On The Rebound: CEO, 26, Seeks Future. Cornell Alumni Magazine, 2003. Profile of The Globe.com's Stephan Paternot, Class of '96.

Bliss Broyard Profile, Manhattan Spirit, August 12, 1999.

Nathan Englander Profile, Manhattan Spirit, April 6, 1999.


BUSINESS & HEALTH FEATURES

Evolutionary Leap (new public health curriculum). Columbia Public Health, Fall 2013.

Information Please! Epocrates Puts A World of Knowledge in Your Pocket. Weill Cornell Medicine, Winter 2005.

An Alternative Approach (students student alternative-complimentary medicine)Weill Cornell Medicine, Fall 2003.

Building a Better DoctorWeill Cornell Medicine, Spring 2003.

Branching Out: Weill Cornell Plans for Qatar Campus to Move ForwardWeill Cornell Medicine, Winter 2002.

Emergency! After Disaster StrikesCommon Bond (New York Landmarks Conservancy), Fall 2002.

Hospitals Go Hi-Tech (technology is a mixed blessing). Weill Cornell Medicine, Fall 2002.

Adaptive Reuse (in Historic Preservation)Common Bond (New York Landmarks Conservancy), Spring 2002.

Lawyers Close In on Dot-Coms: Burned Investors Seek Revenge. New York Post, December 18, 2000.

AlleyCat News (NYC Tech) [PDFs coming]

  • “Law Firm Round Up” June 2000

  • "Mimeo.com:  Point, Click, Print and Bind"  May 2000

  • “Bringing Local Government Online” Company profile of Govworks.com, January 2000

  • “CFO Roundup” (Cover story) Profiles of Silicon Alley’s leading CFOs, November 1999

AtNewYork.com (Internet.com) selected stories: