Morning Thank-yous

I didn't sleep well last night. Some kind of heartburn, that luckily I experience only rarely, kept jolting me awake, and water, an extra pillow, and antacid pills couldn't keep it still. So it is sometimes, these unexpected little annoyances of life, and today I am tired, and a bit frustrated with political machinations at...

Short Stories in Naples

On Thursday morning, at the patisserie Poppella, I wrote this in my journal: I'm so overwhelmed by Naples. It's so busy. I feel like I'll be trampled when I walk on the street. Everything is dirty. Garbage is all over the streets. I'm afraid to take out my computer. I'm afraid someone will take it....

On authentic writing, bread, and Like Water for Chocolate

For those of us in Western cultures and the Middle East, there are few foods more staple than bread. We might not even notice the bread as we swim through grocery store aisles (shoutout to Hannah Whiteoak's "Earth Report"), throw a sandwich in our lunchboxes, proclaim some sensational new dip at a party... Onion focaccia....