I am Wary of Mid-Rise Heels in Elle Accessories

Elle Accessories, April 2013.

And my friend Kara’s Tumblr post about being quoted is here.

Christopher Isherwood Calls 5-Year-Old Me Agreeable

“I guess our supper party went off all right, last night. Peter and his wife Brooke Schjeldahl brought their five-year-old daughter but she turned out to be one of the most agreeable children imaginable, neither sulky nor sly nor pushy nor ugly, with a charming trustful smile for all of us, she went off without the slightest protest and slept in our bed until it was time for everybody to leave.”

From Christopher Isherwood’s Diaries, Volume 3, p. 638. I think this means I finally have to read The Berlin Stories.

NYTBR: Mike Piazza’s Long Shot

In today’s New York Times Book Review review of Mike Piazza’s memoir, I come out as a lifelong Mets fan and get to use this Piazza quote: “If I were gay, I’d be gay all the way.”

He admits he wasn’t the clubhouse leader the team may have needed. He was a prickly, conservative, Catholic metalhead, and all he wanted to do after hitting those homers was lift weights, play air drums, go to Mass, date pretty actresses and be left alone. He was, he says, “too moody, too brooding, too consumed, too unlikable” to be a good teammate, much less a mentor. “I was,” he says, “more of a see-the-ball-hit-the-ball kind of guy.”

Read the whole review here.

I talk to editor Sam Tanenhaus on the New York Times Book Review podcast here.

The Belle & Sebastian song “Piazza, New York Catcher” is here.

And here I am as Keith Hernandez for Halloween in 1986.

 

 

Council on Contemporary Families 2013 Media Awards

Press release here.

All Interviews Should Be Translated Into Italian and Back Again

From the archives:

Blog of the Month: 90′S Woman

October 27, 2010

When I found this blog I was really happy. I had never read anything more accurate on our adoratissimi (more or less) 90. The duo Ada Kalhoun and Kara Jesella is really knowledgeable in this field and will give you great emotions, in all senses.

Hello Ada, would you do a brief introduction of yourself?
Ada Calhoun, 34, NYC. I wrote the book ‘Instinctive Parenting’ (Paperback edition, October 2010). I worked with Tim Gunn on his book ‘Gunn’s Golden Rules’ (September 2010). I also write for various newspapers and magazines.

What are your plans for the day today?
Today I work as a reporter for the New York Post and I’m waiting for something to happen exciting to write about.

When and why did you decide to launch 90′S WOMAN?
was September 2009. The term, as far as we know, was coined by Bridget Everett. Here is the link that gave us the idea for the whole: 90swoman.wordpress.com/2009/09/18/hello-90s-women /

How old were you in the 90s?
I was born in 1976. My experience is stronger in the ’90s were high school in New York (1990-94). I became interested in small publications of several books, feminism and music. After I started traveling in India, going to college and feel depressed, so I missed a lot of pop culture.

U. Penn Writers House Event 3/14 at 5pm

With Anthony DeCurtis at Kelly Writers House.

Visited the brilliant Anthony DeCurtis’s U. Penn journalism class and then chatted at the Kelly Writers House. It was really fun. The kids today are so smart! 

“The Rise of Do-It-Yourself Abortions” for The New Republic

I wrote the cover story of this week’s New Republic: “The Rise of DIY Abortions,” about the Jennie Linn McCormack case in Idaho and what it says about changing U.S. abortion law.

Jennie Linn McCormack was 14 when she had her first baby. It was 1993, and she was in junior high in southeast Idaho, where she’s always lived and where she still lives now. Blond, petite, and fine-featured, she did tap, ballet, drill team, and cheerleading. She started spending time with an 18-year-old boy in her group of friends. Because he was older and she was a virgin, she trusted him when he said nothing bad would happen if they had sex. The first time they did, she got pregnant.

Continue reading here.

In T Magazine: My Son’s Costume Addiction

“Christmas in Costume” in T Magazine:

“For Oliver, costumes aren’t just something silly to dabble in on Halloween — they’re a daily source of joy. He has the means to be an airline pilot (uniform jacket with tie and wings-pinned pilot hat), a policeman (handcuffs, a nightstick, radio, multiple badges), a knight (full armor and a plastic silver sword in its sheath) and Robin Hood (Lincoln green suit, bow and arrow and a feathered cap).” Read the rest here.

NYT Magazine Talk: Sister Florence Deacon

I interviewed Sister Florence Deacon for the New York Times Magazine‘s “Talk” column:

In April, the Vatican accused your group, the Leadership Conference of Women Religious, the country’s most influential nuns’ organization, of “radical feminism.” Did that surprise you? 
I was surprised by us being called radical feminists. I could introduce them to some real radical feminists.

Read the whole thing here.

On Working at a Dating Service Photo Lab

My fallback if this writing thing didn’t work out has always been going back to photo labs. In my twenties, I worked as a custom printer in five different labs: three in Austin, one in Montreal, and one in Brooklyn. Sometimes I’ll still rent darkroom time In Manhattan to print old negatives, experiment with Liquid Light, or teach kids the dying art of fixer tester, sepia toner, and dodging and burning. The most memorable lab on my resume was  one in Austin that I just wrote this Lives piece about for the New York Times Magazine: “Misery Games.”