Published articles

From Texas Journey, New Mexico Journey, Alabama Journey, and Westways, Jul/Aug, 2010 No clocks grace the belle epoque walls of Niño Bien, a salon in Buenos Aires where I have danced tango for the past three years. I can’t be late for my next date this Saturday night—across town at another old dance hall—but not to worry. I’ve learned to track time in Argentina by the tanda, a series of three or four like-themed tangos that you dance with the same person, lasting about 15 minutes altogether. READ MORE.

From New York Times, July 12, 2009 – ON Saturday nights in Buenos Aires, the Miramar cafe crackles with the energy of local families, famished tango dancers and gregarious waiters delivering plates of crisp-skinned sardines, shrimp and fresh oysters. Miramar is in San Cristóbal, a barrio known for its tango dance halls but otherwise off the tourist beat. READ MORE.

From Perceptive Travel, 2008 - “Ronan did not board his bus home and did not collect his luggage in El Calafate. Since then, there has been no activity on Ronan’s bank accounts and he has missed his internal and international flights. The family and friends are extremely worried.”I was at my worktable in my Buenos Aires apartment, making revisions to my book on tango, when the incoming email caught my attention.  READ MORE.

From VIA Magazine, November, 2003  – Consider a mollusk such as the escargot. It would be nothing but a garden pest without a megadose of garlic and butter. On the other hand, Dungeness, the crustacean indigenous to the West Coast, needs absolutely nothing—not even a pretty French name—to elevate it. The sweet, briny meat can actually improve your garlic and butter. I have found no evidence that you could say the same for other types of crabs—blue, for instance. READ MORE.

From San Francisco Chronicle, April 6, 2003 – Lamoille, Nev. — He told me his name was Johnny and he’d lived his whole life here, except for “the two years I gave to Uncle Sam.” I didn’t ask which two years. It was the lifetime in a place like Lamoille that brought my imagination to the brink. READ MORE.

From Los Angeles Times, 2002 – Anchorage — Last December I stood on the deck of a lodge in Talkeetna, Alaska, and watched sunrise bleed down the snowy crown of 20,320-foot Mt. McKinley. I had seen our nation’s loftiest peak before, rising dramatically from the flat tundra but always shrouded in cloud. This view was rare and awesome, as the sunrise was in concert with the full moon. I snapped away, joined by a man who exclaimed, “I live here, and I never get to see McKinley like that.” READ MORE.

From Via Magazine – Heirloom Tomatoes, 2000 - One tomato supplies 35 calories and almost half of your daily vitamin C requirement. Tomatoes are a source of vitamin A and the minerals iron and potassium. In 1995, Harvard researchers found a tomato-rich diet to be associated with decreased risk of prostate cancer-due, they believe, to lycopene, the substance that lends the fruit its color. The American Institute for Cancer Research says antioxidants like lycopene protect the body’s cells from aging damage. READ MORE.

From Islands Magazine, 2001 – I have connected deeply with my Sicilian roots through many visits to the old country over the past 24 years and it remains one of my abiding spiritual quests. For one trip to the island, I considered the novelty of sleeping in monasteries and convents—Italy’s monastic bed-and-board tradition harking back to medieval times. As a devoutly lapsed Catholic, I still relish pealing bells, glowing candles, and incense. In fact, perverse as it sounds, I was, for the year, living in a monastery—the San Francisco Zen Center. READ MORE.

From Skirt! Magazine, 2009 – My Personal Peace Movement – In late 2006, I arrived in Buenos Aires with hair under my fingernails and blood in my eye. I was down and out after a long relationship ended. I had done the unspeakable—pulled the other woman’s hair. Along with three suitcases, I had brought my chagrin, broken heart and adequate skills in dancing tango. I intended to stay two months and chill (and give her peace of mind). But after two days of dancing tango in the place of its birth, I canceled my return ticket. I stayed a year and a half. READ MORE.