Bio

My articles have appeared in many publications including Blueprint, Self, Good Housekeeping, Women’s Health, Marie Claire, Town & Country, Salon, Ms., Philadelphia, and the Washington Post. I’m a contributing writer for

Photo by Zoey Sless-Kitain

Philadelphia magazine and Philadelphia Home, and I'm a former adjunct professor of magazine writing at Temple University. I’m a general-interest writer with a particular affinity for writing about art, design, and travel. I also write frequently about quirky subcultures, women’s issues, and societal trends. Before I freelanced, I was Managing Editor of Philadelphia magazine. See my résumé for more about my education and work history.

I grew up in northern New Jersey, a few towns over from George Washington’s Morristown Headquarters. I stayed in Philadelphia after graduating from the University of Pennsylvania in 1996, and I now live in Center City, in a converted carriage house that was once home to John Wanamaker’s horses. Being surrounded by Revolutionary battle sites all my life, it was only natural that I'd write General Howe's Dog: George Washington, The Battle of Germantown and the Dog Who Crossed Enemy Lines (Penguin/Chamberlain Bros.; June 2005).

My other books also grew out of personal experience. The Long Distance Relationship Guide: Advice for the Geographically Challenged (Quirk; February 2005)—well, that one's pretty obvious. And my earlier advice tome, How To Behave: A Guide To Modern Manners for the Socially Challenged (Quirk; June 2003) came about while I was on staff at Philadelphia magazine, but this was coincidental—my former coworkers were for the most part well-behaved.How To Behave has sold more than 40,000 copies and has been translated into Finnish, Japanese, Complex Chinese, Thai, Russian and Spanish; and its sequel, How To Behave: Dating & Sex, just came out from Quirk in February 2007. We re-released The Long-Distance Relationship Guide with a new cover and new material in August 2007--check out the Books page to see the new cover inspired by the Italian version of the book. The LDRG has also been translated into Japanese, Complex Chinese, and German.

I’ve appeared as both a modern-manners expert and a long-distance relationship expert on TV and radio. I’ve also been quoted in Real Simple, MSN.com, New York magazine, Town & Country, Time Out New York, Fit Pregnancy, and in many other magazines--and too many daily newspapers to list here. For more about my media appearances, see In the News.

As far as other types of writing, I collaborated with Design Army, a boutique design firm in D.C., to produce the 72-page souvenir program for the 135th Edition of Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey, which premiered in March 2005. I wrote the entirety of the program copy, illuminating each act in print for an audience of all ages. It wasn’t my first time writing for kids--I’ve written two books for preteens: The Wizard’s Handbook and the UFO Hunter’s Handbook, both from Price Stern Sloan; and my two biographies for young adults are out as of May 2007. They chronicle the lives of comedian Margaret Cho and scultpor/designer Isamu Noguchi.

I have lots of upcoming projects and projects in the works. A new and ongoing one (when I can find the extra time) is design phan, my blog about design in and around Philly. Check it out, and let me know what you think!