My Saks Shopping Spree
How to spend $150,000 just like Sarah Palin
(More from me on washingtonpost.com and NPR)
Last Night a Beat Box Saved My Life
On Pitch Perfect and the strange allure of college a cappella
Procrasti-Nation
On the time-wasting rituals of everyone from cattle ranchers to CIA agents
(I did about 30 of the interviews)
80 Over 80
America's most powerful octogenarians
(I compiled the list and wrote most of the entries)
Selected Green Lanterns:
Environmental quandaries, tackled.
How Green is Tofu?
You'd be surprised to know.
What Ever Happened to the Ozone Layer?
Did we fix it?
Do Carwashes Hose the Planet?
The environmental impact of cleaning your wheels.
The Kindest Cut
Which meat harms our planet the least?
Clean Jar, Clean Conscience?
The pros and cons of washing out your recyclables.
(For a full list of my Green Lanterns, click here.)
Selected Explainers:
Answering your burning questions about death, religion, poultry, and other fascinating topics.
A Snake the Size of a Plane
How did prehistoric animals get so big?
Debbie Does Salad
Do vegetarians really have better sex?
Microsoft Oval Office
Will President Obama have a personal computer?
The Turkey-Industrial Complex
How do farmers produce so many birds for Thanksgiving?
The Purell Defense
Can hand sanitizers really affect your blood-alcohol level?
Dead by Election Day
What happens if a presidential candidate passes away at the last second?
The Afterlife for Scientologists
What happened to Isaac Hayes' legendary soul after he died?
Funky Chicken
Do American birds taste funny because we chlorinate them?
Who Says You Need Eight Glasses a Day?
The history of a debunked theory.
(For a full list of my Explainers, click here.)
Marie Claire's offensive article about "Asian trophy wives."
A Q-and-A with Paper Heart's Charlyne YiThe writer-actor-comedian on puppets, Margaret Yang, and period humor.
How Do You Write a Love Story With Teeth?
A conversation with Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.
You Never Forget Your Last
Fond memories of the spelling bee. (Hear me talk about this post on NPR's Talk of the Nation here.)
A Teaching Moment in "No Child"
On playwright and actress Nilaja Sun and her one-woman show, No Child.
The Most Important Story of her Life
On Haitian-American author Edwidge Danticat and her new memoir, Brother, I'm Dying (cover feature)
East Meets Kvetch
On the National Asian American Theatre Company's production of Falsettoland
Venetian Bind
On Theater for a New Audience's 2007 "Literary Supplement," four plays responding to the season's main theme: the Jew as cultural outsider
Stage Fright
On the opera Brundibar, by Hans Krása with a new book by Tony Kushner and design by Maurice Sendak
Hello Twelve, Hello Thirteen, Hello Lust
On the Broadway musical Spring Awakening, featuring interviews with the creative team (Steven Sater, book and lyrics, and Duncan Sheik, music) and lead actors (Jonathan Groff and John Gallagher, Jr.)
... And Baby Makes a Mess
On Diana Son's Satellites, featuring an interview with the playwright
Keeping the Line Between the Past and the Present
On the musical Grey Gardens, featuring an interview with book writer (and Pulitzer- and Tony-winner) Doug Wright
Peanuts Brittle
On Bert V. Royal's Dog Sees God
LitGuide: John Gardner's Grendel
Guide to Gardner's adaptation of Beowulf, a common AP text
A Reader's Companion: Zadie Smith's White Teeth
Book club guide to the bestselling novel. (Out of print. But I've got some old copies I'll sell you for a dollar.)
No Fear Shakespeare: As You Like It
Translation of the play into contemporary English
No Fear Shakespeare: Comedy of Errors
Translation of the play into contemporary English
Inspired by Hamlet
Essay published in Barnes & Noble Shakespeare edition of Hamlet
Inspired by Romeo and Juliet
Essay published in Barnes & Noble Shakespeare edition of Romeo and Juliet