Articles & Essays

Table Talk The Threepenny Review, Fall 2021
Passing Through Broad Street Magazine, Summer 2019
Exit Strategies Cleaver Magazine, Winter 2017
What Bad Owners Say at the Dog Park Brevity, Fall 2017
The Way Forward O, the Oprah Magazine, October 2015
The Changing Face of America National Geographic, October 2013
Facades hiding secret paradises The Philadelphia Inquirer, January 13, 2013
Working to maximize their vision The Philadelphia Inquirer, November 19, 2012
Bartering: Done right, it’s satisfying for all involved The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 7, 2012
Fried and True GourmetLive, July 28, 2011
A Garden Despite Myself Garden Design, April, 2011
Extreme Home Charcuterie GourmetLive, March 17, 2011
I Believe in Beauty This I Believe, November 18, 2009
The Joy of Baking Country Living, 2009
Where I Live O at Home, October 2008
Beyond Conceiving Prevention Magazine, April 2007
Bloodlines Breathe, March/April 2005
In Praise of Procrastination: Why wasting time can actually be a good thing SELF, September 2003
Stone on Stone: All by herself, a Philadelphia woman builds a rock-walled garden House Beautiful, August 2003
Are We Having Fun Yet? O the Oprah Magazine, February 2003
Taking In the Trash The New York Times Magazine, December 8, 2002
Dumpster Diving Dusted Off and Fondled Speakeasy, Fall 2002
Food: A Lust Story O the Oprah Magazine, March 2002
I Am What I Say I Am TIME, March 26, 2001
Master Gardener Ruminator Review, Winter 2000-2001
Letter From Monticello Savoy magazine, February 2001
Generations Ruminator Review, Spring 2000
Inside and Out Skin, Spring 2000
Lost and Found The Chattahoochee Review, Fall 1997
A Woman of Some Color Mirabella, May 1994

Features

For These Families, H.B.C.U.s Aren’t Just an Option. They’re a Tradition. The New York Times, May 13, 2022
The Ultimate Guide to Casting Your Ballot in 2020 Martha Stewart Living, September 2020
Everything You Need to Know About Magnolia Trees Martha Stewart Living, March 2020
Inside Longwood Gardens Martha Stewart Living, June 2019
Concrete Angles Garden Design, April 2013
Thrill of the Chases Garden Design, March 2013
Winter Planning Garden Design, February/March 2013
The Art of the Wood Fence Garden Design, Winter 2012
On Top of the World Garden Design, August 2012
Jack Lenor Larsen: The Dream Weaver, Garden Design, September/October 2012
Quibbling Siblings: Eldercare Edition MORE, May, 2012
Peonies! Garden Design, May 2012
Sea and Stone: A Croatian Island Garden, Garden Design, January/February 2012
Big Love: My Adventure with Elephants in Thailand MORE, September 15, 2011
Let There Be Light Garden Design, July/August 2011
Set in Stone Garden Design, March 2011
A Lease on Light Better Homes and Gardens, May 2010
One Perfect Summer Country Living, July 2009
The Biggest Yard Sale in America Parade, May 31, 2009
Peaceable Kingdom: An Elephant Tale, Hallmark Magazine, January/February 2007
Great Food: The Soul of a New Cuisine O, the Oprah Magazine, September 2006
Great Food: Claws for Rejoicing O, the Oprah Magazine, August 2006
Plants get a second chance The Philadelphia Inquirer, June 9, 2006
Our Town O, the Oprah Magazine, April 2006
The Color Purple O, the Oprah Magazine, December 2005
Let the Sun Shine In O, at Home Magazine, Winter 2005
The Little Chill O, the Oprah Magazine, November 2005
How Much Is Enough? O, the Oprah Magazine, March 2005

Looking Out for #2 O the Oprah Magazine, February 2005
Dial M for Miracle O the Oprah Magazine, June 2004
Set Yourself Free Ladies Home Journal, March 2004
Cider With the Soul of Wine The New York Times, November 12, 2003
Authors on Reviews Poets & Writers, May June 2003
Is She the Most Shocking Woman on Television? O the Oprah Magazine, January 2003
Diane Sawyer’s Body of Work O the Oprah Magazine, April 2002
Philly’s Free-Speech Face-Off TIME, July 24, 2002
We Focus on Our Daughters’ Bodies More Than Their Minds O the Oprah magazine, August 2002
Cheers O the Oprah Magazine, February 2002
Food for the Heart: Ruth Reichl serves up a second delicious memoirTIME, April 30, 2001
Is It Hot Yoga Or Just Balmy?: TIME’s Lise Funderburg tells us how she came to love the once-hated Bikram yoga TIME, April 15, 2001
The F Word O the Oprah Magazine, September 2001
The Bearable Enlightenment of Weights O the Oprah Magazine, November 2001
Saving Jason LIFE, May 2000
Race in Class, After Integration The Nation, June 5, 2000
Why We Break Up With Our Siblings TIME, December 18, 2000
The Last Goodbye: When both parents die, middle-aged children must adjust to a new stage of life in which they become adult orphans TIME, November 13, 2000
Integration Anxiety: Montclair, N.J., has embraced racial diversity like no other town in America. But race, it turns out, is never a black-and-white issue The New York Times Magazine, November 7, 1999
Loving Thy Neighborhood The Nation, December 14, 1998
When Are You White? Hungry Mind Review Spring 1998
So You Want to be an Author Essence, May 1998
Crossing the Demographic Divide American Demographics, October 1998
Pieces of a Dream: Quilts are feats of connection, one person to another The Philadelphia Inquirer Magazine, October 5, 1997
Canine Campus: Where top dogs are taught to plotz Brooklyn Bridge, February 1996
The Agony and the Extracts: Double Trouble? Front End Lifter? Jamaican root-drinks pack a punch. Brooklyn Bridge, March 1996
Home: Honoring elders means allowing them to age in place, in the communities they helped build Metropolis, November 1996
What binds us together Glamour, December 1996
Mystery Man: Walter Mosley recasts the gumshoe genre Mirabella, July 1994
The New Moms on the Block New Woman, January 1994

Book reviews

Peak Interest: David Culp’s New Book Garden Design, April 2013
Private Paradise: Contemporary American Gardens by Charlotte M. Frieze, Garden Design, November/December 2011
Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas by Rebecca Solnit The New York Times Sunday Book Review, December 3, 2010
The Perils of Passing The New York Times Sunday Book Review, 2006
Shaking the Family Tree Newsday, January 15, 2006
Everybody’s Reading Group Newsday, February 27, 2005
New Fiction Speakeasy, January/February 2004
A Small-town Murder Newsday, July 11, 2004
The Men Aboard the Sleeping Car Newsday, August 8, 2004
No Matter How Much You Promise To Cook Or Pay The Rent You Blew It Cauze Bill Bailey Ain’t Never Coming Home Again by Edgardo Vega Yunqué Newsday, November 2, 2003
The Poisoned Pen Newsday, August 10, 2003
A Sparkling Life: Zora Neale Hurston was one of the stars of the Harlem Renaissance. A new book illuminates her complicated history Newsday, January 5, 2003
IT MUST’VE BEEN SOMETHING I ATE: The Return of the Man Who Ate Everything, by Jeffrey Steingarten Newsday, November 17, 2002
Skin Deep: WHITEGIRL by Kate Manning Newsday, February 3, 2002
Finding Fish by Antwone Quenton Fisher TIME, February 26, 2001
Identity Gap: A memoir of growing up biracial falls too short TIME, January 15, 2001
Troublemaker and Other Saints by Christina Chiu TIME, March 26, 2001
Hope and Despair in the Poor South: Sap Rising by Christine Lincoln Newsday, September 30, 2001
Like a Rolling Stone: Playing Botticelli by Liza Nelson Newsday, February 6, 2000
The Fisher King by Paule Marshall TIME, November 6, 2000
Force of Habit: A probing look at the lives of contemporary nuns TIME, November 13, 2000
Ticket to Read: Richard Wright and the Library Card by William Miller, illustrated by Gregory Christie; Tomas and the Library Lady by Pat Mora, illustrated by Raul Colon; The Library Card by Jerry Spinelli Hungry Mind Review, January 1, 1998
A Dream Deferred by Shelby Steele Amazon.com, October 1998
Tales in Black and White Essence, March 1998
Scratching the Itch Essence, July 1998
Love Invents Us by Amy Bloom Salon.com, 1997
The Aguero Sisters by Cristina Garcia Salon.com, May 12, 1997
Naming the New World by Calvin Baker The New York Times, March 23, 1997
Comfort Woman by Nora Okja Keller The New York Times, August 31, 1997
The Trouble With Testosterone: And Other Essays on the Biology of the Human Predicament by Robert Sapolsky Salon.com, April 4, 1997
Color Blind Time Out New York, May 22-29, 1996
Tragic Mulatto Girl Wonder: The paradoxical life of Philippa Duke Schuyler QBR The Black Book Review, February/March 1996

Opinion

Out of the Mulatto Closet Newsday, February 4, 1996
Bartering: Done right, it’s satisfying for all involved The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 7, 2012
A silent but resonant scream, The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 5, 2012
In film on race, just an American Family The Philadelphia Inquirer, September 12, 1999
Boxed In The New York Times, July 10, 1996

Interviews

Andrea Cochran’s Landscapes, Garden Design, March 2012
Full House: Questions for Melissa Fay Greene, veteran journalist and serial mother More, April 2011
Talking With Terry Gross: Host of NPR’s “Fresh Air.” Newsday, September 19, 2004
Power moves: A conversation with Maya Angelou and Eleanor Holmes Norton Essence, August, 1998
Calculated Risks New York Newsday, August 8, 1999
The Essence Dialogue: Who Should Adopt Our Children? Essence, January 1998
The Essence Dialogue: Will Welfare Reform Work? Essence, February 1997
A “Commonplace” Conversation with Lani Guinier African American Review, Volume 30, Number 2, 1996
Jumping for Her Life: Talking with Veronica Chambers New York Newsday, August 4, 1996
‘I Passionately Wanted to Be Deaf’: The New York Newsday Interview with Leah Hager Cohen New York Newsday, February 10, 1994
When Identity Isn’t Black, White or Other: The New York Newsday Interview with Nampeo McKenney New York Newsday, November 4, 1994