Welcome to the home of my writing–a place for reading, resting (or, alternatively, ranting), and chatting. You might find anything here–the best recipe for chiles relleños, food and traditions handed down through families, art projects that ruin your dining room table, or thoughts about rescue mutts, theology, or Chicago politics. In a world abounding in swirling words, I hope you see something interesting here, stick around and read awhile, and join the conversation here on my blog or on my Substack newsletter on public education. Thanks for stopping by.
Cuba in my heart, now and then
February 25, 2026
I am really throwing a lot at you here today. Read this in bits and pieces as convenient. Three essays plus commentary on Cuba’s current situation? Who has time for this! But here it all is, in honor of a frigid February escape some years back, and a country that’s still stuck in my heart, […]
Surely you too celebrate your Statehood Day?
February 13, 2026
Full disclosure, this is an old essay that I’ve trotted out for several Arizona Statehood Days. That is, Valentine’s Day. They’re the same. Arizona became a state on February 14, 1912, having suffered some delays in attaining entry to the union because its state constitution was just a titch too progressive. Arizonans were distrustful of […]
When your democracy is collapsing, why not cook a big complicated Italian feast?
February 7, 2026
Honestly it’s hard to get through the days these days, listening to the news and watching the astonishing video that regular folks have been capturing for months now but which seems to get worse and more violent with each passing day. But even saying you have a problem with masked, unidentified men in camo with […]
Just a couple delightful spring recipes
April 8, 2025
If you’re ready to start planning your Easter menu, I’m here to help! These cinnamon rolls are perfection at an Easter brunch. And the rizogalo, or rice pudding, that follows is a happy uncomplicated ending to an Easter dinner when you’re totally exhausted and need pure comfort. Whole Wheat Caramel RollsDon’t let the name fool […]
Green shoots
April 2, 2025
March, as I’ve written about previously, is a challenging month in Chicago, for me. It’s too much brown and gray and withered, and too little evidence that there will ever be green again. That branches will ever be anything but dead sticks. That vines will ever be verdant again. March taunts, sneering at me to […]
My country, ’tis of thee
February 19, 2025
Maybe it’s the convergence of Valentine’s Day and President’s Day. I’ve been thinking about why I love this country. Having written about the ways it irritates me for the past 15 years, I felt like stepping out of my comfort zone, just this once, and writing about what I love. Here are a few things […]
Time to pay less attention?
February 10, 2025
Dogs are among the wholesome distractions in our lives. Other natural, rational objects of our attention include our children, jobs, and homes, and for a lucky few with well developed executive function, actual beautiful hobbies like weaving or playing an instrument. Cars with knocking engines and muddy paw prints on back seats, trying to take […]
Of dogs and duty
February 4, 2025
Had I known that getting two dogs was going to prove so diverting that I would fail to write anything at all for ten months I might have had second thoughts. It didn’t happen all at once, as situations with dogs usually don’t. It takes time and several slow missteps to reach peak nonsense. After […]
Stumbling along with lentils
April 15, 2024
I came to Orthodoxy as an adult, and I will always feel a little like someone peering into windows; maybe I’m on the patio, but not quite inside the building. On the plus side for me, Orthodoxy will always be endlessly fascinating–something not everyone born into this tradition can say. To me it is a […]
Beneath Surfaces
August 16, 2023
Summer is somehow almost over and I have a story to tell you from the spring. In early May our daughter, home from college, was digging out our old raised herb box, which in a former life was her old sandbox, in order to flatten out the space and turn it into a new area […]
About
I am a writer in Chicago who wears many hats. A mom whose interest in her kids’ public schools led to years of public school advocacy, and whose deaf daughter led to years advocating for hearing aid users. A one-time PhD student who threw aside Milton’s theology for glitter, glue, and preschool teaching. A Sunday school teacher and summertime art educator who has worked with all ages of kids for decades. A fundraiser for food insecurity by means of pie. A blogger, essayist, newsletter writer, grant writer, and eulogist with a reach into many communities. At home I’m someone who is hopeless at laundry and happiest in the kitchen. I have two kids who are mostly grown, a husband who is techy yet philosophical, and a little rescue mutt of indeterminate origins. Chicago’s south side is home to me; I love its neighborhoods, lakefront, activists, parks, coffee roasters, and bakeries, and I love sharing what’s wonderful about my city with anyone who’ll listen.
In my essays I’ve chronicled travels overseas and inward, culinary traditions and failures, neighborhood needs and hopes, public schools under attack, and the precarious territory of memory.
I also write about public education and policy on Substack at CPF Insider.