Category: about me

Revisiting “Cancer Vs. Blindness”

*I’m facing another biopsy this week and I’m trying not to freak out! Besides hoping that the results are negative, I’m also crossing my fingers that I’ll not have to deal with ableism at the doctor’s office like last time… With respect to making lemonade out of a sour situation, “Cancer Vs. Blindness” was the first essay I wrote for… Read more

Aromatica Poetica Summer 2023 Newsletter: Multisensory Explosion

After traveling to four states in two months, my spring speaking mini-tour ended with a final virtual talk and blog post for ACT (famous for their college entrance tests). The summer kicked off with a story at TALE: NYC’s Finest Storytelling, and we’re settling into summer in the East Village with Tompkins Square Park as our living room, so come… Read more

My Portrait—Graffitied By Me—Hanging Out with the Mayor in City Hall

Almost ten years ago, I was invited to the SoHo studio of artist Roy Nachum. He had me choose colors and paint my portrait on a big piece of paper on the wall.. It basically consisted of long stripes of hair and round sunglasses. I think I chose silver and black. I was wearing gold and black and purple. He… Read more

Smell Menagerie: ‘Aromatica Poetica’ Winter Newsletter

The AP Winter Newsletter features: Open submissions, talks and travel, exploring barnyards by nose, chocolates by touch, a soap/burgers story, and more… Dear friends and family, The new year always launches me into a gratifying state of cautious optimism. Thanks to a small burst of speaking invitations, I’m looking forward to connecting with some of you in person over the… Read more

“The Best Books on Blindness and the Brain” at Shepherd.com

The Best Books on Blindness and the Brain on Shepherd.com is a grateful nod to the authors that deepened the sciencey bits of There Plant Eyes! Oliver Sacks, John Locke, Lawrence Rosenblum, Jason Roberts, & @DavidEagleman—whose book Livewired came out after I’d finished TPE but surely would have been in there. Why I wrote this Blindness and the Brain list… Read more

‘There Plant Eyes’ Paperback Out Now * Includes Cover Image Description & Blurbs!

Oh, look what arrived in my email!: the paperback cover of There Plant Eyes – front cover lost its braille but gained a fantastic blurb by the incomparable Maggie Nelson… General #ImageDescription This is the publisher’s image of the back, spine, and front paperback covers of There Plant Eyes from left to right, but I’ll paste in the info more… Read more