Essays and cultural criticism shaped by the writers, artists, places, and ideas that have influenced my thinking. These pieces combine personal encounter with close reading to examine how taste and judgment develop over time.
Over the holidays, I read Plain and Simple, a book by the late Sue Bender, an artist and psychologist who became obsessed with Amish quilts and dolls, and found a way to live among their makers. Their reality sometimes unsettled her—but it only deepened her appreciation.
This week, The New Yorker published my letter to the editor about Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery, a place I walk through weekly, finding new things to discover each time.