Personal and reported essays about culture, relationships, and city life.
Seeing the Three Colors trilogy on the big screen in one sitting, I noticed things I’d never seen before. (Critical Influences)
When an artist is an icon, can you still have a personal connection to the work? (Critical Influences)
A visit to Brooklyn’s Pioneer Works in search of a poetry book leads to a welcoming fashion exhibition in an unwelcoming space.
(The Village Star Revue)
In his one-man play Edward, Ed Schmidt assembles an everyman’s life out of the ordinary objects he left behind. (The Village Star-Revue)
Decoding the story the clothes in Woody Allen’s Another Woman tell about turning fifty. (Critical Influences)
My grandmother’s best friend’s handwork isn’t just a cherished heirloom but a symbol of chosen family. (The New York Times)
A look back at the history of 1990s anarchist bookstores on the Lower East Side. (The Village Star-Revue)
How years of collecting—from thrift stores to John Derian—shaped my style over time. (Critical Influences)
How the reclusive pornographer’s filthy film criticism shaped my understanding of gay desire. (The Gay & Lesbian Review)
A closer look at one of New York’s oldest bookstores. (The Village Star-Revue)
Learning to talk about money in a later-in-life relationship. (Next Avenue)
A fashion career begins with a personal uniform, a lucky break, and a quick cover-up. (The Sun)
Without speaking a word, my partner’s mother taught me the language of love. (Next Avenue)
On the 80th anniversary of the Holocaust, Anne Frank’s story still has urgent things to say about the nature of hope and suffering. (The Red Hook Star-Revue)
A ceiling collapse forces this lifelong collector to reconsider what really matters. (The Sun)
While the waitresses in the film Mystic Pizza (1988) all wear the same t-shirt, the different ways they style it tells us everything about who they are. (The Drift)
Italian fashion meets same-sex love in 1990s New York. (The Gay & Lesbian Review)
Sleeping single in a single bed (The 92Y Unterberg Poetry Center’s literary magazine Podium)
Struggling to find the right way to mourn a dead ex-boyfriend (Finalist for the 2021 Brooklyn Film & Arts Nonfiction Prize)
Storytellers’ True Stories About Love, Volume Two, edited by Judi Lee Goshen and Anne E. Beall, PhD
My contribution to this anthology began as a performance piece at New York City’s legendary experimental theater Dixon Place. Order the book.
I grew up shopping at thrift stores and church rummage sales, cultivating an eye for beautiful old things. These two books feature my vintage collections and my thoughts about them:
Design*Sponge –
Sneak Peek
"This glimpse into Michael Quinn's Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn apartment showcases a true generosity of spirit."
—Amy Azzarito, Editor
Zandl Slant –
A Day in the Life
A moment in time in 2014
