Contributors
Emily Luger
“Never a dull moment.”
When Emily isn’t making her living working in online marketing, she’s usually busily exploring her beloved New York City and beyond. A native of North Carolina, Emily recently took a six-week leave of absence to travel in Europe — a unique way to face her 25th birthday (and impending quarter-life crisis). Her favorite destination? Rio. What would she never leave home without? Her iPod. A food she thought she’d never eat in this lifetime? Haggis.
Dawn Foster
“Flextime really works.”
A community manager, event organizer, blogger, and tech enthusiast, Dawn works as a mild-mannered corporate employee by day, but by night, she’s a leader of the Legion of Tech, whose goal is to make the world (or Portland, Oregon, at least) a better place for tech workers. She is the author of the Fast Wonder Blog and the book Companies and Communities: Participating Without Being Sleazy. Dawn has a degree in computer science and an MBA.
Read: Telecommuting + Flextime = More Productive Corporate Workforce
Michelle Cantrell
“Women: Love who you are.”
Michelle owns and operates venusvision.com, which encourages women to be the best they can be. She has written for US Airways and I Am Modern magazines. Michelle is working on her first novel, which follows the yo-yo dieting and mommy adventures of a suburban housewife. She lives in northern Virginia with her husband, two daughters, a Lab, and a ball python. When not writing or enjoying family time, she enjoys travel, good food, and wine.
Brian McCallen
“It's always tee time.”
A former senior editor at GOLF Magazine and a freelancer for Travel & Leisure, Esquire, and other national publications, Brian is a founding partner of theaposition.com. A native of New York who now lives with his family in Connecticut, he loves the place where golf and travel meet. He has written three books and believes golf’s inclusion in the 2016 Olympics will vault the sport to new heights. The best golf trip of all? The next one, of course.
Alex Bellos
“Math may be the foundation of all human progress.”
A former reporter for England’s venerable daily paper, the Guardian, Alex Bellos is both a writer and a math whiz. After graduating from Oxford with degrees in math and philosophy, he joined the paper, for which he still writes occasionally. Alex is now a freelancer and a regular contributor to the BBC’s Newsnight program. His first book, Futebol: The Brazilian Way of Life, was translated into 11 languages. In 2006, he ghostwrote a best-selling autobiography of soccer legend Pelé. Now Alex has turned his mind — and his pen — back to his passion for math with Here’s Looking at Euclid. Our excerpt this month is from Chapter Zero (yes, he named it that for a good reason), and it’s a Must Read. If you’re not a math head, no worries. You’re bound to enjoy it.
Read: Here’s Looking at Euclid
Emily Yellin
“Everyone is someone's customer.”
The idea for Emily Yellin’s new book, Your Call Is (Not That) Important to Us, arrived one bitter cold winter day after Emily spent several frigid hours on the phone with a customer service rep about her broken furnace. The incident invoked Emily’s reportorial instincts, and her subsequent research led to an exploration of the nature — and decline — of customer service. A longtime contributor to the New York Times, her work has also appeared in Time, the Washington Post, Smithsonian magazine, Newsweek, the International Herald Tribune, and other publications. Her first book, Our Mothers’ War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II, was published by Free Press in 2004.
Dr. Jennifer Gibson
“Science values optimism.”
A pharmacist, medical writer, editor, and lecturer, Jennifer has had the opportunity to work in several fields, including the pharmaceutical industry, medical education, genomics research and DNA sequencing, and the nonprofit sector. She uses her work to advocate for safe and effective medication in all dimensions of health, fitness, and wellness. She lives with her husband and two sons in Atlanta and trains for marathons in her spare time.
William Keens
blog.herdingcatsandcougars.org
“Meetings can work.”
Bill believes that facilitation in a group setting is a skill that can be learned and the more people in an organization who are able to design and run effective meetings, the better. He believes that most self-help and how-to books should be returned for store credit, and he has a few tricks and tips to share that make meetings work for all involved. His blog is based on his published work, Herding Cats and Cougars. Bill makes his home in Falls Church, Virginia.
Read: Meetings? How to Survive
Alder Yarrow
“Don't drink bad wine.”
Now in its seventh year, vinography.com is one of the most highly regarded wine blogs on the Web. Alder Yarrow, founder and publisher, has received kudos from Food and Wine, Bon Appetit, the San Francisco Chronicle, and the Washington Post for his eloquent blog. Alder notes that his site offers alternatives to traditional sources and styles of wine journalism by focusing on the stories, the people, and the passion for great wine. Alder is based in San Francisco.
Katherine Dudley Hoehn
observationsindailylife.blogspot.com
“Whatever the day brings.”
A recovering former D.C. lobbyist, Katherine has been unemployed for the past year and now does grant writing and government relations and communications for her consulting business while continuing to seek full-time employment. Whenever she can, she loves to travel, write, pursue her love of photography, and enjoy the great outdoors. Katherine is also busy compiling and writing about more than 700 letters her father wrote in WWII.
Read: Peony Envy
Carlos Portocarrero
“Get ready? No, stay ready.”
Whether he’s writing under the pen name WC Porter (as he does in this issue) or his real name, Carlos has a pretty big ambition: to be the Michael Lewis of personal finance. That means writing fascinating stories about very different topics. He started writing about various ways to save money but is now focused on how to make more of it (which, as an expectant father, he says he needs to do). Carlos runs thewriterscoin.com and appliedanalytics.org.
Tyler Colman
“I taste and I write.”
Although he’s a real doctor, Tyler won’t give you any health advice — but he’ll tell you nearly anything you want to know about domestic and international wine. (His doctoral dissertation was on the political economy of the wine industry of France and the U.S.) His blog is updated regularly, with posts as entertaining as they are informative. His latest book is titled Wine Politics: How Governments, Environmentalists, Mobsters, and Critics Influence the Wines We Drink.
Read: A Couple of Zippy Whites: Benaza Godello and Huards Cheverny
Eric Weiner
“The world is an idea lab.”
The phrase above sums up Eric’s philosophy of travel, and of life. A regular columnist for worldhum.com, he is the author of a New York Times bestseller, The Geography of Bliss: One Grump’s Search for the Happiest Places in the World. A former correspondent for National Public Radio, Eric is hard at work on his next book, which he describes as “a spirited romp through several world religions.” For more about Eric and his work, visit ericweinerbooks.com.
Read: Post-Trip Funk (PTF)
Jason Kerkmans
“Greens and water for me.”
He’s been a wrangler in the Rockies and a sailor in the Atlantic. And he followed his wife on a volunteer trip to an orphanage in Thailand. As a graduate of fly-fishing- guide school, he’s thinking of a part-time career change because as long as he’s near water, he thinks everything will be just fine — hardly a guarantee since he lives in the high desert of New Mexico. At home, he golfs and writes, the former providing a modest wager-based income, the latter less so.
Read: Join the Fit Club
Matt Dellinger
“The promise of I-69 has spread optimism and dread.”
A writer, journalist, photographer, and multimedia producer, Matt worked for a decade on the staff of the New Yorker. He served as illustrations editor, multimedia producer, and editorial projects manager (and coach of the magazine’s softball team for eight years). His writing has appeared in the New Yorker, the Atlantic, the Oxford American, Smithsonian, the Wall Street Journal magazine, and the New York Times. This month, Matt’s book Interstate 69 will be published by Scribner. Those who are aware of the plans for this massive transcontinental highway also know the implications, good and bad.
Read: Interstate 69: The Unfinished History of the Last Great American Highway
Michael Hiltzik
“A single dam changed the American West.”
A Pulitzer Prize–winning writer who has covered business, technology, and public policy for the Los Angeles Times for 20 years, Michael has also served as an investigative reporter and as a foreign correspondent. He is currently the Times’ business columnist. His books include The Plot Against Social Security (2005), Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age (1999), and A Death in Kenya (1991). He received the 1999 Pulitzer Prize for articles exposing corruption in the entertainment industry. A graduate of Colgate University, Michael received a master’s degree in journalism from Columbia University. He lives with his family in Southern California.
Read: Colossus: Hoover Dam and the Making of the American Century
Jacqui Cheng
“Online at work? Hmm.”
A self-described nerd with the gift of good writing skills, Jacqui moved from multimedia development to writing full time for Ars Technica. Her beat? “All things gadget-y, Apple-y, and Internetty.” Her main focus is the human side of technology and how people use new tools to get things done and connect with each other. In her free time, Jacqui tries her hand at cooking, running, cycling, and sewing, but says she’s “always online — even when I shouldn’t be.”
Read: Bad Employee! 12% Knowingly Violate Company IT Policies
John Fox
“Have books, will travel.”
A professor, freelancer, and fiction writer, John Matthew Fox lives in Southern California when he’s not traveling around the globe. He combines his love for books with a love of travel by going on literary tours: Kafka in Prague, Borges in Buenos Aires. He also keeps busy writing for BookFox, his literary blog about novels and short stories, which recently reached the venerable age of four. In terms of blog years, John says that’s geriatric.
Dr. Albert Fuchs
“Studies can be wrong.”
After serving for three years on the faculty of the UCLA School of Medicine, Dr. Fuchs opened his own internal medicine practice in Beverly Hills. Dr. Fuchs brags that his practice is “tiny and meant to stay that way.” He has blogged for the past four years about health, “primarily to educate my patients and counter the misinformation and hype in the media.” His weekly posts range across many topics. He is a bicyclist and a “terrible but willing juggler.”
Sally McGraw
“It's easy to look smart.”
A Minneapolis-based blogger, freelance writer, and communications pro, Sally is faithful to the daily upkeep of her style and body-image blog. She has blogged for glamour.com and youlookfab.com, and she welcomes readers to post on her site. She also hires herself out for style consultations and loves that she can get paid for telling people what to wear. Her advice is available “live” for people who live in the Twin Cities and by email for anyone else.
Read: Wear What Suits You
Brad Herzog
“Connect the dots.”
That’s author Brad Herzog’s goal in his trilogy of travel memoirs as he attempts to answer big-picture questions by traveling through some of the tiniest dots on the U.S. map. Brad contends that America is a masterpiece of pointillism, a dot painting in which each rural speck has a unique story all its own. In his lastest book, Turn Left at the Trojan Horse (publication date May 25), Brad explores those tales while heading toward a college reunion and wondering what constitutes a heroic life. Brad, who has also written a series of children’s books, lives on California’s Monterey Peninsula with his wife and two sons. When we read an early galley of Turn Left, we were impressed by the end of page one.
Sarah McColl
“The good life is in reach.”
Growing up in Dallas, Sarah learned to ride horses and throw a lasso while also developing a penchant for frito pie and gracious living pulled off on the cheap. She is now a freelance writer and editor residing happily in Brooklyn, where she tackles big sewing projects, daydreams about France, and gives her library card a workout. Her blog, Pink of Perfection, has been featured in the New York Times, Country Living, and on The Martha Stewart Show.
David Gould
“18 holes — and more.”
A founding member of theaposition.com, David fell in love with golf as a 12-year-old caddie. Now he specializes in golf-related communications and marketing. He recently served as executive editor of Travel + Leisure Golf. Prior to that, he was editor of Links Magazine, and he has written for Golf Magazine, Golf Digest, Sports Illustrated, and other publications. David is also the author of four books about golf. He lives in Connecticut with his family.
Holly Corbett
“I live on the move.”
As a kid, she ran laps around her block. Now she trains for marathons and triathlons. When not in motion, Holly travels and writes. Her work has appeared in publications such as Women’s Health, Prevention, Shape, Budget Travel, and Fitness — and her adventures include trips to every continent (yes, even Antarctica). She coauthored the travel memoir The Lost Girls: Three Friends. Four Continents. One Unconventional Detour Around the World, due out May 11.
Read: Three Places to Get Beautiful on NYC’s Upper East Side
Sy Montgomery
“Birds’ intellectual capacities are strikingly like our own.”
Naturalist, writer, and radio commentator Sy Montgomery is as comfortable with the animal kingdom as with human society. Perhaps even more so. Sy has traveled the world and had face-to-face encounters with gorillas, vampire bats, tigers, snakes, electric eels, piranhas, and lots of other friendly critters. Between forays into the wild, she has written or cowritten over a dozen books, including several for children. When not traveling, she resides in New Hampshire with her husband and lots of — what else? — animals. This month, we’re offering the first chapter of her brand-new book, Birdology, in our Must Read department.
Read: Birdology
Pamela Rutledge
“Wired, linked, and mobile.”
A researcher, professor, new-media commentator, and self-professed technology geek, Pam is passionate about the psychology behind emerging media and those of us who use it. She is constantly on the lookout for how social media and new technologies are changing the way we work, play, and relate. Pam is director of the Media Psychology Center, a nonprofit promoting human potential using media technologies. The center is based in Boston.
Larry Olmsted
“It's always tee time for me.”
Saying that Larry plays a lot of golf is a vast understatement. His most extreme outing: a 24-hour trek of 7,496 miles that earned him a Guinness World Record for the “Greatest Distance Between Two Rounds of Golf Played in the Same Day.” (Larry followed that up with a book titled Getting Into Guinness, a humorous account of his adventure, published last year. ) He is the author of over a thousand articles on golf travel and maintains a blog at larrygolfs theworld.com.
Ted Beatie
“Leave your comfort zone.”
Born with the soul of an adventurer, Ted finds he’s at his happiest when he’s off the beaten path. His favorite places? The Sahara Desert and the coral reefs of Fiji (about 100 feet down). He’s enjoyed his experiences as a diver, a fire dancer, an aerial acrobat, an actor, and a cyclist, but his deepest passion is sharing the world through his photography and writing. Ted is a contributing editor for vagablogging.net, but maintains his own site at tedbeatie.com.
Jeff Wallach
“I drive. Ergo, I putt.”
If his name is familiar, it’s because you may have seen his byline in Sports Illustrated, Outside, Men’s Journal, Money, or Golf. (And he claims that he’s probably the only journalist to sell the same story to Popular Science and Seventeen.) Jeff has also written five books, including Beyond the Fairway, a look at golf’s transcendent qualities. In late 2009, he founded theaposition.com, a network of golf and travel sites featuring A-list writers.
Read: On the Supernatural Connection Between Scotch and Golf
Emily Cox and Henry Rathvon
“We work with a set of 26.”
That’s the number of choices when fi lling in any crossword puzzle square. It’s really not a lot, less in fact than the number of items on many restaurant menus. But it’s the unique confi guration of letters, not the number, that makes a great crossword. Henry and Emily, our puzzle gurus for the past 12 years, are among the best at their trade. You’ll see their work in every issue of our magazine — as well as the New York Times, Boston Globe, and Condé Nast Traveler.
Julie Anderson
chubbymommyrunningclub.blogspot.com
“It's middle-aged angst.”
A 40-something mom in Bend, Oregon, Julie is a freelance writer and the founder of the Chubby Mommy Running Club, a blog she, writes to "pretend I'm,actually getting into shape." When not blogging, running, or, mothering, she takes long walks with her husband, Rhett, during which they think of cool companies to start. Sometimes they have to work at real jobs in order to buy food for their three children and organic kibble for their two dogs.
Dr. Jason Fowler
“Treat the whole person.”
A firm believer in looking at all aspects of his patients' health, Jason practices at Lake Saint Louis Chiropractic. He is an avid blogger who keeps abreast of the latest in technology as well as the newest and best natural vitamins and minerals. When not treating patients or blogging, he spends time with his wife and young son, tackles remodeling projects, and (when he can) watches his favorite baseball team, the St. Louis Cardinals.
Read: Smart Stretching
Claire Litton
“How do you find the time?”
That's what people usually want to know after Claire lists her professional obligations. "I'm a professional belly-dancer, freelance personal assistant, photographer's assistant, and the most requested figure model in Pittsburgh." She’s also an avid scuba diver. Claire recently earned a scholarship that will take her to Australia to study for an M.S. in clinical psychology. We found her post on vagablogging.net, but she also maintains her own blog at travelingclaire.blogspot.com.
Read: Twittering the World
Joe Posnanski
“I write long posts.”
To say that Joe is prolific is an understatement. Want proof? Check out his Web site. Aside from being a sports columnist for the Kansas City Star, he is a frequent contributor to Sports Illustrated, a book author (currently working on one about the 1975 Cincinnati Reds, but he's behind because of his habit of writing long blogs), and an award winner for his fine journalism. He's also humble, admitting on his site that his blog is a look into his "confused mind."
Read: Sneaker Phones
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