Biography
I am an author, book critic and former New York Times reporter. In recent years I have written online and in print about sports, music, recreation and travel. I also do book reviews for many publications, including TheMillions.com, BookPage, Bachtrack, PopMatters.com and NYCityWoman.com.
As a ghostwriter, I assisted renowned psychiatrist Ari Kiev on five books about the psychology of risk, all published by John Wiley & Sons. In addition, I worked with personal finance expert Douglas Andrew on his bestseller Last Chance Millionaire, published in 2007 by Warner Business Books.
My freelance journalism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times and Washington Post.
ONLINE EXPERIENCE
For more than 25 years, starting at the dawn of the internet as we know it, I have been an online editor and writer. Among the many companies I have worked for are CNN, Dow Jones, Business Week, Wired, Away.com, Healthscout.com, and Excite.com. As an editor at Mountain News, I wrote an email newsletter for top resort professionals. I also contributed to its popular ski/snowboard site OnTheSnow.com.
At Healthscout, the web service that supplied daily health news to The New York Times syndicate, USA Today and other affiliates, I edited the copy of medical specialists. At Excite.com, I wrote critiques of websites for its database and created Excite Tours.
I was a founder and executive editor of the independent website Sports For Women in 1996, a prime source of news about female athletes, teams and fitness.
NEWSPAPER CAREER
I was a reporter and national correspondent at The New York Times for 15 years. As head of the Rocky Mountains Bureau, based in Denver, I covered politics, business, sports, environment, entertainment, travel and other subjects in a 10-state territory. In New York City, my beats over the years included transportation, neighborhoods, and consumer affairs.
BOOKS
A Long Way, Baby: Behind The Scenes in Women's Pro Tennis was my first book, published in hardcover in 1974 by William Morrow & Company and in paperback in 1975 by Fawcett. My other titles include Machisma: Women and Daring (1981, Doubleday); and Musical Gumbo: the Music of New Orleans, written with Laura Dankner (1993, W.W. Norton & Co.)
MAGAZINES, PUBLIC RELATIONS AND TEACHING
I was Executive Editor of World Tennis magazine 1982-1985, and have written for dozens of major magazines including The New York Times Magazine, New York, Vogue, Esquire, Rolling Stone, and Smithsonian.
From 1993-1995 I was Public Relations Director at the New School. I have taught at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and at New York's City College.
PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATIONS
I am a member of the Authors Guild, National Book Critics Circle, and PEN America.
LEISURE AND PHILANTHROPIC WORK
From 2012 through 2016 I was on the board of directors of Bike New York, the organization that promotes bicycling and bicycle safety through its Five Boro Bike Tour and other programs. I am a volunteer in its "adults learn to ride" program. I also served as a board member of the New York Cycle Club.
EDUCATION AND PERSONAL INFORMATION
A native New Yorker, I graduated (maiden name: Grace Rosenthal) from Brooklyn College, Phi Beta Kappa, Magna Cum Laude, with honors in Comparative Literature. Divorced with no children, I count among my hobbies reading, skiing, tennis, bicycle riding and rooting for the New York Mets.
In 1992, I spent 48 days riding a bicycle cross-country from Seattle to Asbury Park, N.J., to raise money for breast cancer research. I chronicled that journey in twice-weekly dispatches published in The New York Times.