
Glamour in the Pines
The old Slape mansion (in need of a refurb) on the lake in my New Jersey hometown, was the…
March 18, 2021The old Slape mansion (in need of a refurb) on the lake in my New Jersey hometown, was the…
March 18, 2021Heading to a wedding. From left: my grandmother, Anna Renzi, Aunt Helen, and Mom, all in white. Who said…
February 25, 2021As the story goes, my Neapolitan great grandfather, Carmine Rodio, was bullied mercilessly at school, and soon became a…
February 16, 2021Writing ITALIAN LOVE CAKE, I felt compelled to recreate the life of an Italian-American woman in the 1930s. Often…
February 15, 2021BENEATH SNOWY FOOTHILLS This essay began as a poem that I wrote while flying home from Santa Fe. I…
February 2, 2021Why I love clothes… Clothes “emote” and boy, so do Italians. Gaga’s National Anthem was a departure at the…
January 21, 2021For lovers of memoir, there is no better than In My Mother’s House (1983), by the glorious Kim Chernin, who…
January 3, 2021It was a warm night with fire flies lighting like stars, and they swirled around me, waist high, as…
June 25, 2020You can read my personal essay ~ “WANTING WARHOL: My Connections to Andy Warhol” HERE: https://catamaranliteraryreader.com/all-nonfiction As Kathy…
June 18, 2020Naples’ old town is cut in two by the famous Naples’ Spaccanapoli, or Splitter — SEE Elena Ferrante’s…
April 7, 2020Inspiration & Writing