WRITING PROJECTS
Since 2009, I have worked as a freelance writer for local, Cape Cod-based publications, covered a little bit of everything from art, history, architecture, landscape design, weddings. Below is a sampling.
Katharine Lee Bates
Falmouth Living Magazine, Spring 2021
One of my favorite things about working in the museum field is the chance to learn about the stories and people from our past. So often, I fall in love with the characters I discover and desperately wish I could have met them.
At the top of my list of fascinating Falmouth residents is Katharine Lee Bates (1859-1929), author of what is considered to be the second national anthem, “America the Beautiful.” She lived in this quiet seaside town from 1859 to 1871. While she is most noted for this significant piece of poetry, she also experienced a life as fulfilling as any modern woman—all the more remarkable for one born just before the Civil War.
A Window into the Past
Cape Cod Magazine, September 2018
One thing I have always loved about living on Cape Cod is that the past is so close you can literally touch it and hold it in your hands.
Whether that’s the weathered clapboards of an old saltbox or the main line of a catboat sailing
in Nantucket Sound. Time passes. Things change. But in many places on Cape Cod,
you can take a photograph and frame a view that has more in common with an earlier century than it does with our own.
If These Walls Could Talk
Cape Cod Magazine, September 2017
Cape Cod’s history can be found not only in the written records we keep, diaries, ship’s logs, accounting books, town records. If you look closely, it is also revealed in the buildings, large and small, that past generations of residents and visitors have built. The keystone building that defines a main street. The small cottage hidden down a well-worn back road. Through them all, we can see the past three centuries of Cape Cod life unfold. Many of the historical records for lesser known houses are blank. There is much more to be captured. So much more to discover.
Profile of Taylor-Bray Farm
Cape Cod Magazine, May 2015
On the side of Route 6A in Yarmouth is a small, washed out sign that reads “Bray Farm.” It is easily missed. A turn at the sign brings a traveller down a rambling road, at the end of which sits a humble farmhouse and an ancient barn standing on stones, nestled among green fields and set against graceful sweeps of marsh grasses reaching out towards Cape Cod Bay. This is Taylor-Bray Farm. Stepping onto the grassy pastures is like stepping into an earlier century to a vision of Cape Cod that has, for the most part, vanished.
A Church Fit for a Lord
Cape Cod Magazine, March 2015
You can tell a lot about a town from its churches. Newport, Rhode Island, for example, is notable in that there are no churches flanking its original town green. Given Newport’s history of religious tolerance and flexibility, it is fitting that its many different places of worship are scattered throughout the town and no singular denomination is given priority by being located in the center.
Falmouth’s historic Village Green features two distinctive churches, the gleaming white First Congregational Church, and St. Barnabas Memorial Episcopal Church, which celebrates its 125th birthday this year.
Real Weddings
Southern New England Weddings, 2015
Alexandra and Nicholas Stotik are serious Disney fans. “For both of us, going to Disney is a chance to live in another world for a little while. It is an escape,” explains Alexandra. It is also where the two took their first trip and eventually got engaged. “It has been a huge part of our lives and our relationship,” says Nicholas, “it is our home away from home.”
Contributing Editor
Art of the Cape & Islands, 2013
published by Cape Cod Life, Publications, Inc.
Profile of Sarah Hinkley:
To understand what Sarah Hinkley’s paintings are all about, the best thing to do is drive out to a bay side beach (Chapin perhaps), at low tide, get out of the car and just gaze for a moment, blurring your eyes a little bit—at the sand, the flat, steel stripe of water under blue sky and hazy white sun. Says Hinkley, “It's really about color. The other stuff is just an excuse to get the color down there and to make the color work. I like these washed out, dirty, really pale browns, a washed out cobalt green that looks almost blue—sundrenched colors that have been really washed out from the sunlight over time.” Growing up in Cummaquid, she spent many days out on the Cape’s beaches. “Chapin beach, low tide, was always one of my favorite places. When all you see is sea and sky. That palette is a big inspiration.”
Spice it up!
Asian Restaurants on Cape Cod
Cape Cod View, July 2012
Whenever I start to feel a cold coming on, there is one thing I crave: Vietnamese Hot & Sour Soup. This delectable broth is a spicy melange of ginger, garlic, fresh vegetables, and chicken, topped with a punch of chopped cilantro and amply seasoned with chile peppers. It is a mouth and eye watering experience that is just the right kick for a weary immune system.
Thankfully, when these cravings come on, I do not have to travel thousands of miles to delight in these flavors. The Cape has a small but exemplary sampling of authentic South and Southeast Asian restaurants. The stories of these restaurants are as spicy and flavorful as their signature dishes. If you are planning to dine out but have already had your fill of steamed lobster and fried clams, give one of these restaurants a try.
Ocean Wed
Cape Cod Life, May 2012
Most people who live on Cape Cod year-round already have a certain reverence for the physical beauty just minutes from their door. When it comes to weddings, no fancy trimmings or extraneous bells and whistles are necessary to celebrate the spirit of this place. All you really need to do is show up and let the timeless, intoxicating fusion of ocean and sky work its magic (a little prayer to the weather gods never hurts either).
Profile of Joan Peters, Osterville
Cape Cod HOME, Summer 2011
The best time to visit Joan Peters’ eponymous shop in Osterville would be one of those cold, raw, dreary New England days. This may seem counterintuitive—better to visit an interior designer when the natural light is ample and available, right? Trust me—the breath of fresh air and sunshine that will embrace you as you open the pale pink door will be all the more poignant contrasted with the drudgery outside. For if there is one thing you should know about Joan Peters’ style, it is all about sunshine, light, and color; drudgery has no place to rest here and cannot even be seen beyond the embellished window panes.
Profile of Jennifer Morgan
Art of the Cape & Islands, 2010
published by Cape Cod Life, Publications, Inc.
One of the best things about visiting an artist's home and studio (which for Jennifer Morgan are essentially one and the same) is that you see how artistic sensibilities,
passions, and ideas manifest themselves and influence one another. In Morgan's case, her house in Harwich, which she designed and built herself, is the perfect expression of her love for minimal, industrial materials, patterns, and surfaces. Morgan laughs and proudly says that visitors either love it or hate it.
Profile of Paul Bowen
Art of the Cape & Islands, 2009
published by Cape Cod Life, Publications, Inc.
Whale bones. Clay marbles. Fish boxes. These relics and reflections of Cape Cod's history have been transformed by artist Paul Bowen into a unique language of forms. Bowen, a consummate collector, has amassed a large collection of
beach finds and has a studio full of rescued materials: driftwood, old barn doors, wooden drums-and a cherished stockpile of beautifully textured paper taken from
old journals.