Here’s my first books coverage: a piece on Kathleen Rooney‘s occupation memoir about getting nude for artists for cold hard cash. Daily Beast, February 20, 2009.
My First Stint As a DM
My husband and I are trying our hands at DMing. For those of you who aren’t familiar, a Dungeon Master, or DM, runs a table top role playing game or a LARP.
Losing Money Is Good for My Narcissistic Wall Street Patients
To paraphrase The Notorious B.I.G., “Mo money, mo problems.” ANews Shrink column I ghostwrote.
Goodbye, Updike
I knew Fringe had to run a tribute to Updike when I broke the news to the editors and received this email in response: “Damn! No more girl-at-the-supermarket-has-nice-legs i’m-a-bastard-but-i-said-so-so-i’m-immune-from-criticism stories! Wait . . . . that’s probably not true at
Introducing the Massive LARP Calendar
There’s no single source of good LARP events on the web, in my experience. Sure, Shade’s LARP List has a lot of links, but many of them are dead or lead to groups that are no longer active. So I decided to start my own calendar of LARP events and conventions across the US, and to make it searchable via Google. But this behemoth is only as good as my information.
When the Game Carries Over
That in-game emotions sometimes spill over into the out of game world is one of the hazards of LARPing. Say someone kills your character in-game, knowing that in doing so, they’re causing your character to lose stats. Would you bear them ill-will once the event is over? I always thought my answer would be no. After all, it’s the risk of conflict, penalty and the unknown plot point that makes LARP exciting. But a few months ago I learned otherwise.
I Hate Rules
I love the idea behind LARP and tabletop role-playing — that a group of people are getting together to collaboratively tell a story. But whenever someone explains the mechanics of a game to me, my eyes glaze over in seconds and I start thinking about what kind of hat my character would wear.
What is LARP?
I’m at work on a narrative nonfiction book about Live Action Role Play, also known as LARP. The book, tentatively titled Leaving Mundania, is the story of LARPers, self-described geeks who come from a variety of backgrounds and occupations.
Madoff’s Houdini Syndrome
Despite his yacht and penthouse, Madoff wasn’t in it for the money — like Houdini, he kept pushing the bar to gain prestige.
News Shrink: Inside Blago’s Brain
It’s a story as old as politics: man is corrupted by power and implodes his career in spectacularly arrogant fashion. But not all corrupt politicians think like prostitutes. The News Shrink cracks open Blagojevich’s psyche.