I've always been a hypercreative person.  Even growing up, I wasn't the sort of kid who ran around in big open spaces with packs of other kids, moving a ball from one place to another.  I was usually hibernating in my bedroom or perched on the toilet with a notebook in my lap, writing stories or drawing complex maps of imaginary places. 

Writing is still my favorite thing to do.  My first book, a memoir called "Read My Hips", is forthcoming from Harmony.  It was inspired by an essay of the same name which appeared on iVillage.  It's intense and sometimes intensely funny, if I may say so.  (Hey, if you grew up in the '80s, you can probably find things to laugh about, too.  At the very least, your hair.)  "Read My Hips" is about my experiences with compulsive overeating, dieting, exercise phobia, body image, anxiety and panic disorder.  A real laugh-riot!

I also get a kick out of doing informal "social experiments" to satisfy my own curiosity.  You may have heard about this one:  I created a realistic-looking (but totally bogus) self-help book cover with the title "Fat is Contagious: How Sitting Next to a Fat Person Can Make YOU Fat", wrapped it around a real book, and carried it around on public buses in New York City.  I wanted to see how people would react to a big ol' buxom gal like me, reading a book like that.  Then I wrote an essay about the experience.  You may have seen me talking about it on The Today Show, or heard me telling my story on NPR.

I take a radical anti-diet position.  I believe the quest for weight loss has done more damage to the overall wellbeing of women and girls in the U.S. than anything else.  Does that mean I think the whole world should want to be fat like me?  Nope.  If you're really interested in what I think, you can read more about it here, among other places on this site.

In the '90s I was so desperately lonely for the pop culture of my youth that I published a magazine called Cafe Eighties.  I tracked down and interviewed performers who came to popularity in the 1980s, like A Flock of Seagulls, Romeo Void, Bow Wow Wow, Adam Ant, General Public and that funky lot.  Cafe Eighties is probably most famous for its unconventional and highly revealing interview with John Taylor of Duran Duran, conducted almost entirely with fortune cookies. 

Waaaay back in the early '90s I started something called "Dial-a-Poet" in Philadelphia.  With D-A-P, anyone within the Philadelphia area could dial a local phone number and hear a different poet reciting his or her poetry on a recording.  D-A-P also hosted a series of live poetry readings. 

My iPod is dominated by early '80s New Wave.  I'm a shameless old school Duranie.  I love reading anything about the 19th century in the U.S. and Britain, especially if it's quirky or "underworld".  I'm a sucker for flea markets and cheap antique shops.  I watch "Ghost Hunters" with a geeky passion, and I'm a long-time follower of "Eastenders". 

I also love speaking, doing public readings, teaching and mentoring. 

I live in New York City and Ocean Grove, New Jersey. 

Looking for info about me that isn't here?  Let me know.