Archive for March 2008
The Poet-Farmer of the Napa Valley – Warren Winiarski
After a quiet lunch in Rutherford yesterday, I drove back home along the Silverado Trail. As rain droplets began hitting my windshield, I passed the modest sign for the winery whose founder, to me, is an almost perfect example of the idealism of many of the early vintners who came to Napa Valley, searching for…
Read MoreIn Good Company: The James Beard nominees
And the nominees are … In researching The House of Mondavi, I built up a modest wine library of fifty or so volumes. Some of my treasures came from the annual sale of the St. Helena Library, which has a wonderful collection of wine books. Others came from local, independent book stores or Amazon, or…
Read MoreDrinking Green
Green labels – coming soon to a wine label near you? Images courtesy CCOF This morning, I climbed into my VW and headed north, to Sonoma’s wine country, where tender green buds were just beginning to unfold from the trellised vines. I pulled into the driveway of Sonoma-Cutrer, where a flock of sleek geese were…
Read MoreFomenting the Revolution – Anne Lamott
Photo by Mark Richards Last night, on the fifth anniversary of the start of the Iraq war, I heard Anne Lamott speak at Book Passage, one of my favorite bookstores. Anne (often referred to as Annie) was at the tail end of a three-week tour for the paperback release of her book, Grace (Eventually): Thoughts…
Read MoreNary a nod to Tom Wolfe…
One thing I didn’t hear anyone mention at this year’s Nieman conference was the “New Journalism” – that movement pioneered in the mid-1960s by Tom Wolfe, Truman Capote, Gay Talese, Jimmy Breslin. Perhaps because there seems to be a growing sense that at least some narrative nonfiction writers have gone too far in plucking techniques…
Read MoreLooking for Teachers: The Nieman Conference
This weekend, I spent 48 hours in Boston’s Prudential Center without venturing outside once. Yes, the fat snowflakes that drifted down past our hotel window Saturday morning were an enticement to venture outside. But not enough of one to convince me to miss any of the conversation taking place inside, at the Nieman conference. Making…
Read MorePracticing History Without a License: Adam Hochschild
Photo by Spark Media When I first listened to the book King Leopold’s Ghost on tape a few years ago, I was mesmerized by the true story of the Belgian King’s rule of the Congo. I can still remember standing in our little kitchen long after I’d finished the dishes; hands clad in yellow plastic…
Read MoreSandy Tolan’s History in Disguise
Photo by Nubar Alexanian As a reporter, I often find that the most important conversations with sources came when I snap close my reporter’s notebook and started heading to the door. That’s what I discovered yesterday. The second day of the Nieman conference was packed with smart, funny and inspiring speakers. Ann Hull and Dana…
Read MoreMrs. Siler’s Holiday — Part II
I’ll confess that my reading holiday did indeed involve jumping on a plane and landing in a distant place. Not to the south of France, but to Boston, where the Nieman Conference on Narrative Journalism is taking place. An offshoot of Harvard University’s prestigious Nieman Fellowships for mid-career journalists, this annual conference brings together some…
Read MoreCoping (or not) at Copia
Photo by Copia Copia, the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts, has struggled with an identify crisis even since its broke ground in 1999. Should it be a showcase for the Robert Mondavi Winery? Should it be a museum? Or, should it be a place to experience the subtle pairings of food and…
Read More