This month has me consumed with a monumental embroidery project on a new large scale work. I’m racing towards my shipping deadline fueled by kombucha, dark chocolate, and Prophet Song on audiobook by Paul Lynch, winner of the 2023 Booker Prize, (hello to a mother trying to keep her family together as Ireland dovetails into a fascist dystopic reality - will she stay, awaiting her husband’s return after his disappearance, or will she take the advise and aid to escape with her remaining children…).

I was delighted to take a break yesterday to join the legions on rooftops in my studio complex and the apartment buildings around the neighborhood to look up and gasp at such a shift in reality the eclipse can offer. Knowing my son was across the river looking up with the gaze of a child, a gaze that is still so new and holds so much wonder, I felt connected not only to him but to one of my most cherished aspect of the moon: its ability to connect us, to serve as a vessel for time travel, and provide wonder and longing for this small but mighty element.

In the Studio with photographer & curator Willamain Somma

to the fight women has to wage in Italy post world wars for a new independence. Alba herself was jailed for her anti-fascists activities, had a radio show she broadcast under an alias, and risked herself time and again for freedom. Valeria is caught between two generations, the conflict disorienting as she ping-pongs between her private moral standings and her increasingly bold actions; her own mother feels shame at the family’s lost fortune at the end of the last war and Valeria marrying too poor to save her from an office job and her own daughter who is at the vanguard of challenging societal traditions and gender limitations. Constantly underestimated and her needs subsumed by the family, Valeria finds freedom in her writing and a relationship at the office morphing into something more meaningful.

Cookbook Corner: Double Down

So I might be checking my airline miles regularly as Spring unfolds and the desire to travel gets louder. Cruising through Italian Snacking published just last month, and Portico, has me pining to sneak to Rome and hunt down all these gorgeous snacks. For now, I’m finding inspiration for weekend cooking projects.