SELECTED PERSONAL ESSAY
For Mothertongue
A Rested Development: In a Society that Prizes Constant Creativity, Can We Learn to Stop Striving and Save Ourselves?
For The New York Times
When Life Gave Me Lemons, I Had a Panic Attack
For Oprah Magazine
An Inch-Long Bug Lived in My Ear for Months, but My Doctor Dismissed It as Anxiety: Misdiagnosis and gender bias in medicine
For The Establishment
The Terror at Cherry Blossoms: The Jewish Body and Intergenerational Trauma
For Cosmopolitan
Magic or Medicine
For Vice
An Ode to Two Dots, the Game That Eases My Anxious Mind
For Healthline
Derealization and Me: This Common Anxiety Symptom Makes Me Feel Like Reality Is Slipping Away
For The Huffington Post
How To Tell A New Partner You Have A Mental Illness
For Health Magazine
I Suffer Panic Attacks at the Gym: Here's What Helps Me Get Past the Anxiety
For The Billfold
Luxury Gyms: The Unexpected Place I Found Home
For Good Magazine
My Student Wrote ‘My Brother Dead.’ I Corrected His Grammar: When Compassion is an Occupational Hazard
For Vox
Can a Podium Stop a Bullet?: Teaching in the age of mass shootings
For The Millions
Creativity and Madness: On Writing Through the Drugs
For Fusion
What I learned from my fling with the 1%
I spent a steamy, awkward evening watching strangers make out to change the world
For The Rumpus
Female Friendships and Online Literary Sexism
Le amicizie femminili e il sessismo letterario online (translated into Italian for the Roman Magazine, Edizioni SUR)
Amy: Queen of Decay
A Girl and Her Car
For Ploughshares
Why Louie Is Like Great Literature
For Brevity
Media Cleansing for Writers
For The Morning News
The Wolf is Waiting
For Salon
Abortion: a love story
For The Forward
Flow It, Show It: The Spirituality of Hair
For New York Press
She's Got the Look: Gila Lyons learns to live with New York City Voyeurism
SELECTED JOURNALISM and REVIEW
For Poets & Writers
Telling Stories: Can Social Media Make Us Better Writers?
An Indie Alternative to Amazon?
Writers Confront Climate Crisis
The American Prison Writing Archive
Publishing Books About Grief, Loss, and Recovery: How Literature Helps Us Heal
Expanding the Audience for Books
Big Shoulders: A Chicago Press for the People
Hub City’s New Southern Fiction Series
Prize for Thrillers in Which No Woman is Beaten, Stalked, Sexually Exploited, or Murdered Sparks Debate
For GOOD Magazine
A Deaf-Blind Lawyer Wants to Know Why Surfboards Are Safer Than Classrooms
How A Love Of Reading Helped This Woman Go From Homeless to Harvard
Teaching Creative Writing to Incarcerated Fathers May Stop the School-to-Prison Pipeline
This Group of Moms Has a Plan to End Climate Change Forever
A Musical Literacy Program Combating Violence in the Middle East
This Entrepreneur Is Turning Period Drama Into an Opportunity for Female Empowerment
Mom Fights to Reform Our Prisons’ “Cruel” Treatment of Pregnant Women
You’re Probably Spending Money on the Gun Industry. This Woman Wants to Help You Stop
How This Rich Kid Plans to End Income Inequality for Everyone
The Formal World Economy Was Failing Women and Small Farmers. So This Guy Built a New One
3 Ways This Surf-Loving Coalition Is Trying to Save Our Oceans
For Refinery29
La La Land - Almost Feminist
For Ploughshares
Abandon Me: Love, Loss, and Family Legacy
Scratch: Writers, Money, and the Art of Making a Living
For Bitch Magazine
What Would Happen if One Woman Told the Truth about Her Life?: Zoe Zolbrod's Searing Memoir of Survival
Pain Woman Takes Your Keys: A Multifaceted Look At Life with Chronic Pain
For Healthline
Psychodermatology: Why The Link Between Your Mind and Skin May Be Stronger Than You Think
For BUST Magazine
Why This Collection Of Essays By Women Is Essential For Literature And For Life
American Cunts Fight Back! Comedian Jena Friedman
6 Media All-Stars You Need To Follow, Honored By Amy Schumer At The Women's Media Awards
For Brevity
Body Politics: Writing Reproductive Rights and Justice During the War on Women,
Partial List of Books Mentioned at NonfictioNow Conference in Flagstaff
Hot and Bothered: Writing about Sexuality at BinderCon
For Tablet
Prison Letters
The Great Escape
For The Forward
Torah Whisperer
Selected Health and Medical Writing
In addition to being a staff editor and writer for The Chopra Center and WebMD, below are additional samples of my health and medical writing.
For Remedy
What It’s Really Like Having Long Covid
First Openly Trans South Asian Medical Student Discusses his Gender Affirmation
What is Cortisol
All About Adrenaline
Ask the Experts: Race and the Changing Face of Endocrinology
The Doctor is In: Healthy Hormones in Women 35 and Older
How Your Hunger Hormones Control Weight Loss
The Importance of Iodine
What is Hyperprolactinemia?
All About Childhood Obesity
What It’s Really Like Having Part of Your Thyroid Taken Out
What It’s Really Like Taking Obesity Medication
For Oprah Magazine
That Uncertain Something: Intolerance of Uncertainty and Anxiety
For KHealth
Am I a Hypochondriac? Understanding Health Anxiety
Panic Attacks vs. Anxiety Attacks: What Is the Difference?
Stress Management: Tips for Coping with Stress
Is It the Weather? Understanding Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD)
Cymbalta (Duloxetine): Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, and More
Effexor XR (Venlafaxine HCl): Uses, Dosage, Side Effects, and More
Natural Remedies for the Cold and Flu
Celiac Signs and Symptoms & Treatment
Tension Headaches: Causes, Treatment & Relief
What Causes Abdominal Pain? Symptoms, Causes, and Treatments
Abdominal Pain & Pelvic Pain in Women: Causes & Symptoms
Strep Throat: Signs, Symptoms and Treatment
The K Health Guide to STDs & STIs in Women
Chlamydia: Symptoms, Treatment, & Diagnosis
Gonorrhea: Symptoms, Treatment, & Diagnosis
HPV: Symptoms, Treatment, & Diagnosis
Syphilis: Symptoms, Treatment, & Diagnosis
Psoriasis: Symptoms, Causes, & Treatment
Pubic Lice (Crabs): Symptoms & Treatment
Trichomoniasis: Symptoms, Treatment, & Diagnosis
Hand, Foot, & Mouth Disease: Symptoms & Treatment
For Go Ask Alice!
I wrote as "Alice" for three years. Below are a selection of my Alice pieces:
Sarcoidosis
Tell partner I think I have HIV?
Help me stop stalking my ex and his new partner
Father died, grief grows — How to cope?
Thongs — Do they cause UTIs or Yeast Infections?
Getting over Divorce Pain?
Sharp chest pains — Heart attack? Stress? Heartburn?
Family death five years ago
Partner insults me after sex — what to do?
Can't wake up in the winter
Spontaneous tripping — causes?
Too much masturbation affects orgasms?
Boyfriend said "I love you" to another woman
Hypothyroidism symptoms?
What is an HMO?
Chocolate — Good or bad?
Safe, non-toxic way to get rid of roaches?
Foaming after sex
Who to date? The looker or the bookworm?
Marriage at a lull?
My partner is moving in, but they're allergic to my pets
A fungus among us: Candida
I'm NOT faking Orgasm!
Low-tar and low-nicotine cigarettes?
How often to wash hair?
Kombucha — Diet supplement?
Sex and spinal cord injuries
Sex regret
Chromium picolinate to boost metabolism?
Avocados are fatty — Are they healthy?
Questioning girlfriend's virginity
Difference between pot and hash
Alcohol and liver damage
The Zone diet
Cut by rusty metal! Do I need a tetanus shot?
Wedding butterflies: calming down on the big day?
What are CT scans and MRIs?
Calcium — How much is enough?
Becoming a vegetarian — Resources?
Under-eye circles — how can I get rid of them?
Moles that change color or increase in number: Cause for concern?
Iron, calcium, and constipation, oh my!
Now that your partner knows you have herpes...
Woman on woman oral sex: Is it better to give than to receive?
GHB, aka "liquid ecstasy"
Lack of, and lackluster, lovemaking
Ephedrine (ma huang) — Uses and dangers?
Gay men having sex with women?
Herpes eye infection and blindness?
Sibutramine (Meridia) weight loss drug
Boyfriend is always late and I'm frustrated
What to drink before, during, and after physical activity
Reduced fat and calorie diets: How low is too low?
Can you get pregnant the first time?
Non-meat protein Sources
Circumcision and sex
Fantasizing in the wrong direction?
Ginseng — Does it work? How?
I need free birth control! Please?
How to stop being a vegetarian/start eating meat?
Can't stop chewing Nicorette (nicotine gum)!
What causes laughter?
Pain-in-the-rear. Proctalgia fugax?
Fiancé laughs after orgasm
Ooh, baby, I like it raw (or, is a raw diet healthy?)
Secondhand smoke, mainstream smoke, and side-stream smoke: Dangers and differences
Is it true that eating too many carbohydrates can cause diabetes?
Still stressed by September 11th: Am I overreacting?
Does Ritalin have sexual side effects?
Is soreness a good indicator of a good workout?
Severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS)
The genetics of eye color inheritance
Are antidepressants ruining our sex life?
Spinal cord injury, no mobility — How can I lose weight?
What's up with FluMist?
Ow! My (nether) lips! Labiaplasty?
Will past experimentation with drugs lead to permanent brain damage?
Alkaline water: Is it better for your body?
Frenulum breve
What should I look for in mouthwash?
Mixing uppers with downers — Bad idea?
Hormonal birth control not an option – blood clotting disorder
Low blood pressure leads to fainting?
Help! For a friend who is cutting herself
Nervous or excited bowel movements
Alcohol withdrawal and extreme fatigue
Guarana vs. caffeine?
Post-active duty – Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD)?
Privacy and STI testing — Who will know my results?
How effective is at-home HIV testing kit?
Is wine a fruit serving?
Will probiotic-enriched yogurt aid digestion?
Smoking withdrawal symptoms and how to quit
Adderall, alcohol, and alternative treatments for ADHD
I'm not very hand-y (or, how to give a good hand job)
Recreational codeine use — Health effects?
Blue balls, blue ovaries?
What is E. coli?
Reusable vs. disposable pads?
How can boyfriend with cerebral palsy get in touch with his body?
Legit reasons to go to therapy/counseling?
Free fun in New York City?
I’m melting… inhaling carbon dioxide
Intercourse just before child birth?
Fishy body odor (trimethylaminuria)
Mile-high orgasms — more intense?
Do I have schizophrenia?
Nalgene water bottles and BPA leaching?
Breast binding safety
Probiotics and birth control effectiveness
Weird to ask my doctor to find G-spot?
I want to breastfeed... my partner
Breast lump
Acne below the belt
Thermogenic dietary supplements (e.g. Hydroxycut) — safe?
Hold the orgasm, please – the Karezza technique
Does diabetes affect sex?
Chlamydia treatment — 100 percent effective?
Push up bras and bra sizing