Essays, Articles & Poetry
History & Place & Art
- Forbidden, Potomac Review, Fall 2025. Discovering the meaning and history of a cholera cemetery on the island of Nevis.
- Tracing the Brutal Paths Enslaved Took for Freedom in America, National Parks Traveler, September 8, 2025. The National Park Service has been documenting or preserving the sites of the largest slave revolts in America.
- The Opening, After the Art. June 2025. An art review-essay musing on the National Gallery of Art's first-ever Haitian art exhibit, the Haitian Revolution, and one Jacob Lawrence painting. Nominated for The Best American Essays.
- A Journey From Mannahatta to Manhattan, National Parks Traveler, June 2025. A visit to some of the oldest sites in New York, care of the National Park Service.
- Taking the Road to Parks Less Traveled, National Parks Traveler, May 16, 2025. Visiting three lesser-known Park Service sites yields unexpected rewards.
- People of the Sand, After the Art. December 2024. A Pissarro painting at the National Gallery of Art embodies a dark history most visitors don't see.
- Fever Dream, South 85 Journal, Winter 2024. Staying overnight at an old sugar plantation in Nevis conjures uncomfortable dreams. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Best of the Net.
- Philadelphia: A Ghazal (poem), Panorama: The Journal of Travel, Place, and Nature, August 1, 2024. An ode to the homeplace.
- This Peaceful Nature Sanctuary in Washington, D.C. Sits on the Ruins of a Plantation, Smithsonian, February 7, 2024. The hidden slavery history of Roosevelt Island that the National Park Service doesn't tell.
- They Lived in Arlington. They Were Enslaved. Arlington magazine, February 7, 2024. A new project, Memorializing the Enslaved in Arlington, uncovers names and stories lost to history.
- And She Was Born (poem), Full Bleed: A Journal of Art & Literature, June 2023, with a reading at the Phillips Collection in DC, May 4, 2023. A viewer's story of a painting.
- Night Out in a Deserted City; Home; and On the Train Between (poems), Beltway Poetry Quarterly, Winter 2023. A Mid-Atlantic trilogy of life at the nexus of COVID and climate disaster.
- Grandmother (poem). Poets Reading the News: Journalism in Verse, March 6, 2022. Family memories and newspaper quotes capture the moment in Ukraine.
- Moses Ezekiel: Hidden in Plain Sight, Civil War Times, February 2019. (print version). No one's ever heard of the artist, but his work is everywhere.
- Civil War Road Trip (Bethesda magazine) and Visit Virginia's Lesser-Known Civil War Sites (Arlington Magazine), May/June 2019. A Virginia traveler explores the Blue and the Gray.
- Should We Remove Confederate Monuments, Even If They're Artistically Valuable? The Forward, December 2017. What will art history, Jewish history, and American history lose if the Confederate monument at Arlington National Cemetery is removed?
- These Are America's Most Endangered Jewish Communities, The Forward, February 1, 2017. Travels to some of the lost Jewish communities of the South.
- The Birth of Civil War Reenacting, The New York Times, January 8, 2015. Sham battles, mock battles, and mimic battles began during the war.
- Passover in the Confederacy, The New York Times, April 17, 2014. Reprinted in The New York Times' Disunion: A History of the Civil War, Oxford University Press, 2016. Jews escaped slavery in Egypt but fought for the South and its slavery culture.
- Breaks in the Action, The New York Times, February 7, 2014. The Blue and the Gray sometimes came together for a truce.
- A Road Trip Through History Reveals West Virginia's Other Wild Side, Arlington and Bethesda magazines, May/June 2025: A journey back to 1900.
- Living History, Arlington magazine, September/October 2012. Profile of the resident Arlington historian Kathryn Holt Springston.
- Presidential Funhouse, Frederick, 2011. Monticello showcases Jefferson and his collection of curiosities.
- Legacy for Sale, Blue Ridge Country, November/December 2010. The unexpected happens when a Shenandoah Valley town is put up for auction.
- Finding Grandma, Blue Lyra Review, June 29, 2012. Can a treasured food bring back all that has been loved and lost?
Nature, Landscape, the Environment & Adventure
- A Bird, A Book, and A Cabin, Gargoyle, March 2025. An unexpected friendship blossoms in the Blue Ridge.
- Protecting Our Drinking Water Keeps Him Up at Night ("Aqua Man" in print), Washingtonian, August 2025. Profile of Michael Nardolilli and the vulnerability of drinking water in DC.
- From Hell's Half-Mile to Powerhouse, Delmarva Review, November 2021. Reprinted in the Cambridge Spy, Chesterfield Spy, and Talbot Spy, Maryland, August 2022. Listed among the Notable Essays of the Year in The Best American Essays 2022. Two river trips, half a lifetime apart in Alaska and Idaho, and the lessons of high adventure.
- Meet People Who Spend Their Vacations Getting High ("High Concept" in print), Washingtonian, April 2018. Highpointers traverse the highest point in every state, for fun.
- god america i, The Stars anthology, Outrider Press, 2018. A literary take on holidays in the country.
- Taking It, Potomac Review, Fall 2017. Listed among the Notable Essays of the Year in The Best American Essays 2018. A city girl at a rural cabin deals with the septic guy.
- Rat Run, The Doctor T.J. Eckleberg Review, February 2017. Republished in Loon Magic and Other Night Sounds anthology, Outrider Press, June 2019. Received a mention in Booklist's review. Would the insects and pests be the last straw for cabin living?
- No Place Left to Hide: Meditations on a Shore House, r.kv.r.y., October 2016. Musings on the Jersey Shore and an ode to Bruce Springsteen.
- From the Desk of Sue Eisenfeld, #FindYourPark, University of Nebraska Press, May 31, 2016. A love letter to Shenandoah National Park.
- Wild Feast, Little Patuxent Review, Issue 17, Winter 2015. Listed among the Notable Essays of the Year in The Best American Essays 2016. Big nature drama in the middle of the night.
- Outsiders, Potomac Review, Issue 57, August 2015. Trespassers on a cabin property cause concern.
- Backcountry Diaries: Following Paths Less Traveled in Shenandoah National Park, Smoky Mountain Living, April/May 2015. Stories behind the scenery of the people of Shenandoah.
- Scrabble Road, Still: The Journal, June 2014. Nominated for the "Best of the Net." Swimming in a baptismal watering hole and pondering the nature of friendship.
- Bear on Highway, Washingtonian, November 2014. Seeing a bear in DC or a change in who she’d become?
- In Memoriam: Leonard F. Wheat, Potomac Appalachian, July 2014. The man who knew the innermost secrets of Shenandoah National Park is gone.
- Life & Death Near Butterwood Branch, Blue Ridge Country, November/ December 2013. Off-trail in a winter forest, seeking traces of life long forgotten.
- North River Roux, Deep Waters anthology, Outrider Press, June 2012. Listed among the Notable Essays of the Year in The Best American Essays 2013. A final evening in the Alaska bush, with dinner depending entirely on one person's skill.
- Valley High, Bethesda magazine, November/December 2012, and "A Walk on the Wild Side," Arlington magazine, May 22, 2013. Travels to the untouched wilderness and extreme conditions of Canaan Valley, WV.
- The High Road: Skyline Drive Offers Treats for Both Soul and Sole, Frederick, October 2011. The history and features of Skyline Drive in Shenandoah National Park.
- All Souls Day in Shenandoah National Park, Blue Ridge Country, May/June 2011. Finding an historic cemetery in a national park and meeting the family behind it.
- One Windy Day, The Gettysburg Review, Spring 2010. A long-dreaded natural happening finally happened.
- Urban Refuge, Potomac Review, April 2009. Listed among the Notable Essays of the Year in The Best American Essays 2010; reprinted as one of the Best of Potomac Review, Fall 2011. A nature-writing outing on Roosevelt Island, DC, and all that was saved from development.
- Smith Island, Maryland: For a Limited Time Only, Frederick, April 2008. A disappearing island is an anti-destination.
Writing About Writing
- Spotlight, The Moon anthology, Outrider Press, June 2017. Received a mention in Booklist's review. Becoming a writer in the light of the moon.
- Mad Men and the Writing Life, Hunger Mountain, November 28, 2011. Living a Betty Draper life doesn't channel the muse.
Everything Else (People, Health, Life...)
- A Nice Jewish Home, Judith, November 25, 2025. Did she grow up in a very Jewish home, or not?
- Once Upon a Time. Fuck You. The End. The Story of My Uterus. South 85. November 2025. It's so sad, it's funny. Nominated for a Pushcart Prize and Editor's Choice Award.
- A Shot in the Arm: Saving Lives Through Vaccination Takes Global Action and Local Solutions (no longer available online; screen shots 1, 2, 3), Doorways, Summer 2021. Profile of Violaine Mitchell, director of health funds and partnerships at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.
- The Tweet Heard Round the World, Arlington magazine, April 30, 2020. Profile of epidemiologist Eric Feigl-Ding, who warned in January 2020 that COVID-19 could be catastrophic, but few believed him.
- "Seeds of Change" (or His CSA Farm Once Fed 500+ Families), Arlington magazine, May/June 2019. Profile of Leigh Hauter, farmer, antinuclear activist, and Vietnam veteran.
- "Life in the Balance" (or He's Not Your Typical Yoga Instructor), Arlington magazine, March/April 2019. Profile of a yoga teacher who moves to the sounds of Springsteen and The Stones.
- Taming the Feast, Arlington magazine, November/December 2011. When family food preferences, fads, and issues meet Thanksgiving.
- She Had Her House Sprayed for Fleas, and Then the Trouble Began, The Washington Post, May 17, 2011, an excerpt from Toxic Tale: An 'Enviro' Learns Why We Need Tighter Controls on Home Pesticides, Health Affairs, 30, no.5 (2011):985-988, May 2011. A personal story of a pesticide poisoning and advocacy for pesticide regulatory reform.
- A Walking Magnet for Odd, Minor Ills, The New York Times, February 9, 2010. It's almost funny, all the ways the body can go wrong.
- The Empty House, Under the Sun, Summer 2008. Listed among the Notable Essays of the Year in The Best American Essays 2009. A neighbor moves to the hospital to wait for a new heart.
- Saved, Ars Medica: A Journal of Medicine, The Arts, and Humanities, Fall 2008. A dying friend appears in a dream.
- Mission: Save My Nose, The Washington Post, April 25, 2006. A personal story of skin cancer and the Jersey Shore.
- The Spouse Who Stole Christmas, Interfaith Family.com (now 18 Doors), 2005. In an interfaith marriage, Christmas is like visiting a fun, foreign land.