Eat Your Cake — And the Wrapper Too. Plastic waste is still a big problem, so it may be time to think about disposing food packaging…by eating it? [Experience Magazine.}
How Technology is Changing the Spice Trade: How much do you know about the spices in your cupboard? There's a story there! And I found it. [Experience Magazine.]
A College Where You Can Major in Masonry: You can’t convince these students to go on Spring Break. [Worth Magazine]
A Travel Guide to American Hypocrisy: A dramatic re-enactment of the first reading of the Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia, a woman who pioneered modern travel writing, and a park ranger in a pannier. [The Millions]
A Mule's Errand: Visiting Kalaupapa Settlement, less sensitively known as “the leper colony,” in Hawaii. On the back of a mule named Koa who really, really didn't like me. [Out Aloha]
Not Pretty in Paris: A meditation on appearance anxiety in Paris, which is in some ways the story of a hair cut, but also a consideration of the Charles Garnier Opera, the history of mirrors, the nature of global franchising. [The Smart Set]
The Ass Grab: In which I puzzle through a street harassment incident in Marrakech. [The Washington Post]
My Venetian Crime Spree: In which I try to rip off Venice -- and eventually feel her wrath. [The Toronto Star]
Sin City's Secret Virtue: Collecting rare books in Las Vegas [Robb Report]
Your Name In Stickup Light Bulbs! A feature on infomercials. [New York Magazine]
Naked, with a Passport: In which I learn the meaning of the word "naked", in spas from Kerala, India, to Baden Baden, Germany. [The Travel Channel's World Hum]
The Heat Seeker: A five-part series on tracking down the spiciest food I could handle. [The Travel Channel's World Hum, anthologized in Best Women's Travel Writing]
The Mobility Myth: In which I engage in a bit of cultural criticism. [Reason Magazine]
Is He Dead? This memoir essay won a contest sponsored by the Rubin Art Museum. [Killing the Buddha]
Medieval Cold Medicine: I try to cook up an ancient cold medicine/candy. [The Atlantic}
If you’re jonesing for more my writing, I have a more comprehensive selection (albeit not updated any longer) on an older version of my website still available here.
My Writing Life:
In the more than twenty years I've been word-slinging, I've been fortunate to write about a lot of different subjects. My earliest years were spent writing about agriculture, the height of exotica for a native New Yorker. This was so long ago (the late 1990s) that almost none of these pieces are available online -- and since I was definitely learning on the job, this is probably for the best. Since then, I've written for women's magazines, men's magazines, travel magazines, literary magazines, newspapers, websites, blogs.
Some titles I’ve held and honors I’ve received:
I was the culinary travel editor for About.com from the site's launch in 2009, until I got restless in 2013. At approximately the same time, wrote a weekly essay on travel, culture and more for Perceptive Travel.
I was a contributing editor at Inc. magazine — my entire Inc. oeuvre is apparently online.
I was also editor-at-large at American Demographics magazine, both on-staff and as a freelancer.
Additionally, I was named a New York Times Professional Fellow and a National Press Foundation Fellow.
My articles have won awards from the American Society of Journalists and Authors and the American Society of Business Press Editors.
I've given presentations on travel writing (and writing generally) for writing conferences including AWP, TBEX and ASJA.
Some publications I've contributed to include:
American Archaeology, American Style, The Atlantic, BBC Travel, Boston Magazine, Business Traveler, BusinessWeek, The Chicago Tribune, The Christian Science Monitor, The Chronicle of Philanthropy, Continental, Experience, Fast Company, Glamour, Huffington Post, Ladies’ Home Journal, Luxist, Men's Journal, The Millions, Money, Mother Jones, New York Magazine, Premier Traveler, Psychology Today, Reason, Robb Report, Sierra Magazine, The Smart Set, The Street.com, The Toronto Star, The Travel Channel's World Hum, US Air magazine, USA Weekend, The Washington Post, Working Mother, Worth, Yankee, Yoga Journal, among other places.
I started my career writing books, and am the proud author of Americans at Play, which is about trends in outdoor recreation and travel (New Strategist 1997) and Best of Health, which is about trends in health. (New Strategist, 2000). More recently, I’ve had work anthologized in Best Women’s Travel Writing, and the humor compilation Leave the Lipstick, Take the Iguana,
Much of this work was published under the name Alison Stein Wellner. I am her, she is me.