Jenna Schnuer

Continental: School's OutAugust 1, 2007

Going along for the ride definitely has its benefits. New York University student Erica Swallow figured she had nothing to lose when her freshman-year roommate invited her to attend an information session about a new program the university was starting in Shanghai. Living in China wasn't something that Swallow, 19 years old at the time, had ever expected to do. An international business and marketing major, she had never been outside the United States and spoke barely a word of Chinese. But spurred on by her strong desire for a unique study-abroad experience, Swallow, along with 17 other students, took up temporary residence in Shanghai for the fall semester of her sophomore year.

Want to find out why Swallow--and 1000s of other undergrad and grad students--are going abroad to get schooled in business? Read the rest of the article.

American Way: Healing ArtsDecember 1, 2006

There are no velvet curtains or fancy lighting here. The audience is more likely to wear jeans or sweat pants than tuxedos or evening dresses. Yet, for dancer and choreographer Ofelia Loret de Mola, the lobby of Woodhull Medical and Mental Health Center in Brooklyn is one of the best stages in the world.

When Loret de Mola and her husband dance at Woodhull, the couple’s performances do a lot more than ensures miles on spectators’ faces, they’re banking credits toward an innovative health care program called Artist Access. Launched as a pilot initiative in 2005, Artist Access is now a firmly entrenched program that gives New York City artists — from dancers to painters to actors and beyond — an entrée into the world of preventive (and affordable) health care.

Pages: The Whole TruthJuly/August 2006

In the latest edition of my column about narrative nonfiction, biographies, and the quirky bits in between, I introduce readers to books about slackers (or are they really?), exploring Micronesia, a darkly humorous take on postpartum depression, and world histories through the filters of rum and animal menageries.

American Way: No Place for Too LongJune 15, 2006

There are sections of Anderson Cooper's Dispatches from the Edge: A Memoir of War, Disasters, and Survival (HarperCollins) that make it hard to believe the anchor of CNN's Anderson Cooper 360° went into TV reporting in the first place. The man has a knack for writing. But TV it was: Less than two years after his 1989 graduation from Yale, Cooper quit his job as a fact-checker at the news-for-high-school students station, Channel One, borrowed a Hi-8 camera from the station's director, flew off to Thailand, snuck into Burma, and interviewed students who were fighting the military dictatorship. "There's an immediacy to television that I like," says Copper. "I like writing. It's something that's always been important to me but I grew up watching a lot of television and a lot of television news. There's nothing more interesting to me than sort of figuring out where to point the camera lens and how to tell the story both in words and in pictures."

Pages: The Whole TruthMay/June 2006

In the latest edition of my column about narrative nonfiction, biographies, and the quirky bits in between, I introduce readers to books about a Jersey girl-turned-Rolling Stone journalist, pacifists, Christian rock enthusiasts, the Amish, and obsessive collectors of, well, stuff.

Pages: The Whole TruthMarch/April 2006

In the latest edition of my column about narrative nonfiction, biographies, and the quirky bits in between, I introduce readers to books about a missing backcountry park ranger, the illegal sale of body parts, the American obsession with great lawns, and a rather pricey tomato.

Pages: The Whole TruthNov./Dec., 2005

My column about "narrative nonfiction, biographies, and the quirky bits in between" debuted with the Nov/Dec issue of Pages. The launch column featured pieces about a dictionary of one-letter words, two books about ice and one about clay, a biography of Rosa Parks, and much more.

Download a PDF of the column.

Interested in reprinting the column? Send me an email.

American Way: Pull Up A Tractor and Stay AwhileAugust 1, 2005

When was the last time you heard much about small farms in America? Back in 1985 when Willie Nelson launched Farm Aid?

The small-farm life hasn’t gotten any easier since the days when Willie first started collecting cash for the country’s cropkeepers. “Over the last 10 to 15 years, we’ve seen large agribusiness operations [farms with at least $1 million in annual revenues] begin to take over commodity production,” says Desmond Jolly, an agricultural economist at University of California, Davis, and director of UC’s Small Farm Center. “Small farms have to find ways to create niches like specialty crops, products, and selling directly to consumers.” For many farmers, that niche is agricultural tourism, known simply as agritourism.

Interested in reprinting this article? Send me an email.