Hi, I'm Steve
This is my newsletter on longing, purpose and finding your place in the world
A Mayor, the Mafia, and Donkeys
What could a young mayor, the hoary Mafia, and an endangered breed of donkeys possibly have in common?
Eating Local
When we owned Alimentaire we sourced many of our ingredients from the local terroir. Doing that required a lot of effort, time, and expense, but we managed to do that pretty well. In Sicily, one doesn’t have to travel great distances to keep one’s diet to the local
Sicilian Pathways
Percorsi Siciliani It’s easy to find fault in the way the hinterland of Sicily is disconnected from the rest of the island. Driving conditions aren’t always ideal, with many hairpin turns, switchbacks, and even jaunts through what are probably private pastures or farmland. I’ve had many conversations
Inner and Outer Journeys
I concluded my essay on Aspects of a Novel, published to paid subscribers a couple of months ago, with a diagram modeling the two journeys a character must face in a story. On the one hand is the outer journey, that is, those things dealing with plot, external conflicts and