Please Welcome Amba
I’ve been busy thinking about what this blog needs the most at this moment in time, especially since I’ll be off to Turkey next week Friday and because, when I’m back, full classes start again and I’ll have to do some actual, um, studying. Truth be told, I took it a bit easy study-wise the first semester of this college year, but no more: I’ve got to study.
What this blog needs, then, are more co-bloggers. We’ve got a terrific team already, but I thought that there was room to make it even stronger. Today, one of those I wanted to co-blog here will publish her first post: it’s Amba, of Ambivablog.
I’m sure that many of you already know Amba, but for those who don’t – and for those who are interested – here’s a short bio: Amba, the pseudonym of Annie Gottlieb, is a city animal who grew up in Chicago with 5 younger siblings, went to school in Boston (as we used to say to avoid dropping the H-bomb), and has lived in New York City for almost four decades. For the time being she resides in Chapel Hill, NC, taking care of her ailing husband, Jacques Sandulescu, an actor and author of books about his escape from a Soviet prison camp and subsequent adventures.
A freelance critic and journalist, she has contributed pieces on books, culture, psychology, spirituality, politics, and women’s issues to The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Nation, and about 40 national and alternative magazines, ranging from O: the Oprah Magazine to Psychology Today to The Utne Reader.
She holds a black belt in Kyokushin Karate, which, along with her husband’s origins, has occasioned extensive travels to Japan, Russia, Ukraine, and the full breadth of Europe. amba is the author or coauthor of several books. She currently telecommutes as chief copy editor and fact checker for Natural History Magazine, where she is about to start a new blog, Stars & Stripes.
Amba has blogged on centrist politics, moral moderation, the Oscars, and everything else at AmbivaBlog since August 1994.
In short: an incredibly busy, dangerous (!) and established woman (writer). We’re glad she agreed to join the PoliGazette team, please take the time to welcome her!
Welcome Amba! Black-belt eh? It’s not often I see other women with an avid interest in the martial arts, though I’ve never seen your style before.
Looking forward to seeing your (blogging) moves
Hey Lynx! What’s your style(s)?
Well, my main expertise is in Songahm Taekwondo (it’s a non-Olympic style). I’m a second degree black-belt, but I haven’t practiced in years and am VERY rusty.
Other than that I’ve done Shaolin Kempo (I got to blue belt) and dabbled just a tad in Aikido (I recently had to quit because of a hectic schedule). I did Karate as a young child, but never really got into it.
Do you still practice, and/or teach? I miss it terribly, but simply don’t have the time I did once.
Welcome aboard Amba. It’ll be nice to blog with you again.
Hi Amba
This is Shihan Paliee from Sri Lanka, welcome
Welcome, Amba. I look forward to reading your contributions.