Ben Wendel is my brother. Yes, we have different surnames. That’s ’cause we have different dads. But that’s a different story. My brother is a talented musician, composer, producer and instructor. He’s charming and likeable and (thanks to his fashion-conscious wife Marisa) a snappy dresser. Years ago, when my brother picked me up from ballet class in his [...]

My younger sister Olivia is currently prowling through the deep woods of North Carolina … knee-deep in sludge, battling insects the size of a man’s fist, analyzing her ego and re-reading Siddhartha. I couldn’t be prouder of the little scamp. Oli and I haven’t always been close. As siblings with an age difference of almost 7 [...]

With his penchant for knitted sweater-vests and bespectacled countenance, it’s no surprise that — in addition to running a successful law firm — my dad recently became a part-time professor. In fact, it’s hard to imagine my dad as anything other than a sagacious academic mentor. But one of the things I love most about my [...]

For the next couple of Nepotism segments, I’m going to focus exclusively on a single member of my family, starting with the woman who expelled me from her birth canal: my mom. My mom is a terrible influence — persistently persuading those around her to choose chocolate cake over gluten-free bran muffins, jojoba facials over jogging, [...]