writing samples

The interplay between federal and state laws, and between the President and state governors, is confusing to many American employers, and even more so to foreign companies doing business in the United States.

Anamaría Pazmiño, 26, has worked as a curatorial and gallery assistant. She spoke in French to Cynthia Martens.

One day in early June, I was sitting in a school cafeteria in Brussels with a number of women from my Dutch class. We were eating broodjes (sandwiches) and drinking coffee from a Thermos dispenser. With Ramadan beginning on June 17, the topic of fasting came up. Who was fasting? Who wasn’t? We went around the table. I was one of only three who weren’t.

As brands and celebrities aggressively ratchet up their social media presences, Insta-lawsuits over copyright and the right of publicity have proliferated.

NEW YORK — They said the devil had traveled in her clothing. Elsche Prösche, née Wohler, wife of Jochim, was in her forties, and lived a life of relative poverty in Kölzin, a village in northeastern Germany. She was my great-aunt, nine generations ago — and for charges of witchcraft, she was burned at the stake.

Parigi. Elham Zanjani non è mai stata in Iran. I suoi genitori hanno lasciato il loro paese di origine negli anni 70 e lei è nata a Montréal nel 1978 per poi crescere a Toronto. Anche se Zanjani parla con affetto del suo Canada, da ragazza la sua consapevolezza che in un paese lontano, le cugine che non aveva mai incontrato avevano una vita totalmente diversa dalla sua, la turbava molto.

Translated Editor’s Note and 20 feature articles (19 from Italian into English and one from English into Italian).

Mirko Ciotta, 32, has appeared in many stage productions and has worked with theater directors like Fadhel Jaïbi and Luca Ronconi. He spoke in Italian to Cynthia Martens.

Last fall, when I was out of work and starting to face serious money problems, I discovered a new vegan restaurant near Porta Venezia, where I live in Milan. I thought, Maybe they’re looking for staff, so I sent in my résumé. I’d never worked in a restaurant before. It wasn’t a great dream of mine.

Sept. 25, 2018*

It had been more than six months since she'd last appeared in public. But when Melania Knauss — she'd secretly reclaimed her maiden name two days earlier by New York City court petition — finally dared to face the photographers and cameramen, she would do it on once familiar turf. Closer to home.

Translated Editor’s Note and 31 feature articles (30 from Italian into English; one from English into Italian).

MILAN — Europeans will be able to slather on creams with more confidence come Thursday. That’s when new legislation goes into effect across the European Union, ushering in more stringent safety requirements and detailed labeling.

Parigi. Il Bataclan, storico locale su Boulevard Voltaire, è uno di quei posti eclettici dove quasi tutti i giovani parigini sono stati almeno una volta: per una serata a tema, per un DJ set, per una “soirée étudiante” (serata degli studenti, con prezzi accessibili e drink ben shakerati ma niente di più), oppure per un concerto.

In recent years, celebrities such as actress Natalie Portman and designer Stella McCartney have helped vegetarianism to rise above its associations with ugly sandals and a complete lack of humor. In Milan, where I’ve lived for five years, McCartney’s Falabella bags—100 percent polyester—are as common a sight as skinny jeans and nerd glasses. Sensing a marketing opportunity, many fashion and beauty companies have begun touting their green credentials.

MILAN — Just more than a year after a fire in a Prato, Tuscany, factory killed seven Chinese garment workers, Judge Silvia Isidori on Monday issued a guilty verdict for the three Teresa Moda warehouse managers on trial for assorted charges pertaining to reckless homicide, arson, exploitation of foreign workers and a deliberate lack of mandatory safety features in the factory.

PARIS — The laconic hero squints at the sun and ties up his horse. Spurs jingling, boots dusty, he strides into the saloon and faces the suspicious eyes of the other patrons. "You ain't from around these parts, are ya, stranger?" says a white-bearded old-timer, slamming a glass of whisky on the counter.

It may be a classic scene in old Westerns, but it isn't just for cowboys. Though human history is a story of continuous migration, people remain fiercely tribal, eager to divide the world along the reassuring continuum of Us versus Them.

An elderly nun in “The Great Beauty,” Paolo Sorrentino’s controversial 2013 film, declares that she only eats roots, “because roots are important.”

The line resonates in Italy, where the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum sit alongside modern-day Naples. According to the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Italy is the world’s fifth most-visited country, with 4.77 million arrivals in 2013, the most recent year available. Additionally, Milan and Rome landed in the top 20 of MasterCard’s 2014 Global Destination Cities Index.

MILAN — A thing of beauty may be a joy forever, but thankfully, even the most artfully applied makeup washes off. In a new hardbound book filled with eccentric portraits, British photographer, film director and magazine publisher Rankin and makeup artist Andrew Gallimore offer their take on outlandish allure.

Ci chiedono spesso quando è stato il nostro primo appuntamento. Il e Riccardo amiamo dire che è stato nel momento stesso in cui ci siamo incontrati per la prima volta, seduti uno accanto all’altro su un volo da Milano a New York, nel 2010. Con circa otto ore da ammazzare durante il viaggio, siamo passati velocemente dal solito scambio di battute a delle discussioni più vivaci sul cinema, sui viaggi, sul cibo, addirittura sulla religione e sopratutto sull’assenza di spazio sufficiente per le gambe che i biglietti in classe economica ci avevano regalato.

What’s in a label?

For years, European Union countries have been bickering over legislation that would mandate marking country of origin on consumer goods sold within its borders, as opposed to keeping labels voluntary.

While the law would apply to a variety of products, in Italy, where family-run textile and apparel plants still dot the countryside, it has become a cause célèbre of the fashion industry.

FLORENCE — The Palazzo Strozzi Foundation USA honored Leonard A. Lauder here Wednesday night during a dinner at the historic Palazzo Vecchio, where he received the Renaissance Man of the Year Award in the lavish, frescoed Salone dei Cinquecento, or “Hall of the 500,” a reference to the number of grand council members who once convened there.

There wasn’t a hair out of place in Milan, although many of the spring looks were deliberately asymmetrical. At Missoni, Eugene Souleiman clipped black or blonde hair extensions to the backs of models’ ponytails, while at Emilio Pucci, Luigi Murenu opted for “sexy, tousled hair that’s sport on one side and glamour on the other.” Guido Palau had precise shades of blonde, red, brown and black tailored to each model’s locks at Prada, with help from colorist Josh Wood. Milanese makeup was no less daring, with Pat McGrath’s hard-rock vision of black eyeliner and rosy blush at Versace, and Linda Cantello’s choice of diaphanous skin with viper-green eyes at Giorgio Armani. Blumarine makeup artist Tom Pecheux sexed up the otherwise demure color palette with gold eye shadow and voluminous black mascara, envisioning “a naughty girl with manners, like Courtney Love’s granddaughter.” —CYNTHIA MARTENS

For the second consecutive year, Gucci celebrated women in the film industry with a dinner and awards ceremony, held during the Venice Film Festival on Friday inside the Hotel Cipriani’s Granai, an old granary for cereal harvests.