I am an award-winning freelance journalist based in Brooklyn (formerly based in Providence, R.I.) and an Adjunct Lecturer in the English Department at LaGuardia Community College. Last year I graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in creative nonfiction from the New School, where my graduate thesis was a book-length work of narrative journalism about hepatitis C and addiction. This is not a blog, but rather a collection of some of my work.

I have a special interest in the criminal justice system and health care for the underserved and disenfranchised, particularly HIV/AIDS. (Before I became a journalist, I worked as an outreach worker and research assistant at an HIV clinic.) I also write news and book reviews, and have been known to write enthusiastically about music, politics, and contraception.

Thanks for stopping by to take a look at my clips.

News!

7/5/09 "Lost and Found: Stories From New York," the new anthology from Mr. Beller's Neighborhood, is now available! It contains my story, Water, One Dollar.

5/13/09 "The Advocate," my profile of Rhode Island child advocate Jametta Alston, won first place in the profile category of the Rhode Island Press Association's 2008 Editorial Awards.

5/6/09 My manuscript, "Tough As a Shoe," was just awarded the non-fiction prize in the New School Chapbook Competition for 2009. Here's what the judge, Deborah Copaken Kogan, had to say:
Somebody get Beth Schwartzapfel a contract at the New Yorker. She’s ready. With subtlety and intelligence and a narrative voice like a dry martini, she managed to turn that well-worn trope (violent, drug-addicted man turns his life around with the help of a patient, kind mentor) into a contrapuntal symphony of a love story: an atypical love story, to be sure, but a love story nonetheless.
The story will be published as an edition of 250 chapbooks. If you'd like a copy, drop me a line!

FORWARD>The Schmooze>A Moustache to Kvell Over




A Moustache to Kvell Over

By Beth Schwartzapfel
November 21, 2007

Using his Jewish manhood to go for the gold, Los Angeles musician, DJ and fashion designer Alexander Antebi was recently named the World Imperial Moustache Champion at the 2007 World Beard and Moustache Championships, held last month in Brighton, England. Taking the top prize in the imperial (also known as handlebar) category, Antebi beat out competitors from all over the world to become the first Jewish person to win a prize at the championships and the first American to win in his category. “There are certain nuances to having a good moustache,” Antebi told The Shmooze. “When I get out of the shower, I wait until it’s still slightly damp. I use a moustache comb. Then I apply Hungarian moustache wax to my moustache evenly. If I get the timing wrong, then it is a nightmare.”

Musician and sometime-moustache-wearer Nick Cave judged the moustache categories. The judges select “the one they feel is most stylish,” said Steve Parsons, secretary for the Handlebar Club, which hosts the championships. “Alexander certainly has plenty of style!” he said. Antebi topped 11 other entrants in his category to bring home his trophy: a beer tankard with moustache guard.

Frontman for the L.A. funk-glam band Conquistador, Antebi, 26, said that his music is often inspired by his Sephardic heritage (his descendants were from Toledo, Spain) and that some of his songs incorporate Ladino lyrics.

Antebi first began growing a moustache four years ago. “It was something that allowed me to connect with antiquity,” he said. As his personal style tends more toward Renaissance Faire than Ralph Lauren (he describes his own clothing line, Alexander Antoinette, as “Southern Civil War Vermeer meets Rajasthani Rock ’n’ Roll eleganza”), this anachronism seemed appropriate. “Today’s man, the conventional idea of male beauty, is that of youth,” he said. “Hairlessness has become beautiful for men. I’m proud to be a man, and this is an extension of my manhood and also my individuality.”

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