Margot is the author of three books:
A Female Focus: Great Women Photographers
Claudia Taylor (Lady Bird) Johnson
Digging into the Past (with Lorna Greenberg)
She has published the following feature and opinion pieces:
What’s Happening to the Israel I knew? Jewish Exponent, September 2023
[NOTE: This article was published two weeks before the Oct 7th Hamas attacks and Israeli counter attack on Gaza.] Everyone who has been to Israel has memories of this unique place. I have recollections of the country from different trips there, but probably the most meaningful are those of my visit in the early 1980s as development and public information director of Philadelphia’s Singing City Choir. Read more…
Memories of Normandy WHYY, June 6. 2019
As we celebrate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, I am caught up in memories of our time in Normandy 15 years ago. My husband and I had planned our visit in May 2004 for the 60th anniversary; we wanted to give returning veterans the space they deserved for the actual June 6 date. We walked the battlefields and cemeteries, talked with aging cafe owners and appreciated the fine museum at Caen. Read more...
Is America Great, or Good? Jewish Exponent, August 15, 2018
Nearly 200 years ago, French diplomat and historian Alexis de Tocqueville came to the Unite States, ostensibly to explore the new nation's penal system. But instead of merely studying the system for his own new country, de Tocqueville spent nine months looking into the soul of America. Read more...
Moving On - and making it matter WHYY, June 13, 2018
Recently I was talking after exercise class with a young woman I’d just met. When she mentioned her recent birthday — 40 — I smiled, and commented that I was twice her age. She was stunned. “What — 80? No way! Impossible!” Of course I’m happy when I get compliments like that — who wouldn’t be? But I’m also bemused, because now I’ve entered my ninth decade, and there is no refuting that fact. Read more...
As I See It: Grandmother, Author on Making Adoption Work Main Line Media News, August 16, 2017
When our youngest granddaughter joined the family from Taiwan some years ago, none of us had any real idea of what to expect — especially her older sister. Would she be quiet – or noisy? A “hugger” – or stand-offish? Would she get into her sister’s things, assuming that, as in the orphanage, sharing was the rule? Or would she be content with the special new toys family and friends had provided, just for her. We soon found out! Read more...
Want to Feel Better in 2017? Giving Back a Great Start Main Line Media News, January 1, 2017
So here we are, decidedly post-election and hopefully enjoying the New Year’s holiday and its potential for merriment as well as reflection. The question is: are we feeling cheerful? Perhaps, if we play our cards right, we might find some cheer as well as a sense of personal satisfaction that could last well into the new year. Read more...
Locked in with Elie Wiesel: A Unique Evening with a Gracious Soul Jewish Exponent, July 2016
While my remembrance is different from those who have spoken of Wiesel since his death two weeks ago, I cannot forget the special circumstance that gave me a warm and humorous view of the man whom the Nobel Prize Committee described as a “messenger to humanity.” As the tributes flow in praising Elie Wiesel, called “a living memorial” by President Obama and many others, I have a distinctly personal memory of this unique human being. Read more...
7,000 kids out of Head Start - Where’s the outrage? Main Line Times Aug 2013
In researching my biography of Lady Bird Johnson, I was impressed by her many achievements which have made our nation a better place. But probably no effort was more significant than her creation nearly 50 years ago of Head Start, which for the first time helped move disadvantaged children beyond their impoverished backgrounds toward better lives. Read more…
Born Republican, but then... Main Line Media News, October 2012
One thing about living on the Main Line is that many of my old friends from Philadelphia live close by. We bump into each other from time to time, and often talk about the old days. Overbrook High School, the Wynne movie theater, Leof’s Pharmacy, and some of our other old haunts remain embedded in our collective memories, and it’s fun to reminisce. Read more...
News flash for Sarah Palin: Community organizing is not a joke. Main Line Times, Sept 2008
How dare she? Of all the gems that have fallen out of Sarah Palin’s mouth since she became the newest media-politico, perhaps the most reprehensible is her snide comparison of community organizing and small town mayoring. Firing off a shot at Barack Obama (a moose was not then available), she claimed that as a mayor she had more responsibility than he did in his job – whatever it was he was doing on the streets of Chicago. Read more…
Spotlight on Ovarian Cancer Bucks County Women's Journal, August 2007
Women throughout the Delaware Valley are becoming more aware of symptoms that could mean the all-important early stage diagnosis of Ovarian Cancer. Read more...
The Rebuilder Pennsylvania Gazette, March 2005
As founder and director of the Bellevue/NYU Program for Survivors of Torture, alumnus Allen Keller works to mend the bodies, minds and spirits of people who have suffered the worst evils humans can inflict on each other. Read more...
Is Head Start Finished? Philadelphia Inquirer, July 2003
Why tamper with a program that's been a success for more than 35 years? Educators, child advocates and parents all over the country are asking that question. Read more...
Lauder’s Neue Jewelbox Pennsylvania Gazette, July 2002
Before he was a Penn undergrad, chairman of Estée Lauder International, US Ambassador to Austria or a noted philanthropist, Ronald Lauder W'65 had a fascination with art. This lifelong passion for collecting and exhibiting has recently culminated in his creation of the Neue Galerie New York, a unique blending of early 20th-century German and Austrian fine and decorative arts. It is a charming, accessible museum that has both extended the city’s cultural horizons and raised its spirits at a difficult time. Read more...