Essayist • Teacher • Attorney
The Million Dollar View
After her father's death, Ms. Jacobs was charged with selling her parents' house on Staten Island. In this essay, she contends with an unctuous realtor as well as her own emotional conflict:
“What a lovely neighborhood,” the realtor said. She stepped into the foyer and extended a perfectly manicured hand. I sighed. She was the third agent to tour the house, so I was prepared for the smart suit....
Avert Your Eyes
Even before the Gulf Oil Spill, Ms. Jacobs worried about the state of our oceans. In the following essay, she considers the consequences of our addiction to plastic: If you have not yet read “Moby-Duck: Or, The Synthetic Wilderness of Childhood,” Donovan Hohn’s essay about a mishap at sea that sent thousands of rubber duckies sailing around the globe, then I suggest you steer clear of it....
Valerie Seiling Jacobs holds an MFA in Nonfiction from Columbia University and a B.S. and J.D. from Cornell University. Before turning to teaching and writing, she practiced law for more than two decades.
In 2014, Ms. Jacobs joined the faculty at Columbia University, where she teaches writing, conducts workshops, and works as a consultant in the Writing Center. She also conducts private seminars (often for CLE credit) for attorneys and professionals who wish to improve their writing skills.
Ms. Jacobs is currently working on a nonfiction book about a man who has been on death row in Alabama for more than 25 years.