Ava Swartz is a writer, editor. and certified tea specialist (Specialty Tea Institute). She’s worked for Saturday Review, Newsweek, Newsweek Books, Masada Publishing (Israel) and written numerous articles on health, housing, and yes, tea. She is the co-author of “The Consumers’ Legal Guide to Today’s Health Care,” (Little Brown), co-edited “On the Front Lines of Childhood Obesity,” (special supplement, American Journal of Public Health), the founding editor (and columnist) of Photograph, a fine arts guide, a former house historian for Decorators’ Showcase in San Francisco, and the former president of the Small Property Owners Association of San Francisco. She holds masters’ degrees in public health and urban planning from Columbia University in New York. She’s also the mother of two tolerant 20-somethings who promise to help with her luddite blogging style.