Being on the road lesson #1: don’t expect yourself to get as much done as you planned. I had this grand plan to write about each of the places I had visited right away, publishing a post a week, doing them all justice… alas. You’ll just have to settle for my retrospective. We’ll start where […]
Spread of watch parts and descriptions of watchmaker industry. I’m moving out of NYC, my home of the past six years, today. I’ll be setting off for a wild and woolly adventure around the country and the globe (in case you weren’t aware of my travel plans, take a look!). I’m going to be taking […]
Brown dog with ears up peering out of shadowed doorway. The skin of my hands; the skin of her back; the beat in my chest; the long pause. Her breath, shuddering. There are so many things I found impossible to put into words last year. I massage a woman’s back with a feather-light touch as […]
I’ve always talked about wanting to get more involved with healing work – psychological, physical, and spiritual. These past few months, I’ve been diving in. I am naturally drawn to characters who make it their focus to care for others and provide resources. They create change in ways that aren’t as visible as putting a […]
I will carry with me the memory of when I first found out that Nelson Mandela died. I was in the lobby of a hotel in midtown when my best friend put her hand on my shoulder, pointing to the TV. I didn’t register at first what they were saying, but she repeated: “Nelson […]
I found a title for my short story collection this week. It’s often hard for me to find titles — I’m more of a longform writer in the first place, so if short stories are hard, then you can imagine how a three-word title would send me into hours of contemplation. I’ve also been learning […]
I’m trying something new today! I wrote my blog post and then read it aloud (speech-like) in a podcast format – this time it’s on activist work and relaxation. I’ve done this before with fictional stories, but not as much with creative non-fiction, so this is my stab at it. Let’s hope that after a […]
Caring is hard work. As all my activist and ally friends know, it can be depressing to open up a newspaper, watch TV, or generally absorb any media about the sorry state of our universe (yes, universe – I get sad reading intergalactic news as well). We forget how our small contributions affect people and […]
I was talking with one of my friends from high school recently and, as we nearly always do, started talking about parks. We hung out a lot late at night, driving around our suburb till my gas tank got down low (and, being Seattlites of a kind, we lamented the carbon emissions) and then we […]
This week, I attended the Troy Davis silent vigil on Columbia’s campus – in remembrance, we did a small march and then a speak-out about our emotions surrounding his execution. The takeaway? This is our moment: take charge in the issues you care about.